Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Review

Written by Amelia Jerden, Senior Staff Writer

Our Methodology

Our Certified Sleep Science Coaches have reviewed more than 300 mattresses in our lab, testing each one on its materials, comfort, cooling, support, and other categories.
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In This Review

I’ll detail my experience testing the Brooklyn Bedding Essential mattress, a great simple and affordable hybrid mattress. I’ll go over how it formed in our testing and make recommendations for who might like it.

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Brooklyn Bedding is an online mattress retailer offering a variety of quality bed-in-a-box mattresses, all of which are made in Arizona and generally sell for affordable prices. However, Brooklyn Bedding has taken affordability a step further with its Essential mattress — a simple, no-frills bed that clocks in under $1,000 for a queen size.

I put this bed through all the “essential” tests at our Sleepopolis studio and in this review, I’ll go over the results, as well as make some recommendations for who might like this mattress.

Short on time? Click here to skip to my review summary.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Overview

The Brooklyn Bedding Essential is a basic hybrid bed-in-a-box mattress, available at an affordable price. That’s because the company owns its a factory in Arizona and is able to manufacture their own beds, then pass on the savings to their customers.

Primarily made of coils, with top layers of foam, the Brooklyn Bedding Essential is 10 inches tall and provides a medium-firm feel that can work for some back and stomach sleepers. Its simple build and affordable price could make it a good choice for kids, college students, or a guest bedroom. Or it could be a good choice for those with a tighter budget.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Video Review

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Sleepopolis Score

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One category where the Brooklyn Bedding Essential scored a little lower is warranty. While the mattress’s 10-year warranty is by no means short, we prefer to see a lifetime or forever warranty. For a list of some options with more generous warranties, see our list of best mattresses that won’t sag.

What Is the Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Made Of? 

The Brooklyn Bedding Essential is a simple 10-inch tall hybrid mattress, combining foams and coils in its construction. Let’s take a look at the specific materials used in this mattress. Knowing what a mattress is made of can tell you a lot about how it will feel and perform.

Cover – The Brooklyn Bedding Essential’s cover is a quilted cotton/polyester blend.

Comfort Layer – The comfort layer, or the main material the sleeper will feel on the bed’s surface, is a 1.5-inch section of high-density foam.

Transition Layer – This next layer serves as a transition between the comfort and support layers. In the Essential mattress, is it a .75-inch section of high-density foam.

Support Layer – This section provides the main support of the mattress. The Essential’s support layer is an 8-inch section of individually wrapped coils.

Base Layer – The final layer provides a base surface for the rest of the layers. The Essential’s base layer is a .25-inch of high-density foam.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Firmness 

At Sleepopolis, we rate mattress firmness on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the softest and 10 is the firmest. We use 6.5 as the standard for medium-firm, which is the most common mattress firmness. To determine the firmness, we poll several colleagues for their opinion on how firm the bed is. We average those ratings together for a final score in order to incorporate multiple opinions, as firmness is subjective.

We rated the Brooklyn Bedding Essential as a 6.5 out of 10, meaning it is a true medium-firm bed. The Essential feels very supportive, but there is still some plush comfort from the upper foam layers. The foam and coils blend together well to create a balanced, medium-firm feel.

Sleeping Position and Body Weight

We recognize that people come in all shapes and sizes, and people of every size deserve a mattress that works for their body type. We use the weight categories light, average, and heavy to more easily categorize sleepers based on how mattresses will perform for their body type, as most mattresses are designed for the group we call “average” (130 to 250 pounds).

As a general rule, lighter sleepers don’t require as much support as average weight sleepers, and mattresses will tend to feel firmer to them. On the other hand, heavy sleepers tend to need more support than average weight sleepers and tend to sink into the mattress more.

As far as sleeping positions go, side sleepers tend to need a softer mattress while stomach sleepers usually need a firmer, more supportive one. Back sleepers are usually somewhere in the middle.

Is the Brooklyn Bedding Essential a Good Mattress for Light Sleepers (Under 130 pounds)?

