If you did ok with Leesa that long, why not another? The same company (3Z’s) who makes Leesa also makes Brooklyn Bedding (my favorite), Helix (also great but pricey), Nolah (best value and still quite good), Bear, and some others.
I liked the Leesa Legend Chill, but really disliked their other beds. It felt cheaper than other lines they make. The Brooklyn Bedding Thermo Balance Elite was my favorite bed I tried, and what I bought. I’m extremely happy with it. Helix Midnight Elite was my second favorite, but pricier. Saatva RX was quite good, but even more expensive than Helix. Nolah Evolution was the best quality low cost option I tried ($1450 for a king), but I was willing to pay more for their highest quality offerings. Casper was ok for all foam, and exceeded my expectations at a solid price point. I hated nectar, because I could feel springs on the side and any partner movement. Purple will either be loved or hated, but feels weird to me. Simmons Beauty Rest had a lot of great options, but was pricey, though I preferred this to newer and in some cases more expensive Sealy models under the same umbrella. Tempurpedic was what I had before Brooklyn Bedding, and I think they are excellent, but they’re very expensive and not necessarily better at double the price.
I respectfully disagree. Loved the RX bed, but you can feel every move of a partner. Felt slightly warmer to me, but no real gripes besides movement/spring more than I like. If it moved slightly less, or was slightly less expensive all would have been forgiven. I love Tempurpedic, and had a cloud breeeze for 9 years as my main bed, but that price for a cooling mattress around $5k was too high. Helix Elite was excellent IMO. 3Z’s make BB too, and I wanted that feel without microcoils - thus I purchased Thermo Balance Elite.
I went to a place that had Nolah Evolution, Wink Bed (multiple), Leesa (multiple), Puffy (3), and Brooklyn Bedding (3). Trying them on close succession was super helpful. They didn’t have helix but I tried this somewhere else (midnight luxe and elite), as well as Saatva (classic, Rx, and their all foam beds). I also tried others I passed on for being too cheap and feeling cheap, or for being over $3,500 which was above what I would spend.
Remember that Helix, Brooklyn Bedding, Leesa, Nolah, Bear, and a few others are all 3Z’s brands made in Arizona at the same factory.
- Helix Midnight *Elite* (edit, incorrectly wrote luxe) was a winner but… there were two things I didn’t love. While being super comfortable, supportive overall with great edge and mid support, and felt cool - it had a little more spring than I liked, and was slightly firmer than some other beds. Part of the firmness and spring comes from having two levels of springs. One at the lower level and micro springs higher up. It’s also priced as a premium option. While cheaper than Tempurpedic and Beauty Rest, it’s just not an amazing value option where you must love it to pay $3k+. At $2k or slightly above, this would have been an instant buy for me. (Edit for clarity: Luxe didn’t feel as supportive, or overall as nice as more expensive Luxe)
- Nolah Evolution felt remarkably similar to Midnight *Elite* for being half the price. It’s not quite as supportive, doesn’t have as much spring feel, but felt “right” for someone wanting something between medium and soft. I loved this bed. While I preferred Helix slightly, at half the price - I almost bought this because it’s insane value and very comfortable.
- Leesa was not my thing. They had sent me a targeted offer for Legend Chill which was a great value at almost 50% off retail and had great reviews. I just didn’t want to mess with this if I couldn’t try it. The two I tried in store didn’t feel as substantial to me. The Legend Chill was not something I could try, but I tried the Sapira and it was too floppy and so cheaply made that I could feel the coils on the side so took a pass.
- Wink Bed. I tried firm and soft. It’s a quality and comfortable bed, but I hated this bed in both feels because it was way too springy for my taste. I come from Tempurpedic and Sealy gel foam beds and my partner can feel any move I made. People seem to love or hate this bed. The store owner told me he sells a lot of them, but it’s returned sometimes because of firmness or spring.
- Brooklyn Bedding. I tried the CopperFlex, Signature, Aurora. I liked them all, and prices were great, but I didn’t love any of these. I preferred the Helix Elite and Nolah Evolution, and the Nolah price is just phenomenal.
- Puffy. This felt great and supportive. I love their highest end bed the most, but it’s a little too firm for my taste, and moved more than I liked. It barely fit my below $3,500 range and I preferred other options.
- Saatva. I loved the RX bed. It’s a softer Helix Midnight Elite, but you can feel the movement slightly more. If this were cheaper, I would have bought this. The classic was way too firm and springy for my taste. The full memory foam bed they made was actually phenomenal. It was the only all foam bed I found as good as temperpedic, and could have happily bought that or Rx.
- Tempurpedic. Great for my taste, but too expensive to get one of their premium beds.
What did I buy?
Thermo Balance Elite from Brooklyn Bedding.
Why?
I called 3Z’s. I told them exactly what I said above about their beds on their various brands versus others and what I wanted. They said the best option for a very supportive bed like the Helix Midnight Elite that was my favorite, but had more cooling, less movement (1 coil set, no micro coil), and very slightly less firmness on the medium firmness was the Thermo Balance Elite in Medium. I asked why elite and not the cheaper version, and they said it has an improved spring system for middle support and higher density premium phase change foam. They also said if I don’t love the bed, they’d give me back $1,200 and switch me out to a Nolah bed.
