Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress Review

The main points: The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress is a luxury memory foam bed. It’s incredibly thick with generous foam layers providing top-notch pressure relief. We were impressed by how well it dampened motion transfer and how cool it felt. It comes with an 18-month sleep trial and everlong warranty. 

Who Is the Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress Best for?

Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress Review Highlights

The special features:

• The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress sleeps cool for an all-foam bed. 
• It’s an excellent mattress for back sleepers thanks to its plush surface and pressure-relieving properties. Our sleep testers experienced very little pressure at their lower backs. 
• With a soft surface and generous memory foam layers, the Idle Gel Plush hugs the body—great for traditional memory foam mattress aficionados. 
• Every Idle mattress comes with two free pillows.
• Idle’s 18-month sleep trial and lifetime warranty are incredibly generous, even for a bed-in-a-box mattress brand.

Mattress Advisor Scores

We brought the Idle Gel Plush mattress into the Mattress Advisor lab so we could experience its feel and benefits first-hand. See how it performed in our 14-point evaluation. 

Find out more about Our Review Process.

⭐Total Score for the Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress: 8.1/10⭐

Testing Highlights

✅ Pros

• Good for Hot Sleepers: When we laid upon this mattress, the surface started out cool and stayed that way. This refreshingly cool feel is great for people who wake up hot and sweaty. 
• Excellent Motion Isolation: The Idle Gel Plush mattress scored a 9.1/10 for motion transfer. By dampening motion, this all-foam mattress helps couples sleep through one-another’s movements. 
• Cushions Pressure Points: Both of our sleep testers experienced very low pressure at their hips, shoulders, and lower backs when lying on their back and stomachs. This pressure relief is advantageous for people with aches and pains.
• Generous Trial Period and Warranty: Idle’s forever warranty and 18-month trial are more generous than the standard 100-night trial and 10-year warranty. 

❌ Cons

• You Might Feel Stuck: Have you ever felt like you were sinking into quicksand when lying on a memory foam mattress? Our sleep testers noticed that feeling on the Idle mattress, so it earned just a 6.5/10 for responsiveness. 
• Little Social Impact: While some mattress brands are involved in their community through things like donations and volunteer work, Idle Sleep is not. 

Pressure Relief

Pressure-relieving abilities may be the single most important feature of a mattress for people with aches and pains. Because the high-pressure areas tend to come into contact with the mattress before the rest of the body, a bed must allow these regions to sink in and redistribute that weight along the body’s surface. When a mattress doesn’t cushion pressure points well, it can lead to disrupted sleep and pain come morning. 

To see how well a mattress melts pressure away from problem areas, we use a pressure-mapping film and have our mattress testers lie in different positions. What we want to see is even body weight distribution, which is shown by the cool colors blue and green. Reds and yellows tell us that there’s excess pressure, with red distinguishing the highest pressure.

When lying on their backs and stomachs, neither of our testers experienced high-pressure zones. But when on their sides, they both had built-up pressure at the shoulders and hips, keeping the Idle Gel Plush mattress from getting a perfect 10/10.

Responsiveness

Do you know that sinking memory foam feeling? The one where your mattress hugs you and it’s hard to move around? While some people love the enveloping comfort, others find it makes it hard to get a good night’s sleep. 

The thing is, not every memory foam mattress acts the same way in this regard. With advances in foam technology, some foam beds immediately adapt to movements, while others don’t. This property of a mattress is known as its responsiveness. And with most beds today having foam layers, it’s important to know which ones respond immediately and which ones take awhile. That’s why we test every mattress for its responsiveness. 

To find out how responsive a bed is, we have our mattress experts take turns lying on a bed to see how well it adapts to their movements. They switch positions and rate how quickly they settle into the new position on a scale from 1–10, with 10 being the fastest. 

Our sleep testers gave this mattress a 6.5/10 for responsiveness. If you’re a combination sleeper who tosses and turns a lot at night, this lack of responsiveness could be problematic. The surface has a dough-y feel, which you can tell simply by looking at it when someone moves around. After just a few minutes of lying down, we noticed body impressions that took awhile to fill back in. 

Alignment

Your mattress is responsible for how good—or bad—your posture is when you’re sleeping. Healthy spine alignment isn’t only more comfortable, but it can be the difference between waking feeling refreshed and awaking with a new back or neck ache. 

