Leesa Mattress Review

Overview

• Comparing The 3 Leesa Beds
• Shipping, Returns & Warranty
• How Much Is A Leesa Mattress: Price & Discount?
• Mattress Cover, Design & Foam Topper
• Mattress Firmness Estimates
• Leesa Mattress Review: Our Final Thoughts

Given that this is a mega review, we’ve supplied jump-to links for you above. Interested primarily in the Original Leesa mattress? That’s great—click the appropriate link above to go to our in-depth individual review.

Our YouTube Review Of Leesa

We like videos. We think they’re a great way to get across elements like feel, firmness, design, and more. We actually created the following review in partnership with our sister review site, Rizknows.

Of course, there’s so much more to say than we can condense into a video, which is precisely why we’ve written the rest of this review. In the text below, you should find pretty much everything you need to know about the Leesa mattress. We even cover the company’s other two mattresses.

Comparing The 3 Leesa Beds

At a high level, there are three big differences between the three Leesa mattresses: price, construction, and firmness level. Here’s a quick overview of the beds:

• Original Mattress — This is a 10″ foam mattress that’s a medium on the firmness scale. It’s affordable and comfortable.
• Coil Mattress — An 11″ innerspring bed that sits at about a medium-firm on our scale. It’s priced in the luxury tier.
• Luxury Mattress — The company’s latest mattress. It has two layers of pocket coils for extra support for heavier individuals.

The innerspring beds have pocketed coils as opposed to dense foam for the bottom layers, and yes, you can feel the difference. Not only are the beds bouncier, but also more supportive/durable over the long run.

The coil beds  also happen to have increased edge support, which is of particular importance for couples on a smaller size bed (i.e. a full or queen). They still have a neutral foam feel, but you end up laying more on top of the beds, whereas the Original Leesa mattress allows you to sink in a little more.

There is a good deal of separation in the price tag for each of the Leesa beds. Depending on discounts, you can often find the queen size Leesa for $900-$950, but the coil bed is about $1,550-$1,600 (give or take) for a queen size. Their luxury mattress is usually above the $2,000 mark for the queen mattress.

Shipping, Returns & Warranty

Leesa is one of the big five brands in the online mattress shopping space. They’ve helped create the standards that you see for every other brand. Firstly, they offer completely free shipping with with all three beds. Let’s just discuss the Original Leesa mattress for now, but it all applies to the other two beds as well.

The bed actually ships via UPS and it is compressed and plastic wrapped in a box, hence the common phrase bed-in-a-box mattress. The bed will typically arrive within 7 business days of when you place your order. Leesa also offers white glove delivery, although that costs extra (details in the FAQ section below).

All you have to do is drag the box inside your house, tear off all of the plastic wrapping, and allow Leesa a while to decompress. Because it has been confined to a box for several days, the bed will be slightly flat even when you remove all of the packaging. Wait about 24 hours and Leesa will be ready to go. It’s completely safe to lay on and sleep on the first night, but just be aware that it’s going to feel softer than normal.

Leesa gives you 100 nights to test out the mattress. This is your chance to see what all of the fuss is about and to determine if you actually like the Leesa mattress. You really should take the lion’s share of the trial period to settle on a decision. You need to give your body time to adjust to the new bed since presumably it’s different than your old bed. Additionally, all beds will feel a little firmer than normal for the first couple of weeks. They all will soften as you sleep on them, but if you want to supercharge the softening process you can walk on the bed every night for few minutes. That will actually ensure that it received even wear throughout so you don’t have soft and firm “pockets.”

If you decide that you don’t want the bed or it’s just not for you (during the trial period) you can get a full refund. There is no catch. If you decide it’s too soft or too firm—or that you just changed your mind—you can request a full refund inside those first 100 nights. Pretty neat, right?

What’s interesting here is that Leesa doesn’t actually make you return the bed, nor do you have to worry about somehow fitting it back into the box. In most cases, Leesa just donates that bed to charity and gives you 100% of your money back. They’re basically trying to reduce any barriers to you trying out their mattress. And, if the return rates at Tuft & Needle are any indicator, about 95% of people will end up keeping their new Leesa mattress.

The Leesa mattress—like Casper, Purple, and many others—also comes with a 10-year warranty. This covers standard manufacturing defects. You can read more about the warranty of Leesa’s website. It’s probably a good idea to do that before you buy because it will dictate, among other things, what type of foundations are compatible with the mattress.

How Much Is A Leesa Mattress: Price & Discount?

