Back in February, I wrote a guide to the world of direct-to-consumer online mattresses. It offered recommendations for choosing the right online mattress brand for every type of sleeper.
But all of the companies I covered make one-size-fits all products. And those single-serving mattresses just don’t work for everybody, Adam Tishman, a co-founder of the online mattress start-up Helix Sleep, told Tech Insider.
Tishman claims Helix solves the one-size-fits-all dilemma by customizing a new mattress for each buyer.
When you go to their site to buy a mattress you fill out a questionnaire about your height and weight, your sleep habits, and any issues you have with sleeping. The company then builds a mattress based on your answers.
One-size-fits-all companies, including Casper and Leesa, build mattresses designed to appeal to the widest set of sleepers. Some brands' mattresses will be a bit softer, some a bit firmer. But they're all aiming for the middle.
Helix, though, wants to customize its mattresses to each person’s needs because it claims that is actually the best way to avoid a misaligned spine, which is a common problem that results from sleeping on an inadequate mattress.
Tishman said Helix used solid, peer-reviewed studies to help it determine three key factors that impact your body position and comfort as you sleep:
- "Feel" — the softness/firmness of the very top layers of the mattress
- "Support" — which affects how deeply and evenly your body sinks into the mattress
- "Point elasticity" — whether pushing down on one part of the mattress will cause the whole mattress to compress or just a small part
The quiz Helix has you take before buying a mattress is designed to figure out how to adjust those three parameters to shape it to your particular body's needs. If they nail it, it should be the best possible mattress for your body.
If they don't, Tishman says their customer service department will work with customers to replace the mattress with one better suited to their needs. They also offer mattresses with different halves calibrated to meet the different needs of couples.
"The vast majority of people who fill out the questionnaire are happy with the purchase," Tishman said.
I haven't had a chance to try one of these out yet, and my Leesa does an excellent job. However, if you've struggled to find the perfect mattress online or in stores, or just want the tailored suit of mattresses, this could be the bed upgrade for you.
Expect to pay a little bit more for a Helix mattress, though. A full-size Helix costs $800, whereas a Casper mattress of the same size costs $750 and a full-size Leesa prices at $715 after rebate.
Similar to its competitors, the Helix also ships rolled up in a box and expands when you pull it out into the air.
