Tuft & Needle Original Mattress Review

Summary: Is Tuft & Needle a Good Mattress?

The Tuft & Needle mattress is a 10" tall bed made with two layers of polyurethane foam. In our evaluations, we found the Tuft & Needle mattress to have a Medium Firm softness level. (Be aware that the company has revised this mattress a couple of times over the years; we judged the 2017/2018 version as a Medium, while today's version is firmer.)

We also looked at an optional accessory, the Tuft & Needle Mattress Topper ($150 queen size) which adds softness and cushioning depth. With the topper, we judged softness as a Medium Soft, with additional cushioning and pressure relief. Its an option for those who like their Tuft & Needle, but would prefer a softer feel.

The feeling of sleeping on the Tuft & Needle mattress (without the topper) was more floating than sinking into the bed, in the opinion of our tester. The mattress conformed to his curves while still feeling supportive.

Perhaps the most notable feature of the Tuft & Needle bed is its price, which is much less than you would likely pay in a mattress store for a similar model, and it compares well to similar online mattresses too. We felt this was a well-constructed, basic mattress, without any particular innovations.

Overall, we felt that the Tuft & Needle mattress would suit the needs of a wide swath of people. The mattress would especially suit those that sleep primarily on their backs. Our tester felt well supported in this position, especially in his lumbar area. The Tuft & Needle is also a good choice, in our view, if you need good motion isolation, and are sensitive to movements on other parts of the bed. Part of that owes to this bed’s quick-responding foam, with none of that slow-responding/melting feeling you would get with a memory foam bed.

Edge support has improved in the latest 2019/2020 version of the Tuft & Needle. Though not the very best, we found it to be better than most all-foam mattresses.

Among our concerns: We had questions about its suitability for side sleepers and stomach sleepers, particularly those who are heavier than our tester (about 200 lbs.), and if you plan to use this mattress on an adjustable base, we found that it did not conform as well as some others right out of the box.

The Tuft & Needle mattress is primarily sold online, with free shipping and a 100-night trial with free returns. The company does have a small number of showrooms where you can see the mattress before buying.

Note that the Tuft & Needle mattress does not come with a box spring (nor does it need one).  You can place the bed atop the support of your choice, including a separately purchased box support, a bed frame, platform bed, or adjustable bed frame. Tuft & Needle sells a few frames of its own, but none are required purchases.

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: Tuft & Needle is an online mattress store that was one of the first to market. Here, we review its original mattress, the T&N or just the Tuft & Needle. We have also reviewed the Tuft & Needle Mint, the company's latest all-form mattress.

Bottom Line: Who is the Best Match for a Tuft & Needle Mattress?

BEST if you:

• Are primarily a back sleeper
• Are a stomach sleeper of average body weight (<200 lbs.)
• Don't want to feel a partner's movements
• Prioritize budget over innovation

NOT IDEAL if you:

• Are primarily a side sleeper
• Prefer a melting-into-the-bed sensation
• Like a mattress with some bounce

Comfort and Feel

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.

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 classify the Tuft & Needle mattress as a Medium Firm in terms of softness overall. Note that the current version of this bed is notable more firm than the 2017/2018 version, something to keep in mind if you tried a friend's Tuft & Needle bed, or viewed one in a showroom in the past.

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. We found the latest version of the Tuft & Needle bed to be about average, with a blend of feeling like you are floating on top vs sinking into the mattress. You can get a sense of this below with our 16-pound bowling ball.

Memory Feel

Memory feel, which we also call 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?

The Tuft & Needle mattress does not have any of that recognizable memory-foam feel (as it contains no memory foam), where after compressed, your hand print takes several seconds to disappear (some describe this as a slow, melting into the mattress feeling).

Rather, the Tuft & Needle bed is very quick responding, meaning it recovers its shape almost immediately.

We also tested bounce in two ways. When we dropped our 16-lb. bowling ball in the mattress, it bounced a few times, but when our tester dropped his weight onto the bed, he did not bounce at all. This mattress has practically no bounce at all, which comes into play when we discuss motion isolation further below.

Bounce

We also tested bounce in two ways. When we dropped our 16-lb. bowling ball in the mattress, it bounced a few times, but when our tester dropped his weight onto the bed, he did not bounce at all. This mattress has practically no bounce at all, which comes into play when we discuss motion isolation further below.

Back Support

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).

In our evaluations, the Tuft & Needle mattresses afforded very good support for back sleepers, and would be suitable for a broad range and sizes of people in that position.

The Tuft & Needle was also good in our view for stomach sleepers with the exception of those significantly heavier than our tester, where we questioned whether hips might sink into the mattress’s soft top layer too deeply, bottoming out on the firmer support layer.

