When I moved in the fall, I needed a new bed. While I knew what bed frame I wanted to buy right away, the decision around which mattress to get took much longer. I checked out at least a dozen brands, from established big names to newer brands.

Well, it’s no surprise from the title of this post, but what I ended up buying was the Saatva HD mattress. In this post I’ll go into the shopping process, the components of the mattress, and my experience with it.

I’ll also share my Saatva referral code and some tips on how to save money at the end of this post.

My Mattress Criteria

I limited my search to mattresses I could see in person. Guess I’m kind of old school that way. Even though many direct-to-consumer brands promise free delivery and a generous trial period, it seemed like an inefficient way to find a mattress. Particularly for someone as picky as me.

Because everyone has different preferences, I should tell you my mine. I’m a back sleeper. Here was my criteria:

• Firm. I learned that I prefer firm beds when I traveled in Asia. Mattresses there are generally much firmer than American ones.
• Good for bad backs. I’ve been having lower back pain, so supporting my back is a high priority.
• Low motion transfer. Motion transfer refers to how much you can feel it when someone you’re sharing the bed with moves around or gets in or out of bed.
• Quality materials.

About Saatva

I learned about Saatva from a friend who has a bad back — like went-to-the-ER-because-of-debilitating-back-pain bad back. Saatva is a luxury mattress brand that began in 2010. They design with backs in mind. “Every Saatva mattress is engineered for pain-free sleep, with dedicated lumbar zone support to promote healthy spinal alignment,” says their website.

The company also touts eco-friendly materials. As far as I can tell, that means using organic cotton and foam made from renewable oils.

Saatva started as an online business. But luckily for me, they have a showroom in Manhattan, so I could check out the goods in person. (There are also showrooms in San Francisco and Washington, DC.)

Visiting the Saatva Showroom

Saatva was the last mattress brand that I looked at. By the time I got to them, I had already lay awkwardly under bright ceiling lights upon many a mattress in showrooms. My experiences with these other mattresses was OK. Most of them felt more or less the same to me, and not quite as firm as I wanted.

The one exception was the Temperpedic Pro-Adapt, a memory foam mattress that touts NASA-developed materials and felt noticeably firm. (NASA invented memory foam, so really, any brand using memory foam could make this claim.) At $3,300 for a queen, it also cost more than what I had just sold my old car for. The wait for one of these mattresses was at least two months. The memory foam comes from factories in Texas that have been trying to catch up with production ever since the February 2021 freeze that shut down power across the state for days. I did not want to wait that long or spend that much.

When I lay down on it, I thought, “Wow, you can tell this one is the most expensive.” What can I say? It just felt the nicest.

I visited the Saatva showroom intending to buy the Saatva Classic, their most popular mattress. It’s an innerspring mattress with a euro pillowtop. A queen retails for $1,695. This mattress comes in three firmness options. In order of increasing firmness, they are: “plush soft,” “luxury firm,” and “firm.” But in the store, I realized the Classic had more motion transfer than I liked.

Next, I tried Saatva’s memory foam mattress, Loom and Leaf, which comes in two levels of firm. A queen retails for $2,099. This mattress felt firmer than the Saatva Classic and had less motion transfer.

Lastly, I checked out the Saatva HD, a hybrid mattress with innersprings and foam. It only comes in one level of firmness, though the website strangely doesn’t mention what level of firmness it is. At $2,795 for a queen, it was the most expensive option out of the three. When I lay down on it, I thought, “Wow, you can tell this one is the most expensive.” What can I say? It just felt the nicest.

In terms of firmness, it felt firmer than the Saatva Classic, but comparable or just a touch less firm than the Loom and Leaf memory foam mattress. It also came in at the middle when it came to motion transfer. In retrospect, I realize now that I’m not sure what level of firmness the mattresses in the showroom were. Was I trying a luxury firm or a firm in the Classic? Assuming that the Classic I tried was a luxury firm, their most popular model, which is rated as a 5-7 — the higher the number, the more firm it is — I’d say the HD is a 7-8.

I went back and forth between the Loom and Leaf and the HD. Both offer pressure relief, though in different ways. The Loom and Leaf has “ultra-premium 5-lb memory foam and high-density foam layers” that contours to the body. The HD touts a “Patented Lumbar Zone® Technology” that adds “enhanced support for your lumbar region, while 5-zone natural latex offers excellent pressure-point relief.”

Memory foam mattresses have more of that sinking-into-the-bed feeling, whereas with the hybrid HD there’s more of a lay-on-top feel. In the end I asked the sales associate which type of mattress (innerspring versus memory foam) was better for back pain. When he said innerspring, that was the excuse I needed to splurge on the pricier Saatva HD.

