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The Saatva HD is designed for those who need a higher weight capacity. How did it perform in our tests?
Founder of GoodBed, Leading Mattress Expert
The Saatva HD is designed and marketed to those who need a long-lasting solution with a higher weight capacity. Intended for sleepers in the 300-500 pound range (each side), the Saatva HD is a compelling choice for heavier folks, or for couples of different sizes. While in our evaluation, we felt that larger people will be very well served from a spinal alignment and pressure relief perspective on the Saatva HD, we also felt that smaller and lighter people would be well supported too.
The Saatva HD is an innerspring mattress with a connected coil support unit, where each coil is connected to the ones next to it with a helical wire -- a spring-like wire traveling across the mattress and attached to the tops of each of the innerspring coils. This isn't a construction type we often see -- most manufacturers have moved to encased coils -- but it makes a lot of sense in a mattress designed to accommodate higher weights. That's because weight on the bed is distributed across the surface of the coils, rather than burdening each coil individually.
Saatva is also using a heavier wire gauge for the springs. Most mattresses use coil gauges in the 13 to 15 gauge range, but for the HD mattress, Saatva uses 12.5-gauge wire, just about the strongest wire we've seen used in a mattress (a lower number means thicker and stiffer wire).
On top of the innerspring support unit is a variety of foams, including all-natural latex, polyurethane foam and memory foam; these serve as the bed's softness and comfort, as well as adding pressure relief, and we felt the combination to be extremely effective in our tests.
One notable characteristic is this mattress’s bounce; for those who like that springy feel (as opposed to the sinking/melting feel of memory foam), the Saatva HD performed very well in our test, springing back quickly. But at the same time, motion isolation was very good -- meaning than movements on one side of the bed are unlikely to be felt on the other.
A couple of concerns: First, because of its connected coil support unit, the Saatva HD cannot be used on an adjustable base, and doing so will ruin the mattress. So if using the mattress on an adjustable base is a critical consideration for you, you'll have to keep shopping.
Secondly, if you have concerns about sleeping hot or have experienced it on other beds, the Saatva HD may not be the best choice. While innerspring mattress are often a good choice due to their air flow between the coils, the Saatva's coil unit is under 7" of foam, negating the benefit. And the coil unit is surrounded on all four sides with a foam edge support, which impedes air flow.
The Saatva mattress’s price is competitive among mattresses designed for plus-size people and couples; free shipping is included, along with in-home setup and removal of your old bedding, a “white glove” service that typically costs $100+ extra with other brands. The 120-day trial period should give shoppers some peace of mind but note that returning the bed invokes a $99 service fee for pickup.
Overall, the Saatva HD mattress performed very well in our testing and evaluation for pressure relief, back support and motion isolation. It was exceptionally easy to change sleeping positions, and we deemed edge support to also be a cut above. We judged construction to be of good quality, and the mattress includes some natural features like organic cotton and natural latex.
Read on for our detailed report and be sure to check out the video to see this mattress in action as we put it through our tests.
Note: The Saatva HD is marketed for persons weighing 300 to 500 pounds, with a total weight capacity of 1,000 pounds. We have also reviewed the flagship Saatva mattress, a more standard hybrid mattress. The company also sells the Loom & Leaf memory foam bed, as well as the Zenhaven latex mattress brand, both of which we have also reviewed.
Prefer to watch rather than read: Check out our Saatva HD Video Review
This review is related to the Saatva HD. Learn more about this model:
The “feel” characteristics of a mattress cannot be universally better or worse. They can only be more or less desirable to you, based on your personal preferences. For this reason, we call these “preference-based” attributes. Our ratings here are based on objective measurements that we apply to a consistent scale for products from all brands.
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.
The Saatva HD mattress is available in one comfort level. On our scale, we call it a medium firm. There's a lot of softness at the top of the mattress, but its much firmer below, balancing out to a feel that's a little more firm than the average mattress.
Not sure what softness is best for you? Take our Mattress Match Quiz and find out.
