We first published the guide on the most comfortable air mattress back in 2016 which means this is the 22nd update and this one brings a shift after a 6 months “silence”.

Main change in the November 2023 update guide

It’s the first time we are seeing the Lazery Sleep brand among the top-rated inflatable beds in the category of comfort.

On the other hand, the winner and STILL, the most comfortable air bed has been at the very top since the very beginning and we don’t see it going anywhere any time soon.

The top-rated in the comfort category is the acclaimed Dream Series- it’s rated at 94 points overall and 95 in the category of comfort.

Last updated – 2023

Three main factors:

• Comfort air coils – better weight distribution means not only more comfort but lower air leak %s, too
• Doesn’t leak air, which is related to the previous two points but we’ll get to that in a minute
• Secure air technology and dual-chambers
• Extra thick breathable flocked top

Why was it surprising?

When we received request to make this a separate category and talked to Norah (our technology advisor), we decided to look into 10 airbeds based on what we’ve seen in user reviews.

We’ve been in the business of reviewing airbeds for so long we had a pretty good idea of what to expect and which airbed will prove to be the comfiest. Our predictions for the top 5 were pretty accurate, but not when it comes to the #1 spot.

Why we weren’t right

Based on our experience we expected the Insta and the Serta with the Never-flat pumps to be in the top 5 and for one of them to be the winner.

In case you don’t know, a never-flat pump is a small secondary pump keeps the airbed inflated by topping it off silently during the night as it looses a bit of air, thus maintaining the firmness level you chose.

We were wrong.

We see it know.

We were blinded by the fact that those two models (Insta and Serta) rely on the never-flat pump to maintain the comfort and eliminate any discomfort that comes from the best loosing air and the sleeper sinking into the middle.

But what if…

What if the air mattress doesn’t loose air?

The sole fact that an airbed maintains its firmness levels doesn’t make it comfortable.

We know airbeds that are well-made and, durable and heavy duty but are not a walk in the park to sleep on. These don’t leak air because the PVC is thicker but they are NOT nearly as comfortable as the SoundAsleep. The issue of comfort the ratings in the category. What we usually see is that the top beds in this category are also dominant in other aspects (such as air retention) because the weight is distributed better which means better air retention and lower leak %s at the seams. More on that below.

If you can achieve good distribution and keep the edges solid, there will be no sinking and no problems with spine alignment.

The Sound Asleep does just that and does it better than any air mattress we’ve seen since we started 3Beds about a decade ago.

Let’s get back to the technologies that allow it to do that…

1. The Comfort Coil technology

Let’s explain what the “coils” in the Comfort coil technology do.

For decades, the industry of air mattresses has been set in its ways never thinking beyond what’s easiest – and in terms of technology making an air mattress with just horizontal beams is easiest

Beams offer very little support and this design embodies everything that’s been preventing the air mattress of entering the main stream of every-day sleep solutions.

It’s simple physics, really, when significant pressure (body weight) is applied to the surface of the mattress the horizontal beams simply bend because there’s nothing to distribute the weight across and the pressure is applied on a small surface.

This is what results in that flimsy and bouncy feeling of a cheap airbed.

Sound Asleep doesn’t feel like that AT ALL!

It feels much more like a real bed.

Why?

Because the 40 Comfort coils act as just that, coils. They distribute the weight across the sleeping surface (see image below).

The result – no sinking, no bouncy air-mattressy feeling but a sturdy sleeping surface that gently adapts to the pressure points allowing your bum and your back to be just slightly lower if you are sleeping on your back and shoulder hips to gently slump.

This keeps your spine aligned and comfortable.

Another aide-benefit of the construction is that the weight limit of the SoundAsleep is much higher than that in blow up beds with the same PVC thickness (around 0.4 mm)

2. Sound Asleep has the lowest %s of air leaks reports we’ve seen

When gathering data for the guides we don’t just test the beds ourselves but we send them to our featured testers – people who know what to look for and we use a proprietary formula to pinpoint any problems.