To score a bed on it’s alignment abilities, we have both of our mattress experts lie on their sides and stomachs on the mattress and take a look at their spines. We want to see neutral alignment, which is when there’s a straight line from the base to the tip of the spine for side sleepers, and stomach sleeper’s spines should maintain their natural curve.

As you can see from the image below, the spines of our sleep subjects were mostly straight, but there was a noticeable curve at the top of the spine. This alignment isn’t great, but it also isn’t horrible. It’s around average for a mattress, so we gave it a 7.5/10 for spine alignment.

Firmness Scale Rating

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress rates at a 4 on the 1–10 firmness scale, with 1 being the softest. This makes it a medium-soft bed. Our mattress experts found the surface incredibly soft and marshmallow-like, but there is a slightly firm contouring feel that counterbalances the sink.

Which Position Works Best with the Mattress?

The Idle Plush mattress is best-suited for back sleepers thanks to its ultra-soft top layer that contours to the spine. However, it also accommodates stomach sleepers who prefer a softer feel. 

It isn’t the best bed for combination sleepers because you really sink into the surface, which makes it challenging to switch from one position to the next. It doesn’t work well for side sleepers with shoulder or hip pain due to its lackluster performance in our pressure test.

Cooling Materials

Our mattress experts found the Idle Sleep Plush mattress to feel cool-to-the-touch, even after lying on it for an extended period of time. Its gel-infused mattress cover and foam layers do an excellent job of transferring body heat away from the mattress surface, helping to keep you cool and dry. 

While this mattress is great for hot sleepers who love memory foam mattresses, it isn’t the coolest mattress that we’ve tested. Most of those are innerspring or hybrid beds that have a layer of airy innerspring coils.

How Much Weight Does It Support?

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress is designed to support between 600 to 1000 pounds, depending on the mattress size. For example, a queen-size bed is durable enough for two people who weigh 500 pounds, and the twin for one person who weighs 600 pounds. 

While this mattress can support heavier people, most people who weigh more than 230 pounds are better-suited by a medium-firm or firmer mattress. This is because mattresses feel softer the more that you weigh, so someone who weighs 250 pounds is going to sink into the Idle Gel Plush further than someone who weighs 120 pounds. Additionally, all-foam mattresses don’t tend to offer enough support for heavier bodies.

Most Compatible Mattress Support

The Idle Gel Plush mattress is designed to work with any foundation or frame that’s in good condition. This includes an adjustable base, box spring, bunkie board, platform bed, or slatted base.

Layers and Feel

The Idle Plush is a gel foam mattress with thick layers of gel-infused memory foam and polyfoam. Measuring 14 inches deep, this is one of the thickest all-foam mattresses that we’ve come across.

Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress Sizes, Dimensions, and Pricing

*Prices do not reflect exclusive offers or discounts. Click below to see the best price for the Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress.

Unboxing Experience

Idle Sleep Gel Plush is wrapped in thin plastic and compressed in a box. When we received this bed at the Mattress Advisor lab, it was a breeze to unbox. It took us only two minutes to get it out of the packaging and unroll it onto the frame. There was very little off-gassing odor, something that’s common with new foam mattresses.

Idle Sleep Buying Guide

Let’s take a look at what you can expect when you buy a new mattress from Idle Sleep. 

Shipping and Delivery Policy

Idle Sleeps ships their mattresses for free within the continental United States. They do not ship to Hawaii or Alaska. Your new mattress should arrive at your doorstep in four to 10 business days from the order date. You don’t need to be home to sign for the package. 

How Long Can You Try It?

You have 18-months to sleep on your new bed before committing. This is far more generous than other bed-in-a-box mattress brands whose trials typically extend from around 90 days to a year. 

Every new mattress takes time to fully break in, and our bodies also need time to adjust to a new bed—think of it like breaking in a new pair of shoes. For this reason, Idle Sleep won’t accept returns until you’ve had your bed for 30 days. After 30 days, contact Idle Sleep if you decide that this isn’t the best mattress for you. They’ll help organize for your bed to be donated or recycled, and then you’ll receive a full refund.  