Much of the ‘sinking in’ feeling of the Saatva HD mattress comes from top 5 inches of foam, memory foam and latex. When we placed our 16-pound bowling ball atop the mattress, it sunk down about an average amount, giving a feeling of floating on top of the mattress more than sinking very deeply into it. Overall, we class cushioning depth as medium.
Compared to a memory foam mattress, innerspring mattresses are general very responsive. Instead of a slow, melting into the bed feeling, the coils spring back into place very quickly. The Saatva HD mattress does have a very small amount of memory feel from that 1.5" layer of memory foam, but we had to pay close attention to notice it and it's not enough to give you much of that melting into the bed feeling associated with a memory foam mattress.
You can see bounce demonstrated in our video when we toss our bowling ball on the Saatva HD mattress; it bounces several times before coming to rest. Our tester dropped onto the Saatva HD with a similar result, bouncing three or four times before coming to rest.
This springiness and bounce is characteristic of innerspring mattresses, so if you like that feeling, you’ll probably appreciate the Saatva HD.
The key to good back support is for the mattress to support your spine in a “neutral” position while you sleep, meaning that the shape of your spine is roughly the same as when you're standing. The ability of any given mattress to do this will vary by sleeper, depending on its “fit” for your weight, body shape, and preferred sleep position(s).
We impressed overall with the Saatva HD, and even somewhat surprised. For a bed marketed mainly to those in the 300 to 500 pound weight range, we found it offered excellent support, spinal alignment, and pressure relief to sleepers in all size ranges. That means the Saatva HD could be a good choice not only for those on the higher end of the weight scale, but also perhaps for couples where one person is significantly larger than the other.
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 Saatva HD mattress:
Our 200-pound tester felt very well supported while on his back, with very good spinal alignment and lumbar support. We might have expected this to be the case for heavier people, for whom the Saatva HD is designed, but we also thought spinal alignment would be excellent for lighter people too, who will benefit from the layers of latex and memory foam up top.
Likewise, we also found spinal alignment and support for side sleepers to be very good to excellent. For lighter people, the mattress's latex and memory foam layers reach up to support their concave areas, while also allowing hips and shoulders to sink in. And for heavier people, the innerspring unit pushes those comfort layers into concave areas while also allowing heavier hips to sink in. If we had any concern at all, it would be for very light side sleepers, maybe under 100 or 125 pounds, who might appreciate just a bit more softness.
Achieving good spinal alignment for stomach sleepers can often be trickier as the hips can tend to sink down too far with some mattresses, but our tester felt well supported in this position, and his back was not forced to over-arch. We experienced none of this on the Saatva HD mattress, and we felt that neither heavier nor lighter stomach sleepers would have trouble with spinal alignment.
Inadequate pressure relief from your mattress results in “pressure points,” which can be a source of pain, soreness, loss of circulation, restlessness, and other problems. Pressure relief requirements will vary be sleeper, with side sleepers needing the most. Likewise, the amount of pressure relief that a given mattress provides will also vary by sleeper, depending on its “fit” for your weight and body shape.
Overall, we found the pressure relief offered by the Saatva HD mattress to be very good, and we thought it would be very too to excellent for most types of sleepers. Our tester didn’t ever feel like he was going to ‘bottom out’ on this mattress because of the lower level of supportive connected coils, and lighter people should experience excellent pressure relief from the upper layers of latex and memory foam. If we had any concerns, it might be for heavier people that are also very curvy (i.e. broad shoulders or wide hips) with acute pressure relief needs. But overall, we felt that most sleepers would experience very good pressure relief on the Saatva HD.
With the “features” of a mattress, performance will tend to be consistent across all sleepers – without regards to your body type or preferences. However, these attributes have differing levels of importance to each sleeper, which is why we consider them “priority-based” characteristics.
With a bowling pin standing upright on the Saatva HD bed, we tested motion isolation by dropping a 16-lb. bowling ball on it, as well as the full weight of our 200-lb. tester. In both tests, the bowling pin wiggled, but it never fell, even after repeating the tests multiple times.
