WinkBed Mattress Review

Michael Magnuson

Founder of GoodBed, Leading Mattress Expert

Is WinkBed a Good Mattress?

We first reviewed the WinkBed in 2016. Since then, it's updated its materials a couple of times. Here we take a fresh look at the company's current WinkBed Luxury Firm mattress.

The WinkBed is a 13.5” to14" tall hybrid mattress -- the fluffiness of the quilting means there's a little variation depending on where you measure. Under a couple of inches of comfort foams is a layer of encased coils. Features include stronger edge support coils, gel-foam quilted into the top cover, and what the company calls a “lumbar layer” intended to firm up support under the heaviest part of your body, your hips. The WinkBed comes in three comfort levels: Softer, Luxury Firm, and Firmer, along with a “Plus” version intended to heavier sleepers over about 300 pounds. Here we review the most popular model, the Luxury Firm. We have a separate review on the Winkbed Plus.

In our testing, strengths of the WinkBed include edge support, which was excellent along the sides, and temperature. The WinkBed mattress has a couple of specific cooling features, and as a mattress that's mainly composed of steel coils, it has good airflow by default. If sleeping hot is an issue for you, the WinkBed is worth consideration.

In terms of back support, we felt the WinkBed would suit back sleepers very well. With the soft top combined with the firmer zoned coils below, we thought it had a great feel for someone that primarily sleeps on their back. The mattress also performed well in our evaluation for side and stomach sleepers who like the pillowtop feel with firm support below.

Motion isolation was another highlight in our review. If you're easily disturbed by a partner's movements in bed, or by pets jumping on and off, the WinkBed does a great job minimizing the transfer of that motion.

Price-wise, the WinkBed is more costly than some competing online-only mattresses, but we do think it compares very well to the type of luxury coil beds you'll find in department stores.

You can place the WinkBed mattress atop the support of your choice, including a separately purchased box support, a bed frame, platform bed, or adjustable bed frame. WindBed sells its own bed frames, but they are not required purchases. Free shipping is included.

Overall, the WinkBed mattress performed very well in our testing and evaluations. We judged construction to be of excellent quality.

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 WinkBed is sold exclusively online. We have also reviewed the WinkBed Plus, a variation with special features and construction to add support and durability for heavy people.

Is the WinkBed right for you? Read our take on this luxury-style mattress.

Who is the Best Match for a WinkBed Mattress?

BEST if you:

• Like a mattress with a traditional feel
• Sleep in several positions
• Are disturbed by a partner's movements
• Tend to sleep on the edge of your bed

NOT IDEAL if you:

• Don't like much bounce
• Prefer a slow-melting memory-foam feel

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 found the WinkBed to be interesting in terms of softness. While the top is very soft and fluffy, the firmer support layers below are quite firm. So overall, we'd call the Luxury Firm version of the WinkBed a "medium" on our scale, balancing out the softer top and firmer bottom.

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. Again, the WinkBed felt very interesting to us; while the top certainly feels soft, the firmer coils below prevent as much sinking in as you would expect. Overall, we again felt that the WinkBed (Luxury Firm version) was just a little above average in terms of cushioning. You fell just a bit more snuggled and cradled by the mattress, as opposed to floating on top of it.

Memory Feel

Memory feel or 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 WinkBed does not include any memory foam, so there is none of that slow memory foam feel at all. The mattress springs right back after being compressed.

Bounce

Responsiveness also translates into bounce, and with most innerspring mattresses, you'll get a good bit of it. Overall, it has a very traditional feel, with a healthy amount of bounce. The foam layers absorb what we would call "surface" bounce, but the springy support base provides plenty of deep bounce, which you'll notice when you plop down on the bed.

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 WinkBed mattress performed very well for our tester, particularly in the back sleeping position. But we also found it to be supportive for a wide range of side and stomach sleepers. In some cases, we would steer certain people/sleepers to the softer version or the firmer version of the mattress. And for those in the 300-lb.+ range, consider the WinkBed Plus.

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.

If you are a bigger person, you may be wondering whether the WinkBed or the WinkBed Plus is the better choice. Overall, while both mattresses offered very good support for heavier sleepers, we did give the edge to the WinkBed Plus for persons in the 300-lb.+ range (here's our review).

Here is how we break down the spinal alignment of the WinkBed mattress (Luxury Firm version):

Back Sleepers:

Our tester really enjoyed the WinkBed in this position; the combination of the soft top foam 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 similarly good experience.

Side Sleepers:

In our evaluation, side sleepers would also be well supported by the WinkBed. Our 200 lb. tester’s hips and shoulders sank into the bed just enough to create a neutral spinal position (he wished his shoulders could sink just a bit more, but it wasn't problematic). We also felt, again, that most people, even those heavier than our tester, would be well supported. Very light side sleepers might opt instead for the Soft version of the WinkBed.

