As part of CNET’s team of sleep experts, you’d think my husband Dillon and I would have the whole sleeping thing down pat. Despite researching, testing and reviewing everything related to mattresses and sleep, we still struggle to get enough shuteye. As two restless individuals doing our best to avoid sleep divorce, we are on a mission to create a bedroom setup that accommodates our drastically different sleep preferences and positions — including the perfect mattress.
Since Dillon sleeps primarily on his side, he prefers exceptionally soft mattresses with plenty of pressure relief. On the other hand, I like a slightly firmer bed because I spend most of the night on my stomach and require more spinal support. This disparity is the driving force behind our quest to find a bed that suits us both.
In this monthly series, Dillon and I have been sleeping on different mattresses for 30 nights and documenting the process. Using our Whoop bands, we track our sleep every night to compare our health data and sleep quality on each bed. If you want to learn about previous mattresses we’ve tested, check out our 30-night reviews of the Avocado Luxury Organic and Saatva Classic mattresses.
Is the Casper Snow Hybrid the best bed for us? Or will this monthly review end with one of us camping out on the couch? Read on to find out.
Initial thoughts on the Casper Snow Hybrid mattress
The Casper Snow is a cooling memory foam hybrid mattress from Casper’s new line. Since neither of us had ever slept on a bed with a dense memory foam feel for longer than a few nights, we were both looking forward to giving it a proper chance. One of the first things I noticed when moving the Casper Snow into our apartment is that it’s much lighter than our previous mattress — at 81 pounds, it’s about half the weight of the queen-size Avocado Luxury Organic.
Cutting open the fire sock underneath the cover to examine the mattress layers is standard procedure for us when reviewing beds.
This particular bed was delivered to CNET’s mattress warehouse and testing facility in the winter. After our team unboxed it and waited for the mattress to warm and inflate to its proper size, we noticed it was a little misshapen, and the foam layers were not lining up exactly as expected. We believe this was due to the cold when it was on the delivery truck, and in this review, you may notice some lumpiness beneath the cover at the foot of the bed because of it. We also cut open the bed’s fire sock layer during testing, which is another reason for its slightly wonky look.
Once the Casper Snow was in our bedroom, we immediately tested its feel, firmness, temperature, edge support and motion isolation to form our initial thoughts.
The Casper Snow looks and feels like a quality bed made with premium materials, and I loved the pop of bright blue on the front. The tiny perforations throughout the cover reminded me of the cookie part of an ice cream sandwich (which, naturally, I also loved).
The Snow cover has specialized yarns to give it that cooling sensation.
Firmness
Casper says the Snow has a medium firmness profile, which is the only firmness option available for this model. The last few beds Dillon and I slept on were either medium-firm or firm, so as a side sleeper, Dillon was especially excited to try out a softer mattress.
We took turns lying on and rolling around the Casper Snow to get an idea of the firmness level for each of us. The firmness of a bed is subjective and can feel different from person to person due to varying body types and weights.
We each tested the firmness level in all sleeping positions. Dillon felt it would be slightly too firm for his side.
Because of the memory foam, the Casper Snow seems firmer when you first lie on it, but after a few seconds of sinking in and allowing the foam to slowly form around your body, it begins to feel softer. However, Dillon and I agreed that this mattress lands around a medium-firm, or 6 out of 10 on the scale.
Feel
At the beginning of this trial, Dillon and I were unsure how we felt about dense memory foam. We both thought we didn’t like it and preferred a responsive innerspring feel instead (spoiler alert: we were in for a pleasant surprise). Experiencing the slow, sinking response of the memory foam layers was new for us, as we’ve only slept on more responsive beds in the past.
Temperature
We agreed the cover feels cooler than the average hybrid mattress, especially those made with natural materials like organic cotton and latex; however, it does not feel as cold as beds like the Casper Snow Max or Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe. Initially, it’s cool to the touch. After lying on it for about 30 seconds, it started retaining my body heat more than I thought it would — especially considering how the brand markets its cooling technology with the use of HeatDelete Bands and Phase Change Material.
As a hot sleeper, our husky loves the cool-to-the-touch cover on the Casper Snow.
