Helix Plus / Nightfall (2019) Mattress Review

Comfort & Feel

There are three aspects that make up our assessment of comfort and feel. We call these "preference-based characteristics" because no rating here is better or worse – rather, the attributes that are most desirable to you will be determined solely by your personal preferences. We apply the same classification standards to each mattress so you can more easily compare apples to apples.

Softness ( what’s this )

Keep in mind that what mattress companies call “firm” or “soft” is a purely a preference. All mattresses should be supportive and promote healthy spinal alignment. Whether a mattress is fluffy and squishy (what mattress companies call soft or plush), or less so (what companies call firm), is purely down to your personal needs and preferences.

We found the Helix Nightfall to be a Medium Firm mattress on our scale, and that overall, it was softer than we expected it to be (keep in mind that the heavier you are, the softer a mattress will feel). We thought the Nightfall might be an interesting choice for couples where one person is much larger than the other; there's enough softness on the Helix Nightfall that the lighter person won't feel as if they are sleeping on a super-hard surface.

Not sure what softness is best for you? Take our Mattress Match Quiz and find out.

Cushioning Depth ( what’s this )

This refers to how deeply you sink into the mattress or feel cradled or hugged, versus a feeling of floating on top of the bed. The Helix Nightfall felt very interesting to us; while the top certainly has some surface softness, the firmer coils below prevent sinking in too much.

The Helix Nightfall has quite shallow cushioning; this is not a mattress with a lot of conformance, and you get more of a floating-on-top feeling than one of sinking deeply into the bed.

Responsiveness ( what’s this )

Responsiveness refers to how quickly a mattress recovers its shape after being compressed. When you press your hand into the mattress, for instance, then remove it, does it take several seconds for the mattress to return to flat, or does it recover immediately?

While the Helix Nightfall does contain a small 1" layer of gel memory foam, there isn't enough of it to give that slow, melting into the bed feeling that memory foam is known for.

We also tested the bed for bounce. Unsurprisingly, since most of this bed is made of steel springs, we did find a healthy amount of bounce.

Back Support & Pressure Relief

The two things that you should always be sure to get from your mattress are spinal alignment (commonly thought of as "back support") and pressure relief. Unfortunately, no mattress will deliver these two things equally well for all sleepers. In particular, spinal alignment and pressure relief capabilities will vary across sleepers with different weights, body shapes, and sleep positions. To help you determine how this mattress will perform for you, we break down our spinal alignment and pressure relief assessments by sleeper type.

Our tester weighs 200 pounds, right about the average for a male in the United States. Since this mattress is intended for much heavier people, we are using our overall testing experience to make some best guesses as to who this mattress might be best suited for.

In our evaluations, we thought the Helix Nightfall would especially suit back and side sleepers of a wide range of weights, along with stomach sleepers of average weight.

Spinal Alignment

The key to good back support is maintaining proper spinal alignment while you sleep. This means that the mattress should hold your spine in roughly the same position it's in when you're standing. The ability of a given mattress to do this will generally depend on your weight, sleep position, and body shape.

Here is how we break down the spinal alignment of the Helix Nightfall mattress:

Back Sleepers:

Our tester really enjoyed the Helix Nightfall mattress in this position; the combination of the soft top foams and the firmer coils beneath felt extremely supportive; we thought this mattress had a great feel for those that sleep primarily on their backs. Our tester experienced excellent spinal alignment and felt that most others would have a similar good experience. For lighter weight individuals, there's enough softness and to balance the firm coils below. And even for those significantly heavier than our tester, any potential hammocking effect is taken care of by the firm support coils.

Side Sleepers:

In our evaluation, side sleepers would also be well supported by the Helix Nightfall. Our 200 lb. tester’s hips and shoulders sank into the bed just enough to create a neutral spinal position. We also felt that those heavier than our tester would be well supported. If we had any concerns, it would be for very light side sleepers, who might need more conformance and softness to enable their hips and shoulders to sink into the bed.

Stomach Sleepers:

We also felt that stomach sleepers would enjoy this mattress. For stomach sleeping, a firmer mattress is generally needed to support the hips from sinking too far and creating arching in the back. The Helix Nightfall, for our tester, had plenty of support, but still felt soft and cushioned thanks to the soft foam on top. We did have a slight question about stomach sleepers who are much heavier than our tester, who might find the surface softness of this bed could cause some over-arching. But for occasional stomach sleepers, even those significantly heavier than our tester, would feel supported.

Pressure Relief

Other Features

Beyond the preference-based characteristics of comfort and feel, and the body matching for spinal alignment and pressure relief, a mattress will have a number of other attributes that can make it a better or worse choice for you. We call these "priority-based characteristics" because they are areas in which a mattress can be better or worse, but that will have differing amounts of importance to each sleeper. So, determining how much importance to give to these features will be entirely a matter of your own personal priorities. As always, we apply the same ratings standards to each mattress so you can more easily compare apples to apples.

