Zonkd Mattress Review

Editor’s Note: It appears that the Zonkd mattress is no longer available. I recommend checking out the various picks on our Best Latex Mattress roundup, including the Saatva Latex Hybrid and the Brooklyn Bedding Ecosleep. 

Today, I’ll be taking a look at the mattress from Zonkd, a new company on the bed-in-a-box scene. Instead of relying solely on either memory foam or latex, the brand decided to utilize both in its signature bed’s design to create an all-encompassing sleep experience.

But does the combination make for a comfortable mattress? I won’t know until I put it to the test, examining everything from its pressure relief to its sinkage to figure out if might just be the bed of your dreams!

Continue reading below for my full review of the Zonkd mattress. Don’t have time to read it all? Click here to skip to the bottom and check out my review summary.

CONSTRUCTION

The Zonkd mattress is built with three distinct layers, stacking up to a total 12” of comfort. As I mentioned up top, the construction features both memory foam and latex, as well as a thick layer of high-density poly foam in the base. The mixture of different foams is meant to create a balanced feel, marrying the contouring of memory foam with the bounce of latex for a sleep that purports to do it all.

Another interesting feature of the bed is that it comes in three different firmness levels: Soft, Medium and Firm. A short quiz on the website will help determine which feel is right for you, based on your weight, sleep preferences and current sleeping woes. For the purpose of this review, I’m only looking at the Medium Zonkd.

Now let’s dive into each of these different layers!

Cover – The cover is crafted from a double-knit polyester blend. It’s got a soft hand feel and is pretty breathable, plus it’s outfitted with antimicrobial properties.

Comfort Layer – Comprised of 2” of copper-infused memory foam, the comfort layer is gentle and has a slow response to pressure, providing the sleeper with some deep body contouring. While memory foam has a bit of a reputation for overheating, the copper infusion is meant to combat this and keep things cool in the night. If you’re interested in sinking deep into bed then check out our best memory foam mattress list for more great options.

Transition Layer – Directly below the comfort layer, you’ll find 2” of Talalay latex. This material is bouncy and brings a little lift to the bed, mitigating the sinkage of the memory foam and helping to transition the sleeper into the firm foundation. This is also the layer that’s modified to achieve the different firmness levels discussed above, with the Firm featuring the most latex and the Soft featuring the least. Across the beds, this section is aerated to encourage airflow throughout the structure.

Foundation Layer – Last but not least, we’ve got 8” of high-density poly foam, which acts as the base of the bed and gives the structure its shape.

FIRMNESS

After taking a look at the construction of the Zonkd, let’s chat about the firmness and feel. I started off by applying light hand pressure to the mattress and found that I was immediately interacting with the soft, breathable cover. Pushing in further, I encountered the memory foam, which contoured snuggly around my hand.

Since folks of different shapes and sizes are going to feel beds differently, I decided to bring in three other testers to help me figure out how firm the Zonkd is. To do this, we each took a turn lying on the mattress, gave it a personal firmness rating and then compiled the results on the graph below.

While feel is always going to be an individual thing, our responses should provide you with a good understanding of the firmness range you can expect from the bed.

We each responded pretty differently to the Zonkd, but landed on an average firmness rating of about 5.9. When compared to the industry standard of 6.5 for medium firmness, it’s clear that this bed is just a touch below medium firm.

I personally gave the bed a 6.5 as I found it to be a solid example of medium firmness. I suspect that the variance in our ratings mostly has to do with how people interact with memory foam, which can have a deceptively firm feel at first that quickly gives in to something much softer once you sink through it. Regardless, the contouring here is buffered by the buoyant latex, resulting in a nice interplay between pressure relief and support.

Note that this firmness will change slightly if you go with the Soft or Firm version of the Zonkd, which, again, have varying amounts of latex in the transition layer.

PRESSURE MAP

Another important feel factor for a new bed is pressure, or more specifically where pressure points are likely to form while lying on top of it.

To help you visualize where these tension spots might crop up, I placed a pressure map on top of the mattress and lied on my back, side, and stomach. You can see the results on the image below where pressure is represented from blue (low pressure) to red (high pressure).