Many brands claim their beds are cooling or have cooling technology, but it’s often hard to tell once you add sheets and bedding. As two hot sleepers, we were looking forward to testing the Casper Snow’s cooling capabilities.
Edge support
Having previously slept on beds with coils around the edges for extra reinforcement, the edge of the Casper Snow felt different. Despite the foam border around the coils, we could definitely feel the foam slumping beneath our weight while sitting and lying on the edge. I tend to spend most of the night right on the edge of the bed (thanks to our cuddly cat, Jessica), so having solid edge support is more important to me than Dillon.
During our initial tests, the edge support seemed okay — not great, but not terrible.
Motion isolation
We could tell right away that Casper Snow’s motion isolation is superior. The glass of water we used to test it barely moved when we rolled around on the bed or when our heavy husky jumped on and off. With one person lying still, the other flopped around aggressively to simulate switching sleep positions, and the motion transfer was minimal. Dillon and I were excited that this would help prevent us from waking each other as much during the night when tossing and turning.
Testing the motion isolation with a glass of water and flopping around. It passed.
Design and construction
At first, we were both surprised to learn that there are, indeed, coils in this mattress, as they’re unnoticeable and it looks more like an all-foam bed. We appreciate that there is a coil system for increased durability and longevity. The Casper Snow also has zoned support, with softer foam around the shoulders and firmer foam in the middle to support your back and hips. Still, we couldn’t feel the distinctions between layers during our initial testing.
Sleep quality goals
Dillon and I knew we were pretty bad at sleeping, but we didn’t realize how bad it was until we started tracking our sleep consistently. On average, Dillon typically gets around 5.5 to 6 hours of sleep, while I’m around 6 to 7 hours. Ultimately, Dillon would like to get between 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night, and I’d prefer to get at least 8 to 8.5 (maybe even 9) hours per night.
We are both light sleepers who wake up constantly, usually staying awake for an hour or two each night. Often, one of us will move to the couch for a change of scenery when we are uncomfortable on the bed and can’t get back to sleep. We’d love to improve this by spending 30 minutes or less awake each night.
We fully acknowledge that many factors other than our mattress affect our sleep quality, from pets to diet and exercise to bedtime routines and anxiety levels. Over the years, we’ve worked hard to mitigate the effects of these other factors on our sleep quality. We hope to find a mattress so comfortable that neither of us feels compelled to get up and leave it in the middle of the night.
Our thoughts halfway through the trial
After the first night, Dillon and I were shocked by how much we liked the dense memory foam feel. It was cozy and comfortable, and I think that cocooning sensation kept us from moving around as much throughout the night. It is harder to switch positions and get in and out of than a more responsive bed, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing — for a restless sleeper like me, it can be a good thing.
Within the first week of the trial, I noticed it was difficult to sleep on my stomach because my body would sink while my head stayed higher, kinking my neck. I stopped using a pillow completely when lying on my stomach because it would exacerbate this issue.
The mattress seemed slightly too soft for lying on my stomach, and I couldn’t use a pillow in that sleeping position.
Dillon and I also noticed around this time that it felt too firm to lie comfortably on our sides. We thought we just needed time to adjust, but after about a week, we acknowledged that it was simply a smidge too firm. A few mornings, Dillon woke up with slightly sore hips and shoulders because of it. He also noticed that when waking up in the middle of the night, he would be wide awake and had a hard time falling back asleep.
Regardless, we both thoroughly enjoyed the memory foam and its ability to help us stay temperature-neutral throughout the night. I found myself looking forward to getting into bed every night, which previously had not been the case. The mattress did a fantastic job of deadening movement when one of us would flop around and switch positions — so much so that we hardly noticed each other moving around anymore.
Halfway through the trial, Dillon and I were averaging about 20 minutes more sleep per night than we had been on the Avocado Luxury Organic. However, Dillon’s awake time had increased to 1 hour and 15 minutes per night — double mine. He was also spending considerably more time in light sleep than REM or deep sleep.
Dillon began to suspect that his increased awake time (and how wide awake and alert he was in the middle of the night) was due to the mattress being too firm while on his side, causing discomfort. A few nights during the second half of the trial, Dillon ghosted me and moved to the couch when he couldn’t get comfortable on the bed.