Motion Isolation ( what’s this )

If you are easily disturbed by a partner's movements in bed, or perhaps you and your partner go to bed and get up at different times, then motion isolation may be a priority for you. Innerspring mattresses in general are not the best choice,  but the springs are pocketed in the Helix Nightfall (as they are in many modern mattresses), so the movement of each spring is isolated.

We test for motion isolation by positioning a bowling pin upright on one side of the bed, then dropping a bowling ball on the other side and observing what happens with the pin. Next, our tester drops his whole weight on the bed. In both tests, our pin wobbled, but never fell.

Temperature ( what’s this )

For most people, we do not think the Helix Nightfall mattress will feel hot, not so much because it has specific cooling features, but because it's physical characteristics have advantages.

Spring and coil mattresses in general will naturally provide greater air flow than foam, allowing for lots of air flow. The Nightfall has edge-to-edge coils, so there's no edge foam that could potentially inhibit airflow.

Also, this is not a deeply cushioned mattress, so most of your body is exposed to the air.

If overheating in bed is an issue for you, we think the Helix Nightfall would be a very good choice.

Edge Support ( what’s this )

Edge support is important if you like to sit on the side of the bed, or if you tend to sleep along the edge. We found the Helix Nightfall mattress to be excellent in this respect. Our tester felt exceptionally stable both sitting on the edge of the and laying right on the edge. He didn't feel like he was rolling off at all.

If your pets or kids tend to push you towards the side of the bed, we think the Helix Nightfall is an excellent choice.

Ease of Repositioning ( what’s this )

If you tend to move and change positions a lot over the course of a night, ease of repositioning will be a priority for you. The Helix Nightfall mattress  posed no hindrance to movement. Our tester had no trouble at all moving around or rolling into another position.

We did note, however, a slight crinkling sound when our tested moved around on the bed, presumably from some of the material around the coils within the mattress. It's something to consider if you are highly sensitive to noise.

Green Features ( what’s this )

For mattress shoppers concerned with the use of natural materials, sustainable manufacturing practices or the like, we offer our subjective evaluation of any efforts taken by the company to make the mattress more green, healthy, or safe.

Helix makes no claims that this mattress is natural, but at least the foams utilized are certified to the CertiPUR-US standard, which verifies that a material has low VOC off-gassing as well as a lack of chemicals and other substances regulated by the CPSC. Obtaining this certification is pretty much standard for mainstream mattress brands today.

On the plus side, steel coils are not known for issues with off-gassing, and at least theoretically, they are recyclable, which could reduce landfill waste when you eventually dispose of the bed.

The entire mattress has been certified to the OEKO-Tex standard, which means that all materials used have been tested for more than 100 harmful substances including formaldehyde, lead, and petrochemicals and is deemed safe. That's an extra certification class that's far less common, and is a reassuring bonus.

Adjustable Base Compatibility ( what’s this )

We tested the Helix mattress on our standard adjustable base, looking for whether using such a base could damage the mattress or create any issues like bunching or bulges.

The Helix Nightfall mattress is made to be used on an adjustable base, and in our test, the mattress conformed well to the base in its fully articulated position. When our tester got out of the bed, the midsection did pop back up a bit, but we expect that over time, the mattress would break in and relax. We noticed no uncomfortable bunching of fabric when on our adjustable base.

Price, Value & Longevity

How Much Does a Helix Nightfall Mattress Cost?

Prices shown are list prices. Remember that GoodBed keeps our site current with the best available discounts on online mattresses, many of which are exclusive discounts for our readers.

Note that Helix offers former and current members of the military a 15% discount (cannot be combined with other discounts).

What Are You Getting?

The Helix Nightfall is a 12" tall hybrid mattress that aims to fill a niche, for plus size and big/tall individuals and couples.

How Long Will the Helix Nightfall Last?

In our evaluation of the Helix Nightfall, we saw no red flags that might indicate premature breakdown. We were impressed with the quality of the steel coil unit, with its stronger coils around the edge. The two top foams are 3.7 lb. density and 4.0 lb density, respectively; these are solid measurements that help indicate foam quality. While we don't often put much stock in mattress warranties, Helix does back this bed with a guarantee against body impressions of 1" and deeper -- that's a better term than the industry standard of 1.5".

Overall Value

The Helix Nightfall is a fairly small part of the mattress market, aimed to support plus-size people and offer enhanced durability. As such, it's harder to compare it to mattress that don't offer these characteristics.

Based on its materials, construction and features, we do think it compares very well to beds you would find in a traditional mattress store or department store, and even compared to standard hybrid mattresses sold online, it's right in the same ballpark price-wise. Certainly if you are a heavier person or couple, or just someone that wants a very durable and long-lasting bed, we do think the Helix Nightfall is a very good value.