Joe: The original Casper and Purple mattresses are very popular and for good reason, but
which one should you choose?
That's exactly what I'm going to be telling you about today.
I'll be telling you what the key differences and key similarities are between the two mattresses,
going over the construction differences, and I'm going to give my take on who should get
one over the other, so stay tuned.
[music]
Joe: What's similar between these two mattresses?
Not a ton.
They're about 9.5-10 inches thick.
They are at roughly the same exact price point.
They both have a pretty similar base layer and a transition layer, and that's about it,
to be honest.
What are the differences between these two mattresses.
Well, there are a number of pretty important differences.
Number one is just the construction.
Casper has a latex-like layer, a memory foam layer, transition layer, then a base layer.
Whereas, Purple uses its unique hyper-elastic polymer gel material on top, then a transition
layer, then a base layer.
It's also firmness differences, I put the Purple at about a 7 out of 10, Casper at about
a 6 out of 10.
I think most people would agree that Purple is a little bit firmer.
Because of the construction differences, there are feel differences as well.
You get more of a standard foam feel from the Casper, and this unique kind of squishy,
pressure-relieving yet firm, at the same time, feel from the Purple.
Last thing to note is that, Casper also has zone construction.
It's a little bit softer underneath your shoulders and also a little bit firmer underneath the
heavier parts of your body.
Let's talk about the construction of each mattress and what the differences are.
Starting with the Purple.
We have a roughly 9.5-inch mattress.
It has a pretty standard base layer, then a transition layer that transitions you from
the top to the bottom.
Then the hyper-elastic polymer comfort layer, it's two inches.
Let's say, you have a foam mattress and you put your hand into the foam, it will compress
a little bit, but a little bit more pressure, it will compress even more.
This gel-like material works a little bit different.
It stays flat and supportive until a certain pressure threshold is reached.
You push your hand in and it will stay flat then all of a sudden, it'll collapse.
The way it works is, let's say you're sleeping on your back, it will actually collapse underneath
your butt, and then just stay flat over the rest of the mattress, so it'll be very supportive
in that position.
If you're on your side, it'll collapse underneath your shoulders and your hips, so you'll feel
like a pressure relief and support across the rest of your body.
It's a very unique feel that you don't really see in any other type of mattress.
Moving on to the Casper now.
It has a pretty standard base layer, a transition layer, a memory foam layer, and then a latex-like,
pretty soft layer on top there.
This resembles a more traditional, just general foam, balanced foam feel in this mattress.
The transition layer is actually zoned, which means it's firmer in the middle part of the
mattress, underneath the heavier parts of your body.
That's nice in that when you're sleeping on your side, it's going to be softer underneath
your shoulders, so you get the pressure relief there.
If you're sitting on your stomach or back, it's going to be firmer and be able to be
a little bit more supportive.
These are actually similar in that they are good for all three sleeping positions.
In my opinion, because of the gel where it's firm yet pressure-relieving at the same time
and then the zone construction here.
The feel is different.
The unique feel of the Purple, you won't really see anywhere else, but you'll see the Casper
feel in many more other foam mattresses.
Pretty similar in that they're pretty good for all three sleeping positions but the feel
is definitely going to be different.
I want to talk through on how I feel on different sleeping positions on both mattresses.
Starting with the Purple, when I lie down on my back, first thing I notice is my hips
do sink in.
The gel material does collapse underneath my butt, but then it stays flat across the
rest of my body.
For that reason, it's a very good match for me on my back.
I think people of really any weight will find it to be a good match for them.
On the Casper, it was also a good match for me.
It is firmer underneath my butt, which is great.
It's because of that zone construction, that something you can actually feel.
I feel like on my back, it's a good match for me and should be a good match for most
people as well.
I would give the slight support advantage to Purple in this case, however.
I just thought it was a little bit more supportive overall.
Switching on to the side here, I can feel on the Purple the gel collapsing underneath
my shoulders and my hips.
It's pretty pressure-relieving.
I do feel just a tiny bit of firmness there.
Switching to the Casper now on my side, I feel like it's a little bit softer.
Because of that zone construction, you get that extra softness underneath your shoulders.
