Bear Original Mattress Review: Affordable, Memory Foam Mattress With a Unique Cover

Bear makes a handful of affordable and comfortable mattresses that we think highly of, and the Bear Original is the brand's most popular bed, mostly because it's such an excellent value. This mattress has undergone a few redesigns over the years, but it currently has a classic memory foam feel and is a great option for back and stomach sleepers on a budget looking for an affordable, firm bed.

First impressions of the Bear Original mattress

The current version of the Bear Original is the third distinct model we've tested. The original model we tested years ago had a similar design, but was extremely soft and more for side sleepers. The second model we tested was almost the polar opposite, with a very firm profile and a default Celliant cover (I'll talk about this material a bit later in this review). 

My first impression of the current model of the Bear Original was very positive, especially after seeing its price. I noticed immediately that it was softer than the previous model, but not necessarily soft overall. I also noticed it had a memory foam feel similar to its main competition, Nectar. 

The Celliant cover no longer comes with the Bear Original by default, which is disappointing because this material helped set Bear apart in the past, but it makes sense to keep the price of the mattress down.

Is the Bear Original mattress right for you?

For anyone looking for an affordable mattress with a memory foam feel, the Bear Original is a solid choice. There are a number of memory foam mattress options available for around the same price, like the Nectar Classic, Leesa Studio and the new Copperflex mattresses from Brooklyn Bedding, but several things set the Bear Original apart.

I don’t think the Bear Original mattress is ideal for most side sleepers because of how firm it is, but for everyone else shopping on a budget, it could be the bed for you. 

Bear Original mattress firmness and feel

Bear Original feel

You get a straightforward memory foam feel with the Bear Original. Think of the that prototypical sink-in, body-conforming sensation. Slow responsiveness means that when you remove weight or pressure from the foam, it'll take time to return to its original shape -- a common characteristic of memory foam. The top layer of memory foam on the Bear Original is very slow to respond and spring back into its shape after weight is removed from it. 

The feel isn’t quite as dense and slow as the Tempur-Pedic mattress I’ve been sleeping on for the last year, but it's firmly in the memory foam category. 

Memory foam can be divisive though -- because the foam doesn’t spring back or move with you, some sleepers report feeling “stuck” in memory foam beds. While I used to be one of those people, I found I don’t toss and turn much at all throughout the night on my memory foam bed, allowing for more restful sleep.

Bear Original firmness and sleeper types

The Bear Original is available in one firmness profile. During our testing, we found that firmness to be within the medium-firm range, or between a 6-8 out of 10. 

Our new mattress testing device, the Mattress Smasher 9000, provides a more objective firmness score. It gave the Bear Original a 7.65 out of 10, which is pretty much what we had initially thought. According to Bear, this mattress is a 7.1 out of 10 on the firmness scale, so we think it's only a tiny bit firmer than the brand claims. 

This means the Bear Original is best for back and stomach sleepers who prefer a firmer mattress. In general, we recommend back and stomach sleepers get firmer mattresses. That's because if they use a mattress that's too soft, it can cause back pain over time.

For side sleepers, we recommend softer mattresses since a lot of pressure is placed on their hips and shoulders when they sleep; a softer bed helps relieve that pressure and prevent pain. If you're a primary side sleeper like myself, I recommend a bed softer than the Bear Original, but if you alternate between sleeping on your side and your back or stomach, you'll likely be fine with it.

Bear Original mattress construction

The construction of the Bear Mattress is pretty standard for an affordable foam mattress. It is roughly 10 inches tall and is built with three different foam layers. 

The bottommost layer is a roughly 6-inch-thick layer of dense support foam, something we see in virtually every mattress that doesn’t use coils for support.

Above the support foam is a roughly 2.5-inch-thick layer of “Bear Dynamic Foam,” which functions as a comfort layer, and as a buffer between the support foam and the 1.5-inch-thick layer of gel-infused memory foam above. 

