Helix Sunset Review

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

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	Extremely Deep
Motion Transfer	Moderate
Response Time	Extremely Fast
Bounce	Moderate
Edge Support	Excellent
Sex	Excellent
Pressure Relief	Excellent
Off-Gassing	Excellent
Company	Excellent

How is Helix Sunset Different?

The Helix Sunset mattress has better overall performance than average as well as a price that is below average—19% less than the average hybrids for a savings of $250 (for a queen mattress).

Advantages

Advantages for the Helix Sunset also include better cooling performance, 15% better edge support, and slightly faster off-gassing compared to the average.

Neutral Factors

This mattress has 40% deeper sinkage than average as well as 12% less bounce than average. Both bounce and sinkage are considered neutral factors since they tend to be more preferential and the ideal value may vary between different sleepers.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages to the Helix Sunset include 24% higher levels of motion transfer and less comfort material (1.2″ less than average). The trial is also 60 nights shorter than the average, but still provides over 3 months to decide if you like the mattress.

Factor	Helix Sunset	Average
Overall	9.57	9.51
Price	$1,099	$1,352 (Hybrid only)
Cooling	9.5	9.4
Max Sinkage	3.07″	2.17″
Total Motion Transfer	10.60 m/s²	8.52 m/s²
Response Time	0.4 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	8.57″	9.65″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	3.50″	4.11″
Mattress Thickness	12.0″	12.0″
Sex Overall	9.6	9.6
Comfort Material	3.0″	4.2″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Strong	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	4 days	5 days
Trial	100 nights	160 nights
Warranty	10 years	26% have lifetime warranties, average of other 74% of mattresses is 14 years

Subjectively speaking, I did not feel warm to any degree during our cooling tests. The Helix Sunset did an excellent job at breathing well, dissipating heat, and maintaining an excellent level of cooling comfort throughout our tests.

Looking at our objective data, the Sunset did have a higher surface level temperature than many mattresses we’ve tested.

Even so, the mattress never felt noticeably warm, in my view.

• 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

Heat dissipation was pretty good, with a fairly significant drop within the first 1 minute after getting off the mattress, dropping from 91.9° to 88.1°.

Heat Dissipation Over Time

It lingered around 88 degrees for the first 2 minutes before it more significantly dropped to 86.4°, 87.1°, and 86.4° at the 3, 4, and 5-minute markers.

Overall, I consider this to be excellent heat dissipation. The hybrid design of the Helix works well to manage heat.

While it does use memory foam on the top layer, the thin breathable cover, pocketed coils, and transitional poly foam are all benefits to the overall cooling dynamic. All things considered, the Helix Sunset should sleep cool for most sleepers.

There is a more notable level of sinkage on the Helix Sunset. Our pressure point test showed a sinkage depth of 3.07”.

This is definitely on the higher side of mattresses we’ve tested. Our average pressure point sinkage depth to date is 2.17”, so the Helix Sunset is notably deeper. However, this is to be expected.

The Helix Sunset is designed to have a softer feel for improved pressure relief and better side sleeper support.

Despite the deeper sinkage, I did not feel overly “stuck” on the mattress. It still offers fast response and the pocketed coil layer does much to help balance the deeper soft sinkage.

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

Motion transfer is on the high side. Our accelerometer tests showed an acceleration range of 10.6 m/s².

To date, our average acceleration range across all the mattresses we’ve tested is 8.51 m/s².

As a whole, Helix mattresses tend to have higher motion transfer based on our test date. The Helix Moonlight came in at 13.2 m/s², Helix Twilight at 10.28 m/s², and Helix Dusk at 14.13 m/s².

In the chart above, you can see the impact of the ball being dropped onto the mattress. Initial levels of motion transfer were high and it continued on for about 0.75 seconds before leveling off.

Response time was extremely quick at 0.4 seconds to rebound to mostly recovered, and only 0.6 seconds for a 100% recovery.

The pocketed coils are driving much of the recovery speed, but even so, it’s great to see the memory foam itself rebounds quickly.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

The fast response time helps prevent any sort of “stuck” feel, which can sometimes occur with mattresses that provide deeper sinkage and/or those that use memory foam (which the Helix Sunset does both).

Bounce on the Helix Sunset is slightly higher than average among the mattresses we’ve tested, coming in at 8.57” (negative and positive bounce combined).

The level of bounce is documented in the video below.

The average bounce rate among our tests is 9.65”. Most Helix mattresses we’ve tested thus far have a higher level of bounce. In fact, typically Helix mattresses have among the highest bounce of all the mattresses we’ve tested.

The Helix Sunset is definitely more restrained in this area, almost certainly due to the softer feel.

The softer feel helps deaden the bounce just a bit. However, it’s still well within the range that most sleepers would consider comfortable, offering a traditional feel.

I was greatly impressed with the edge support. Soft mattresses tend to struggle with edge support, as the softness creates such a high degree of compression.

This is not the case with Helix, which only compressed to 3.5” along the edge while sitting.

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

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

While testing edge support while lying down I felt fully supported. The Helix Sunset is definitely among the best soft mattresses we’ve ever tested with respect to edge support performance.

