Brentwood Sierra Mattress Review

Editor’s Note: The Brentwood Home Sierra mattress is no longer available, ​​but head to our reviews of the Brentwood Oceano orBrentwood Hybrid Latex to see more that the brand has to offer!

In 2016, Brentwood completely revamped its line of mattresses, launching nine brand-new models. These nine models included three memory foam, three latex, and three coil mattresses. Each set of three follows a “good, better, best” model and is situated to meet the needs of sleepers with every kind of budget.

In today’s mattress review, we’re taking a look at Brentwood Home’s Sierra mattress. The Sierra mattress is the “good” memory foam model, positioned as a solid mattress at an extremely affordable price point. So with all that said, let’s go ahead and dive in!

In a hurry today? Click here to skip to the summary version of my review.

Construction

Layers

The Brentwood Home Sierra mattress is 11″ thick and contains four unique layers of foam.

• Top layer (pressure relief) – 1″ of QuiltFlex foam. This top layer of foam is designed to provide the initial level of comfort and pressure relief for the mattress.
• Second layer (cooling and comfort) – 3” of gel memory foam. This layer is designed to provide both contour and cooling for the mattress. Infused with gel, the memory foam is able to pull heat away from the sleeping surface while providing a contoured feel around the sleeper.
• Third layer (support) – 2″ of ventilated polyurethane foam. This layer was placed below a layer of memory foam in order to provide the support for the sleeper. Additionally, the third layer is ventilated in order to increase airflow in and out of the mattress, which aids in cooling as well.
• Bottom layer (foundation) – 5″ of high-density support foam. The bottom layer acts as the deep compression support for the sleeper as well as the foundational base for the mattress.

Cover

The cover of the Sierra mattress is a blend of polyester and wool. The combination feels durable, yet still has a soft feel. The cover has a traditional quilted design, but is still fairly subdued in the overall thickness. This gives it just a little bit of added softness upon initial contact with the mattress. The side panels are quite sturdy feeling, which gives me more confidence in the mattress’ durability and longevity.

Aesthetically, the cover is simple and takes the fairly standard approach: white on top and gray side panels. From a purely functional standpoint, the cover also contains a total of four handles (two on each side), which allow for easier grip when moving the mattress. These handles are sewn on quite well and are very similar to Brentwood Home’s more luxurious memory foam mattresses, the Coronado and Sequoia.

All in all, the cover feels and looks well made.

Firmness, Feel, and Support

The Brentwood Home Sierra mattress lands at a 5 out of 10 on the firmness scale (with 10 being the most firm). Brentwood designed this mattress as a “universal comfort” mattress, hoping to meet the needs of a vast majority of sleepers.

To begin with, the Sierra has a balanced feel, but it does lean more towards the soft side. The 5 out of 10 firmness gives it what I would describe as a true medium feel, though many would describe it as medium soft. Despite the slightly softer feel, the mattress still feels quite even overall, creating a balanced level comfort, hug, and support that meshed well to create a stable sleeping environment for both me and my wife.

Due to primarily sleeping on my stomach, I tend to need a little extra support around my lower back. The Sierra was okay with respect support on my stomach, but did create a little too much softness, in my opinion.

As a result, I slept more on my side and back on the Sierra mattress, which created a better level of support in those sleeping positions. My wife sleeps mostly on her side and back and also found the support to be sufficient.

While the first Sierra I tested had very little contour, the newest iteration of this mattress has much more. This mattress offers more of a pronounced level of sinkage and hug. Originally, Brentwood Home designed the Sierra with intentions of having an above average level of push back on the sleeper versus a deep level of sinkage.

The recently made changes to this mattress have somewhat steered away from that. There is a deeper level of sinkage and slightly slower response times, as compared to the original design iteration. That said, I wouldn’t say this new Sierra contours or hugs to the same level of Brentwood Home’s Coronado mattress.

FAQ: How to choose a mattress?

One of the major benefits of the Sierra mattress is the pressure relief. The first Sierra I tested was thinner, built with a faster response time, less focused on the pressure relief, and more focused on the comfort associated with the response times. Brentwood Home has softened up the Sierra while maintaining an average level of response.

This combination creates excellent pressure relief, while still being reasonably fast enough to avoid any type of “stuck” feeling for sleepers. During my sleep test I had no trouble changing sleeping positions during the night. That said, the Sierra does have more of a memory foam feel. So if you are very sensitive to slower responding foams this probably isn’t that best choice for you.

Bounce and motion transfer are additional areas I want to touch on briefly. The bounce of the Sierra is minimal. The softer feel and memory foam design play large roles here. On the other hand, the motion transfer of the Sierra is low. The softer feel and memory foam construction may not create a high level of bounce, but they certainly reduce the motion transferred across the mattress. Those sleepers who tend to wake up from the slightest of movements will find this level of motion transfer to be quite nice.

Finally, cooling. The ventilated layer of transitional poly foam does a nice job of improving breathability, while the wool layer within the quilted cover acts as a thermal barrier. Throughout my sleep tests on the Sierra mattress, I did not sleep warm. That said, heavier sleepers or naturally warm sleepers may have a different experience. The deeper level of sinkage, hug, and memory foam construction could lead to a warmer sleeping surface for those who sink too deep or those who tend to sleep warm.

Sinkage

All mattress reviews on Sleepopolis go through a short series of sinkage tests. These tests are deigned to provide you with insight on how the mattress will perform under various conditions.

• Lying on back – As I lay on my back with my weight spread evenly across the mattress, I saw 2.5″ of sinkage.
• Lying on side – While laying on my side, I saw 3.5″ of sinkage.
• Sitting on edge (conservative) – In a normal sitting position with my butt slightly off the edge of the mattress, I saw 4″ of sinkage.
• Sitting on edge (aggressive) – As I sat normally on the direct edge of the mattress, I saw 6″ of sinkage.
• Standing in the middle – With all of my weight placed at the middle of the mattress, I saw 6″ of sinkage.

Please keep in mind, sinkage results will vary depending on your weight and body type. As a reference point, I am fairly uniform and weight about 140 pounds.

Pricing

Other Details

• Shipping – Free shipping within the United States; most orders will arrive within 5-10 days, compressed in a box
• Warranty – 25 years
• Trial Period – 120 nights
• Made in the USA

Should I Buy the Sierra Mattress?

I would recommend the Sierra mattress to sleepers who:

• Enjoy a medium feel – The Brentwood Home Sierra mattress falls at a 5 out of 10 on the firmness scale (10 being the most firm).
• Want a true memory foam feel – The medium feel creates just enough pressure relief and softness without leaving the sleeper overly stuck or trapped in the foams. Sleepers who want pronounced sinkage and contouring hug without a significant stuck feeling will find the Sierra’s comfort dynamic enjoyable.
• Want a luxury mattress, but affordable price – At $795 for a Queen size Sierra, this mattress offers a great value. The traditional memory foam sinkage and hug in addition to the aesthetic upgrades made to this mattress combine for more of a luxurious look and feel at a lower price. The Sierra is not on the same level as Brentwood’s Coronado or Sequoia, but for the price you pay here, the Sierra is not a bad deal.

Need more information or ready to buy? Visit BrentwoodHome.com.

Logan Block

Logan is the former content director of Sleepopolis. As content director, he reviewed new mattresses every week and curated the comparisons, best of pages, and video guides on the site. Logan perfected his method by personally testing over 200 different mattresses, so he’s not only able to discern the overall vibe of a specific bed, but to contextualize its feel within the bed-in-a-box market as a whole.