Tuft and Needle Reviews

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• Unbiased Tuft and Needle Review Video
• Tuft And Needle Company Policies
• What Is The Price Of Tuft & Needle?
• T&N Is A Two-Layer Foam Mattress
• Feel And Firmness
• What Other Factors Should Couples Consider?
• Tuft and Needle Review Verdict

Use the links above to jump to a particular section within this review. If you’re looking for commentary on approved sleeping positions, click the “Feel And Firmness” link.

Unbiased Tuft and Needle Review Video

Below is a quick video that covers all the major details you should be aware of regarding the Tuft & Needle mattress.

However, we couldn’t quite fit every little detail into one single video, though. Keep reading our comprehensive review below for more commentary and analysis.

Tuft And Needle Company Policies

Like nearly all mattresses sold online, Tuft & Needle ships in a box for free and will typically arrive at your door within a few days of placing the order. Once the bed arrives, here’s a look at how to properly unbox and set it up.

From there the company gives you 100 nights to try it out in the comfort of your own home. This is your chance to give the bed a thumbs up or thumbs down (remember that scene from Gladiator?).

You should allow your body a few weeks to adjust to the bed and, at the same time, do your best to break in the mattress. All beds soften over time, and you really want to try to expedite that process so that you have a more accurate sense of what the bed will feel like for you long term. By the way, 100 nights should be more than long enough to give Tuft & Needle the thumbs up or down—most people will know within the first month.

If you end up smashing that dislike button with Tuft & Needle, inside the first 100 nights, you can get a full refund. Really. There is no catch. They will dispatch a local charity or someone in your area to pick the bed up from your house and charge you nothing in the process. Tuft & Needle—like Casper, Helix, and plenty of others—offers completely free returns.

Clearly, the majority of people keep their new mattress, otherwise Tuft & Needle, Purple, and the other mattresses that we’ve reviewed couldn’t afford to offer free shipping, trial periods, and free returns. Tuft & Needle actually says that 95% of people keep their bed. And if that’s the case for you, you should know that Tuft & Needle comes with a 10-year warranty that covers defects, shoddy workmanship, and other issues from the manufacturing process. You can read more about the warranty on the company’s website.

What Is The Price Of Tuft & Needle?

If you’re looking for a budget mattress, it’s hard to do much better than Tuft & Needle. I know that’s a little direct, but it’s the truth. This is a pretty good mattress with a very nice price tag. Here’s a look at the MSRP for Tuft & Needle mattress:

The average bed-in-a-box mattress (before any discounts) is about $1,000 for a queen size. As you can see, Tuft & Needle charges much less than that, which is why they aren’t all that aggressive in terms of offering coupons and deals on their mattress. However, we have seen them run specials during major holidays. You may want to check the company’s website to see if there is a promotion running.

T&N Is A Two-Layer Foam Mattress

This is a 10” all-foam bed with only two layers, hence the reason that a queen size is around $600. But just because it only has two layers doesn’t mean it’s a bad mattress. In fact, there’s a heck of a lot of people that really like Tuft & Needle (again, apparently 95% of people keep the bed).

The base layer is dense polyurethane foam, which is what provides the support and foundation for the mattress. We see this on just about every foam mattress we test unless it’s a latex mattress. The top layer is a proprietary T&N Adaptive Foam, which incorporates gel and graphite to help with temperature regulation.

Even so, that top layer feels just like a softer poly foam. It’s neutral, fluffy, and pretty dang comfortable, but it doesn’t have a “signature” feel. In other words, we think the bed is so neutral that most people will either love it or shrug and say “it just fine for me.” This isn’t the type of bed that separate couples or has people running away because it’s too unique.

The cover on the Tuft & Needle mattress is actually new as of August 2018. Previously, it was somewhat transparent and allowed you to see the foams underneath. Most people didn’t care, but others felt like it cheapened the mattress. Tuft & Needle has now swapped that cover out for a slightly different, textured cover that’s soft to the touch and is made of polyester and micro polyamide. Just as an FYI, micro polyamide is a textile commonly found in clothing and it has some advantages over cotton.

While the cover is removable and there’s a zipper on the underside of the bed, you really shouldn’t get in the habit of removing it, even for cleaning. In fact, if you’re concerned about keeping your mattress clean and want to protect against stains or the oil from your skin (yes, it seeps through your sheets), you have two options. First, you could get a mattress protector—Tuft & Needle sells one on their website. Second, you could just spot clean whenever stains do arise.

The mattress protector is a more permanent, error-free way to keep the bed clean, but it does mess with the overall feel of the bed. Typically, these mattress protectors are waterproof—even if they are breathable—and that means that they’re thicker and tougher than a soft foam. As such, the bed will appear firmer when the protector is on the mattress. For this reason, we might just suggest that you spot clean if you’re not really concerned with stains. In other words, if this is a mattress for a kid, you might want the protector, but if it’s for you and your partner, you might just consider spot cleaning as necessary.

Why Your Weight Matters

Heavier individuals will apply more pressure to a mattress and thus will experience it to be softer in general; the opposite is true for a petite person. We mention this because as we discuss other elements of the bed (feel, firmness, etc.) we want you to be factoring in your weight. We make our estimates based on someone in the 150 lb to 225 lb range.

Additionally, the heavier you are, the more stress that you apply to a mattress. This is the reason that generally we recommend heavier folks first look into hybrid or innerspring mattresses, which tend to be more durable and supportive over the long run. As such, we can only recommend Tuft & Needle to petite and medium size individuals. If you’re over 250 lb, we just do not believe it will have the long term support that you require.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for Heavy & Obese Sleepers

Feel And Firmness

If you can picture a softer, more neutral foam, that’s what Tuft & Needle feels like. It’s accommodating, comfortable, and actually kind of bland, but in a good way. It’s one of those beds that basically anyone can get comfortable on because it’s so neutral. And, it also happens to feel nothing like memory foam.

