Casper Wave Review

Agenda For This Review

• How Delivery, Unboxing & Returns All Work
• Pricing Breakdown
• Casper Wave Has A Five-Layer Foam Construction
• What A Luxury Foam Mattress Feels Like
• Back And Stomach Sleeper Approved
• Is It Also Able To Work For Side Sleepers?
• Do We Think Couples Will Enjoy The Bed?

Casper Wave Video Review

Below is a short review video that covers what type of sleepers we think the Casper Wave is best for.

Of course, there is even more to know about the Wave mattress and it’s pros and cons, which is why we’ve put together such a beefy review. Keep reading if you want more info about Casper Wave. At the bottom, we even have a short synopsis for you.

How Delivery, Unboxing & Returns All Work

Casper is one of the most recognized names in the bed-in-a-box mattress industry and pretty much created the standard as far as company policies go. They offer free shipping, free returns, a 100-night risk-free trial period, and a 10-year warranty. You will see a similar set of policies for pretty much every other brand out there, including Nectar and Purple.

The only thing that you get with the Casper Wave that you won’t with their other beds is optional free white glove delivery and in-home setup. You can still get mattress in a box if you’d like, but if you’d rather have someone else do all of the work, you can opt to schedule delivery and setup through Casper’s website. Here’s a look at the typical unboxing process.

From the day of delivery, as mentioned previously, you have 100 nights to try out your new bed to see if you love it. If you don’t, Casper will fully refund your purchase and send someone to remove the bed for you. They’ll even try to donate your used mattress to a charity in need, or recycle it. Casper, and the rest of the bed-in-a-box industry, are making it really hard to not try out their products.

While the trial period is standard for pretty much every bed-in-a-box mattress, Casper is one of the companies that started the concept. They realize that in order for you to personally evaluate their bed, you need a chance to lay on it—but not just for five minutes at the mattress store. You may need up to three months to give it a thumbs up or down.

Typically, consumers can make a final decision inside the first 45 days, but Casper lets you breathe a little, knowing that the vast majority of buyers end up keeping the mattress. We’ve seen stats that something like 90% or more of people that buy a mattress online end up keeping it. Return rates will vary by brand and product, but clearly they’re getting very few returns because they continue to offer the risk-free trial period.

Moving over to the warranty, 10 years is pretty standard. And if you think about it 10 years is pretty much all that you can expect out of a mattress, so at least Casper covers their products through their expected lifespan.

Pricing Breakdown

Although Casper is predominantly known as an affordable mattress brand (because they save costs by selling factory direct-to-consumer, instead of purely via brick and mortar stores), the Casper Wave is their upgraded mattress option, with an upgraded price tag. Here’s a breakdown by mattress size:

Because Casper is an online mattress veteran, they play the whole discount game just like every other brand. In fact, during major holidays, you can typically get some pretty great mattress deals if you bundle in accessories like sheets, pillows, dog beds, etc. Deals usually start at around $100-200 off and increase the more you spend.

You can check Casper.com to see current deals and specials. We also should have an evergreen coupon code on the right hand side of this page to save you money on your Casper mattress purchase.

UPDATE: Casper Wave Hybrid

In early 2019, Casper started making a hybrid model of the Wave mattress, which for the most part is just the Wave with pocketed coils for support. Here’s a picture of the Wave Hybrid mattress.

For the remainder of this review we will be focusing on the original Wave mattress because, for a number of reasons, it’s still the most popular of the two, but we wanted to make you aware of the Wave Hybrid. If you want to learn more about the Wave Hybrid, visit Casper.com.

Casper Wave Has A Five-Layer Foam Construction

The Casper Wave is a mattress made entirely of foam; it’s actually a medley of five layers, and has poly foam, memory foam, and even a layer of latex foam. If you open up the mattress, it’s like looking at a rainbow, there are so many colors and layers.

But let’s get detailed about its construction. The base layer is supportive poly foam that includes contoured cuts near the top and bottom portions of the mattress. These cuts are designed to be more forgiving under your head, shoulders and legs (i.e. more pressure relief). On top of the base layer is a 1.5″ layer of high-resiliency foam that includes supportive gel pods positioned in the center third of the mattress.

These gel pods are designed to provide more support under your lower back/trunk and are new to the mattress as of October 2018. These two layers work together to deliver what Casper calls Hyper-Targeted Support, which provides better support and more pressure relief where you need it most. We’ll talk about this more in a bit, but here’s an image of what it looks like.

Next is a layer of visco-elastic memory foam (fancy way of just saying memory foam), then second to last is a layer of latex foam, and then finally is a thin layer of Flo Foam, which helps to give this bed its soft, neutral-foam feel. Altogether, this creates a 13” foam mattress.