Components in the Saatva HD Mattress

HD stands for Heavy Duty, something I learned later on the website, not in the showroom. Saatva markets the HD online as “the first luxury heavy duty mattress for bigger bodies.” “Specifically engineered to comfortably support people weighing up to 500 pounds, our heavy duty hybrid innerspring mattress delivers optimal support in every sleep position.”

Now, I am not part of this demographic. I’m actually a small, petite person. The Mister also isn’t part of this demographic. In the time it took for the mattress to arrive, I worried that I had chosen wrong since we are not the intended audience. But, it turns out I didn’t have anything to worry about.

What’s inside this mattress? Here’s a graphic I grabbed from their website.

There’s a 3″ pillow top made with breathable organic cotton. (Or 2.3″ — the website description has two different measurements for the pillow top. I think it’s closer to 3″.) Next come the natural latex foam and memory foam. These go on top of 12.5 gauge recycled steel coils. I am by no means a mattress expert, just a person seeking better sleep, so I don’t feel equipped to evaluate the HD’s various components and how they compare to other mattresses.

But I will say I tried to compare these coils to the ones on other mattresses, and a lot of other brands don’t list the gauge. Then again, Saatva doesn’t list the gauge size on its Classic mattress. This makes me think the 12.5 gauge is thicker than most. Saatva claims they are 25% stronger than the industry standard. You can find all the specs here.

All these components make for a heavy mattress. It’s also tall at 15.5″. The Saatva HD requires a solid surface to support its heft. Slats on a usual platform bed won’t cut it. Saatva sells its own foundation for this mattress. But the sales associate said I could use my own bed frame so long as I added a solid layer. He recommended that we acquire some 1/4 inch plywood to place on top of my slats. (You can see how it looks in my review of the Thuma bedframe.)

My Experience with the Saatva HD Mattress

The mattress was available 12 days after I ordered it — faster than the estimate of up to three weeks that they initially gave me. White glove delivery into your home is included in the price. Delivery was excellent. The delivery company they work with in New York City worked with care. They maneuvered this heavy mattress into my small bedroom, which was a little bit of a challenge since I have a narrow hallway.

Saatva has a generous 180-day trial period. If you’re not happy with their mattress, they will refund you and pick it up. They do charge a $99 fee for pickup, but I think that’s fair. I’m halfway through the trial period, but I don’t see any need to send this mattress back.

Though this bed was designed for someone bigger than me, I find it works for me. Here’s my impression of various aspects of the mattress:

Motion Transfer: As I mentioned before, motion transfer was not the best out of all the mattresses we tried. (The memory foam mattress was better.) But it’s not too much of an issue for us. Though I do sense my partner getting in and out of bed, it’s not bothersome.

Edge Support: Edge support is great. Not too much sagging when you sit at the edge of the mattress.

Feel: Though the mattress is firm, it’s not hard. I generally don’t care for pillowtops, but in this case, the pillowtop provides a cushy luxe feeling that compliments nicely with the firmness. Overall, it’s still a pretty firm mattress. If you prefer a mattress that contours more to your body, this one probably isn’t for you.

Temperature: Saatva says the cotton cover, natural latex, and open coils help promote air flow and keep things cool. In my experience, it’s working. I tend to heat up as the night progresses. With my old mattress, I used to wake up in the middle of the night to shed layers. So far, I don’t sleep hot on this mattress.

Back Support: Most importantly, how did this mattress affect my back pain? With my old mattress, I woke up daily with a sore lower back. Initially, I still woke up with a sore back (though less sore) with the Saatva. But one day, a few months into sleeping on the Saatva HD, I realized that I no longer woke up with any back pain! Since then, I’ve only woken up with a sore lower back once when I slept for a rare 10 hours straight.

Value & Final Thoughts

The $2,795 price tag for a queen mattress was more than I initially wanted to spend. But waking up without back pain is worth it. Sure, there might be another mattress out there that’d ease my back pain just as well and cost less. But, time is also money as they say, and I’ve already spent a good deal of time researching. The materials and construction of the Saatva seem excellent and luxe. I’m not mad about spending this much money for a quality mattress with a 20-year warranty.

I also saved several hundred dollars on the price by buying the mattress during a promotion. And there always seems to be a promotion going on. If there isn’t, Saatva offers a standing discount of $225 on purchases of $1,000 or more for certain professions, including teachers, health care workers, first responders, military, and civil servants.

Overall, I’m very pleased this purchase. Though I ended up going with the HD, all of their mattresses seem like good options to consider. I just recommended the Saatva Classic to a family member who wanted a more medium firm mattress. And now I recommend Saatva to you.

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If you’re interested in Saatva, here’s my referral code, which will take $100 off your order or $1,000 or more. When you click through to the site it should say, “View Your Extra $100 off at Cart or Checkout” at the top. You can use this code in conjunction with a promotion. (I will also receive a monetary gift, so thank you!)