Linenspa Six Inch Innerspring Mattress: Can You Do Better?

Linenspa Six Inch Innerspring Mattress: Budget Bargain or Budget Bomb?

The Linenspa six inch innerspring mattress is currently the number three best selling mattress of all the mattresses on Amazon. Linenspa are doing really well on Amazon; their hybrid mattress is also in the top three! This innerspring mattress sells more than 12,000 units per month, so it’s certainly a popular one.

What I find really interesting about this particular mattress at first glance, is that it has less than half the number of reviews and questions as all the other top five selling Amazon mattresses, and a lower average star rating. This really got me wondering why it is so popular, when people are not talking about it as much, nor rating it as highly as you might expect a popular mattress to be.

Another interesting thing to note is that this mattress is the ONLY pure innerspring mattress in the Amazon top 40 mattress chart.

What does all this mean? Why aren’t people leaving it reviews? Why is it so popular? I’ve dug into all the info and have my opinion on the answer to those questions for you. It’s certainly a very cheap option (Linenspa describe it as providing “unmatched value”) but I think I have a more full explanation for you. If you want to go straight to that, click to “my conclusion” below, or “best place to buy” to hear what I really think and what mattress I recommend you purchase.

• Overview
• Pros and cons
• Technical info
• Who is the mattress best suited to?
• FAQ
• How to use
• Any problems? (this is where I talk about the one star reviews)
• Real comments from the 1,500+ users who gave it 5 stars
• My conclusion video
• Buy one of these instead

Overview

Linenspa was founded in 2003 with the vision of creating quality bedding for a price everyone can afford.  They market themselves as  “superb quality, good value, great service and good fashion sense”. A visit to their website gives you the vibe they want to be your friend, with their fun promotional video and Instagram hashtag. Their slogan is “life happens, sleep it off”.  Their great service is reflected on Amazon: they are very active there answering questions from customers, for every mattress they sell there. I think this is great, as it builds trust. They get a lot of questions, so this would be taking up hours and hours.  I’ve looked at other mattresses where the companies are totally silent and rely on fellow customers to do that work for them instead.

I mentioned above that the Linenspa six inch innerspring mattress is the only innerspring mattress in the top 40 of Amazon. Innerspring mattresses have  been around longer than other mattress types, such as memory foam or latex. According to The Sleep Help Institute, they still make up around two thirds of mattress sales so they are definitely not the dying breed which that figure might suggest. I am thinking that for online mattress sales from places such as Amazon, people think more of memory foam etc, and therefore innerspring mattresses remain more in the domain of the traditional bricks and mortar stores.

Pros and cons

As I have talked about in other reviews of Linenspa mattresses, I really feel the short trial period of 30 days is stingy. I think that for people to be able to buy a mattress online with any amount of confidence, a mattress that offers 100 nights is going to be a more attractive option. This negative factor also negates one of the items I’ve listed as a pro: that this mattress can sit happily in its box for a long time without any decompression issues (this is not the case for memory foam or hybrid “mattress in a box” mattresses). If you leave it sitting in the box for a long time, your trial period will expire before you know it.

On the other hand, I really like the fact that there are no hazardous chemicals used as the fire retardant. It is also good that fiberglass has not been used because even though this should not cause any problems, there are lots of reports of user error (opening the mattress when you shouldn’t) leading to the fiberglass getting out of the mattress (it’s a nightmare to clean up).

Technical info

The Linenspa six inch innerspring mattress is a mattress with a firm feel. It is composed of mostly of the supporting innersprings, with a very thin comfort layer.

Materials

From the top of the mattress to the bottom, here is a breakdown of the mattress composition.

At the top of the mattress, there is a 100% polyester quilted cover (which goes over the whole mattress) with a cotton fire resistant layer in the top portion.

Underneath this you can see the thin foam layer which provides the “comfort layer” cushioning.

There is a felt pad underneath the foam layer for even insulation.

