Propel Mattress Review

Medically Reviewed by Dr. Gregory Minnis, DPT

Dr. Gregory Minnis is a physical therapist with an interest in orthopedic manual therapy. He graduated from the University of St. Augustine in Florida with a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. His work experience includes orthopedic physical therapy, sports medicine, neurological rehab, advanced assessment and treatment of running injuries, and advanced treatment of the pelvic complex, spine, and extremities. He loves spending time outdoors biking, skiing, and surfing.

An Intro To Propel And Company Policies

The popular bed-in-a-box brand Brooklyn Bedding has an extreme recovery mattress for athletes and particularly active individuals called Spartan, and the Propel mattress is designed to be the more affordable model for the everyday individual on the go. I know, not a major distinction, but at least it saves you money.

When you purchase Propel, it’ll arrive to your home in a cardboard box about 4 ft tall and it only takes about 10-15 minutes to unbox. And even though we consider ourselves mattress nerds here, we think the process is kind of fun and you probably will too. You’ll want to wait about 24-48 hours before you sleep on it though, to give the bed enough time to decompress and fully inflate to the size it’s intended to be.

You’ll receive a few perks if you decide to purchase a bed-in-a-box mattress including a risk-free trial, free shipping, free returns, and a warranty policy. With Propel, you’ll get a 120-night trial period to give your new mattress a try. If you find on day 119 you dislike the mattress, all you have to do is reach out to their customer service and they’ll walk you through the next steps to kick start the return process.

As far as warranty goes, Propel will give you 10 years of coverage, which is the standard time period in the industry. We always recommend you take a look at the details to avoid any confusion on what you are and aren’t covered for, so head over to Propel’s website for more info there.

Price Tag For This Mattress

The Propel mattress is offered at an average price point (if not below average) in comparison to other mattresses on the online market, and it’s more affordable than Brooklyn Bedding’s more specialized counterpart, Spartan. Here’s a look at the pricing by size.

The retail price for Propel is about $1,000, but they do run promotions to make the price even more affordable. We should have a discount code on this page, but if not, head over to their website to get more up-to-date prices—or you can visit our Mattress Deals page to see if we’ve spotted anything relevant today.

What Is The Propel Mattress Made Of?

The propel mattress is a hybrid and made up of 5 layers, totaling 11.5” thick. When we call a mattress a hybrid, we mean it incorporates both coils and foam. The first layer starts with a 1” layer of support foam to provide a foundation for the rest of the mattress. On top of the thin support foam layer is 6” individually wrapped Ascension coils, which are basically just coils with a fancy name. Did we mention there were over 1,000 of them? Coils make a mattress extra supportive, bouncy, and also help with durability.

What’s unique about pocketed coils (or individually wrapped coils) is that they can act more independent of each other. In other words, unlike your standard innerspring unit, when you flex one side it doesn’t necessarily flex the other side of the bed—better for light sleepers.

The next slab of material is made out of a 1” thick layer of gel visco-elastic memory foam, which is a fancy way of just saying “memory foam.” It’s supposed to regulate temperature better than traditional memory foam, and it adds an extra layer of plush contouring material.

The fourth layer of material from the bottom is 2” of hyper-elastic Energex foam, which can offer the pressure relief of memory foam, but reacts faster. You therefore will not experience any “stuck” sensation, and moving around on the bed should be effortless. Here’s a neat video demonstrating Energex foam:

Finally at the top of the mattress is 1.5” of Propel’s patented CopperFlex foam which kind of acts like memory foam in that it provides pressure relief and contours to the curves of your body. However, similar to Energex foam, it’s a responsive material, as opposed to memory foam which takes a few moments to bounce back.

This is also the layer containing the brand’s TitanCool technology. According to the company, little cooling gel beads liquefy after being exposed to body heat, and actively work together to bring your skin temperature to a neutral 88 degrees. If the cooling gel beads become exposed to low temperatures, on the other hand, they solidify to ensure you stay comfortable and accommodated.

While the Propel Sleep mattress is not flippable, Propel just released new dual-sided models which allow you to do so: Propel Dual-Sided Hybrid and Propel Dual-Sided All-Foam.

Propel’s Cover With Upcycle Technology

The cover on Propel is just as high tech as the rest of the mattress, and has a similar function as the Celliant cover on Bear Mattress. First off, it’s made with an “elite European performance fabric” called Upcycle. According to the website, Upcycle is “a surface treatment of encapsulated minerals on the mattress cover” where your body heat is turned into Far Red Infrared Rays. These rays then transmit safely back into your body as energy, and as a result, you supposedly wake up feeling more refreshed and energized to take on your day.

The rays can infiltrate materials up to two inches thick, so you won’t have to worry about the comforters and sheets on your bed interfering with the process.

