Helix Dusk Mattress Review

In This Review
Performance Tests | Firmness | Support & Sleeping Positions | Design | Materials | Comparisons | FAQs

If you would rather watch than read we’ve got our full video Helix Dusk review below:

Here at NapLab, we put each mattress to the test.

We test 9 different factors that impact the comfort and feel of the mattress. Testing categories include:

Test	Rating
Cooling	Excellent
Sinkage	Moderate
Motion Transfer	Very High
Response Time	Extremely Fast
Bounce	High
Edge Support	Good
Sex	Excellent
Pressure Relief	Excellent
Off-Gassing	Excellent
Company	Excellent

How is Helix Dusk Different?

The Helix Dusk has overall performance that is below the average level, but also a price tag that is below average as well—for a savings of 19% compared to the average hybrid mattress.

Advantages

Beyond price alone, other advantages of the Helix Dusk include better cooling performance,

Neutral Factors

This mattress has 5% deeper sinkage than average as well as 6% more bounce than average. Both of these factors are still within an acceptable range and would be more considered to be neutral (preferential) factors than anything else.

Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage of the Helix Dusk is higher levels of motion transfer (35% more than average) as well as poorer edge support, with 27% deeper sinkage when seated directly on the edge.

Factor	Helix Dusk	Average
Overall	9.35	9.51
Price	$1,099	$1,352 (Hybrid only)
Cooling	9.5	9.4
Max Sinkage	2.28″	2.17″
Total Motion Transfer	14.13 m/s²	8.52 m/s²
Response Time	0.3 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	10.24″	9.65″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	5.25″	4.11″
Mattress Thickness	12.0″	12.0″
Sex Overall	9.6	9.6
Comfort Material	3.0″	4.2″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Moderate	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	2 days	5 days
Trial	100 nights	161 nights
Warranty	10 years	26% have lifetime warranties, average of other 74% of mattresses is 14 years

On the Helix Dusk, our objective data showed a pretty good score regarding cooling performance.

This mattress had a maximum surface temperature of 90.7 degrees, which is among the lower side of the mattresses we’ve tested. The average maximum temperature across all the mattresses we’ve tested to date is 91.7 degrees.

• Baseline Temperature – the temperature of the mattress before anyone lies on it
• Maximum Temperature (0 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after lying on it for 15 minutes
• Ending Temperature (5 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after being lied upon and having no one on it for 5 minutes

Compared to other Helix mattresses it’s also among one of the coolest surface temperatures.

Heat Dissipation Over Time

Heat dissipation was pretty good, though it did take 3 minutes before the mattress returned to near baseline temperatures.

Speaking subjectively, I found the mattress to offer good cooling overall. During our tests, I did not sense any excessive build-up of heat.

Like all Helix mattresses, the hybrid really carries the heavy load. It’s able to create lots of airflow and when combined with the top layer of latex-like foam, it works well together to keep sleepers cool.

The Helix Dusk had 2.28″ of sinkage in our tests, just slightly deeper than the 2.17″ average.

There’s plenty of sinkage available to create a nice level of edge support, but it’s certainly not excessive, nor will it lead to a “stuck” feel for most sleepers.

As you can see in the photo, when tested with a weighted medicine ball, there was 2.28″ of sinkage into the surface of the mattress. According to Helix, the mattress is designed for stomach and back sleepers. However, based on the sinkage depth, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable choice for many side sleepers also.

The Dusk’s 2.28″ of sinkage is just slightly higher than the average sinkage across all mattresses we’ve tested to date, which is 2.20″.

The level of motion transfer is documented in the video below.

Motion transfer on the Dusk was very high. In fact, it’s one of the highest motion transfer levels we’ve seen in any mattress tested to date.

These higher levels are likely due to the fact that the mattress has a little more dense support, a design choice making it better for stomach and back sleepers.

This added support just creates a little more pushback on motion generated, hence transferring more motion across the surface of the mattress.

While this may be bad for couples concerned about excessive motion transfer, it certainly has its benefits too for sleepers who primarily sleep on their back or stomach and want that added support.

You can see these results played out in the motion transfer graph above as well. There are high levels of motion transfer initially and that motion tends to travel a good amount of time (and distance) before fully being absorbed into the mattress materials.