Also, that Flo Foam mentioned above is more of an open cell foam meaning it’s less dense and allows for more airflow. This helps with temperature regulation and dissipating heat. There is a similar open cell foam on the Casper Essential and original Casper mattress, which are also made entirely of foam. The open cell structure just means that the foam isn’t as dense and therefore more easily allows air to pass through. If you look closely in the image below, you can even see that the foam doesn’t appear to be as dense.

Casper states that all of the foams in the mattress are certified by the CertiPUR-US program, meaning they are made without ozone depleting chemicals, and they’re regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions for air quality. Also, the layer of latex foam and the cover are OEKO-TEX certified, which, again, reaffirms that the bed is safe to sleep on and keep inside your home. The OEKO-TEX certification is really difficult to get, and means that Casper went the extra mile in terms of sourcing materials for the Wave mattress.

More Info About The Wave’s Cover

The Casper Wave cover is made entirely of non-mulesed wool. This is actually another change Casper made to the mattress in October 2018. Previously, it was made of polyester and rayon. The new cover is designed to help fight humidity and wick moisture away. We think it was a smart move—there are other beds that utilize wool for similar reasons.

The cover is removable but if you happen to spill your nightcap or glass of warm milk, just spot clean the dirty area with a mild detergent as opposed to machine washing it. This is standard.

If the thought of a dirty mattress has you in tears, you may want to look into a mattress protector in order to ensure that your Wave bed stays clean. Casper sells one or you can pretty much get any mattress protector on Amazon and that should work as well. It does take away from the natural feel of the bed, but it goes a long way in protecting the bed and keeping it clean. You should be able to find a mattress protector that’s semi-breathable and is still waterproof.

Also, Casper recommends on their site that you air your mattress out every now and then. To do this, simply take everything off the mattress, including the sheets, then open a few windows. For a more serious situation, they recommend you sprinkle some baking soda across the bed (maybe with some essential oils mixed in), then vacuum it up before putting the sheets back on. Also, remember to rotate this mattress every 3-6 months. This will help prevent any sagging or permanent body indentations.

What A Luxury Foam Mattress Feels Like

As we’ve said, the Casper Wave has more of soft, neutral feel rather than a strong memory foam or innerspring feel. Casper Wave feels soft and bouncy, like how a child would think bouncing on a cloud would feel. That’s the Casper Wave. Funny way to describe the bed, but hopefully that made sense for you.

We found it to be a medium on our firmness scale. Your bodyweight and BMI do impact how soft or firm a bed feels to you, but for the average person, the Casper Wave should be right around the middle of that soft/firm spectrum.

Heavier folks will experience a softer Casper Wave because they apply more pressure to the mattress. Conversely, more petite individuals will claim that this is a firmer bed. We try to include this disclaimer in every post just to lay expectations. It’s the reason that we build our firmness scales to show a range rather than a set point. The heavier people on our team think Casper is just a hair softer than a medium, while our petite employees claim it’s just a hair firmer than a medium.

As for responsiveness, the Wave is actually pretty good despite the fact that it uses a layer of memory foam. A lot of the “bounce” that you see is coming from the poly foam base and latex foam. They tend to snap into shape more quickly, while the memory foam is there for pressure relief.

The reason that responsiveness is important is that it indicates how much effort is required to switch positions at night. Casper Wave makes it easy to rotate positions during the night—at no point will you get a strong stuck-in-the-mud feeling. This can help you get more restful sleep because you won’t have to extend extra energy just to switch to your back from you side, for example.

Back And Stomach Sleeper Approved

The Casper Wave was created with Hyper-Targeted Support System, which provides extra support particularly under your hips and trunk (where you carry the majority of your weight). If you open up the mattress—which you should not do, but we did—you can actually see the Hyper-Targeted Support System.

You can actually feel that the bed is a little firmer and more supportive in the middle third. If you look closely in the image above, you can see the reinforced slats in that center portion. Pretty neat concept.

When you lay on the bed, the targeted support system is subtle, but we think it’s a clever concept, especially if you plan to keep the bed for seven or more years. In other words, we think it will help you to get more comfortable sleep, but also it should help increase the useful life of the mattress.

Those who sleep on their back or stomach generally need a firmer bed. The main thing that you want to do is ensure that your spine is in neutral alignment. This means that the earlobe, the shoulder, the hip, the knee, and the ankle are all relatively in the same line. We felt that the Wave was a suitable mattress for most back and stomach sleepers.