Dillon was having trouble sleeping through the night on his side.
Our thoughts at the end of the trial
Nearing the end of the month, I concluded that the mattress was too firm for my side yet too soft for sleeping on my stomach or back. This was confirmed when I went camping one night during the trial and slept on my stomach on the hard ground. I was astounded to wake up to a Whoop notification that I had slept for a shocking 10 hours and had spent 5.5 hours in REM and deep sleep with minimal awake time.
This experience verified my suspicion that my body still prefers a firmer sleeping surface for stomach sleeping, which is unfortunate for us because Dillon obviously needs a much softer one. Dillon felt Casper Snow was comfortable and supportive enough for his back and stomach but agreed it was too firm for his side.
How we scored our personal preferences
At CNET, our sleep experts use a standardized rating system to score mattresses objectively. For this series, Dillon and I created a customized subjective ranking system to rate the features and characteristics we seek in a mattress. Feel and firmness were each given a score out of 20 points, while the others were scored out of 10 for a total possible score of 100. We scored these factors on a preferential level, meaning what we liked or didn’t like personally.
Our final scores of the Casper Snow mattress
After finishing the 30-night trial, we rated each characteristic and offered a brief explanation. Here’s a breakdown our final rankings:
Dillon’s score breakdown
Firmness: 15/20
It feels slightly firmer than a medium to me, like around a medium-firm or 6 out of 10, and it’s plenty comfortable on my back and stomach. I can spend a little bit of time on my side, but I wish it were softer so I could spend the entire night in my preferred sleeping position.
Feel: 18/20
I like dense memory foam way more than I expected. I got used to it quickly and discovered that I really enjoy that contouring, cocooning feeling. I actually prefer it now over a more responsive latex feel or a classic pillow-top feel.
Motion isolation: 9/10
Memory foam crushes in this category. The Casper Snow has the best motion isolation I have felt in a mattress so far in this 30-night series.
Edge support: 7/10
The edge support is nothing spectacular, but is still good enough to keep me from falling off the edge.
Dillon felt the mattress was plenty supportive for back sleeping.
Temperature regulation: 7/10
I don’t feel the active cooling technology, but it still does a great job of not heating up through the night. I never overheated but I also never got that chilly feeling that I’d like to feel when getting into bed at night, especially during warmer months.
Design and construction: 7/10
I like the design of the Casper mattresses, particularly the memory foam in the Casper Snow and the fact that it also has coils. As someone with a heavier body type, I appreciate the support from the hybrid construction as opposed to an all-foam mattress.
Brand standards: 6/10
Casper was one of the first brands to set the standards when it comes to the bed-in-a-box industry, but nowadays, you’ll see companies go above and beyond the policies that Casper offers.
Sleep quality: 7/10
Best sleep I have gotten in this series so far. I think it could still be improved by sleeping on a bed with a softer firmness profile.
Dillon’s overall score: 76/100 = 7.6/10
“I was surprised by how much I like the feel of dense memory foam. This would probably be the perfect bed for me if it was slightly softer, which is offered in the Casper Snow Max,” Dillon said.
Aly’s score breakdown
Firmness: 12/10
As a combination sleeper who switches between my stomach and side, I have a hard time determining the exact firmness level I need. The Casper Snow felt too soft on my stomach yet too firm on my side. However, because my stomach is my preferred sleeping position, I’d like to stick with something a little firmer (much to Dillon’s dismay).
Feel: 18/20
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like the dense memory foam. I always thought I preferred a more responsive bed, but after a month of sleeping on the Casper Snow, I don’t want to go back to that traditional innerspring feel.
Motion isolation: 9/10
The motion isolation on this bed is excellent. I hardly ever feel Dillon moving around or my cat jumping on or off the bed anymore. I like that I can also move without feeling like I’m going to wake Dillon up.
Edge support: 6/10
The edge support wasn’t great, especially compared to the beds we had previously tested with reinforced edges. I wish it were better, as I spend a lot of time on the edge and dislike the feeling that I might slide or fall off.