• Light Back Sleepers –  I think light back sleepers should feel quite comfortable on the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. It may feel a touch firmer than medium-firm to these folks, as they won’t sink into the comfort foam as much, but it should still work nicely to help maintain spinal alignment while feeling comfortable.
• Light Side Sleepers – Since the comfort and transition layers are fairly thin, I think light side sleepers may not receive enough contouring or cushioning on the shoulder and hip while sleeping on the Essential. I would recommend a soft mattress to ensure there is no pressure buildup on these joints.
• Light Stomach Sleepers – Light stomach sleepers should find that the Essential is a great match for them. As they might feel the bed is a little firmer and won’t sink into the material as much, they should find their hips well-supported and their back in proper alignment. 

Is the Brooklyn Bedding Essential a Good Mattress for Average Weight Sleepers (130 to 250 pounds)?

• Average Weight Back Sleepers – Average weight back sleepers should enjoy the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. The medium-firm feel is just right for this group to feel comfortable, but also maintain a neutral spine.
• Average Weight Side Sleepers – I think average weight side sleepers will find that the Brooklyn Bedding Essential is a bit too firm and lacks enough cushioning to relieve pressure on the shoulder and hip. I felt a decent amount of pressure on my joints while resting on my side on the Essential.
• Average Weight Stomach Sleepers – While I typically recommend a firmer mattress for average weight stomach sleepers, I didn’t feel my hips sinking into this bed much at all, so I think it can work well for this group. I think because the comfort and transition layer are fairly thin, there isn’t as much room for sinkage.

Is the Brooklyn Bedding Essential a Good Mattress for Heavy Sleepers (over 250 pounds)?

• Heavy Back Sleepers – I think some heavy back sleepers could find the Brooklyn Bedding Essential to be a good match because of the comfortable medium-firm feel, but I would caution them it may not be as supportive as some beds designed with heavy sleepers in mind.
• Heavy Side Sleepers – I don’t think the Essential will be a good match for heavy side sleepers. The comfort and transition layers are so thin, heavy side sleepers will likely sink right through and find their joints resting on the firm coils, which could cause joint pain.
• Heavy Stomach Sleepers – The Essential isn’t supportive enough for heavy stomach sleepers. I think they’ll find their hips sinking down, as this bed isn’t ultra-supportive or firm.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Performance

Now let’s dive into the testing. We run every mattress we review through a series of tests to evaluate a bed’s pain relief, motion isolation, cooling, and more.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Pain Relief Performance

Pressure relief is an important part of a mattress, as you ideally want your mattress to cushion your body and not create any pain points. We evaluate how well a bed relieves pressure by using a heat-mapping pressure map. This map uses thermal imaging technology to show where pressure is building up along the body while lying in different sleeping positions. 

Low pressure areas recorded in blue to green and high pressure areas recorded in yellow to red. We cover three different areas: back pain, shoulder pain, and hip pain.

As you can see in the pressure map results above, the Brooklyn Bedding Essential works well for relieving pressure while back sleeping. The blue and green coloration shows overall low pressure on my body in this position. For side sleeping, there is some yellow and red forming, particularly at my shoulder. This reflects how pressure is building up around the joints, meaning the Essential wasn’t as effective at relieving pressure for me in this position.

Motion Transfer

If you share a bed with a partner or a pet, motion transfer is something you’ll want to take into consideration. It refers to how much movement carries across the bed — if your partner is tossing and turning on their side, how much of that motion will ripple to be felt on your side.

We test motion transfer in three ways. The first is having one person lie down on the mattress and have another person move around on the other side to see how much movement the unmoving person feels. Then we use a wine glass test, where we place a glass of wine on one side and move on the other side to see how much the liquid moves in the glass.

The final test is a seismometer test, in which we place a seismometer on one side of the bed and drop a 10-pound steel ball on the other side. We drop it from three heights to simulate different levels of movement.

