Leesa Original Mattress Review

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

The Leesa Original mattress is a foam mattress designed to be a nice middle point between memory foam and latex. It has a balanced feel that tends to appeal to many different types of sleepers.

Could it be the right choice for you? Keep reading to find out.

If you’d prefer to watch rather than read we’ve got our full Leesa mattress review video below:

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	Extremely Low
Response Time	Extremely Fast
Bounce	Low
Edge Support	Good
Sex	Very Good
Pressure Relief	Excellent
Off-Gassing	Excellent
Company	Excellent

How is Leesa Original Different?

The Leesa Original has higher overall performance than average and a price that is also 6% lower than average—a savings of $69 on the average queen mattress.

Advantages

The Leesa Original scored better than average for cooling performance, fast material response time, and low levels of motion transfer.

Neutral Factors

This mattress has 4% less sinkage than average and 18% less bounce as well. Both sinkage and bounce tend to be more preferential factors than anything else, as they’re not really “good vs. bad” factors.

Disadvantages

The biggest disadvantages to the Leesa include edge support, where we measured 34% more sinakge when sitting directly on the edge of the mattress, as well as having a thinner-than-average overall thickness.

The Leesa Original is only 10″ thick compared to the 12″ average we’ve seen after testing over 180+ mattresses. This is more a disadvantage for heavier sleepers or side sleepers and doesn’t necessarily apply to all sleepers.

Factor	Leesa Original	Average
Overall	9.56	9.52
Price	$1,099	$1,168 (Foam only)
Cooling	9.5	9.4
Max Sinkage	2.09″	2.17″
Total Motion Transfer	2.06 m/s²	8.49 m/s²
Response Time	0.3 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	7.94″	9.66″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	5.50″	4.10″
Mattress Thickness	10.0″	12.0″
Sex Overall	9.4	9.6
Comfort Material	4.0″	4.2″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Strong	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	3 days	5 days
Trial	100 nights	161 nights
Warranty	10 years	26% have lifetime warranties, average of other 74% of mattresses is 14 years

The Leesa Original has excellent cooling overall. Subjectively speaking, I felt comfortable during the duration of our cooling test.

The mattress seemed to breathe well and settled into a comfortable temperature. Looking at our objective data, the max surface level temperature hit 92.1 degrees, which is on the higher side among mattresses 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

Despite the surface-level temperatures, the mattress still remained comfortable based on my personal assessment.

Looking at heat dissipation over the 5 minutes after we got off the mattress, it was fairly slow to release heat within the first 2 minutes, dropping from 92.1° to 88.2°.

Heat Dissipation Over Time

However, by the 3-minute mark, it made a more substantial drop hitting 86.8°, before finishing the 5-minute mark at 86.5°.

When it comes to cooling, I think the Leesa does a lot right.

The thin cover breathes well, the latex-like poly foam avoids heat build up, and placing memory foam within the core helps keep the more likely source of heat retention further away from sleepers.

No all-foam mattress is going to be a miracle worker when it comes to cooling, but it checks many of the boxes I am looking for. It sleeps cool enough for most sleepers, in my view.

The results of this test showed that the Leesa Original mattress has a moderate level of sinkage.

Our pressure point sinkage test revealed a maximum sinkage depth of 2.09″.

The Leesa has a more generalized contour around the body, due to the latex-like poly foam being the top layer. It still creates nice sinkage and pressure relief, but it certainly avoids that “stuck” feel that can sometimes occupy mattresses that use memory foam.

The Leesa has extraordinarily low motion transfer. In fact, it’s the 4th lowest motion transfer we’ve tested to date, only outperformed by the Nectar Premier Copper, Douglas (Canada only), and Tempur Cloud (UK only).

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

The original Leesa mattress from 2014 had quite a bit more motion transfer, most likely due to the original Avena foam, which seemed to really struggle with energy dissipation.

In any case, Leesa’s newer latex-like poly foam is making a big difference and keeping motion transfer extremely low.

Leesa also has a very fast response time of 0.3 seconds—this is the time it takes for most of the foams in the mattress to recover from indentation. Even full recovery takes only 0.5 seconds.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

That top layer of latex-like poly foam rapidly recovers without any hesitation. Some of the memory foam core takes a bit longer to recover, but because it’s placed both the latex-like foam it’s less able to impact overall response time.

The Leesa documented fairly high bounce, especially for an all-foam mattress.

You can see the bounce in real-time from the video below.

The top layer of latex-like poly foam helps to provide more bounce than we might ordinarily see with an all-foam bed. The bounce level isn’t as high as coil mattresses we’ve tested, but still within striking distance of many hybrids.

It’s certainly got enough bounce to feel good getting in / out of bed, moving around, and doing the dance without pants.

The Leesa’s overall bounce range is 7.94″, which is just slightly lower than the average bounce height among all mattresses we’ve tested to date, which is 9.66″.

Edge support on the Leesa Original was okay, but not great. Our measurements found a compression of 5.5” while sitting directly on the edge. Compared to other similar mattresses that we’ve tested to date, 5.5” is on the higher side.

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

Our current average mattress sinkage comes in at 4.10” so the Leesa is notably deeper compared to the average.

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

When it comes to lying on the edge of the mattress, the edges feel notably more supportive.

If you spend quite a lot of time sitting on the edge you may find it doesn’t quite live up to your expectations.

But for those who only spend a modest level of time or are more concerned about sleeping near the edges, I think the performance will be acceptably good for the majority of sleepers.