Temperature regulation: 8/10
This mattress did a great job of keeping me cooler throughout the night. I rarely felt like I was overheating, unlike on our previous mattresses with organic cotton covers.
Design and construction: 7/10
I was surprised at first to learn that this is a hybrid bed — you can’t feel the coils at all. The foam layers and cool-to-the-touch cover feel high-quality.
Brand standards: 6/10
Casper offers free shipping and returns, a 100-night trial period and a 10-year limited warranty. While I do believe that 100 nights is enough time to determine if a bed is right for you, the policies are not quite as impressive as other brands offering 365-night trials and lifetime warranties.
Sleep quality: 7/10
My sleep quality was almost exactly the same as it was on our previous mattress, which is interesting given how different these beds are in every way. I would still like to see my quality of sleep improve on the next bed.
Aly’s overall score: 73/100 = 7.3/10
Like Dillon, I was shocked by how much I enjoyed the dense memory foam feel. It does a great job of keeping me more temperature-neutral throughout the night. I’m just not sold on the firmness level.
Dillon scored the mattress 7.6 out of 10 overall, and I gave it 7.3 out of 10.
How we tracked our sleep
Dillon and I tracked our sleep data each night using our Whoop bands, compiling the same health and sleep metrics to compare with previous beds in this series.
The primary data we focused on for this trial were our sleep phases each night, or how long we spent in light/core sleep, REM, deep sleep and awake time. The Whoop bands are reliable and seem accurate in tracking these numbers and other metrics, such as heart rate, breath rate, stress levels, body temperature and more.
An example of the nightly sleep data provided by our Whoop bands.
Our sleep data results
Let’s talk numbers. As shown in the graph below, Dillon’s sleep ranged from lows of 4 to 4.5 hours to a few highs of 7.5 to 8 hours. My nightly sleep ranged from a low of 5.5 hours to a few highs around 8.5 hours. For six of the 33 total nights on the Casper Snow, Dillon slept less than 5 hours, which is still slightly better than his sleep quality on our previous mattress.
Overall, Dillon’s average nightly sleep on the Casper Snow was 6 hours and 19 minutes (6.32 hours), up 30 minutes from his average sleep on our previous mattress.
Oddly enough, my total sleep average was the exact same on Casper Snow as on the Avocado Luxury Organic: 7 hours and 12 minutes (7.2 hours).
On average, I slept longer than Dillon. Dillon was awake more but, percentage-wise, spent more time in deep and REM sleep than I did.
To summarize, throughout the trial:
- I slept about 7 hours and 12 minutes per night.
- Dillon slept about 6 hours and 19 minutes per night.
- I spent 52 minutes awake on average each night.
- Dillon spent 1 hour and 10 minutes awake each night on average.
If you look at our restorative sleep (REM + deep sleep stages):
- On average, I spent 43% of the night in a restorative sleep phase and 57% of the time in light sleep.
- Dillon spent 47% of the night in a restorative sleep phase and 53% of the time in light sleep.
The main difference in our sleep phases is that Dillon spent more time (around 25%) in REM sleep than I did (around 18%). I spent more time in light sleep, and he was awake longer at night than I was. This backed up Dillon’s notion about waking up feeling wide awake in the middle of the night when he couldn’t get comfortable.
As you can see above, my average nightly sleep stayed the same, while Dillon’s went up 30 minutes from our previous mattress.
When comparing our sleep on the Avocado Luxury Organic and Casper Snow, the results made sense for Dillon’s total sleep to increase: he needed a softer and cooler mattress, which we got with the Casper Snow (though it still wasn’t quite soft enough).
My total sleep averages were the same on the Avocado Luxury Organic and Casper Snow, but that doesn’t mean my sleep quality was the same — in fact, it seemed to improve slightly on the Casper Snow, given that I spent 40 minutes more in deep sleep than light sleep per night on average. Deep sleep is considered an especially crucial phase of sleep as it strengthens memories and the immune system, helps clear the brain of toxins and affects your mood. I would attribute this increase of deep sleep to Casper Snow’s ability to better temperature regulate, as I woke up fewer times throughout the night due to overheating.
As I mentioned earlier, we know our sleep numbers are not solely based on the mattress. Other factors affect sleep quality, and we did our best to keep these outside factors as consistent or negligible as possible throughout the trial.
