I have now spent a fair number of days reviewing IDLE products and I plan to finish researching all their products soon. I decided to keep going while their information is fresh in my head and because they have good products. I stopped researching some other companies’ products… because they weren’t worth my time.
The Idle latex mattress is mostly good with few bad things. Pros include flippable with three firmness options, the quality of the organic materials, high number of layers (11), the pocket coil design, the 18 month trail period and lifetime warranty. Cons include customer service and only online.
UPDATE: On September 16, 2022 I checked the Idle Sleep website and their other sister company websites and it appears they are out of business
Scott Boyd
The Pros
Pro 1: Flippable Two-Sided Mattress
This is one of the few companies that still manufacture two-sided mattresses for the obvious reason that it lasts longer so you buy fewer in your life. That affects the sales and profits of the manufacturers and most don’t like that.
Of course, this opens an opportunity for a few companies to take advantage of this to offer a somewhat unique and quality product the market wants.
I had a flippable mattress for about 17 years before I tossed it due to selling the house and spending most of my time in Thailand. It was still in decent shape because we flipped it about every two months and it was a high-quality mattress (I forget what is was!).
Pro 2: Firmness Options
You have two firmness options with three configuration options:
- Medium/Medium
- Firm/Firm
- And Firm/Medium with one on each side.
Pro 3: Quality Materials
Latex
You have a choice of two high-quality latex materials, which will depend on your budget. They are:
Option 1: Dunlop latex. This option will save your wallet $500 to $700 and it is still a very high quality product. Some Dunlop characteristics include:
- A more dense feel. I love how Idle describes it, “Think of Dunlop as sponge cake feel”.
- Best for tummy and back sleepers because you butt and back won’t sink in as far.
- The manufacturing process is less intensive and simpler than with Talalay, but it also produces a less consistent feel from the different batches of latex.
- It is cooler than memory foam, but not as cool as Talalay.
Option 2: Talalay latex: This is the premium latex and I have not found an negative comments about it.
- Softer “angle cake” feel.
- Best for side sleepers.
- More steps and intensive manufacturing process resulting in more consistent latex.
- Cooler and more air flow than Dunlop.
Cover
Made of natural and organic cotton with double button tufting rosettes hold the layers together without the use of glue for more ecologically friendly.
Wool
1 inch of 100% natural wool.
Latex
3 inches of Talalay or Dunlop latex.
Coil Support Layers
Two layers of soil foundation on each side of the coils.
Pocketed Coils
6 inches of individually wrapped coils.
Pro 4: Crazy Trail Period
You can test it out for 18 months. That is crazy.
Pro 5: Exchangeable
You can also exchange the mattress for up to 18 months and Idle Sleep will pay to have it picked up and the new one delivered. You have two options to choice from:
- Pay $300 to start the 18 month trial period again once you receive the new mattress.
- Pay nothing, but you don’t get the trial period on the new one. This is to prevent the freebie seekers from have a free new mattress every 18 months for the rest of their lives.
Pro 6: Warranty
There are few companies in the world that back their product as well as Idle Sleep with a lifetime limited warranty. Everyone needs to read the fine print in any warranty as some companies make sure that almost nothing is included.
Idle’s warranty seems pretty fair, and a few important things to know include:
- Idle may repair the existing mattress or replace it with a similar quality one (because they may not offer the same model in the future) and one of the same size.
- Issues covered include manufacturer and material defects, body impressions or sag of more than 5”, and excessive wear.
- Limited to the original purchaser only and is not transferable. Make sure to keep your receipt.
For a detailed list of what is covered, your responsibilities, disclaimer, and arbitration please read all the warranty information on Idle Sleep’s website here (December 2022 update: company is no longer in operation).
A mattress purchase is a big ticket item and I think it is important for folks to make an informed decision.
I wasted a lot of money on buying cheap mattresses from a local outlet store and they were very uncomfortable and did not last. I would have been better off doing some research and learning before making the purchases. Ahhh, hindsight is always 20-20.
TIP: When you receive your receipt via email forward it to your email address and change the subject line to “mattress receipt”.
In 10 or 20 years it is likely that you will forget the name of the company that so you may not find it in your email. However, you will be able to find it now with a search for the simple “mattress receipt”.
You can also save the receipt in a “Receipts” folder to increase the likelihood of finding it in the future.
Pro 7: Made in USA
Idle sleep is made in the good ole USA in Colorado Springs one of my favorite states, Colorado. I managed to see game one of the Stanley Cup finals in 2001 in Denver. BTW that is ice hockey 🙂
Although it is possible to have poor quality manufacturing in the US it is substantially less likely than in China. Most companies don’t have any quality control people or systems in place for manufacturing in China and only know if the quality is good or bad when their customers open the package and start using it. This is not a good way to do business in my opinion, and I know because I did it haha.
Pro 8: Website
I have spent far too much of my life researching bed frames and mattresses while stuck in Thailand and bored senseless. One of the many things that I learned is that not all companies put much effort into their website, which makes the research and buying process more challenging than it should be.
Some issues I have found with many companies websites include:
- lack of information needed to make an informed decision.
- difficult to navigate and find the information that is available.
- outdated copyright information. This is an indication that the website may not be updated regularly so there is less confidence that the information provided if accurate and up to date.
- broken links to products, customer service contact services, and company information.
The Idle Sleep website is the nicest and most user friendly of all the mattress manufacturer websites I have visited. And they have much more information that any also. They provide a terrific amount of information that is easy to find and understand and I give them a 5 out of 5 rating for their effort.
TIP: You can easily check to see if the copyright is up to date by scrolling to the bottom of any page and see the year. I have seen some that displace dates in the early 2000s.
The Cons
Con 1: Idle Latex Mattress Complaints
There have been a few complaints about customer service and coordinating returns and exchanges, but I think all companies drop the ball a bit in that department. However, it is certainly something to consider.
I did some testing of their online chat service and I have to say that it is awesome. I was really surprised by the quality of the native English representatives knowledge, and ability to find the super hard details I requested.
Con 2: Cannot Test in a Store
You have to buy Idle mattress online from their website at idlesleep.com. I think more people would call this a con as you can’t pop into your local bed store to test one out and kick the tires.
The reality is that this is how most people buy a mattress these days and at some point, it might move completely online to save the extra cost of store rent and utilities and staff.
Pro (for some): With this shift online comes to a more educated buyer as there is so much information available to buyers researching different mattresses, materials, thickness, firmness ratings, and warranties.
Perhaps the most important pro is that most companies offer a trial period of up to 12 months. Except for one crazy company that I have found, yup, Idle Sleep which offers 18 months to test drive their mattresses.
This is pretty crazy. Ask the salesman at the local mattress store if you can take if for an 18-month spin and watch for the expression.