The Slumber Yard team honestly has no way to test how well Upcycle does or doesn’t work, simply because we aren’t scientists. Regardless, we think the technology is a nice perk for anybody who lives a somewhat active lifestyle, like mothers who need a little recovery after running around all day (especially since you aren’t paying extra for it). We happen to be fans of Celliant, so we see no reason that this technically can’t also work.

We also really like the look of Propel’s cover. If you didn’t know anything about the Propel mattress, upon first impression you can basically already tell it’s a more high tech mattress.

Overall Feel And Firmness

Imagine coming home after a long day at your 9-5 job and you fall into a soft, fluffy, pressure relieving pile of pillows. Not just regular pillows though, but temperature regulating recovery pillows. That’s sort of what it feels like to lay on a Propel mattress.

We think it has a plush neutral-foam feel, and it’s really comfortable. It’s also quick to respond to pressure, which we were a little surprised about, due to its underlying memory foam layer.

On their website, it says Propel sits at a medium on the firmness scale, but we think it feels more like a medium- on our scale (i.e. it’s somewhere between a medium-soft and medium, but closer to a medium). So we think Propel is an acceptable mattress for essentially all sleeper types.

Is The Propel Bed Good For Back And Stomach Sleepers?

Back and stomach sleepers should look out for a supportive mattress to keep their spine in proper alignment, and we think the Propel mattress does the job effectively. Even though it leans more towards the softer side of the spectrum, its proprietary foam and massive number of coils underneath make it a good enough mattress for both back and stomach sleepers.

What About Side And Combo Sleepers?

We think the Propel mattress is ideal for side sleepers, and a great bed for combo sleepers too. Folks who favor their side when they sleep should look for a slightly softer mattress to provide pressure relief to their hips and shoulders.

Combination sleepers should probably base their choice around the side they mostly sleep on, but they’ll also want something responsive to pressure so that way it’s easier to switch positions on. In Propel’s case, it’s definitely responsive and accommodating enough for combination sleepers.

How Weight Affects The Feel Of A Mattress

If you’ve seen some of our other posts, we usually talk about weight and how it affects the feel of the mattress. In simple terms, the more you weigh the softer a mattress will feel, and vice versa.

For folks who weigh about 250+ lbs, we recommend hybrid mattresses because they offer more support and durability than all-foam mattresses do. Propel certainly fits that description, so we think it’s a good mattress for all body types, from petite to heavy set.

Does The Propel Mattress Sleep Hot?

Some mattress brands claim their bed is cool, like some movie trailers claim their film is the best one of the entire year. And by that we mean, brands throw the word “cool” around when temperature can be a pretty subjective topic. So when we discuss how cool or hot a specific bed sleeps, it’s hard to give a definite answer. With that said, we’re going to try and give you an answer.

There are a few features that make Propel a cooler mattress than other companies who only use materials found on the warm side of the spectrum. The mattress feels somewhat cool-to-the-touch from the TitanCool technology in the bed’s top layer, the bed’s coils allow for pretty great airflow, and the gel memory foam also helps regulate the bed’s temperature. But we still think the Propel mattress sleeps more temperature neutral than on the cool side. If you’re looking for an ultra cooling mattress, take a look at our list on the Best Mattresses for Hot Sleepers.

How Is The Propel Mattress For Couples?

You might have never thought about edge support or motion isolation on a mattress before, but it’s important for folks who sleep with a loved one to consider. If you’ve ever felt like your partner was pushing you so close to the edge of the bed that you were going to fall off, that’s probably because your mattress didn’t have the greatest edge support. When we tested out Propel, we thought it felt somewhat sturdy around the edges, but nothing worth writing home about.

If you’re really concerned with edge support, it’s always a good idea to size up. If you’re thinking about a queen, perhaps upgrade to a king.

We also thought Propel was pretty good at isolating motion, which means you shouldn’t wake up every time your partner gets up in the middle of the night. So overall, we think Propel is a great mattress for couples to sleep on.

Propel Mattress Review Verdict

So after all is said and done, what do we think about Brooklyn Bedding’s Propel mattress? Well, we think this bed is best for your average person looking for a little more pep in their step each morning.

We really like the TitanCool and Upcycle technology, as it adds a little extra something to the mattress without the extra cost. We actually think Propel is a highly affordable bed, especially for a hybrid mattress with uncommon additional features. So if you’re interested in a durable, supportive, plush neutral-foam mattress with recovery technology, then we suggest you give Propel a shot.

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  Dillon Lopez

  Combo Sleeper

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  Dillon Payne

  Combo Sleeper

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  Jack Reynoso

  Combo Sleeper

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  JD Christison

  Combo Sleeper