The combination of these three foams is what gives the Bear Original that memory foam feel, despite the transition layer having more bounce than the top layer of memory foam. 

Bear Original optional Celliant cover

All Bear mattresses have the option of adding Celliant fibers into the cover, and there is evidence that exposure to Celliant provides sleep benefits. Bear does note that the benefits require more study -- but according to one major study on Celliant, it helped participants fall asleep faster, sleep longer and improve blood flow. 

Bear used to heavily market its beds toward athletes because of the Celliant material in the cover. The brand no longer no longer emphasizes this as much, which says to me that Bear has less confidence in its benefits. But if you lead an athletic lifestyle, I think Celliant's potential benefits might be worth the extra cost ($100 to $150). 

While we can’t personally test the potential benefits of Celliant, a former member of our CNET Sleep team slept on a Bear mattress for years and believed the Celliant cover made a difference.

Bear Original performance

Edge support

During testing, we found the Bear Original mattress's edge support was average. There's no construction element in the mattress designed to enhance the edge support, but we didn’t observe any serious issues with excessive compression along the edges of the bed.

Beds with poor edge support make you feel like you’re going to roll off the mattress near the outer edge, and it's easy to sleep near the perimeter of the bed if you're sharing it with a partner or pets. Softer foam mattresses generally perform worse in this category if they don't have some sort of edge support enhancement. 

While I don’t think you’ll have issues on the Bear Original, if edge support is something you're concerned about, I'd check out the Bear Elite Hybrid, which has reinforced edge coils that noticeably improve the edge support. 

Motion isolation

Motion isolation refers to how well the bed deadens the impact of movement on the mattress. If you're a light sleeper who shares a mattress with someone who tosses and turns, having good motion isolation is especially important. 

I made the switch to a Tempur-Pedic mattress for this exact reason, and my partner reports much improved sleep. It would likely be the same story on the Bear Original.

The Bear Original, constructed entirely of foam layers with memory foam on top, delivered excellent motion isolation as we expected during testing.

Temperature regulation

Bear advertises the Bear Original as having cooling features, saying the top layer of gel memory foam “draws away” heat from the body. That might be true -- but we wouldn’t classify the Bear Original as a cooling mattress. We believe it should sleep temperature neutral though, which means it won’t really heat up on you throughout the night. 

If you’re a hot sleeper and really need active cooling features, check out our Best Cooling Beds list, or get the Bear Elite Hybrid, which is noticeably cool to the touch. There are also accessories that give you temperature control on any mattress,  like the Eight Sleep Pod System or the Bed Jet.

I've alluded to the pricing of the Bear Original being very budget friendly. A queen-size has a retail price of only $998, which is already pretty affordable. Plus, this bed is generally on some kind of discount; at the time of writing, a queen-size Bear Original is priced at just $649.

Around major holidays Bear will often throw in some extras like free pillows, making it an easy way to upgrade your sleep setup in a single purchase. 

Prices often change for online mattresses, so make sure to check out our mattress deals page for the most up to date pricing on the Bear Original. But I don’t foresee this mattress becoming less competitive on price. 

Bear mattress policies

Free shipping

Like most online mattresses, this will ship right to your door at no extra cost inside of a large box (as long as you live in the contiguous United States). If you live in Canada, you can still get the Bear Original shipped to you, but there'll be an additional cost depending on where you live. 

Unboxing a mattress usually only takes a few minutes. I've unboxed many beds by myself, and while it's doable, I recommend do so with a friend to make the process go more smoothly.

120-night trial 

All Bear mattresses come with a slightly longer-than-average trial period of 120 nights compared to the usual 100 nights. So you have about four months to try the mattress at home and decide if it meets your needs and preferences.

Keep in mind that it can take a month or longer for your body to adjust to a new mattress, no matter how well-suited it is to your sleeping preferences. The trial period begins the day the mattress is delivered, not when you actually start sleeping on it.

Return policy

Within the 120-night trial period, you can return the Bear Original mattress at no cost and get a full refund.