Mattress Warranty

Idle Sleep’s mattress warranty is one of the most generous around. Your new bed is covered in the case of defects for the entire time that you own your mattress. This includes indentations of greater than half an inch—most companies only cover indentations when they exceed one inch. 

Customer Service

Idle Sleep has excellent customer service. We used the live chat feature on their website and received friendly and helpful service. 

Idle Sleep is open from 8 a.m.–11 p.m. EST every day of the week. These are some of the longest hours that we’ve seen in the mattress industry. Here’s how you can get in touch. 

• Live chat at idlesleep.com  
• Call 1-888-488-4353
• Email team@idlesleep.com 

The Return Policy

Contact Idle Sleep once you’ve had your mattress for at least 30 days to initiate a return. You can return your bed for a full refund before the 18-month sleep trial is up. All you need to do is contact their customer service team and they’ll provide you next steps. This typically involves donating or recycling your mattress locally. After you’ve done this, Idle Sleep issues a full refund. 

Is the Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress for You?

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress is a luxury gel memory foam bed at an affordable price. Its enveloping memory foam feel is much like that of more expensive luxury brands like Tempur-Pedic. 

This bed’s medium-soft feel works well for back and stomach sleepers, so long as you’re someone who likes a bed that’s on the softer side. In our in-house testing, this mattress excelled at minimizing motion transfer, cushioning pressure points, and keeping sleepers cool. And with one of the most generous trial periods and warranties that you’ll find anywhere, you can rest assured that you’re buying a high-quality mattress. 

While there’s lots to love about the Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress, it isn’t the perfect fit for everyone. Our sleep subjects both noted how hard it was to move around on this mattress because the plush surface was slow to respond when they changed positions. If you’re someone who tosses and turns at night, check out the more responsive yet still very plush Helix Sunset mattress.  

Compare Idle Sleep Gel Plush

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress vs Other All-Foam Mattresses

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush mattress is softer and hugs the body more closely than the average all-foam mattress, even when compared to other memory foam beds. This enveloping foam offers excellent pressure relief, but it can make it harder to move around when compared to the average foam bed. 

Measuring 14 inches high, this is one of the thickest foam mattresses around. Thanks to generous layers of high-quality foam and an ultra-durable base, this means the Idle Sleep feels more luxurious and is more durable than most beds.

The Idle Sleep Gel Plush Mattress vs Other Idle Sleep Mattresses

Idle Sleep offers four luxury mattress models made from a variety of materials. Here’s how the Gel Plush mattress compares.

Idle Gel Plush vs Idle Gel

You can think of the Idle Gel foam mattress as a less luxurious version of the Idle Gel Plush bed. It’s two inches thinner, less expensive, and its medium firmness level is slightly firmer than the Idle Gel Plush mattress. They’re both all-foam mattresses with layers of memory foam and proprietary polyfoams. 

Read More: Idle Sleep Gel Foam Mattress Review

Idle Gel Plush vs Idle Hybrid

The Idle Sleep Hybrid mattress stands apart from the Idle Gel Plush because it has innerspring coils while the Gel Plush has memory foam. Both of these beds boast similar layers of unique Idle Sleep polyfoams designed for pressure relief and cooling. 

Thanks to the innerspring coils, the Hybrid boasts superior airflow and a slightly cooler sleeping experience. With contouring memory foam, the Gel Plush offers greater pressure relief and does a better job limiting motion transfer. The Hybrid comes in medium and medium-firm, while the Gel Plush is a medium-soft mattress. 

Read More: Idle Sleep Hybrid Mattress Review

Idle Gel Plush vs Idle Latex Hybrid

The Idle Latex is a customizable hybrid mattress that pairs responsive innerspring coils with all-natural dunlop or talalay latex foam. You can opt for either the dunlop or talalay latex mattress, and decide between medium, luxury firm, or medium on one side and firm on the other. This mattress is flippable, a unique feature amongst the Idle Sleep mattress line. 

Both of the Idle Latex mattresses are eco-friendly and are more expensive than the all-foam Idle Gel Plush mattress. The naturally-cool latex and breathable innerspring coils make the Latex mattresses cooler and more responsive than the Gel Plush. The Gel Plush’s generous foam layers create a softer and more pressure-relieving mattress.  

Read More: Idle Sleep Latex Mattress Review.

Other Products Sold by Idle Sleep

FAQs