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%	9.6	Moderate
Edge Support	20%	9.8	Excellent
Noise	10%	9	Moderate
Pressure Relief	5%	9.5	Excellent
Cooling	5%	9.5	Excellent

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

Let’s talk through some of the favors that make up this score. Some of the best-performing factors that the Helix Sunset has going for it include good bounce and excellent edge support.

The pocketed coils really give the Sunset the advantage here as the coils attribute to the greater bounce and better edge support.

This mattress also scored good marks for cooling and pressure relief. Again, the coils played a role here and contributed to the solid performance.

Coils provide good bounce and because these coils are pocketed individually, that also limits motion transfer and provides better pressure relief.

Noise takes the biggest hit on the Sunset. Coils certainly offer some big benefits, but they are notably noisier than all foam-based mattresses.

That being said, the top foam layers do help balance this factor out, so it’s not as noisy as a traditional innerspring or coil-on-coil mattress would be.

We found pressure relief to be fantastic. The memory foam top layer, deeper sinkage, and excellent contour all work together to great effect.

The deeper sinkage is especially potent for side sleepers and for those sleepers who more acutely feel pressure points while sleeping.

The off-gassing smell was definitely strong upon initially unboxing and it lingered for 4 days.

While these results may seem excessive, this is pretty typical for most foam and hybrid mattresses.

These mixed materials will just take some time to complete the off-gassing process, but once it’s done, the mattress will be good to go and you should not experience any long-term effects of the initial off-gassing.

The company score takes a look at factors that may influence your experience with the mattress.

Factors include length of the trial period, warranty, shipping / return costs, and country of origin.

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

The Helix mattress line comes from Helix Sleep, a company first established in 2015. In general, the policies by Helix are fair and favorable toward consumers.

They offer a 100-night trial period, with a 30-night break-in period.

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 Sunset comes in around a 4 out of 10 on the firmness scale, where 10 is the most firm.

This model is designed with lightweight sleepers in mind, as the softer foams have more sinkage, even where there is less body weight. The memory foam on the Sunset also allows for deeper contours which can be especially beneficial for side sleepers.

You can see a full breakdown of Helix’s other mattress types 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

If you are a bit heavier or prefer a slightly firmer feel, you may like the Helix Dusk or Helix Midnight.

If you like a soft mattress, but prefer to sleep on your back or stomach, you may want to consider the Helix Moonlight.

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 Sunset is a good fit for you.

Helix Sunset

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleeper	Side Sleeper	Back Sleeper
Under 150 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
150-225 lbs.	Maybe	Yes	Maybe
225-300 lbs.	No	Maybe	No

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

Much like other Helix mattresses, the Sunset is a hybrid blend of coils, poly foam, and memory foam.

This model is specifically designed with a softer feel, a 4 out of 10 on the firmness scale, in an attempt to target lightweight or side sleepers.

Materials

The Helix Sunset is a hybrid mattress meaning that the layers consist of coils and a combination of foams.

The exact materials are listed below:

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

The Cover

The cover of the Helix Sunset mattress is thin, breathable, and stretchy. It is a seamless cover and fits taught against the surface of the mattress.

Unlike pillow top covers, where sleepers sink in more, the thin nature of the Sunset cover does not provide an excessive amount of contour.

The Comfort Layer

The comfort layer of the Sunset is only 3.0″ thick, broken down into two separate layers. A soft 2.0″ memory foam is the top layer of the Sunset followed by a 1.0″ poly foam.

The poly foam is designed to act somewhat as a transitional foam, as it separates the memory foam from the pocketed coils.

The Coil Layer

The pocketed coils fall directly below the top level foams. Each coil is individually pocketed, which helps limit motion transfer and improve pressure relief.

This mattress uses hundreds of coils for support and provides reinforced coiling at the edges as well.

Overall, the coils are high quality and really improve the support of the Sunset, which is especially important being that the Sunset has more sinkage and a softer feel.

The Support Layer

At the bottom of the mattress, below the coil layer is a 1″ layer of support foam. This layer is ultra-dense and provides support to all of the layers above.

Product Evolution

Helix first launched its mattresses in 2015 and they were largely a custom mattress manufacturer. Here’s how the process worked.

1. The customer would take the Helix Sleep Quiz.
2. Results would generate a custom mattress to suit your needs.

You could even customize the mattress to have different feels on each side of the mattress.

Today, Helix still offers the Sleep Quiz, but instead of having each quiz generate a different mattress, they created 13 mattress models within their Helix lineup.

The results of the quiz now point you towards one of their 13 models.

When Helix first launched all mattresses were custom, so there was no Sunset or any other specific named models. The material design of the original mattresses has changed over the years, with a greater emphasis on using memory foam and pocketed coils being among the most noted changes.

Another major change has been the dropping of the micro-coil layer, which early in Helix history was a material that was used in almost every mattress they made.

Sunset vs. Sunset Luxe

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

Both of these mattresses have a similar firmness, but there are a few differences to note:

Other Mattresses to Consider

Like the sound of the Helix Sunset, but want to see a few other options that you may want to consider? Check out the three alternate recommendations below.

Frequently Asked Questions

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