I found it to be really, really good match, very pressure-relieving on my side.
Switching to my stomach, on the Purple, I felt very, very good support overall.
I thought it was a really good match for me on my stomach.
I think most people would agree as well.
In Casper, it was also a good match but I would probably give Purple the advantage here
with the support overall.
We've been talking about construction differences and I've given my subjective opinion about
firmness and feel.
Now, we want to give you an objective test that shows exactly how well each mattress
relieves pressure.
We do that with a pressure map test.
I get down on my back, side, and stomach on a pressure map and you'll see anywhere from
blue, no pressure, all the way up to red, the high pressure.
What's most important is really just the side sleeping results.
When we throw that up here, you'll see that Casper has less pressure underneath the shoulders,
a little bit more pressure underneath the hips.
Purple has a little bit more pressure, a little bit of red underneath the shoulders and less
pressure underneath the hips.
That makes sense given its zone construction.
It's firmer with the Casper underneath your hips, so it makes sense that there's a little
bit more pressure there.
Overall, I would say that the Casper is a little bit softer.
In this particular case, it relieves pressure a little bit better.
Martin: Hey guys, Martin here to offer different perspective.
Joe is 5'9'', 160.
I'm 6'7'', 230.
I've a different body type and you should think about your body type when you're comparing
mattresses.
Today, we're looking at the Purple original mattress and the Casper original mattress.
Talking about firmness, I said the Purple was a 6.5 out of 10, and I said the Casper
here was a 7 out of 10.
On both these mattresses, I felt good support on my back and stomach, and decent pressure
relief on my side.
That being said, I felt better support on the Purple when I was on my back and my stomach.
I felt better pressure relief when I was on my side on the Casper.
That being said, if you're my size, a heavier sleeper, and you sleep primarily on your back
and your stomach, I lean towards the Purple.
If you're my size and you're mostly a side sleeper, I would lean more towards the Casper.
Joe: If you sleep with a partner, there's two additional things you may want to consider
when looking at a mattress.
that's motion isolation and edge support.
Motion isolation is basically, if your partner's moving around on that side of the bed, is
that motion be isolated or is going to transfer over to you and potentially wake you up at
night?
Edge support is basically, can you tie your shoes while sitting on the edge of the bed
without feeling like you're going to fall off?
Can you sleep towards the very edge of the bed without feeling like you're going to fall
off, as well?
So this particular case, I would give Casper the slight advantage on motion isolation.
I think that the foam layers do a pretty good job of isolating motion in general.
Now, I actually give them the slight advantage on edge support, as well.
I don't really get that falling-off-the-bed sensation when I'm like tying my shoes or
sleeping towards the edge of the bed.
You get that just a little bit with the Purple.
Let's talk about who should get the Casper over the Purple, and who should get the Purple
over the Casper.
The thing to note here is that these two mattresses are very popular for a very good reason.
I found them to be a really great fit for me in all three sleeping positions.
As far as who should get the Purple, if you're looking for something a little bit firmer,
I put it at about a 7 out of 10 compared to 6 out of 10 for the Casper, this might be
the better choice for you.
If you're just a back and stomach sleeper, I found it to be a little bit more supportive
for me and I think most people would agree.
That's a little bit more supportive.
If you're just a back and stomach sleeper, this might be the better choice.
Then for the Casper, if you want something that's just a little bit softer, I found it
to be very nice on my side, for example.
Side sleepers might find this to be a better match.
That's a little bit softer given that zone construction underneath your shoulders.
Then if you've had success with foam mattresses before, this is more of a standard balanced
foam feel.
This might be the better choice for you.
All right.
To wrap up, while these two mattresses are very popular and for a good reason, I think
the differences between the two are pretty vast.
The choice should be pretty clear.
There's firmness differences.
Purple's little bit firmer feeling yet still pressure-relieving at same time.
It's also feel differences.
The differences should be pretty clear and if that's not the case, you can simply leave
a comment below.
I can give you a personal recommendation, or really answer any question that you might
have.
If you're just getting started with your mattress research, definitely check out mattressclarity.com.
Do you want to see a list of our top picks?
You can simply Google mattress clarity best mattress.
Once again, let me know if you have any questions.