These are great results! The Brooklyn Bedding Essential showed very little motion transfer, meaning you should only feel really large movements while sleeping on this bed. I was impressed by these results, considering the bed is made primarily of springs.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness refers to how quickly a bed responds to pressure, which correlates to how easy it is to move around on. This is an important consideration for combination sleepers, for people with mobility issues, and for sex. We test responsiveness by moving around on a mattress between different sleeping positions to see how easy or difficult it is to move.

In testing, I found the Brooklyn Bedding Essential super easy to move around on. With a very responsive feel, I had no issue changing between sleeping positions or rolling around on the bed.

Cooling

Cooling is another important factor, as many people want a mattress that helps them sleep cool, rather than causing them to overheat. We look at two factors to determine a mattress’s cooling abilities: materials and heat retention, tested using a thermal gun.

Materials are important to consider, as they are what generally determine how hot or cool a mattress is. Some materials regulate temperature by maintaining a cooler temperature or allowing for airflow, while others trap heat. The Brooklyn Bedding Essential is primarily made of coils, with very thin layers of foam. This construction should promote a good amount of airflow, as memory foam does trap body heat, but coils allow for lots of room to breathe.

We also test out each mattress’s heat retention with a device called a thermal gun, which uses color-coded imaging to measure how much and how quickly a mattress heats up after lying on it. If it heats up more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit, we consider it to have poor cooling capabilities. 10 to 15 degrees indicates decent cooling, 5 to 10 degrees indicates good cooling, and less than 5 degrees indicates excellent cooling.

To test the Brooklyn Bedding Essential, I took its baseline temperature using the thermal gun, then took the temperature after I laid on the bed for five minutes. The bed heated up by 12 degrees after five minutes of laying on it, so this would qualify as decent cooling.

Edge Support

Edge support is a bed’s ability to bear weight around the perimeter. Ideally, you want to feel as supported along the edge of the bed as you feel in the middle. To test edge support, I sat and laid on the edge of the Brooklyn Bedding Essential to see how much the edge sank or supported me.

The edge support was pretty good. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but I didn’t feel as if I was going to slip off the bed. There was some noticeable sinkage when I was sitting on the edge, but I felt overall supported while lying on the edge. I’d say it has above-average edge support.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Performance For Couples

If you’re shopping for a mattress to share with a partner, motion isolation, responsiveness, cooling, and edge support are all important considerations to determine whether a mattress will work well for two people to share.

Based on the results of our tests, I would say the Brooklyn Bedding Essential is a pretty good mattress for couples. It showed little motion transfer, so you shouldn’t feel too bothered by a partner’s movements. The bed’s responsive feel will make it work well for sex and the decent cooling will help prevent overheating. Additionally, the above-average edge support should allow couples to utilize the entire surface area of the mattress.

My Final Thoughts about the Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress

Okay, we have covered a lot about the Brooklyn Bedding Essential mattress. Let’s recap with my recommendations for who should consider buying this mattress and who might want to consider another option.

Who I Recommend the Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress For

• Back sleepers of all weights should find the Brooklyn Bedding Essential provides a pleasant mix of comfort and support.
• Light to average weight stomach sleepers should find the Essential supportive enough to keep their hips propped up to maintain spinal alignment.
• With a basic build and budget-friendly price, the Brooklyn Bedding Essential could be a good option for kids, college students, or a guest bedroom.
• Couples should appreciate how this bed isolates motion, sleeps decently cool, is responsive for sex, and has solid edge support.

Who I Don’t Recommend the Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress For

• Side sleepers will likely find the Essential doesn’t cushion their joints enough, which could lead to shoulder and hip pain.
• Shoppers looking for a more luxurious bed may want to consider another option. At 10 inches tall (and eight of those inches being coils), the Essential is pretty basic and doesn’t offer lots of plush comfort or special features.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Pricing and Sizing

Price is an important factor to consider when shopping for a new mattress, so let’s break down how much the Brooklyn Bedding Essential costs by size. Keep in mind you can save with our Brooklyn Bedding coupons, but all prices below are listed before discounts.