There is a high level of energy detected for 0.7 seconds, and then it begins to more rapidly dissipate.

The Dusk may have some drawbacks in terms of motion transfer, but they scored a very fast response time.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

Upon dropping the ball in our test, the mattress was mostly recovered around 0.3 seconds. The latex-like top layer and coils work together to great effect to achieve this speedy response.

The fast response time means you will never feel “stuck” in the materials and ease of movement is high.

There is a high level of bounce at 10.24” of total bounce range. This is similar to what we’ve seen from most hybrids in general, but also from Helix larger family of mattresses.

The level of bounce is documented in the video below.

The hybrid design is able to deliver more bounce, which offers a more traditional feel, while also being preferable for amorous activities. 

The bounce range of 10.24″ is a good bit above the average 9.65″ bounce range that we’ve seen across all other mattresses we’ve tested to date.

Edge support was a bit of a mixed bag. While sitting, we experienced compression at 5.25”.

That’s definitely among the deepest compression we’ve tested (we’ve only seen a handful of mattresses exceed that number).

The level of edge support while seated is documented in the images below.

While edge support for sitting is near the maximum for what we like to see, lying on the mattress was a different story.

The level of edge support while lying is documented in the images below.

Lying edge support is simply fantastic. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at how deep the compression was while sitting given how well I felt supported while lying on the mattress.

In any case, overall I feel that the Helix Dusk offers excellent edge support. While sitting directly on the edge or if you use the edge of your mattress for the dance without pants, you may find it doesn’t quite have what you’d prefer, however, for sleeping it’s more than sufficient.

The best mattresses for sex have high bounce, good edge support, quiet materials, and good pressure relief and cooling.

These 5 factors make up the NapLab sex performance score.

Sex Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Rating
Bounce	60%	10	High
Edge Support	20%	8.9	Good
Noise	10%	9	Moderate
Pressure Relief	5%	9.5	Excellent
Cooling	5%	9.5	Excellent

For the Helix Dusk, these individual factors generated a sex score of 9.6.

Overall, this is a very good score for any mattress. Hybrids tend to score exceptionally well in this category because of their sufficient bounce, edge support, and cooling.

The Helix Dusk was no exception. Those three areas were big factors in the successful score. The quality design also contributed to great pressure relief.

Noise takes a bit of a hit because of the coils used in the core of this mattress.

Lastly, let’s talk about edge support. While it’s true, hybrids generally do have good edge support because of the coils, the Dusk struggled a bit with sitting on the edge.

But if you’re more concerned with support when lying on the edge, the Dusk was a real winner and I did not notice any issues whatsoever.

The Helix Dusk has great pressure relief. No major complaints. It provides sufficient support and where sinkage is allowed, I did not feel like it caused painful pressure points or tension.

There is a 3” layer of comfort foam and 8” of pocketed coils that provide both transitional pressure relief and support. I felt both supported and comfortable in all sleeping positions.

Off-gassing of the Helix Dusk mattress was pretty typical for a partial foam mattress. Because of the coils, it was less than most 100% foam mattresses, but more than you’d see with a coil-based mattress.

Out of the box, there was a moderate amount of smell from the originally compressed mattress. In a well-ventilated space (and without bedding), it took about 2 days for the mattress to fully off-gas.

Again, this is pretty typical for a hybrid mattress and once the process was complete, I did not notice any overwhelming smells.

Company Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Data
Trial Period	25%	9	100 nights
Warranty	25%	10	10 years
Shipping	25%	10	$0
Returns	25%	10	$0
Country of Origin	0%		USA

Helix Sleep, as a company was first launched in 2015 and is pretty well known for fair and favorable consumer policies.

They offer a 100-night trial period, with a 30-night break-in period (not unusual terms).

This “Break-In Period” is a 30-day window to allow for your body to get used to the mattress. In this window, you cannot be issued a refund or return the mattress. The 30-day window is the estimated time it takes for your body to get used to any new mattress.

If after the 30 nights you still don’t think Helix is right for you, you have some options.