Leesa is one of the heavyweights in the bed-in-a-box industry, and part of their success is due to the price of the mattress. Sure, we’ve tested out cheaper, budget mattresses, but Leesa is actually fairly affordable, all things considered. Here’s a breakdown of the MSRP for the Leesa mattress:

Of course, that’s just what the full-retail price is, all these brands are notorious for running specials, particularly during holidays. You can check Leesa.com to see current promotions. Conservatively, you can expect to get the queen bed for around $850-$900 during one of these sales.

Sizes & Dimensions: Leesa Mattress (King, Queen, etc.)

The Original Leesa mattress is available in all the major sizes, ranging from twin to California king, though, they do not yet offer split options. Here’s a quick breakdown of the dimensions for each size:

• Twin — 39″ x 75″
• Twin XL — 39″ x 80″
• Full —  53″ x 75″
• Queen — 60″ x 80″
• King — 76″ x 80″
• Cal King — 72″ x 84″

Why Weight Matters

Spoiler: you can’t just pick any mattress you’d like. There are numerous factors to consider, but none could be more important than your weight, particularly if you plan to keep this bed for a seven-year period or longer.

If you’re under 250 lb you have a lot more leeway with the mattress that you select. If you’re over 250 lb, you will apply more stress to the mattress and therefore you should consider only highly supportive, thicker mattresses. We’ve actually put a list together of the best mattresses for heavy people, which you should find very helpful.

With Leesa specifically, we have good news and bad news. The good news first. If you’re under 225 lb (maybe 250 lb) you should be just fine with this mattress. We actually think it will be quite durable for you and end up being a really nice mattress. I’m sure you can guess what the bad news is. If you’re over 250 lb, we can’t recommend Leesa. In fact, we can’t recommend any 10” all-foam mattress. Not the Casper mattress. Not the Puffy mattress. Not the Bear mattress, and so on.

We generally advise that heavier individuals first consider innerspring mattresses when they’re searching for a new bed. The fact of the matter is that coil mattresses tend to be more supportive over the long run.

Mattress Cover, Design & Foam Topper

At a high level, the Original Leesa has a similar design to many of the other mattresses that we’ve reviewed. By that I mean, it’s 10” thick, constructed entirely of foam, and only has three layers. We see a similar makeup with the Casper Element mattress, Cocoon by Sealy, and plenty of others. That’s not a knock on Leesa—it’s just that the idea of a three-layer foam bed isn’t exactly proprietary. Even so, the feel and design of the Leesa mattress is really nice.

The Original Leesa starts with with a base layer of dense polyurethane foam. This provides the foundation and bulk of the support for the mattress. Next is a 2” transition layer of memory foam that provides pressure relief, but also stops you from feeling the dense, more harsh base layer.

On top is a proprietary foam called LSA200. This feels more neutral and is soft to the touch. It’s airy and light, almost like a marshmallow. You can see in the video above that the top layer is fluffy and airy—it’s really pleasant.

That LSA200 foam offers great pressure relief and is very comfortable to lay on. LSA200 really is the comfort layer. It’s what you will feel most and it’s what makes this mattress so accommodating.

In September 2018, Leesa updated their mattress, but the only real change that they made was swapping out Avena foam for LSA200 foam. The Avena foam had pretty much the same feel as LSA200, only it was convoluted foam (i.e. egg crate foam).

Leesa made the change for a number of reasons. Firstly, they felt that the new LSA200 foam offered more pressure relief and would be more comfortable. We concur. Secondly, there were concerns with the long term durability of the egg crate (Avena) foam. The new LSA200 is far more durable. Finally, the LSA200 foam is faster to react to pressure being applied and removed. We think it was a smart move and, indeed, was an upgrade.

The cover on the mattress is made mostly of polyester, viscose, and lycra. It’s very soft and has a striped texture that makes it really comfortable to lay on.

Technically, the cover is removable, but we’d recommend you don’t do this. If you need to clean it, you should spot clean with a dab of light detergent and warm water. For comparison, most mattresses have removable, but non-machine washable covers. Only a handful of beds have machine washable covers. Off the top of my head, I can think of Yogabed and Novosbed.

What Does The Leesa Mattress Feel Like?

Because Leesa uses a combination of foams, it has more of neutral overall feel. As we mentioned, it does use memory foam, but Leesa doesn’t feel at all like a memory foam mattress. Instead, if you can imagine this, it just feels like a bed made of a general, soft foam.

To be honest, the Original Leesa feels bland and kind of boring, but we actually think that’s a good thing, oddly enough. This is a highly accommodating, universally comfortable bed that very few people will take a hard stance against. Basically, if you want a safe pick, that’s Leesa.