Size	Price
Twin	$532
Twin XL	$732
Full	$799
Queen	$932
King	$1,132
California King	$1,132

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Policies and FAQs

How does the Brooklyn Bedding Essential mattress ship?

Brooklyn Bedding ships for free to the 48 contiguous United States. They do ship to Hawaii and Alaska, but for an added fee. Brooklyn Bedding also ships to Canada for an additional fee.

Does the Brooklyn Bedding Essential come with a sleep trial?

Yes, Brooklyn Bedding offers a 120-night trial with this mattress. That means you can test it at home for 120 nights and if you decide the Essential isn’t the right bed for you, you can return it within that trial period and be eligible for a full refund.

Does the Brooklyn Bedding Essential come with a warranty?

Yes, Brooklyn Bedding offers a 10-year warranty on this mattress.

Where is the Brooklyn Bedding Essential made?

This mattress, like all Brooklyn Bedding mattress models, is manufactured in Arizona.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Vs

Still not sure if the Brooklyn Bedding Essential is the best mattress for you? No worries, I’ve picked out a few competitors that are similar to the Essential to compare.

• Bear – Similarly priced all-foam option
• Siena – Significantly cheaper all-foam option
• Minocasa Hybrid – Firmer hybrid option

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Bear

The Bear is an all-foam mattress designed with athletic recovery in mind. It has a firmer than average feel, but still provides some pressure relief. It’s responsive and keeps the sleeper feeling more “on top” of the bed than in it.

• Price: Both beds are affordably priced under $1,000 for a queen size, making them easily comparable for budget shoppers.
• Sleeping position: Like the Essential, the Bear is a great option for most back sleepers. However, it isn’t a great pick for most side or stomach sleepers.
• Cooling: The Bear sleeps fairly cool, thanks to gel infusions in the foam. You also have the option to add a cooling Celliant cover. But the Essential, with its use of coils, should be a better choice for hot sleepers.
• Body weight: We don’t think the Bear is supportive enough for people who weigh 250 pounds or more, so we would only recommend it to light and average weight sleepers. While I don’t think the Essential is a fantastic choice for heavy sleepers, its coils give it a more durable build that could work for some heavy people.

Read more in our full Bear mattress review. 

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Siena

The Siena is an affordable all-foam mattress with a firmer feel. Like the Brooklyn Bedding Essential, the Siena is 10 inches tall.

• Price: Both are great budget options, but the Siena is about $100 cheaper at full retail price than the Essential, so it could be a great pick for those looking to save as much as possible.
• Sleeping position: Like the Brooklyn Bedding Essential, the Siena is a good match for back and stomach sleepers. It’s not a great option for side sleepers.
• Cooling: The Siena, being an all-foam bed without any cooling materials, isn’t a great option for hot sleepers.
• Body weight: Because of its all-foam design, the Siena isn’t a good choice for heavy sleepers, who weigh 250 pounds or more. We’d only recommend it to light or average weight people

Read more in our full Siena mattress review.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Minocasa Hybrid

The Minocasa is a hybrid mattress that combines foam and coils, with zoned support sections to promote proper spinal alignment. This bed has a very firm feel, offering little to no sinkage.

• Price: Both of these mattresses are great budget options, priced just under $1,000 for queen sizes.
• Sleeping position: With a super firm feel, the Minocasa is a match for back and stomach sleepers, but not side sleepers.
• Cooling: As a hybrid, the Minocasa is already fairly cooling, but it also features a Tencel cover for additional cooling.
• Body weight: The Minocasa could work for some heavier folks, as it does incorporate coils for additional support. Like the Essential, it isn’t a top pick for heavy sleepers, but it could work.

Read more in our full Minocasa mattress review.