Sharing the bed with pets can be great until it starts affecting your sleep quality, which is why I reluctantly had to shut Jess out of the bedroom a few times.
If one partner finds a mattress uncomfortable, the problems can become exacerbated and affect both people. For example, Dillon frequently had to lie on his back because there was not enough pressure relief for his side, causing him to snore, which would, in turn, cause me to wake up or have a hard time falling asleep. Thanks to Casper Snow’s excellent motion isolation, I hardly noticed the few times Dillon had to get up and move to the couch when he couldn’t get comfortable.
Smashing the Casper Snow Hybrid mattress
Our proprietary Mattress Smasher 9000 (MS9K) device, created recently in CNET Labs, objectively tests the firmness level of any bed. To see what MS9K would say about Casper Snow’s firmness profile, we placed it on the base frame, activated the customized software program and watched this unique CNET-only piece of technology do its thing.
After running the tests five times and averaging the data, the final objective firmness level came out to be 5 out of 10 — exactly as Casper rates it. This is slightly softer than Dillon and I were expecting, but it still supports our thoughts about the firmness and the best sleeping positions for it.
Our Mattress Smasher 9000, a CNET-exclusive device, provided an objective firmness level of the Casper Snow.
As sleep experts, we typically recommend soft to medium-soft beds for strict side sleeping. A medium bed can generally accommodate side sleeping for part of the night, so it’s usually fine for combination sleepers who constantly switch positions. This true medium profile also explains why I personally felt it was too firm for my side yet too soft for my stomach.
Read more: Saying Goodbye to Firmness Subjectivity With Our Mattress Smasher 9000
Final thoughts on the Casper Snow
After 30 nights of sleeping on Casper Snow, it’s evident that it isn’t “the one” for us, primarily due to the incompatible firmness level. Dillon and I loved everything else about this mattress — particularly the dense memory foam feel, cooling technology and superb motion isolation, so we are bummed that it won’t be ours for the keeping.
As we continue our search for the perfect mattress, we’d like to see two main areas of improvement in our sleep quality:
- More sleep (8 hours per night for Dillon and at least 8.5 hours for me)
- Less time spent awake throughout the night (30 minutes or less)
Who should get this bed?
You should consider the Casper Snow Hybrid if:
- You like the feel of dense memory foam
- You’re looking for a cool-to-the-touch hybrid mattress
- You sleep primarily on your back
- Budget is not a factor
This bed is probably not for you if:
- You do not like the feel of memory foam. If you’re unsure, take advantage of Casper’s 100-night trial period and test it out — you might be pleasantly surprised like we were
- You’re looking for a more budget-friendly bed
- You’re a strict side sleeper
Consider upgrading to the Casper Snow Max if:
- You want something softer and colder. The Snow Max has more technology that makes it actually cold, whereas the Snow was more temperature-neutral to us
- Budget is not a factor (a queen-size retails for $3,745)
- You spend more time sleeping on your side
- You want a bed with more zoned support
Consider getting the Casper One if:
- You want a bed with a neutral foam feel (it’s more responsive and less memory foamy)
- You sleep on your back or stomach
- You want a firmer all-foam mattress
- You are looking for a budget-friendly option
Our pets are certainly going to miss the Casper Snow Hybrid mattress.
What we learned and what’s next
During this trial, Dillon and I discovered something new about ourselves as sleepers: we both really enjoy a dense memory foam mattress. Prior to this, we thought we preferred a more responsive or neutral feel, but after sleeping on the Casper Snow Hybrid mattress for 30 nights, that’s no longer the case.
As a combination sleeper who spends most of the night on my stomach or side, I knew finding a mattress on which I could comfortably do both would be a challenge. Considering that Dillon needs and prefers a much softer mattress, we plan to test that next.
It’s been encouraging to see the quality of our sleep improve throughout this series as we try mattresses of varying feel, construction and firmness levels. We’re slowly but surely narrowing down our options in hopes of someday finding a mattress that can accommodate our very different sleep preferences and positions. That said, stay tuned for the trial of our next bed: the Nectar Premier Hybrid.
