Puffy vs Amerisleep Mattress

They Offer Puffy And Puffy Lux

We are going to primarily focus on the Puffy mattress for this comparison, but we did want to take a second to mention that Puffy Lux is a softer mattress with a fluffy memory foam feel. It commands a higher price, but is also a tremendous fit for side sleepers (i.e. the majority of people out there). Puffy Lux is softer and thicker than the original Puffy mattress, but also a few hundred dollars more expensive—which explains why most people go after the standard mattress.

Cutting Open The Puffy Mattress

Like many of these online beds, Puffy is comprised of three foam layers. Two are neutral soft foams (i.e. poly foam) and the top layer is memory foam. Puffy has fancy names for the foams, but to the average consumer this will be just a comfy foam bed. In any case, here’s a look inside Puffy’s flagship mattress.

Just based on the construction of the bed, you’d expect Puffy to feel like Layla or Bear Mattress (i.e. you’d expect it to feel like memory foam). That’s not the case, however. Puffy actually feels more like a general soft foam bed with a little memory foam mixed in. It’s comfortable no doubt, but it doesn’t quite feel like you’d expect it to. In fact, this is a big differentiator for Puffy, at least when compared to Amerisleep mattresses.

Typically, we would now mention that Puffy has a removable, machine-washable cover. It does. But so does Amerisleep, so you can’t really award points either way. We should, however, note that very few beds actually have washable covers, so we love that both brands offer this. It means that, for many people, a mattress protector is not necessary. And for the record, we are not huge fans of mattress protectors since they frequently change the firmness profile of your mattress.

Where Puffy Lands On The Firmness Scale

We mentioned that Puffy Lux is soft. How soft, though? We consider Puffy Lux to be somewhere between a medium-soft and a medium. The original Puffy bed, however, is closer to a plain medium on our scale. And that is based on the weight of the average American (i.e. between 160 lbs and 230 lbs).

This makes a lot of strategic sense for Puffy to do as well since they want to target as many consumers as possible with their mattress. Too soft and it would alienate back and stomach sleepers. Too firm and it would turn off strict side sleepers.

In our opinion, the Puffy mattress should be workable for all sleeping styles (i.e. stomach sleepers, back sleepers, and side sleepers). If you want something especially soft you might want to consider Puffy Lux or Amerisleep AS4/5. If you want something extra-firm, you’re out of luck with Puffy currently, but Amerisleep does offer a firm mattress called AS1.

Pricing Comparison For Puffy And Amerisleep

We’ve brought up pricing now several times in this comparison, so let’s tackle the topic now. The most popular Amerisleep mattress is AS3 and it retails for about $1,400 for the queen size. Puffy sells for about $1,150 for the queen size. So just based on MSRP, Puffy wins (although AS1 is closer at about $1,200).

Once you factor in a discount, however, Puffy comes down to the $800-900 range and Amerisleep AS3 typically ends up at $1,200. Again, that’s for the queen size and the price gap will vary here and there, but it’s a fair demonstration that Puffy most often will be a good deal cheaper than Amerisleep. You can look for current deals on their respective websites.

Five Models To Choose From

While Amerisleep offers five mattresses, they do a great job of making it easy for consumers to understand how they all differ. For instance, AS1 is the firmest bed that they offer and AS5 is the softest—AS3 is right in the middle. That’s pretty much all you need to know. Pricing and thickness are important as well, but not nearly as important as matching the overall firmness to your dominant sleeping style.

For primary side sleepers, AS5, AS4, and AS3 are the smartest options. It just depends on how soft you want the bed. For back and/or stomach sleepers, AS3, AS2, and AS1 are the beds to consider first. If you’re a combination sleeper, AS2, AS3, and AS4 are the models you will prefer—again, just depending on your dominant sleeping position.

A Responsive Memory Foam Feel

When you think of memory foam you probably flash back to the early 2000s when you first tried a TempurPedic mattress. Well, that’s not what Amerisleep beds feel like. Yes, you can tell they use memory foam, but it’s not a syrupy, thick memory foam. In fact, one of the best things about Amerisleep beds is that they pop back into shape more quickly than you’d expect.

When I laid down on the mattress, it conformed to my shape, but didn’t leave me feeling “stuck.” I was able to freely move between positions, experiencing the best of memory foam without the typical downsides. I cannot emphasize enough how comfortable the memory foam is on an Amerisleep mattress.

I was skeptical at first that it would really be responsive and still offer pressure relief, but it actually does. If you’re at all open to memory foam, it’s hard for me to fathom that you will not like the AS3 mattress.

So What Should You Do?

We really don’t like telling our readers what to do. We see our job as a neutral arbiter that tries to layout the facts (and certain opinions) to help you make an educated decision. Here are the main things that you should be keeping in mind when comparing Amerisleep and Puffy:

• What are your thoughts on memory foam? If you like it, but don’t love it, both beds will probably work, though, Amerisleep feels more like the memory foam bed you’re used to.
• How tight is your budget? If you’re seriously trying to keep it to under $1,000 for a mattress (queen size), Puffy wins. If you can afford to spend between $1,000 and $1,500, Amerisleep is still in the running for your business.
• Do you need a soft or firm bed, or something in the middle? If you need a soft or medium bed, both brands have your back. If you need a firm bed, Amerisleep has the better option and it’s called AS1 and AS2.

For the most part, that’s the big stuff with these two brands. Of course, there are other items we left out, but your main purchase factors are price, feel, and softness/firmness. If you have any further questions, feel free to shoot us an email or peruse the laundry list that is our mattress comparisons page.