In general, innerspring mattresses are not the best choice if motion isolation is a top priority, but the Saatva HD really surprised us. Its connected coils were still able to react independently enough not to transfer much movement across the bed which could disturb a partner. For a bed this bouncy, motion isolation was impressive.
If you are a “hot” sleeper, or perhaps a woman who experiences hot flashes, how a mattress affects your body temperature may be a concern. Innerspring mattresses in general do not tend to feel hot, but the Saatva HD has a couple of mitigating factors. First, its innerspring unit is 7" down -- too far to get much of an air-flow benefit. And the innerspring unit is surrounded on all sides by a foam edge support, which blocks the free flow of air.
On the plus side, you don't sink into the mattress super deeply, so more of your body is exposed to the air. If you haven't had past issues with sleeping hot, we don't think you will on the Saatva HD. However, if it's a known issue for you, some other hybrid mattresses may be a better choice.
If you like to sit on the edge of your mattress, or if you tend to sleep right on the edge of your mattress, you want a model that has good integrity and stability around the edges. To that end, the Saatva HD mattress is encased in foam all along the edges.
In our tests, which you can see in our video review above, our tester was able to sit very comfortably on the side of the mattress with minimal compression. Laying right along the side of the mattress also felt very stable. Overall we felt that the Saatva HD would be a very good choice if edge support is a priority for you.
For those with joint and mobility issues, ease of movement -- changing positions and getting in and out of bed -- is a priority. Our tester, however, did not have any trouble moving on the Saatva HD mattress.
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.
In the case of the Saatva HD mattress, we noted some confusion among Goodbed users. While the pillow-top cover does contain some organic cotton, the word “organic” printed on the fabric has led some consumers to believe that the entire mattress is made of organic materials; it is not, nor does the company make any claims that it is.
The mattress does use some natural materials however. The cover includes certified organic cotton, and under that is a layer of 100% natural latex made from the sap of rubber trees; the latex is certified by OKEO-Tex, meaning it's been tested for harmful chemicals and certified as safe.
The other foams used in the bed are petroleum based, but the foams are certified to the Certi-PUR-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.
Furthermore, most of the mattress is comprised of steel coils, which won’t off-gas or impart any weird chemical smells. And the company does state that it uses recycled steel for the springs.
The mattress is held together at least in part by functional tufting, which means fewer chemical glues and adhesives must be used.
We gave the Saatva an initial 'sniff test' when it arrived, and it certainly had less of a 'new mattress smell' than other mattresses we've tested.
Because if the connected coils used in the support unit, as well as the helical connecting wire, the Saatva HD is not safe to use on an adjustable base, something that's clearly stated on the mattress's website.
If you plan to use your mattress on an adjustable base, you'll need to look elsewhere.
Overall, we classify the Saatva HD mattress as a "Latex and Memory Foam over Connected Coils" construction type. This innerspring mattress is 15" tall and is comprised of 6 layers, listed from top to bottom:
The Saatva HD mattress has a combination of 7" of various foams atop a connected-coil support unit. This type of innerspring unit is unusual these days, in that most competing innerspring beds are using individually pocketed springs.
By contrast, the steel coils that form the bottom support layer of the Saatva HD are connected to each other; they work as unit in order to keep the mattress from being compressed too much in any particular area. This type of interconnected coil has a lot of bounce (we’ll talk more about bounce characteristics of this mattress later in the review), and it allows weight to be spread over a larger area, lessening the impact on any one singular coil. Coil gauge is an expression of wire thickness and strength, where a lower number means a stronger/thicker wire. Most innerspring mattresses use coils in the 13.5 to 14.5 range. The Saatva HD uses 12.5-gauge coils, just about the sturdiest we've seen used in a mattress.
In addition, the company includes some extra wire across the central third of the bed in the lumbar area as additional support for the heaviest part of your body.
The coils are connected to each other with a helical wire; that's a spring-like wire that travels across the coils and connects them together. The helical wire has some spring to it, which stretches and moves with the coils as they are compressed. We think the helical connector wire is in part responsible for the Saatva HD's surprisingly good motion isolation.