Like most brands, Bear will ask you to sleep on the bed for at least 30 nights before initiating a return, because no matter how nice and well-suited your new mattress is to your sleep type, your body needs a bit of time to adjust to it.

And don’t worry about keeping the box or the packaging; Bear will arrange pickup and the bed will often get donated.

Warranty

All Bear mattresses are backed by a lifetime warranty, which is above and beyond the usual online mattress standard of 10 years.

Like pretty much any warranty that lasts longer than 10 years, it's tiered and offers more protection in the first 10 years in comparison to the years after.

How does the Bear Original compare to similar mattresses?

Bear Original vs. Nectar Classic Memory Foam

The Nectar Classic is the most direct competitor to the Bear Original. Both beds are very similar, with the same type of memory foam feel and a nearly identical firmness profile. Both are a medium-firm. According to our Mattress Smasher 9000, the Nectar Classic is a 8.1 out to 10, compared to the 7.65 out of 10 for the Bear Original, which is a negligible difference. Plus, as of writing, both beds are also the same price after discount.

The key differences are the trial period, with Nectar offering a year-long sleep trial compared to the 120-night trial provided by Bear, and that Bear has the optional Celliant cover. 

Bear Original vs. Leesa Studio

Leesa Studio $599 at Leesa Mattress

The Leesa Studio mattress is very similar to its ultra-popular Leesa Original mattress, but instead of using memory foam as a transition layer, memory foam is the main comfort layer of the Leesa Studio.

The feel of both the Bear Original and the Leesa Studio is very similar as are the their prices, with the Leesa Studio usually coming in about $50 less after discount. The Leesa Studio is slightly softer as well, scoring a 6.43 out of 10 on the Mattress Smasher. 

Final thoughts on the Bear Original mattress

The Bear Original is a comfy, affordable mattress that provides excellent support for back and stomach sleepers and is just on the cusp of being soft enough for some side sleepers. For budget shoppers who still want a high-quality bed that’s made in the US and enjoy the feel of memory foam, the Bear Original is one of the best options. 

It can be hard to differentiate between the Bear Original, Nectar Classic and Leesa Studio because they all have similar feels, firmness profiles and prices. And I think all three are great beds. The Bear's optional Celliant cover is its big “x-factor,” potentially providing recovery benefits to athletes and non-athletes alike. If you're interested in the Bear Original, the extra cost of the Celliant cover is probably worth it for the potential benefits that you’re not going to find with another brand. 

You might like this mattress if:

• You enjoy a memory foam feel
• You prefer a firm mattress
• You're interested in Celliant technology
• You're shopping on a tight budget

You might not like this mattress if:

• You prefer a coil mattress
• You want an especially soft mattress
• You don’t enjoy memory foam

Other mattresses from Bear

Bear Pro Hybrid:The Bear Pro Hybrid is essentially the Bear Original, but instead of using foam for support, it uses pocketed coils. The Bear Pro Hybrid actually uses the same top two layers of foam as the Bear Original, but the bounce from the coils really balances out the feel from memory foam above, so the Bear Pro Hybrid doesn’t feel that much like a memory foam mattress. 

The Pro Hybrid is slightly more expensive than Bear Original, usually costing $949 after discount for a queen-size. In our testing we also found the Pro Hybrid is the same medium-firm range as the Bear Original. So if you like the idea of the Bear Original but prefer a coil mattress, the Bear Pro Hybrid is the bed for you.

Bear Star Hybrid: The Bear Star Hybrid is the upgraded version of the Bear Pro Hybrid, with even more material, which makes it a softer, plusher mattress that comes in a medium on our firmness scale. The memory foam layer is also a bit thinner compared to the Bear Original and Bear Pro Hybrid, and the Star Hybrid actually has more of a pillow-top feel that I think people will find almost universally comfortable. 

Its price is quite a bit higher than the Bear Pro and Bear Original, but for a comfy, pillow-top hybrid, it's pretty cheap at $1,299 after discount at time of writing.