As you can see in the video above, the Original Leesa is also a responsive mattress. This is important because it means there’s none of that dreadful stuck-in-the-mud feeling. You can effortlessly rotate between sleeping positions without feeling slowed down by the mattress. Beds that are more responsive generally make it easier to get restful sleep.

Mattress Firmness Estimates

As you might expect, Leesa is right down the middle in terms of firmness. It’s a medium on the soft/firm spectrum and will therefore be suitable for the greatest number of people.

In previous iterations of the Leesa mattress, we had it pegged at a medium-firm on the soft/firm spectrum, but the new LSA200 foam has softened the mattress a bit.

Keep in mind that softness/firmness is a mostly subjective measurement. Heavier individuals will think beds are softer, while lighter folks will think everything is firm. This is the reason that we give a range for softness/firmness—it’s not the same for everyone.

Approved Sleeping Styles

Back and stomach sleepers want firmer mattresses that make it easier to keep a neutral spine. You still want compression such that the bed contours to the shape of your body, but you want it firm and supportive enough that you don’t feel any excess pressure in your low back. With this in mind, Leesa will do just fine for you.

It is important to note that Leesa is a nice option for medium and petite sleepers that favor their back/stomach, but it wouldn’t be our first pick if you were 300 lb. I know we touched on this above, but be mindful that almost everything with a mattress is all relative.

As for side and combo sleepers, the Original Leesa mattress is a great pick. It offers a good amount of pressure relief, particularly for you hips and shoulders. Now, if the bed feels a hair too firm initially, remember, that it will soften up quite a bit for you, so don’t jump ship right away.

Combination sleepers typically want a neutral, responsive bed that’s anywhere from a medium-soft to medium-firm on the soft/firm spectrum. That’s Leesa. This is a really nice bed for anyone that tosses and turns throughout the night.

Does Leesa Sleep Hot?

No! The Original Leesa is a neutral sleeping bed that actually does a nice job of wicking heat. We wouldn’t consider it particularly hot or cold. Having said that, lighter folks will typically find that it sleeps cooler because they sink in less. The opposite is true for heavier people. This goes for all mattresses.

Even more, factors such as room temperature, sheets, sleeping position, and whether or not you sleep alone, all play a role in the perceived temperature of a mattress. For instance, if you leave your window open in the dead heat of the summer, it doesn’t matter what your mattress is made of, you’re probably going to feel hot. Similarly, if you use thick, cotton sheets or a heavy duty comforter, things will probably get pretty toasty for you.

Important For Couples

Beyond everything that we’ve already discussed, edge support and motion isolation are two elements that you should consider with your new bed, particularly if you will be sleeping with a partner.

Motion isolation is important with any mattress, but it’s acutely important when one partner is (1) active in their sleep and/or (2) is a huge fan of getting up for a midnight snack. Usually, all-foam beds are quite good at limiting motion transfer and Leesa is no different.

The bed does a good job of absorbing and isolating the movement. This is basically the LSA200 foam and memory foam working in tandem to deaden cross-mattress motion. We even bounce around on the bed and hardly any of that motion travels through the bed—impressive stuff.

Moving over to edge support, this often goes overlooked, but is key if you plan to share a twin XL (oh my..) or full size mattress. With these smaller size beds, space is limited, so you want to be able to access the entire surface area of the bed, including the perimeter. If the edges compress too much you can get a roll-off sensation, which is no bueno muchacho.

Leesa has ok edge support, which is common for all-foam beds. We’ve seen worse, but we’ve also seen much better edge support. Let’s put it this way, edge support is not a reason to get Leesa, but it shouldn’t be a major deterrent either. We actually think edge support is a little overblown in the mattress community. The percentage of people that care deeply about edge support is probably rather small; we’d wager that it’s less than 20% of consumers.

Bed Frames And Foundation For Leesa Mattresses

The Leesa mattresses are compatible with basically all foundations and frames that have a solid flat surface with next to no give. For example, it will work with platform beds (wood and metal), adjustable bed frames, foundations, and even the floor. Leesa even sells several compatible bed frames on Leesa.com.

Leesa Mattress Review: Our Final Thoughts

We can see why Leesa is so popular; it’s a quality bed that doesn’t over-complicate things. You don’t have any special bells and whistles, no cooling textiles, no coils, and nothing to turn off the average consumer. We like it for myriad reasons, but probably the most impressive thing is that it’s a jack of all trades. It’s a good bed.