Back – Lying on my back, I could really feel myself sinking into the top layer of memory foam, which filled in the space at my lumbar region for some pleasant pressure relief. Even though I was certainly cushioned by this material, the bounce from the latex transition layer kept me from feeling too stuck in the mattress.

Edge Support – Scooting as close as I could to the side of the Zonkd, I noticed some pretty deep compression through the softer foam top layers. While I didn’t necessarily feel as though I’d roll out of the bed, I wouldn’t say that I felt well supported either. This could pose a problem for those of you who need to use the entire surface area of the bed, particularly if you sleep with a partner.

Side – Turning onto my side, I felt some great cushiony relief at my shoulders and hips, typical problem areas for side sleepers. The memory foam contoured nicely to these spots, helping to alleviate any tension I might normally experience in this position. Keep in mind that these results are for the Medium version of this bed, so if you wanted something even gentler, you could always opt for the Soft configuration.

Stomach – Switching onto my stomach, I began to feel a bit of discomfort as my hips sank out of alignment with my shoulders. Strict stomach sleepers tend to prefer firmer mattresses as they help to keep the spine in an even line, so the medium firmness here may be too soft for those of you who doze primarily on your stomachs. Instead, I’d suggest checking out the Firm version of the Zonkd.

MOTION TRANSFER

Want to share your bed with a partner? Well then you’ll want to pay extra close attention to its motion transfer, which is the amount of disturbance detectable from one side of the bed to the other. Basically, this test is going to tell you whether or not you’ll be bothered by your bed mate’s movements in the middle of the night.

To illustrate this motion transfer, I dropped a 10-pound steel ball from heights of 4 inches, 8 inches and 12 inches and measured the disturbance it caused: the bigger the lines, the bigger the disturbance.

FYI: Each drop is meant to symbolize a different movement you’re likely to experience in bed, from tossing and turning (4”) to getting out of bed (8”) all the way to full on jumping (12”).

These are really amazing motion transfer results, which tells me that you aren’t likely to be too disturbed by your partner’s every toss and turn. I attribute most of the success to the memory foam top layer, which does an excellent job of dampening disturbance across the structure.

SINKAGE TEST

And finally, when buying a new bed, most folks want to figure out if they’ll feel like they’re sinking “into” the mattress or lying “on top” of it.

To demonstrate this sinkage, I placed four balls of varying sizes and densities (a 6-pound medicine ball, a 10-pound steel ball, a 50-pound medicine ball, and a 100-pound medicine ball) on the mattress and measured how much they compressed the surface.

The variations in size, weight and density are meant to simulate different body parts and different sized sleepers.

• 6-pound medicine ball: 1.5 inches of sinkage.
• 10-pound steel ball: 2 inches of sinkage.
• 50-pound medicine ball: 4 inches of sinkage.
• 100-pound medicine ball: 5.5 inches of sinkage.

I’d say these are pretty average sinkage results compared to other all-foam mattresses I’ve tested. While you’re likely to experience some pleasant contouring from the memory foam comfort layer, the section of buoyant latex will help to lift you up and out of the structure so you don’t feel too stuck.

IS THE ZONKD MATTRESS RIGHT FOR YOU?

Now that we’ve taken a closer look at the Zonkd mattress, I want to highlight some of its biggest pros and cons:

PROS

• If you’re a fan of memory foam but not crazy about the stuck-in-the-bed feeling it often produces, you’ll find a lot to love in this mattress.
• This bed also had solid motion transfer results, which could make it a fantastic pick for couples.
• And finally, the breathable cover ensures that this bed is a great cooling mattress.

CONS

• While amazing for some sleepers, the soft foam construction of the mattress isn’t likely to give heavier sleepers the support they need.
• I’d also note that the Zonkd bed didn’t have great edge support, which could be a deal breaker for those of you who need to use the entire surface area of the structure.

BASIC INFORMATION

• Sleep Trial: 110 days.
• Warranty: 10 years.
• Shipping: Free, arrives compressed in a box.

Just getting started? Begin your mattress search with my mattress reviews breakdown.

SIZE AND PRICING INFORMATION

If you’re convinced the Zonkd is the right mattress for you, the size and pricing information for the mattress are below.

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.