Tuft & Needle is about a medium on the soft-to-firm spectrum. It’s softer than Avocado, but firmer than Nolah. It really is in that sweet spot where a lot of people will find the bed comfortable. We’d actually consider Tuft & Needle to be more of a medium+ in that it’s slightly firmer than a true medium, but it will soften as you use it.

The other nice thing about Tuft & Needle is that it’s extremely responsive, meaning it reacts almost immediately to pressure. It’s not like a memory foam mattress that leaves behind a body impression. It actually snaps back into shape quickly. It won’t be the most pressure reliving material in the world, but it sure is good for combination sleepers that want to be able to rotate positions with ease. We wouldn’t consider Tuft & Needle to be a plush soft mattress, but remember that firmness relies a lot on your particular body type.

Responsiveness is important because it’s an indicator of how easy it will be to rotate sleeping positions on the mattress. If you’re working with a memory foam bed such as Nectar or Novosbed, it takes more effort to switch from your back to your side to your stomach and so on. This can leave you feeling restless since you had to exert more effort to switch positions. Luckily, Tuft & Needle is pretty great in terms of responsiveness.

Back And Stomach Sleepers

In general back and stomach sleepers prefer firmer beds. While Tuft & Needle isn’t the firmest bed out there, it is suitable for medium/petite back and stomach sleepers. It actually does a nice job of supporting your hips and keeping your spin in proper alignment.

What you’re looking for as a back and/or stomach sleeper is comfort down your spine. If you feel pressure in your low back, there’s a chance that the bed is too soft. Ultimately what you’re looking for is how comfortable you feel when you wake up in the morning, not necessarily how comfortable the bed is from the outset.

Can Tuft & Needle Handle Side And Combo Sleepers?

You betcha! In fact, we think this is a pretty nice bed for side and combo sleepers, especially if you’re on a budget. You might find it to be a little too firm from the get go, but the bed will soften and end up being probably a lot more comfortable for sleeping on your side. And, considering that the average American weighs about 200 lb (according to the CDC), we think T&N will be just for a good number of side sleepers.

Because it’s so responsive, this also makes for a great mattress for combo sleepers. You can easily switch positions on the bed without hardly any effort at all.

Does The Mattress Sleep Hot?

No. We would say it’s more temperature neutral. It doesn’t have any phase change cooling materials like the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora or TempurPedic TEMPUR-Adapt, but it won’t sleep nearly as warm as your traditional memory foam mattress. If you sleep cold, neutral, or slightly warm, you should be just fine with Tuft & Needle.

We’ve found that the cover is breathable, as is the top layer of T&N Adaptive Foam. Again, not a proper cooling mattress, but for the price, can you really complain? We’d give it the “no worries” designation for temperature regulation.

What Other Factors Should Couples Consider?

Beside the feel, firmness, support, and temperature of a bed, there are two other elements that couples should be mindful of. In our opinion, however, these next two factors aren’t nearly as important as what we discussed in the top portion of this review.

The first is edge support, which is often overlooked when people go mattress shopping. Edge support is all about how tough and strong the edges of the bed are. If the edges compress a good amount, you could experience a roll-off feeling, which you won’t like.

Like many other all-foam beds, Tuft & Needle doesn’t have fantastic edge support. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing to write home about. If you plan to share a twin XL or full size mattress, you should either (1) go up a size or (2) consider a firmer mattress—but to be honest, there aren’t many beds at this price point with exceptional edge support.

The other element to consider is motion isolation. This is key if you or your partner is particularly active during the night—maybe they’re jostle around a lot or just take several trips to the kitchen for a midnight snack. Either way, you want a bed that deadens motion fairly efficiently, and typically that means an all-foam bed like Tuft & Needle.

Luckily for you, Tuft & Needle is actually pretty good at deadening movement. It’s not the best mattress for motion isolation and light sleepers, but you should be just fine. As you can see in the video there is a little motion traveling through the bed, but part of that is due to the actual bed frame itself moving slightly or the cover stretching. All in all, it’s pretty good for a bed that lacks memory foam.

Tuft and Needle Review Verdict

It’s not perfect, but there is a lot to like with Tuft & Needle, especially if you care about price. The mattress is comfortable, accommodating, and will check a lot of boxes for a lot of people. As we’ve mentioned ad nauseam, this bed is all about value for the money. There’s nothing wholly unique about the bed—after all, it’s just two layers of foam—but anyone on a budget should put Tuft & Needle on their short list of beds to consider.

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Comparing Tuft & Needle Beds

The Mint is Tuft & Needle’s higher-end mattress, though, it’s still priced affordably. It’s thicker and softer than the original T&N mattress, but is still made entirely of foam. Essentially, what Tuft & Needle did is add a middle transitional layer so that you don’t feel as much of the support foams. This made the mattress softer and, therefore, more predisposed to being attractive to side sleepers. And that makes sense since about 65% of people are side-dominant sleepers (based on our in-house research).

We really like the Tuft & Needle Mint mattress and have included it on multiple best lists. Because the Mint is softer, Tuft & Needle made sure to add more graphite into the top layers so that it would more efficiently draw heat from the surface. This goes back to what we talk about a lot: temperature regulation relies on many things, including the firmness level of the bed.

The Mint has an MSRP for a queen size of just shy of $1,000, which means it’s about $400 more expensive than the original mattress. Is it worth it to upgrade? That depends on the person. If you’re a strict back or stomach sleeper, probably not, unless you weigh 115 lb. If you’re a side sleeper in search of a plush mattress, then, yes, it probably is worth considering.