Helix Twilight Review

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

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

How is Helix Twilight Different?

The Helix Twilight mattress has slightly lower overall performance than average, but also a price that is below average—19% less than the average hybrid for a savings of $253 (for a queen mattress).

Advantages

The Helix Twilight has slightly better cooling than average, as well as faster material response time,

Neutral Factors

This mattress has 11% less sinkage than average as well as 6% less bounce than average. Both bounce and sinkage are considered neutral factors and can be good or bad depending on a sleeper’s personal preference.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages to the Twilight include 20% higher levels of motion transfer and slightly poorer edge support than average. The firmer feel may also be a disadvantage to lighter sleepers or people who sleep on their side (and tend to benefit from more hug and contour).

Factor	Helix Twilight	Average
Overall	9.48	9.51
Price	$1,099	$1,352 (Hybrid only)
Cooling	9.5	9.4
Max Sinkage	1.94″	2.17″
Total Motion Transfer	10.28 m/s²	8.52 m/s²
Response Time	0.3 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	9.10″	9.65″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	4.75″	4.11″
Mattress Thickness	12.0″	12.0″
Sex Overall	9.7	9.6
Comfort Material	4.0″	4.2″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Moderate	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	2 days	5 days
Trial	100 nights	160 nights
Warranty	10 years	26% have lifetime warranties, average of other 74% of mattresses is 14 years

The cooling test surface temperatures were good, but not great on the Helix Twilight. It’s among the warmer surface temperatures we’ve tested to date.

• 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

How do materials affect cooling?

The Helix Twilight has a layer of memory foam right on top, which is generally a negative for cooling.

Heat Dissipation Over Time

However, I will say that it did a pretty good job with heat dissipation after I got off the mattress.

By the 2 minute mark, it was nearly back to the baseline temperature. This indicates that during the night as you change positions it should do a nice job at quickly reducing heat in any given spot.

However, the hybrid design and firmer feel both help to keep temperatures in check, by preventing excessive sinkage / envelopment and creating more airflow.

During our tests, I did not personally experience any notably heating issues. Based on the design alone, I would expect good cooling performance for most sleepers.

Sinkage is on the lower end, which is to be expected with a firmer mattress. When we put our medicine ball on the surface of the Twilight mattress, it sank 1.94″ into the mattress.

Even so, there is still enough pressure point sinkage that most sleepers will still receive good pressure relief.

This is certainly less than what we’ve documented on many medium firmnesses, but pretty typical of what we’ve seen from the firmer feel mattresses.

Motion transfer is 20% higher than the average motion transfer level of 8.52 m/s².

The pocketed coils and firmer feel create an environment for increased motion transfer.

Unfortunately, you have to give up some of the motion transfer to get the other benefits that the firmer hybrid design provides.

You can see the complete level of motion transfer documented in the video below.

As you can see in the chart below, there is a decent amount of motion transferred from the initial ball drop. And because of the firmer feel, this energy is transferred easier instead of being absorbed into soft materials in the mattress.

It takes around 0.7 seconds for energy to mostly dissipate. And there is a fairly high level of energy based on the initial move (for around 0.3 seconds). The nature of the design, in combination with the firmer feel, creates a sleeping surface that’s likely going to create more motion transfer.

That said, it’s not crazy high, just higher than many all-foam mattresses.

Response time was super fast at 0.3 seconds for a mostly recovered and 0.4 for a full recovery. Again, the firmer feel and hybrid design really make this happen.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

While I expected the Twilight to be fast, I did not expect the memory foam to be quite so snappy. Typically, memory foam is a slower-responding material, but my guess is that the firmer feel and coils below really helped out in this area.

Bounce on the Helix Twilight is high, but nothing beyond what I would consider normal. Again, this type of performance is pretty typical for a hybrid mattress, especially for one as firm as this one.

The level of bounce is documented in the video below.

When dropped, the ball sank down 5.1″ into the surface of the mattress and rebounded back up 4.0″ above the top of the mattress.

This creates a full bounce range of 9.1″ from the lowest point of the ball to the highest point of the rebound. Among the Helix mattresses we’ve tested to date (6 different models), a bounce range of 9.1″ is slightly below the average bounce height of 9.65″.

Compared to the entire pool of mattresses we’ve tested to date (21 with our new test system) it is slightly above the average of 8.19″.

Given the firmness, I was expecting edge support to be a little better. At least for sitting, the edge support was good, but not great.

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

Overall, there was a lot more compression than we expected. However, while lying on the mattress I thought it was better.

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

When weight is spread across the entirety of the mattress it does a better job at dealing with the weight. While lying on the mattress I felt well-supported during our tests.

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%	9.8	Moderate
Edge Support	20%	9.1	Very Good
Noise	10%	10	Minimal
Pressure Relief	5%	9.5	Excellent
Cooling	5%	9.5	Excellent

For the Helix Twilight, these individual factors generated a sex score of 9.7.

This is a very good sex score for a mattress. Let’s break down what makes this mattress so appealing.

First and foremost, bounce. The coils and ultra-response foam layers provide excellent bounce, which is a primary part of great sex.

