Purple Plus mattress review: Zero-gravity, pressure-relieving comfort

Those who've tried one know that there is nothing quite like a Purple Mattress.
It's not the memory foam or latex designs that make up the bulk of the bed-in-a-box options. Rather, it uses a unique grid structure across its models, known as the Purple Grid, a squishy, bouncy Hyper-Elastic Polymer material that leaves you feeling like you're quite literally sleeping on air. 

When compared to memory foam, the Purple Grid is exceptionally responsive, more durable, and sleeps cooler than memory foam's heat trapping tendencies. 

I tried the latest edition, the Purple Plus mattress that launched in August 2021. The 11-inch design is an upgrade to the Original Purple, with an additional two-inch layer of premium foam that provides better cushioning, response, and breathability for enhanced comfort and dynamic support. It costs about $600 more than the original version, but is still less expensive than Purple's three hybrid mattress options. 

I spent several weeks sleeping on the Purple Plus, and am ready to share my full experience with you, from shipping to sleeping; what I LOVED and where I have feedback. 

Keep reading for my review to decide for yourself if the Purple Plus mattress could be the best mattress for you.

Who will the Purple Plus Mattress suit?

• Side and back sleepers: the Purple Plus could be described as having a medium firmness rating, as it's designed to feel both plush and firm at the same time. The Plus offers more cushion than the Original, making it a great choice for side sleepers, particularly. 
• Those who seek breathability: Purple's iconic grid system has over 1,400+ air channels built to stay temperature neutral and utilizes breathable foams throughout so you can sleep cool
• Those who seek pressure relief:  Back pain is a notion of the past. Back to the soft and cushioning Grid System, that cradles hips and shoulders for pressure point reduction.
• Those who sleep with a partner: Whether your sleep companion is your significant other or your pet, superior motion isolation means you won't feel movements of others getting up or moving around throughout the night. 

Purple Plus Mattress design and construction

What sets Purple apart from other mattresses is what is referred to as the Purple Grid, a squishy and responsive Hyper-Elastic Polymer material in the Purple Grid Non-toxic polyethylene copolymer powder coating that offers best in class pressure relief and has thousands of holes to enable better air flow and help you sleep cooler. Purple stresses the thicker the grid, the more superior the back and pressure support. 

The Purple Grid is placed directly below the Soft Flex Cover, a stretchy knit made with a combination of viscose, polyester and lycra. If you try to dig your fingers into the material, you'll notice the grid like perforations. Now, I'm the princess who notices the pea, so that was one of my biggest questions whenever I asked friends and relatives who already had tried the Purple mattress for themselves. Answer: The grid becomes undetectable once you've added a mattress protector and sheets for an undisrupted sleep.

Below the Purple Grid is a two-inch premium comfort foam layer that that provides better cushioning, response, and breathability for enhanced comfort and dynamic support. This premium comfort foam layer is where the Purple Plus mattress differs from the Original.  From there, you'll have another three-and-a-half-inch middle comfort layer of 1.8lbs density CertiPUR-US polyurethane foam and a four inch base layer of 2lb. density CertiPUR-US foam to create structure, support and durability. These foams also use a more breathable make up than the Original. 

Purple uses a non-toxic knit barrier as a fire retardant. 

The mattress will work with most of the best bed types, but they preferably recommend your bed lay on a solid frame in general (Wood or metal frame, etc.), and adjustable bed frames are fair game as well. However, traditional box springs are not as ideal.  I actually used a traditional box spring and did not have any problems, but it did leave the bed closer to the floor than I was used too, coming from a much thicker mattress design. 

Setting up the Purple Plus

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The Purple Plus arrived to my home via FedEX. The mattress arrives vacuum wrapped in a purple duffle-style plastic bag with carrying straps. This made for much easier handling than other mattress-in-a-box which were quite literally in a massive unwieldly box. Note, at over 140 lbs. my king size mattress required two people to carry.

It unzips from one of the ends, where the mattress is pulled out, and then hoisted on to the bed. Inside, there are also directions on how to unroll, two eye masks, two Grid samples, and a cutting tool to slice through the plastic. After carefully slicing through two layers of plastic, the bed expanded to full size immediately, and was safe to sleep on that first night. There were no off-gassing odors whatsoever. 

In full disclosure, removing the old king-size mattress from the room was more difficult than putting the new, easily packaged one together. If you are replacing a mattress, as opposed to moving into a new place without a mattress, and need to dispose of the other, it may very well be worth it to utilize the optional in-home set up (costs $200), as finding help to get the old mattress down the stairs took some time. 

What's the Purple Plus like to sleep on?

The Purple Plus mattress is firm where you need it for support, and soft where you want it for comfort. My first impressions: like lying on zero gravity. 

Breathability and cooling
The Purple Plus is rated as temperature neutral, so while is breathable and kept me a comfortable temperature throughout the night, it's not going to make you sleep cooler, unless perhaps you're coming from a mattress that lacks breathability. Purple claims the mattress is actually 80 per cent air. We can see that, since the Purple Grid is made with up 1,400 air channels for air to pass through and the material doesn't retain heat, so if you want to stay cool, you can.

Comfort and Firmness
The key thing about the Purple Plus is that its soft where you want it, firm where you need. I'd rate the firmness level at a medium, but the mattress offers plusher support around hips and shoulders, with firmer support for spine and lumbar regions. 

The bed itself feels bouncy and truly cradles you... but you won't feel like you're stuck... more like you're floating on air. 

I sleep on my back most of the time, but I'll also spend time on my side. I slept comfortably in both positions. I'm not much of a stomach sleeper, but when I do, I end up being some strange body contorted position that ends up wrapped in my many pillows, and definitely not doing anything for my back. While stomach sleepers can get on with the Purple Plus, they may provide the firmer Original. 