Other Models from Brooklyn Bedding

Naturally, the Brooklyn Bedding Essential isn’t the only mattress the brand offers. So let’s take a look at a few more of Brooklyn Bedding’s offerings, in comparison to the Essential.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid

The Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid is a bouncy and supportive bed that comes in three firmness levels: Soft, Medium, and Firm. It also comes with an optional pillow top. We tested the Medium version without the pillow top and felt it was a true medium-firm mattress.

• Price: Unsurprisingly, the Signature Hybrid is more expensive than the Essential, by about $400 for a queen size. However, I would still say the Signature Hybrid is a reasonably priced bed, at under $1,500 for a queen size. 
• Sleeping position: With three firmness options, the Signature Hybrid can work for just about everyone. The Medium version we tested works particularly well for back sleepers.
• Cooling: With a hybrid construction, the Signature Hybrid sleeps nice and cool. You can also opt to add a cooling cover for an additional fee to create an ultra-cool sleep surface. 
• Body weight: The Signature Hybrid is probably a better choice for heavy sleepers than the Essential, as it is a little thicker and more supportive.

Read more in our full Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid mattress review. 

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Dreamfoam Essential

Dreamfoam is a sub-brand of Brooklyn Bedding and the Dreamfoam Essential mattress is a natural comparison to the Brooklyn Bedding Essential… they both have “essential” in the name. The Dreamfoam Essential is an all-foam bed with a firm feel that is available in five different heights and a wide variety of mattress sizes, meant to accommodate RVs and other non-traditional bed settings.

• Price: The Dreamfoam Essential is a little cheaper than the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. The 10-inch queen model is about $200 cheaper than the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. The 14-inch (the tallest option) is about the same price as the Brooklyn Bedding Essential, while the 6-inch (the shortest option) is about half the price of the Brooklyn Bedding Essential.
• Sleeping position: Because of its firm feel, the Dreamfoam Essential works mostly for back and stomach sleepers.
• Cooling: As an all-foam bed, the Dreamfoam Essential isn’t as cooling as the Brooklyn Bedding Essential.
• Body weight: We wouldn’t recommend the Dreamfoam Essential to heavy sleepers, only light to average people, because it doesn’t provide enough support for heavier weights.

Read more in our full Dreamfoam Essential mattress review. 

Brooklyn Bedding Essential vs Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe

The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe is a hybrid bed available in three firmness levels: Soft, Medium, and Firm. We tested the Medium version and found it to be soft to medium-soft. You also have the option to add a Cloud Pillow Top for even more plushness.

• Price: As a more high-quality mattress, the Aurora Luxe naturally has a higher price point than the Essential. For a queen size without the pillow top, the Aurora Luxe is about $900 more than the Essential.
• Sleeping position: Because it comes in multiple firmness options, the Aurora Luxe can work for just about everyone. The Medium version we tested is a great choice for back sleepers and some side sleepers.
• Cooling: The Aurora Luxe is a very cooling mattress, with cooling tech in just about every layer. Plus, it’s a hybrid, so the coils promote airflow.
• Body weight: As a more supportive mattress with thicker layers, I think the Aurora Luxe is a better choice for heavy sleepers than the Essential.

Read more in our full Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe mattress review. 

Our Review Process

At Sleepopolis, our team of Certified Sleep Science Coaches personally test each mattress. We start by unboxing the mattress to figure out how difficult (or easy) it is to get the mattress from the box to the bed. Then, we spend time laying on the bed in different positions, taking time to assess it on our backs, stomachs, and sides. Next, we perform our Sleepopolis tests, using specialized tools to measure qualities like motion transfer, bounce, and pressure relief. Our last step is to open up the mattress and take a look at each layer. These steps allow us to give our final verdict on the mattress.

Amelia Jerden

Senior Staff Writer

About Author

Amelia is a Senior Staff Writer for Sleepopolis. She primarily covers bedding and sleep accessory products in reviews, how-to guides, and more. You can also find her over on the Sleepopolis YouTube channel. Amelia is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with double majors in media and journalism and in dramatic art. Outside of work, Amelia can usually be found on a hike, traveling to a new city, or at her local thrift store.

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