Amazon Memory Foam Mattress Review: Best Sleep At Best Price (Or Not?)

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The Amazon Memory Foam mattress is a top performer from the Amazon basics range. With its budget friendly price point and your choice of firmness, I can see why people are buying up this popular mattress.

BUT: can it really live up to the claim of the “best sleep at the best price”? And does it deserve its spot up there among the best sellers? I’ve investigated to bring you all the need to know information.

Amazon Basics Cooling Gel-Infused, Medium-Firm Memory Foam Mattress, CertiPUR-US Certified - Queen Size, 80 x 60 x 12 inches, White/Gray
  • ENHANCED SLEEP COMFORT: Enjoy a restful night with this gel memory foam mattress, ideal for any bedroom or guest room, providing a peaceful and cozy sleep experience
  • BODY-CONTOURING SUPPORT: The medium-firm queen memory foam adapts to your body's contours, minimizing pressure points for personalized comfort and excellent support
  • COOLING TECHNOLOGY: This cooling mattress features 3 hypoallergenic layers including a cooling gel foam top and a breathable middle layer with airflow channels
  • CONVENIENT SHIPPING: Made in the USA with global parts, this queen mattress in a box is vacuum packed for easy shipping. Simply unpack and allow up to 72 hours for full expansion
  • CERTIPUR-US CERTIFIED: Rest easy with this queen mattress knowing the foam in this product is CertiPUR-US certified

I’ll look at:

  • Amazon Memory Foam Mattress Features
  • Pros and Cons
  • Is this Mattress Right for You?
  • Is this Mattress High Quality?
  • Is this Mattress Easy to Use?
  • What Are The Best Alternatives?
  • What are the Experiences of those Already using this Mattress?
  • Is It Worth Buying?

Amazon Memory Foam Mattress Features

This mattress comes in two height options: 10 or 12 inches (there is an 8 inch model in a separate listing for those of you wanting a thinner mattress).

This mattress has a medium firm feel – with the intention that it will feel comfortable to most people (though this firmness rating is going to be too firm for lighter people or side sleepers in my opinion)

Here’s a total breakdown of each mattress:

  • 10 Inch: 2 inches of cooling gel memory foam + 3 inches of transition foam with air channels (important to let heat escape) +5 inches of firm support foam. I think the support layer isn’t quite thick enough here, so my preference is the 12 inch model.
  • 12 Inch: 2 inches of cooling gel memory foam + 3 inches of transition foam with air channels (important to let heat escape) +7 inches of firm support foam. That’s a pretty standard breakdown across all 12 inch memory foam mattresses.

This mattress is “medium-firm”, so depending on how you experience the mattress, this is going to feel like a 6 – 7 out of 10 on the mattress firmness scale.

The mattress has a good design to help air flow around the mattress, preventing you from sleeping hot. Sleeping hot, or trapping heat throughout the night, is a common gripe of memory foam mattresses. The AmazonBasics mattress has two features to help airflow:

  1. The memory foam layer has a gel bead infusion to draw heat away from your body
  2. The transition layer has a convoluted, egg crate appearance to allow the heat that was drawn through from the middle layer to escape

Pros and Cons

Pros

Pros
  • Great price point
  • You can choose between two thickness options
  • Good design to avoid trapping heat
  • Now made in USA and has 10 year warranty (this used to be one year)

Cons

Cons
  • No sleep trial, only subject to Amazon’s 30 day return policy
  • Inadequate support foam in the 10 inch layer
  • The label states this mattress is designed to be used WITHOUT a foundation

Is This Mattress Right For You?

This mattress, like any, is not a one size fits all. So to answer the question about whether this mattress can deliver the best sleep at the best price, the answer is YES if:

You are looking for a budget mattress. This is the most important point with this mattress. There are always going to be better mattresses for more money. I think you will be happy with your Amazon Memory Foam Mattress purchase if you also:

  • are an average size adult who likes a medium level of support
  • you sleep on your back or are a combo sleeper
  • are looking for a mattress for a guest room.
  • Are looking for a mattress for a child: the 10 inch would be good for a kids room.

I think this mattress is NOT for you if:

  • you weigh more than 200lb. I find it hard to believe the cheaper foams are going to do you justice, unless you just want this mattress for a temporary bed. It doesn’t matter if you are two people using the mattress who each weigh up to 200lb, because your weight is distributed across the bed.
  • you are a stomach sleeper – same thing. I don’t think the foams are going to be durable enough for you. Stomach sleepers tend to require a firmer mattress, as your hips put a lot of pressure through the mattress as you sleep. This requires a firm sleeping surface to keep your spine happy.
  • you are a lighter side sleeper: this mattress may be too firm for you

Is This Mattress High Quality?