These inner material layers are made of : 62% polyester fiber, 18% rayon fiber, 15% polyurethane foam and 5% polypropylene fiber.

The support layer, which is the bulk of this mattress, is six inches of tempered steel coils.

The mattress is CertiPUR-US certified and is reported to have virtually no off-gassing odor when opened.

It is a very light mattress. For example, the queen size weighs 52lb. Many customers reported their children (some as young as six) were able to carry this mattress around easily.

Shipping and warranty

This mattress is eligible for Amazon Prime, so you could have it at your door for free extremely quickly if you are a member. Otherwise, you can expect free standard shipping from Amazon or Linenspa.

Linenspa provide a 10 year warranty, which is pretty much standard across the current mattress market.

I have mentioned it above, but please be aware that this mattress only comes with a 30 night trial period.

Who is the mattress best suited to?

Linenspa market this mattress as being suitable for kid’s bedrooms. The promotional video doesn’t even suggest you use it anywhere else. I find it interesting that the promotional images on Amazon do not show any children and just show the mattress on a double bed size frame, which I think could be a little misleading.

I would recommend that if you are purchasing this mattress, use it on:

• a child’s bed (read my conclusion below for a better alternative for similar money)
• bunk beds
• a trundle bed

The reasons it is most suitable for these purposes are that the low profile makes it fit well onto a bunk or trundler, while a firmer feel is more likely to feel comfortable for children. An adult would  fare better on a mattress that will do a better job of supporting and responding to pressure points than this mattress will.

This made me wonder if the high number of one star reviews was due to adults purchasing this mattress for their every day bed, when it is probably not a good choice for this purpose. I’ve addressed and given my opinion on this in the problems section of this review.

FAQ

Due to this mattress being an innerspring mattress, some of the types of questions people were asking about it were different than if it were a memory foam, latex, or hybrid mattress. Some of the questions I believe were also due to the pricing and profile of this mattress. I’ve explained why I’ve included some of the questions as I go through them.

• Are the springs noisy?
  • This is a question that always pops up with spring beds. Happily with this mattress, most customers report no, they are not noisy.
• Can you flip it?
  • Due to there being the felt and foam layer at the top of the mattress as the comfort layer, no you cannot flip it. This is an important thing to note, as traditionally, innerspring mattresses were the same on both sides and therefore required flipping. You’d be sleeping directly on springs and missing out on the comfort layer if you did this on this Linenspa mattress though. Just rotate regularly it for even wear through the springs.
• Will there be an off-gassing smell?
  • No there will not. Linenspa and customers agree that you may notice a slight smell from the packaging to start with but it will dissipate quickly.
• Can it be used as a fold up bed? This question was common for this particular mattress as people are clearly buying it for spare sleeping spaces. Its low six inch profile lends itself to trundle and bunk beds well, so the natural question people have is if it can be used in other temporary bedding spaces.
  • No, unfortunately it would not fold well due to the innersprings. If you need to use it as a bed that gets stored away when not in use, it would need to go on a trundle bed.
• Can I put another mattress on top of this one? This question seemed to be asked by people hoping the mattress could function as a cheap boxspring.
  • No, it is not recommended. This mattress is designed to be used as a mattress only. However, if you purchased it and wanted to customize the feel, you could add a topper to it. You would still need to use it on an appropriate base. If you are looking for a new bed base, please do not buy this mattress intending to use it as that.
• What weight can it accommodate?
  • Linenspa state their mattresses can accommodate any “reasonable” amount of weight without ever putting an exact number on it. However, as this is a very firm, thin mattress which the company themselves say is best for  a child’s room or a dorm room at a push, I would not recommend it for anyone older than a young adult. Other customers who own this bed have estimated a weight limit of 150lb based on their own experiences with the mattress.

How to use

I always include this section in my reviews to provide any specific pointers (beyond open, lie down, go to sleep, of course!) to help people get the most from the mattress we are talking about.