• Option 1: Return the mattress and get a refund.
• Option 2: Return the mattress and purchase a different Helix mattress.
• Option 3: Request a free mattress topper from Helix. This is a good option if you want the mattress just a touch firmer or softer. If you receive the topper and the feel still isn’t right, you can still return the mattress (and keep the topper).

The Helix Dusk has a medium firmness. I would consider it to be around a 6 out of 10 on the firmness scale.

Compared to some other Helix models, this puts it about at the same firmness as the Helix Midnight.

For something significantly softer, check out the Helix Moonlight or Sunset. For something significantly firmer, check out the Helix Twilight or Dawn.

You can see a full breakdown of each mattress type, its firmness, and who it may be best for below.

Mattress Type	Firmness	Best For
Helix Sunset	Soft	Side sleeper
Helix Moonlight	Soft	Back or stomach sleeper
Helix Midnight	Medium	Side sleeper
Helix Dusk	Medium	Back or stomach sleeper
Helix Twilight	Firm	Side sleeper
Helix Dawn	Firm	Back or stomach sleeper

Depending on your body weight and personal sleep position preferences, you may find that certain firmnesses are better suited for you than others.

We try to take the guesswork out by providing the table below. Use this chart as a guide to help decide if the Dusk is a good fit for you.

Helix Dusk

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleepers	Side Sleepers	Back Sleepers
Under 150 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
150-250 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
250-300 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes

Over 300 pounds? For heavier sleepers, Helix offers the Helix Plus which is designed to support plus-sized or Big & Tall sleepers. This mattress is 13″ thick compared to the 12″ thickness of the standard Helix mattresses.

Design

The Helix Dusk is a hybrid mattress that uses layers of foam and pocketed coils to provide support and comfort.

It is specifically designed to offer better support for stomach and back sleepers, while still hitting a 6 out of 10 firmness.

In my view, it does exactly that. The support is solid, even on the edges, but it still provides a strong level of comfort.

All that said, for many side sleepers I still feel that the Dusk is a perfectly fine mattress.

Materials

There are four main layers in the Helix Dusk mattress. The breakdown is as follows:

• 1.5″ poly foam
• 1.5″ memory foam
• 8.0″ pocketed coils
• 1.0″ support foam

The Cover

The cover of the mattress is a thin, breathable material, with good stretch and airflow. It sits taught against the surface of the mattress and easily adapts to body contours as you move.

The Comfort Layer

The comfort layer is made up of two thinner layers of foam. On the top is a 1.5″ layer of poly foam for responsiveness and cooling. Directly below the memory foam is a secondary layer of 1.5″ memory foam.

This layer of memory foam is designed for contouring, hug, sinkage, and pressure relief.

Memory foam tends to retain heat a bit more so by placing this foam between the poly foam and the pocketed coils, much of those drawbacks are reduced.

The Support Layer

The support layer is the thickest part of the mattress, containing hundreds of pocketed coils and support foam.

As a sleeper moves or rolls on the mattress pressure is distributed across the mattress and divided among the coils for even weight distribution.

This would usually also mean that there are lower levels of motion transfer, but we didn’t really notice that with the Dusk. Since the upper foam layers are a bit springier, they actually allow for higher levels of motion transfer.

Below the coils, there is also a 1.0″ layer of high-density support foam.

Product Evolution

When Helix Sleep first launched mattresses back in 2015 they were poised on the concept of a completely custom mattress. To purchase a mattress, you would fill out answers to their Helix Sleep Quiz and based on those answers, an ideal mattress would be recommended to you.

They even offered the option to customize each side of the mattress to meet the needs of different sleepers.

Today, Helix offers 13 different mattresses with varying levels of firmness, feel, and materials.

All current Helix mattresses are hybrid blends of foam and coils. You can still take a Sleep Quiz (like in the early days), but the results of the quiz will point you to one of their pre-existing mattress models.

Dusk vs. Dusk Luxe

Helix has two main collections of mattresses—the standard and the Luxe. Below, we’ve included a quick comparison between the Dusk and the and the Dusk Luxe.

Other Mattresses to Consider

Like the sound of the Helix Dusk, but still not sure it’s the best choice for you? Check out one of the mattresses below for other options that has similar feels.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you still have questions on the Helix Dusk, check out our list of FAQs below and get some answers!