This mattress has only been on the market since September 2018, so it is hard to know how well it will stand up to the test of time as we do not yet have any reports from people who have owned it for long enough to give us an idea.

The design principles around the airflow through the mattress are sound though, and are a good feature for the price.

I’m also happy to see the updates of transferring manufacturing to the USA, and increasing the warranty from one year to 10 years (here’s the warranty wording) gives me more confidence in the durability of the mattress as Amazon is clearly backing its longevity more than it used to.

Another great update is that Amazon has removed the fiberglass as the fire barrier in this mattress, and now use FR Viscose instead. However, according to the mattress label, this means the mattress only meets standards if it’s used WITHOUT a foundation, which is a very strange thing to say as I generally recommend you don’t just put mattresses on the floor! So you need to be aware of this when you’re thinking about how you’d like to use your Amazon Basics Memory Foam mattress.

I would generally expect a standard memory foam mattresses to have at least 3 inches of memory foam in their comfort layer, and 7 inches of firm support foam, and both of which you only find in the 12 inch model. I guess the pricing also reflects this though.

You’re getting what you pay for here!

Is This Mattress Easy To Use?

Overall, I’d say hmm. In some regards yes: you just unpack it, put it where you want it to be, use your standard size sheets on it, and that’s it.  There’s just one little tricky thing to it which I’ll talk about.

The care tag on the mattress instructs you to leave the mattress for 72 hours to fully expand. Don’t let this stop you from using it sooner: there are countless reports from real users who reported it expanded quickly (some even reported within a couple of minutes) and many slept on it within 24 hours.

BUT:

The updated version of this mattress doesn’t contain fiberglass (which is good news), but I think it’s pretty hard to use a mattress without a base. Amazon says this mattress only meets fire standards without a base. I mean, I know they’ve got no way of knowing what base you will use with this mattress, but I find that a bit scary and it would put me off buying it.

What Are The Best Alternatives To The Amazon Memory Foam Mattress?

For a similar price point:

  • The Zinus Green Tea is one of the most popular mattresses on Amazon, and is a well established, popular brand. It has the same cooling technology as the Amazon memory foam mattress and has some extra cool innovations in it. You can read my full review of it here.
  • If you’re not 100% sold on an all foam mattress, you will want to check out my article about the best hybrid mattresses on Amazon for under $600.

Better suited to heavier people or stomach sleepers:

You probably need to choose a hybrid mattress with a firm feel, as this is going to give you the best support. Unfortunately these tend to run at a higher price point than the Amazon Memory Foam Mattress I’m reviewing here, but you’ll reap the priceless benefit of better sleep. Read about my top mattress picks especially for you here.

Another option for side sleepers:

I really like the Classic Brands Cool Gel memory foam range. These mattresses are at the budget end of the price scale, but contain more memory foam and base foam than the Amazon Basic, and come with a 10 year warranty. You can read my full review here.

What Are The Experiences Of People Already Using This Mattress?

Apart from the comments every memory foam mattress gets about off gassing from the foam expanding or it not feeling right for the individual user, i think these are the most important things people have to say from their experience of using the mattress so far.

The good:

  • most customers found this mattress to be very light and easy to set up
  • many customers are happy with the performance of the ventilation features, and found it did not sleep too hot for them
  • many customers feel it is good value for money

The bad:

  • as expected, most reports from people weighing 200lb+ did not find this mattress comfortable, which matches with my expectation that this mattress is better for lighter people or children
  • some people found their mattress did not expand to the full height. This is a relatively common issue with foam mattresses that have been compressed in boxes for too long. With any online mattress in a box purchase, you’ll have no way of knowing this before you buy, unfortunately, unless you buy a mattress that is made to order such as the Layla or Avocado mattresses.  My advice is to open it up as soon as you can, and measure the height after 72 hours to check it’s reached the full height.

Read more of what people are saying about this mattress on Amazon by clicking here

Is It Worth Buying?

From all the information I’ve presented to you, the answer is a solid maybe! I think this mattress will be a great choice for some people, and not so good for others. To recap, I think this mattress will be a great fit for those after a low priced, medium support memory foam mattress that still has some cool features.

Would I buy this mattress? I’d strongly consider it as a guest room option or a kid’s bed. The price point makes it attractive, but the wording about the fire barrier and the short trial (30 day Amazon standard return policy) are put-offs. However, I do really like the cooling innovations and choice of foam depth in the 12 inch model. I might be more inclined to spend a little more on one of the alternative mattresses I mentioned above.

Last update on 2024-11-06 at 01:01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

AUTHOR

Emily Johnstone

Emily is the creator and owner of bestmattressforyou.com. Emily's scientific background gives her an analytical, critical, and discerning eye to bring unbiased, thorough, and helpful content to the site. Your good sleep is her top priority. Find out more about Emily and bestmattressforyou.com here.