• This mattress is suitable for a slat base (with slats no more than 3 inches wide) or a metal grid. It is not suitable for use on an adjustable base. I noticed the Linenspa imagery on their website shows the mattress as being suitable for a boxspring, but they have said not to use it with a boxspring on Amazon. I’d stick to a slat or grid if I was using this mattress.
• You do not have to rush to open the boxed mattress, like you do with memory foam mattresses. The reason for this with memory foam mattresses is to avoid decompression issues with the memory foam, which this mattress does not have. Although, of course if you want try the mattress within its 30 day return window, you’ll want to open it sooner rather than later.
• You may find you need to either get some new sheets or tuck the ones you have in really firmly. People have noted that due to the low six inch profile of this mattress, the sheets can fit loosely and then end up bunching.

Any problems?

As I expected, when I read through the one star reviews, almost the entire first page (and in all the pages thereafter) of reviews were from adults who had found this mattress unsatisfactory as their main bed. I have said it several times in this review, but I will say it again now in case you clicked straight here: I would not recommend this mattress for daily use for an adult. And, in fact, nor would Linenspa.

The reasons these these reviewers gave was that it was too firm (this mattress has pretty much zero comfort layer to support and cushion joints or pressure points) and that they could feel the springs. Many described sleeping on the floor as being more comfortable! These are reasons to choose a thicker mattress with more of a cushion on top of the support material, whatever it may be. Happily for some of the one star reviewers, they were able to turn their situation around by adding a topper to the mattress to increase the comfort level, but dollar wise it would probably have been better to spend a little more on a different mattress for themselves in the first place.

Several reviewers also felt this mattress would be too thin for their small (2-4 year olds) children to use.

Fortunately it appears that Linenspa have stepped up and answered every complaint by offering to refund or exchange for a different mattress, so their excellent customer service record does stand out here.

On a positive note, it would seem from scanning through the one star reviews, there are virtually no reports of the mattress being defective, having too strong an odor, or any other concerns outside of the buyer’s control. It really does seem that this mattress is just firm but flimsy all at the same time.

Real comments from users who gave it 5 stars

More than half of the buyers (as of February 2019) of this mattress did actually give it five stars, so let’s take a look at some of the things they had to say.

There were a couple of themes that came through quite strongly from this group of reviewers. They were either 1. buying the mattress for their small child and most did not want to sleep on it themselves, or 2. they were sleeping on it themselves but had added a topper for extra comfort. They all felt it was a good quality mattress for the price. A lot of people did not comment on the mattress, but how much they enjoyed watching it pop out of the packaging when they opened it. I can totally relate to that, I did it with my own mattress!

• “a perfect fit for bunk beds but I would not buy for an adult”
• “comfortable for only 6 inches”
• “my husband and I love it, we added a foam pad topper”
• “a good quality, budget price mattress for when my grandson comes for a sleepover”
• “it is being used for a loft bed and it was really easy to lift up by myself”
• “nicer than I expected it to be”

My conclusion

In short, I wouldn’t buy this mattress. It just sounds too flimsy to me. There are too many people complaining even their kids found it flimsy, when I know you could get an infinitely better mattress for not much more money. I think all the negative reviews are valid, and I think Linenspa’s marketing materials are actually a little bit misleading on this one with the images of the mattress on a base usually used by adults. It’s very cheap for a reason, but there are better budget mattresses out there. I think that it is so popular but does not get the same number of reviews is that people buy it as a cheap solution for small children, put it on their bed and forget about it. So maybe there are more happy users out there than we know. But still, I think you can do better.

Buy one of these instead

I think for a relatively small amount of extra money, you will get a better mattress that will last you longer if you choose a Linenspa hybrid mattress or Zinus memory foam mattress instead. This will save you money in the long run and give you a better sleep. For example, you could purchase the Linenspa hybrid mattress for a child’s bed in the 8 inch size for around $30 more, and it might be a more comfortable bed for them that would see them longer through their teen years.  It’s a lot more mattress and a lot better mattress in my opinion.