My Thermo balance elite comes next week, and it was $600+ cheaper than Helix Midnight Luxe. I didn’t want to buy a bed I didn’t try, but they gave me a great price, promised me a refund of $1,200 and a replacement to Nolah Evolution bed (which i did try and like) if I wasn’t happy. So my advice is give the Midnight Luxe time if you do have it, and then if you don’t love it, don’t keep it. It’s an expensive bed and 3Z’s has a ton of great options, and Saatva does too.
You are 100% correct. I wrote that when I was sleepy and have edited the post to be correct now.
The elite was an awesome bed, but I didn’t like the luxe’s foam feel. My top three hybrids I could try were Nolah Evolution (value leader), Midnight Elite (best overall but pricey with very slight downsides), and RX bed from Saatva (the most comfortable bed I tried overall, but also pricey and felt movement more than Elite).
Hopefully my gamble on Thermo Balance Elite (medium) pays off, and my tale (though biased to my taste which might not match theirs) helps someone who can’t try them all.
I tried a lot of beds.
- Tempur is amazing but pricey. I had one for 10 years and price was all that stopped me from buying another. I love their beds. I had a Sealy as well and it was good, but didn’t last as long.
- Saatva Rx is cheaper, but still pricey, and is very good. It had a different feel but was fantastic. I almost bought this.
- Brooklyn Bedding Thermo Balance Elite is what I bought. I love it. Zero issue with the bed, and I like this better than my old Tempur. Temp runs cooler, it’s thicker, has better edge support.
I tried Nectar out and didn’t like it at all. There are other brands I liked but these were my top three choices.
I tried multiple nectar beds at Ashley furniture store and hated it. The foam felt cheap, and I could feel movement way too much. Many people like them, and it’s great if you do, and my opinion is not your opinion. Your opinion as all that matters for your bed.
The same company (3Z’s) makes Brooklyn, Leesa, Helix, Nolah, Bear. That’s why all those brands are solid - because they use similar foams, springs, and are made in the same factory in AZ. Helix and Brooklyn are their beds I liked most, but Nolah evolution was there best under $1,500 bed I tried.
I spoke with 3Z’s corporate and they were so cool to deal with and didn’t BS me. They said it’s no problem to return beds easily, and put it in writing their only concern was making sure I loved my bed. Saatva was just like this too, but more expensive and had a longer wait. I bought from BB, and have no regrets. Had I not bought from of their brands, I’d go Saatva or Tempur. All three were the most adamant about wanting satisfaction and making returns easy and free. Saatva will even switch you for up to a year.
Simmons is a good bed. I found most of them too soft for me, but this is subjective. I really like Saatva, and tried all their beds in store RX was like a perfect balance for me and I almost bought one. After trying Brooklyn Bedding and Helix (same parent company) I just couldn’t pay more to buy Saatva, Sealy, Simmons, or Tempurpedic. I hated Nectar, and they felt cheap to me - even their elite hybrid bed which was their most expensive bed. It was worse IMO than a Leesa model at Costco for half the price.
So the TBE does have zoned coils and awesome lumbar support. The only bed I tried that was as good was Saatva RX and Helix Elite but I could feel movement more on those, and Saatva seemed warmer due to material choices. I was coming from Tempurpedic all foam bed and didn’t want a lot of movement. The TBE has more bounce (great for tossers) and support, but not feeling springy, and basically exactly what I wanted.
It just doesn’t have another set of microcoils higher up the stack like Helix Midnight Elite. But the TB elite does has zoned coils and you’ll see that on the BB site as a difference. I also agree that Midnight Elite was softer, and part of why I went with TBE in medium.
We had an amazing Tempurpedic pillow top for 20 years that we replaced with a new Tempurpedic in 2021. It was like sleeping on a concrete slab. No matter what I tried to do with toppers I could not make it work.
So three months ago we tested all the Saatvas at the store and went with the 15” RX. I am so happy we did. At first you do have to get used to going back to a bit of a bounce you don’t get with memory foam but since we sleep so deeply it’s not an issue. It’s not like the old springs style bed type bounce. The mattress stays cool and we sleep great. My husband has chronic lower back pain and I am a side sleeper who needs shoulder and hip support. We are both super happy so far.
To be fair, showroom testing can kinda suck depending on how long the beds have been sitting out there and how old/worn out they are. That said, if you wanna narrow it down and take advantage of those sweet sleep trials at home, the new DreamCloud Classic and Premier hybrids are really good for side sleepers (especially if you have hip pain). They also aren't prone to overheating in my experience.
Tempur-Pedic and Leesa are good too, but I'd say their foam models are infinitely better than their hybrids. If you're willing to give foam a try, it might be easier on your hips. The Saatva Rx is great for side sleeping, the Classic is a little too firm imo.
2Chris