Note that this type of coil unit means that the Saatva HD cannot be used on an adjustable base; bending the mattress in that way will ruin it.
On top of the coil unit is a combination of latex, memory foam and standard polyurethane foam. Helping hold all these layers together is functional tufting -- yarns that travel through the mattress at intervals, anchored by a fabric button on either side. These help to pre-compress and secure the layers and reduce the need for chemical glues.
Surrounding the coil unit on all sides is a foam edge support.
The cover of the Saatva HD mattress is made with some organic cotton (note that the word "organic" on the cover refers ONLY to the cover and not to the entire mattress). The entire cover has a very sturdy feel, with tape edges (which help hold the shape). The side panels feature handles to help you rotate or reposition the mattress.
The “value” of any mattress is both subjective and personal – reflecting how well it meets that person’s unique sleep needs and preferences, relative to their budget. As a result, our ratings in this area are focused on more objective factors like quality and longevity.
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.
The Saatva HD is designed and marketed to consumers in the 300-500 pound weight range, intended to be a more durable option. In fact, the full (double) through king size versions have a stated weight limit of 500 pounds on each side, for a total of 1,000 pounds. That's accomplished by using stronger than average wire for the coil unit, combined with layers of latex, memory foam and foam in a bed that measures 15" tall and has a luxury look.
In general, innerspring mattresses have a good reputation for longevity; steel holds its integrity for a very long time, and we feel especially confident in the stronger coils used in the Saatva HD. If there were a weak spot, we have some concern over the polyurethane foam and memory foams used in the mattress. But overall, we don't have major concerns that the Saatva HD won't last as long as a typical mattress.
If you are a person or couple that requires a mattress with a higher weight limit, or are a couple with different needs, the Saatva HD sits in a unique position among competing mattresses. While its $2,500 (queen size) price tag is high than a lot of online brands, it's very competitive with mattresses you'd find in a mattress store, and is very competitive with mattresses also marketed to plus-size people. Overall, assuming the Saatva HD fits your needs and preferences, we think it's a solid value.
One of the biggest, if not THE biggest complaints about any mattress from consumers regards body impressions — the inability of a mattress to spring back, eventually creating a low spot/sinkhole in the mattress. As such, mattress warranties all contain a term defining how big a sag or ‘body impression’ (measured when no one is on the mattress) is considered a defect, and thus covered under the warranty. The industry standard for mattresses is generally between ¾” and 1.5”. Saatva has chosen to cover indentations that meet or exceed 1.5” for the Saatva HD. Practically speaking, that means any softening or sagging would need to be at least that deep before the warranty would offer you protection.
For the first two years of ownership, Saatva will replace your mattress (including shipping) if it falls under warranty coverage. For years three through 20 of the warranty, the company will repair and re-cover your mattress, but customers are required to pay a $99 shipping charge each way ($298 total).
Another option for years three through 20 is Saatva's "Fairness Replacement Option" whereby you keep the defective mattress and can purchase a new mattress at a reduced price. Read more about the Saatva HD warranty.
Saatva includes free shipping, free in-home setup, and free removal of your old bedding. This is a policy that now matches or exceeds that of the majority of Saatva’s online competitors.
Saatva offers buyers a 180-day trial period. Should you decide to return the mattress during that period, there is a $99 fee for pickup.
Some context: Many of today’s online mattress brands can be highly compressed and packed into a relatively small box that’s easily delivered by a common carrier like UPS. However, the Saatva HD mattress is a piece of furniture, delivered by movers with a truck. You can see how returning this type of mattress is a more expensive proposition for a company (and ultimately for you). Even so, several of the company’s online competitors so offer free returns. Read more about the policy on the Saatva website.
Is the Saatva HD bed right for you? Take our Mattress Match Quiz to find mattresses that fit your needs, based on your preferences and price range.
Looking for more on the Saatva HD mattress? Visit Saatva.com.
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