I invited my parents to give the mattress a try as well, and well, it seems they are clamoring over who gets to keep the Purple Plus for themselves. 

My mother, who is of average weight, immediately got on with the bed. She sleeps on her side, and also deals with a chronic pain in her arm that the bed did not interfere with increased discomfort, and felt support. She slept cool throughout the night. She thought the 11-inch mattress was a lot thinner than her traditional mattress, which brought her lower to the ground when getting in and out, but the height of the bed can come down to personal preference. 

My father, who is heavyset, is accustomed to a firm innerspring, sleeps on his back, and on an elevated incline. He called his night's sleep dreamy, and in dad speak described it to "sleeping in a big hand", elaborating that he felt secure and cradled. He felt in place, and did not slip down  Perhaps the biggest win, he slept through the night. 

Support and pressure relief
The special gel-Flex grid is designed to offer premium support and spinal alignment. While, my back felt perfectly supported, it did take some rearranging my pillows to find the right mixture, otherwise I did originally wake with a neck ache. I attribute this to the fact that I came from a firmer hybrid design with less sinkage, and in return, needed a pillow with less loft. 

The mattress flexes around your pressure point, and responds instantly as you move around. This can be seen with a 50lb kettlebell weight placed in the middle of the bed, that also demonstrates sinkage. It sinks pretty noticeably, about six inches in the middle, but bounces back to shape immediately when the weight is lifted. 

Motion Transfer
The motion isolation is really pretty amazing. Just a few inches away, a partner's movements were near undetectable. Perhaps one of the best I've come across. 

Edge support
My harshest critique goes to the average edge-support, which is my hold-up in most all foam style mattress. Purple says that the mattress has a foam border to aid in edge support and add structural stability. However, from my experience, the edges sink down significantly more than the middle of the bed when you sit on the edge or the base of the bed. 

I didn't feel like I was going to roll off the bed if I laid too close to the edge, but you do feel like you're sinking if you're sitting on the edge of the bed, which won't be comfortable to sit for a long period of time. I brought out the kettle weight once again, and the edges catered an additional two inches, and the fabric bulged. 

Ordering, delivery, and warranty

Purple Plus is sold through Purple directly, and they also partner with major mattress retailers like Mattress Firm or Macy's, where you may even be able to visit a showroom.

Before adding to cart, you'll be prompted to add any extras like a foundation base or bedding bundle. At checkout you can select whether you want your mattress shipped via FEDEX for free, or you can pay $200 for In Home Set Up and removal of your old mattress. 

The mattress shipped via FedEx. Once my order was placed, I received a confirmation email on my order. A few days later, it was dropped off outside my garage. I strangely did not receive anymore updates, or even a notification that it had shipped, or was on it's way to be on the lookout for it, but what matters is that it arrived safe and sound. 

Purple offers a 10-year limited warranty on its mattresses, which covers body impressions over one inch and materials that may crack, split, or otherwise fail during normal use and handling.

What is the trial period

Purple offers a 100 night trial period to get acquainted with your new mattress but requires that you sleep on the mattress for at least 21 nights to get acquainted before trying to return, as it can take up to 30 days for your body to adjust to a new mattress.  You're also allowed one mattress exchange during the trial period too. Once eligibility for return or exchange is confirmed, a specialist will help facilitate the process.  You will be refunded the full product price of the mattress less the value of any discount, interest accrued, and/or shipping charges.

If things do not work out, Purple will try to find a nearby charity to donate to, and if that's not possible, they will bring in someone to recycle it. 

Hoes does the Purple Plus Mattress rate online?

The Purple Plus reviews are unfortunately lumped in with the Purple Original mattress, so there is little differentiating between the two. However, combined they have over 25,000 positive reviews. 

Is the Purple Plus Mattress worth it?

Can two-inches make a difference in the feel of a mattress? According to the Purple Plus, and it's extra two-inch comfort layer of the Original Purple, the answer is yes.

I found the mattress comfortable in regards to the support and breathability it offered... two crucial components of today's mattresses. While stronger edge support would be nice, I'm not here to sit on the side of the bed, I'm here to sleep through the night. 

The Purple Plus feels noticeably more plush than the Original. It still, maintains the firm support and necessary cushion that relieves pressure points and keeps your body in a healthy position. I found the most comfort on my side and back, while I felt like my body sunk too low on my front.  

The Purple Plus supports sleepers of all different builds, and has a standard 100-day trial to determine if it's the right mattress for you. From the Purple Original, it has upgraded cushioning and pressure relief. If you seek even superior breathability and support, or perhaps an even thicker Purple Grid, the next tier would be considering Purple's hybrid models. Regardless, bringing the Purple Plus, or the Purple Grid into your bedroom is a worthy consideration that may just change how you view sleep. 

Where to buy

About our review  – and our reviewer

Jaclyn is the eCommerce sleep editor across the homes titles at Future, including Real Homes, where she specializes in a variety of topics ranging from mattresses to bedding. She spends her days tracking the latest buzzworthy releases and testing a variety of products to determine whether they are worth bringing into your home. But perhaps because she could literally nap anywhere, anytime, and really needs a full eight hours of sleep to function, the opportunity to test out mattresses for our readers brings a new definition to dream job! In what other world would she get the chance to sleep on the job!  

All our reviews, as in the case of the Purple Plus Mattress, are based on the real-life experience of using these products at home. Jaclyn slept on this mattress for over three weeks before beginning this review. The products are given to us free of charge and we test them for as long as possible before sending them back to the brand unless we are able to keep them as we are with this mattress. This means that we can continue to use the product which gives us the opportunity to return to our reviews for updating, so you can keep up-to-date with how it's fared over a period of time.

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