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 WinkBed, for our tester, had plenty of support, but still felt soft and cushioned thanks to the soft foam on top. We think this mattress would feel especially nice for stomach sleepers that prefer that softness up top.

We do think that heavier and lighter stomach sleepers might prefer other versions of the WinkBed. Heavier sleepers certainly could consider the Plus, or even the Firm version of the regular WinkBed.

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.

When a mattress pushes back against your body with too much force in a concentrated area, the result can be pain, soreness, loss of circulation, excessive tossing, and other problems. In general, such "pressure points" are of greatest concern for side sleepers, since that's the position in which your body's weight is distributed over the smallest surface area. To find the right mattress for your needs, keep in mind that the pressure-relieving capabilities of any given mattress will vary depending on the sleeper. Factors like your weight and body shape (e.g., broader shoulders and/or hips) will determine how far you sink into the mattress, and the pressure relief offered by that mattress will vary widely at different depths. 

Overall, we found the pressure relief offered by the WinkBed mattress to be very good, especially for those on the lighter/less curvy side. For those with acute/chronic pressure relief needs, a memory foam or latex bed might be better overall, but for most others, we thought the WinkBed would be a good choice.

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 )

Materials & Construction

What's in a WinkBed Mattress?

Overall, we classify the WinkBed mattress as a "Foam over Pocket Springs" construction type. It is a 13.5" to 14″ thick mattress comprised of 5 layers (listed below from top to bottom):

• Two 1" layers of soft gel foam, quilted into the cover
• 2" proprietary "SupportCell" foam, 4-lb. density
• 1" lumbar-support foam layer. 2-lb. density
• 8" pocketed steel springs with narrower edge-support coils along the sides
• 1" base foam

The top two layers of the WinkBed mattress are soft foam, quilted right into the mattress cover. Under that is 2" of soft, high-density comfort foam. Altogether, the top layers of the bed reminded us of when pillow top mattresses first became popular. Those top foam layers are gel-infused, intended to help channel heat from the body. In between the comfort foam and support coils is a small layer of what the company calls lumbar foam. At the base is a 1" layer of standard polyurethane foam as a base for the coil unit.

The main pocket spring support unit is zoned; there are firmer coils in the central third of the bed where your hips will rest, but softer coils at the head and foot, and firmer coils along the sides of the mattress.

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 WinkBed 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.

What Are You Getting?

The WinkBed is a tall mattress, where most sold-online mattress are typically 10" or 11". It has a luxury look; to us, it feels sturdy and well made. Our tester commented that it feels "majestic." Two layers of gel foam comprise the bed's comfort layers, with a taller layer of support coils wrapped in a snazzy white-and-blue polka dot cover.

How Long Will the WinkBed Last?

When it comes to estimating the comfort lifespan of a mattress, we can use foam density as our best, albeit imperfect, predictor of how long a foam will retain its shape and resiliency. In the case of the WinkBed Mattress density of the main comfort foam is 4 lbs, a high quality, high density foam. WinkBeds touts what they call "Duratech" as its design for preventing sagging, which includes the coil system and comfort foam, and says that third-party testing has been performed to ascertain durability.

If you or your spouse is a heavier person (over 300 pounds), you might want to see our review of the WinkBed Plus. This variation uses stronger coils, along with latex as the primary comfort material instead of poly foam for the regular WinkBed. It's our opinion that this combo (coils + latex) will better resist body impressions for those on the heavier end of the weight range.

Overall Value

We thought that the WinkBed compares well to similar mattresses you would see in a department store or high-end bedding store.

When compared to other online-only beds, it does cost more than some of the competition, but it's also a tall, luxury-look mattress. We feel the WinkBed is a good value compared to what you would find in stores, especially.

Warranty

• Warranty Length: Lifetime
• Indentation Coverage: 1.5” and above

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 hybrid and innerspring mattresses is 1.5". WinkBeds has chosen to cover indentations that meet or exceed 1.5” — right about average for the industry. Practically speaking, that means any softening or sagging would need to be at least that deep before the warranty would offer you protection.

This warranty extends to the original owner for as long as they own the mattress and assumes it has been placed upon an appropriate foundation. See: WinkBeds warranty policy

Other Factors to Consider

Delivery

• Free delivery to door

WinkdBeds includes free delivery, which is not particularly unusual among its competitors. Delivery is by common carrier like FedEx, who will deliver the box to your door. It's worth noting that there is no "white glove" delivery option, where you can pay to have someone set up the mattress in the room of your choosing.

Returns

• 120-day trial period
• Full refund with pickup

WinkBeds offers buyers a 120-day trial period, and requires buyers to give the mattress at least 30 days before initiating a return. Should you wish to exchange your bed for a different softness level, there's a $49 fee. See: WinkBeds returns policy.