Pressure relief, noise, and cooling are also fantastic, which contribute to this score in supporting ways.

The edge support of the Twilight is not as great as we’d like to see, but not the worst either. The edges are supportive enough that no one will likely roll out of bed, but may be too weak for some types of horizontal hokey pokey.

Despite the firmness, I think the Helix Twilight does a nice job with pressure relief.

There’s still a good degree of sinkage due to the memory foam on top, and the coils do a nice job of pushing back, while still allowing a necessary level of compression.

The Twilight comes with a 4.0″ comfort layer that is divided up into two separate foams—a memory foam on top and a standard poly foam below.

Off-gassing on the Helix Twilight is pretty typical for a hybrid. The compressed foam does take some time to complete the process, but it’s not unreasonably long.

Overall, I would say that the smell was moderately strong after the initial unboxing, but fumes were fully dissipated within 2 days.

With a hybrid, the coils really help the air to flow through the mattress and dissipate any odors more quickly.

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 company score of Helix is very good, as many of their practices and policies are customer-friendly.

Their mattresses come with a 10-year warranty and a 100-night trial period but do require a 30-night break-in period.

NOTE: A “Break-In Period” is not uncommon in the industry.

This “Break-In Period” makes up the first 30 nights of trying your new mattress. Give yourself time for your body to adjust to the feel and support of the mattress.

You cannot initiate a return in this window. If after the first 30 days you still decide the Moonlight is not the right mattress for you, you have some options.

If you decide that you don’t want to keep the Helix Twilight, you can:

1. Inituate a return. Helix will come pick up the mattress and issue you a full refund.
2. Initiate an exchange. Helix will allow you to swap the mattress for a different Helix mattress. Note: One exchange allowed per household.
3. Requst a mattress topper. Helix will send you a mattress topper for free to slightly change the feel of your mattress. This makes the mattress a little firmer or a little softer. If you decide later that you still want to return the mattress, you can still keep the topper.

The Helix Twilight mattress is one of the firmest mattresses in the Helix lineup, coming in around an 8 out of 10 on the firmness scale.

Firmer mattresses tend to be better options for back or stomach sleepers since it promotes spinal alignment for these positions.

Also, heavier weight side sleepers may also benefit from the support of a firmer mattress. Lightweight side sleepers will likely find the Twilight to be too firm.

Too much firmness prevents contour and hug, which can create painful pressure points and stiff joints in the morning.

Our table below indicates the body weights and sleeping positions that we think are ideally suited to the Helix Twilight.

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleepers	Side Sleepers	Back Sleepers
Under 150 lbs.	Maybe	No	Maybe
150-250 lbs.	Maybe	No	Maybe
250-300 lbs.	Yes	Maybe	Yes

How much weight can Helix support? Each Helix Mattress can support up to 1,000 lbs (of combined weight) and up to 500 lbs for individual sleepers.

For extra support for plus-sized sleepers, check out our review of the Helix Plus, with a thicker 13″ profile thickness.

Design

The Helix Twilight uses a blend of different foams combined with pocketed coils as the main design of this mattress.

Memory foam on the top layer provides initial contour, while the poly foam below provides support and pressure relief.

The individually pocketed coils at the bottom are the main support layer of this mattress.

As you roll and move, the coils respond individually to your needs which helps to limit motion transfer while also preventing pressure points.

Materials

As I said above, the Helix Twilight uses two layers of foam and a pocketed coil base to provide support. All of those materials sit on a thin base of support foam. You can read more about the breakdown below:

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

The Cover

The cover on the Helix Twilight uses a thin, stretchy material that sits tout against the surface of the mattress.

The Comfort Layer

The comfort layer is mainly foam and made up of two layers. The first layer is a 2.0″ layer of memory foam. Having memory foam on the top of the mattress helps balance the firmness out by ensuring sleepers have sufficient pressure relief, and a slight level of contour.

Directly below the memory foam is a layer of poly foam. This poly foam is used to provide breathability, response, and pressure relief.

The Coil Layer

The coil layer is 8.0″ thick and sits below the foam layers. The edges of the Helix Twilight use reinforced coils for extra support.

Each coil in this layer is encased separately with a thin fabric. Unlike a traditional innerspring, where the coils move as a whole, pocketed coils allow for each spring to move independently depending on the level of motion and pressure is being applied.

Product Evolution

Helix was first introduced in 2015 and hit the market as a completely custom mattress brand. Sleepers would fill out a quiz and algorithms would generate the perfect mattress, based on the results of these questions.

You could even customize each side of the mattress to meet different needs.

After years of following this model, Helix realized that the results of the quizzes were creating consistent results in sleeper types. Thus the first Helix lineup was born.

This lineup included 13 different mattresses spanning a range of firmnesses, feels, and designed for specific sleeping styles.

Today, you can still fill out the same quiz, but the results will point you to one of their set mattress options.

Twilight vs. Twilight Luxe

Within the Helix lineup, there is the Helix Twilight and the Twilight Luxe.

Other Mattresses to Consider

If you like the look of the Helix Twilight but would like to see some other options, check out the shortlist below:

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions about the Helix mattress? Check out this list of FAQs about the Twilight below: