Best Gel Mattress for 2024

Our team of sleep experts has tested hundreds of mattresses. We’ve established different tests and assessments we put each mattress through during that process. While testing, we consider firmness, feel, motion isolation, durability and edge support. 

Firmness and feel

Think about firmness as how hard or soft a mattress is. Our experience testing mattresses has given us an extensive collection to compare a new bed to, allowing us to determine where it falls on the firmness scale. 

Feel is where we get hands-on with the bed. We roll around on it and describe how it feels. We also pay close attention to how materials respond to weight and pressure. We note how quickly a bed snaps back when weight is lifted off it. 

Durability 

No mattress will last forever, but you want to choose one that you’ll get the expected seven to 10 years out of. We hypothesize how long a mattress will last based on its construction. Beds with coils will stand the test of time better than foam, which may sag over years. 

Motion isolation

Motion isolation may not seem like a big deal at face value, but it matters if you have a partner or pet who moves around a lot. The last thing you want is someone waking you up while they toss and turn. 

To test motion isolation, two team members move around on the bed and gauge how well each bed dampens movement. We also place a glass of water on the edge of the bed and move around near it. The bed doesn’t have good motion isolation if the glass turns over. 

Edge support

Edge support is how strong the edge of the bed is. It’s a key factor if you sleep on the edge of the bed. We test this by sitting and lying along the border. If we feel like we will fall off because the mattress is folding under the weight, it doesn’t have good edge support. 

Our CNET Sleep editors picked the beds and other products we write about based on editorial merit. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Find out more about how we test mattresses.