If you’re extra heavy (well over 250 lb), you might want to look into a spring or hybrid mattress, though this is the best Casper mattress for heavier folks and is one of the better all-foam beds overall for heavy people. Even so, we are inclined to encourage heavier folks to initially start with coil beds, and, if necessary, move over to thicker all-foam beds such as Casper Wave.

You do need the mattress to contour to your curves, but the big thing is that you don’t want to feel extra tension in your lower back from the mattress. And the big test is how you feel when you wake up. It’s not really about how you feel when you first lay down, it’s about how good you feel in the morning. We think most people will repot back good news with the Casper Wave mattress.

Is It Also Able To Work For Side Sleepers?

Also yes. That Hyper-Targeted Support System does a good job of providing ample pressure relief under your shoulders in particular. This is mostly important for side sleepers who usually gravitate toward a softer mattress that will contour to their curves instead of fight against them.

Again, the heavier you are, the more pressure you’re going to put on the bed. Thus, heavier folks will likely prefer sleeping on their side with the Wave, as opposed to their back or stomach.

As for combo sleepers, the layer of latex in the Wave gives this bed a good amount of bounce, so you’ll most likely never feel “stuck in the mud,” and it’ll be fairly easy to switch positions. So yes, this is a good bed for combo sleepers, as well. While it has the memory foam layer, this does not at all feel like a memory foam mattress.

Can Heavy People Sleep On A Foam Mattress

It’s good, but not ideal for everyone. It’s definitely one of the better foam mattresses for heavy and obese people, but we can’t say that it’s absolute best option. Generally speaking, we’d still steer your toward a spring or hybrid mattress. That said, this is a durable, well-made mattress, it’s just that heavier folks are hard to size up for a bed.

For heavier folks, we’d say start with the Casper Wave Hybrid mattress since it has a layer of support coils.

Consensus On Sleeping Temperature

We found that the Casper Wave didn’t cool us down, but we didn’t warm up while we slept either. We’d call it temperature neutral just like most foam beds. The Flo Foam helps to circulate airflow and latex foam is a naturally cooler foam in general. It’s not on our list of best cooling mattress for hot sleepers, but unless you sleep notably hot at night, you should be fine with the Wave.

Remember, though, temperature hinges on more than the materials that are inside the bed. Other factors such as softness/firmness, sleeping positions, weight of the sleeper, and room temperature all impact how you experience the mattress.

Do We Think Couples Will Enjoy The Bed?

The Casper Wave is a good bed for couples for a number of reasons. First, the motion isolating capabilities of this bed is surprisingly good, considering that it has a layer of latex.

Motion isolation refers to how well the bed deadens motion. This means that when your partner tries to sneak away for some late night snacking when they can’t sleep, their motion won’t transfer and wake you up, too. Most foam mattresses are pretty good at isolating motion.

Edge support is another important factor for couples. Edge support is pretty simple, but often overlooked. It really just refers to how sturdy the perimeter of the mattress is. In other words, if you end up on the edges, do you feel as though you’re going to roll off? A bed with good edge support won’t have any of that roll-off sensation.

The edge support on the Wave is also pretty good. This is nice for couples who share a smaller sized bed and tend to fight over the middle, or when someone likes to starfish out on the bed and the other is forced to hug the side of the mattress. Rest assured, you (hopefully) won’t be falling off the edge of this bed.

Casper Wave Review Verdict

The Wave is Casper’s newest addition to their mattress collection (as of this post). We like that this bed is good for all body types, all sleeper types, and couples. We’re glad that their zoned support technology works, and isn’t just marketing fluff. If you like the feeling of soft, neutral-foam, and this bed is within your budget, we say go for it. We think it’ll be hard to find someone who isn’t happy with this bed.

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Why Casper Wave Might Be Worth Paying More For

Hyper-Targeted Support — There are very few other beds with such a meticulous design. We can’t say that you’ll notice the the support system, but we think it is a major differentiator for the Wave.

Neutral Feel — It has such a plane feel to it that we think most people will be just fine sleeping on the Wave. In other words, it’s not going to send anyone running for the hills because the feel is too unique. Most people should agree that it’s comfy.

Firmness Level — Similar story for firmness. It’s pretty neutral—just a medium, give or take. The bed is therefore able to accommodate all sleeping positions.

Brand Name — While it has nothing to do with the actual product itself, brand equity is important to consumers. You recognize (and most likely trust) the Casper brand, and that alone could give you confidence in the Wave mattress.

ACA Endorsement — We aren’t aware of any other beds that have been endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association. Perhaps there are others, but we haven’t seen or tested them. In any case, if you’re dealing with Sciatica or lower back pain—or some other physical ailment—it might give you confidence in the Wave mattress given that it’s been endorsed by the ACA.

Trial Period — If all else fails, at least you can get your money back during the trial period.