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%	9.5	Low
Edge Support	20%	8.8	Good
Noise	10%	10	Minimal
Pressure Relief	5%	9.5	Excellent
Cooling	5%	9.5	Excellent

For the Leesa, these individual factors generated a sex score of 9.4.

The Leesa Original had great bounce which was coupled by a fast response time. It also uses 100% foam, which is great for keeping noise at a minimum. Pressure relief and cooling also earned good marks, which contributed to the overall score.

The biggest hit that the Leesa takes is on edge support, where it only earned an 8.8. When sitting directly on the edge, there is a lot of sinkage.

If you frequently use the edges of the mattress during the “dance with no pants” and are worried about not feeling supported, this could be an issue.

But if you’re more worried about rolling out of bed, I wouldn’t say that that is a concern on the Leesa.

Overall, I really like the pressure relief dynamic on the Leesa. The comfort foams have enough give to provide excellent pressure relief, sinkage, and softness, but not so much as to create pressure points with the support foam.

The combination of foam creates a balanced feel that’s suitable for many body types.

The Leesa has a 4″ comfort layer, which is 40% of the total mattress thickness. This level of thickness, combined with the material quality and firmness, results in a mattress that will create good pressure relief for the majority of sleepers.

To evaluate off-gassing we monitor the mattress following the initial unboxing, taking a subjective measurement of any strong lingering smells. Strong odors coming off the mattress can be discomforting while both sleeping and awake.

In the case of Leesa, the mattress has a strong smell after the initial unboxing. However, within 2 days, the smell had dissipated and was no longer noticeable.

Leesa was one of the initial front runners when “bed-in-a-box” concepts initially hit mainstream and they have a long-standing history of good consumer ratings, customer service, and friendly returns & warranty practices.

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 free shipping offered is “No-Contact”, which means they’ll deliver it outside your home and drop it off, for you to load inside and unpack at your convenience.

And if it doesn’t work, they’ll send a team to come to pick up the mattress to be donated to a child or family in need, at no cost to you.

The Leesa Original mattress is available in only one firmness level, medium firm. We rate it at a 6 out of 10 on the firmness scale.

If you aren’t sure if a medium-feel is right you may consider the Leesa Legend, which is notably softer. In addition, Leesa offers 3 other models at a medium-firm feel; the ultra-budget-friendly Leesa Studio and the higher-end Leesa Sapira Hybrid.

Mattress Type	Firmness	Materials
Leesa Original	6 out of 10	Three layers of foam
Leesa Hybrid	6 out of 10	Foam + 1 layer of pocket springs
Leesa Legend	4 out of 10	Foam + 2 layers of pocket springs
Leesa Studio	6 out of 10	Three layers of foam (budget pick)

Of these three, the Original and Hybrid are going to be more firm whereas the Legend is a bit softer.

The Leesa Original mattress has a medium-firm feel and a 10″ thickness. It is generally suitable for a wide range of sleeping positions and sleeper body weight.

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

One word of caution. Heavier sleepers may find the performance to be as satisfactory, given the 10″ thickness.

Sleepers over 300 pounds are probably better off with the Leesa Sapira Hybrid or Leesa Legend. Anyone under 300 pounds will feel well-supported.

Design

The design of the Leesa Original mattress uses a combination of three distinct foam layers. The top foam layer is a breathable poly foam with a fast response time. The middle layer is a memory foam with good contour.

These two layers work together to promote bounce, a faster response time, and improved cooling, without sacrificing hug, contour, and pressure relief.

Materials

So moving right along, let’s talk about the materials used in the Leesa Original mattress.

The main layers of the Leesa include:

• 2.0″ poly foam
• 2.0″ memory foam
• 6.0″ support foam

The Cover

The Leesa cover uses a twill design with seamless fabric that has a good amount of stretch. It is solid gray and has a white, 4-stripe design around the foot of the mattress.

It has a soft feel to it and the subtle diagonal line embossing gives it a nice texture and richness.

The Comfort Layer

The top layer is a 2″ thick poly foam (originally called Avena, now an unnamed proprietary foam), which feels like a blend of memory foam and latex foam.

It has great pressure relief and deeper compression (like memory foam), but also a faster response time and good bounce (more like a latex foam).

Below the top layer of foam, there is a 2″ thick memory foam layer that acts more like transitional memory foam providing deeper compression and recovery.

The Support Layer

The bottom layer of foam has the highest density and provides a supportive base for the mattress to rest on. This layer has the least amount of compression and instead is designed to support the layers above.

Because of the density of this support foam, the Leesa does not require a traditional boxspring and you can use this mattress on a platform bed, with a bunkie board, or a simple slatted bed frame.

Product Evolution

Leesa has been rolling and boxing mattresses since 2014 with a handful of design iterations since the early days. Upon initial launch, Leesa had only one mattress. It still had the iconic 4-bar cover design and much of the same feel, but the materials were different.

Early Leesa mattresses were made from a blend of memory foam and a top layer of a patented Avena foam, which performed similarly to latex foam.

Newer versions replaced the Avena foam with a similarly performing poly foam, but no longer using the specific Avena.

In addition to dropping Avena, Leesa also added other mattress types— the Hybrid, the Legend, and the Studio mattress, as well as a handful of other products.

Leesa Original vs. Hybrid vs. Legend vs. Studio

As mentioned above, Leesa currently offers four different mattresses with a variety of feels, comfort layers, and price points. The four mattresses include the Leesa Original (reviewed above), Leesa Sapira Hybrid, Leesa Legend, and Leesa Studio.

You can read more about the similarities and differences of these four mattresses below:

Other Mattresses to Consider

Frequently Asked Questions