We found the Tuft & Needle bed to be a questionable choice for side sleepers. For our tester, he found his shoulder not able to sink quite enough into the bed, which meant his spine was not as neutral as it could be. Those lighter than our tester would likely have an even harder time compressing the top foam in this position, and heavier people might sink right through the top foam to rest on the harder support foam.

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 Tuft & Needle mattress: 

Back Sleepers:

While our tester was on his back, he noted that his hips sank just deeply enough to create a perfectly neutral spine, while he felt the mattress did a nice job reaching up to support his lumbar curve. We feel that sleepers of a wide weight range would have a similar experience in this position on the Tuft & Needle mattress.

Side Sleepers:

Side sleeping was not ideal for our tester. While he didn’t experience any pain or pressure, his shoulders did not sink as deeply as he would have liked, resulting in some upward spinal curve. While the Tuft & Needle mattress may be just fine for those who only sleep occasionally on their sides, we especially question how supported heavier and also curvier people might be; the effect our tester experienced might be more exaggerated for those weighing more than about 200 pounds.

Stomach Sleepers:

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 adequately supported in this position. We did question whether those significantly heavier -- over about 250 lbs. -- would experience the same support, and suspect that hips might sink far enough to create less than ideal spinal alignment.

Pressure Relief

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.

Performance Features

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.

Motion Isolation (what’s this)

With a bowling pin standing upright on the Tuft & Needle bed, we tested motion isolation by dropping a 16-lb. bowling ball on it.

In the test, the pin barely moved, leading us to believe the bed would be an excellent choice for couples who don’t want to feel their partner getting in and out of bed.

Temperature ( what’s this )

Beds made of all foam have a reputation for potentially sleeping hot since foam mattress invite less air flow than beds with innersprings. The Tuft & Needle mattress does have a couple of features intended to combat this. The top layer of foam is infused with flecks of gel and graphite. Both are conductors of heat, but in practical application, the effect would be subtle.

If overheating in bed is an issue for you, and you’ve experienced it with other mattresses, other models have features that are specifically intended to address this, but for most we don’t expect heat to be a problem with the Tuft & Needle bed.

Edge Support ( what’s this )

Foam mattresses aren’t typically very supportive along the very edge of the mattress—important if you like to sit on the edge of the bed, or if you tend to sleep along the edge. But the 2019 version of the Tuft & Needle has improved in this respect.

While our tester sunk into the mattress quite a bit while sitting and laying on the edge, he never felt unstable or like he was being ejected from the bed.

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. Our tester had no trouble changing positions and moving around on the Tuft & Needle mattress.

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. 

In the case of the Tuft & Needle mattress, the company makes no claims about the use of natural materials, however all of the foams used 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. Furthermore, the entire mattress is certified to the OEKO-TEX 100 standard, an even more stringent certification that checks for a long list of allergens and harmful chemicals, and certifies minimal off-gassing.

Adjustable Base Compatibility ( what’s this )

We tested the Tuft & Needle mattress on our standard adjustable base. The mattress won't be harmed if you use it on one. However, our brand new mattress did not conform very well to the base when we raised its head and foot. The mattress didn't settle onto the base at the foot, and when we got off the mattress, the middle popped right up. We would expect these conformance issues to improve as the mattress breaks in, but other mattresses conformed better right out of the box.

Overall, compatibility is "good" in the sense that your mattress won't be harmed by using it on an adjustable base, but it did not conform very well.

Materials & Construction

What's in a Tuft & Needle Mattress?

Overall, we classify the Tuft & Needle mattress as an "All Foam" construction type.  This is a 9.5″ thick mattress comprised of 2 layers (listed below from top to bottom):

•  3" polyurethane gel-and-graphite infused foam comfort layer, 2.8 lb. density
•  6.5" polyurethane foam support layer, 1.8 lb. density

The Tuft & Needle bed is simply constructed of two layers of polyurethane foam. The top 3" layer is a softer foam that's infused with flecks of gel and graphite; both are intended to help channel heat from the body. The second layer is a 6.5" block of standard polyurethane foam. The two layers are glued together and wrapped in a fire sock (required by law for fire prevention).

Durability, Warranty & Value

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.

How Much Does a Tuft & Needle Mattress Cost?

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

Other Factors to Consider

Delivery

• Free delivery 

Tuft & Needle includes free delivery, which is not particularly unusual among its competitors. Delivery is to your door. You are responsible for moving the mattress to your room and unpacking it. The queen size bed weighs about 72 pounds delivered, so it's likely a two-person job.

Returns

• 100-day trial period
• Full refund within trial period

Tuft & Needle offers buyers a 100-day trial period with a full refund if you decide the mattress isn't for you. The company does require proof that you have donated the mattress to a charity before processing a refund. That's often not as easy as it sounds, as many organizations do not accept mattress donations for hygiene reasons. The company does say it will help you find an organization that will take your mattress, however.