That sounds complicated but it isn’t – this is what it means

We hired a programmer to write a script that would dynamically search through the user reviews and return some numbers that are critical for our ratings.

The script searches through all the reviews looking for specific terms people use to complain or brag about a quality aspect of an air bed (like comfort or air leaks).

But enough about how we test and rate, let’s get to the bottom line.

We thought long and hard about what to call that number and came up with an ingenious “Leak %” or “L%” name.

These are airbeds and, statistically speaking, you can get a product that’s faulty on arrival and the main issue usually is air leaks.

An air mattress in this price range usually has an L% of about 10-12, which means that one in ten people will receive an airbed that they’ll have to return because it doesn’t hold air.

That is, if the blow up bed is covered by a warranty in the first place.

That puts the 3.7 L% of the SoundAsleep Dream series in perspective.

3. The day the air stood still – the dual-chambers design

One of the biggest “stressors” to the seams of a blow up bed is the fact that air moves around during the night.

It happens naturally because you move and because the temperature changes (this is known as convective and conductive heat transfers). It’s term that explains why the any matter, air included, “wants” to even out the temperatures.

To simplify things – the hot and cold air swirl inside your air mattress creating micro currents of air that stress the seams.

This is a bigger deal with air pads for camping but it also affects the comfort and durability of air mattresses.

Less air movement > more stable sleeping surface > more comfortable air mattress

The air mattress with the stillest air will be more durable and less prone to the cold rushes of air and, hence, more comfortable.

To simplify it even further – while with most other inflatable beds you might need a foam topper to keep you comfortable, you are far less likely to need one with SoundAsleep Dream.

The reason for the stillness of air in SoundAsleep is the Secure Air technology which is designed to minimize air movement inside the air mattress.

The bed responds less to movement and makes for a more stable and comfortable sleep.

4. Sure-grip bottom – nothing to write home about

Although the company makes a special emphasis to the sure-grip bottom that stops the bed from sliding around, we feel that it’s nothing to write home about.

It’s been an industry standard for years now and it would be strange if it was only slick PVC on the bottom.

The features that we already mentioned contribute much more that the SoundAsleep is the most comfortable queen/twin air mattress out there.

# 2 – Lazery Sleep (SoundAsleep’s “evil” twin)

This is the first TIME ever, and we’ve been in business for a decade now that we have this brand on any of our lists.

But it looks promising – Lazery Sleep is the 2nd best on the list of comfortable air mattresses rated 94 in comfort (yes, same as the SoundAsleep), but lower than in the overall ratings – 93/100.

We first noticed this new arrival about 6 months ago and it caught our eye because the pictures of it that we saw on Amazon it looked suspiciously similar to the Sound Asleep Dream Series, just in red.

The deeper we dug the stranger it got:

• 40 internal air coils
• Grip bottom
• 1 year warranty
• Extra thick top…yada yada yada…

It was all there, in the description of this bed.

It’s a bit more expensive, probably because it comes with a fancy LED remote, but we’re not about the bells and whistles that break the bank, we’re about substance.

And so far, this bed has shown to have plenty of it.

We are still trying to find out if this is a sister company of the SoundAsleep but whatever the case.

If it’s the same, how come the lower rating?

Two reasons:

1. Because our proprietary algorithm include a factor that gives advantages to the beds that stood the test of time. It all evens out after 300 reviews but until then the airbeds are still “on probation.”
2. Because it’s more expensive and we don’t feel like the LED remote is worth it. It’s not a TV, you inflate it once and leave it be…

The first point we made might be confusing, but we made that change to the algo since we saw some new arrivals make significant quality changes over a course of a few week.

Since we update the ratings every two months, which means that we had beds on the website that should not have been there.

Just as comfortable as SoundAsleep

In other words, the Lazery seems to be just as comfortable as the Sound Asleep, only its comfort is not as reliable (YET).

We mentioned this bed to a few people in the industry, saying that it might be the next Sound Asleep, and not many gave us the time of day.

So, we want to document it here that we are predicting that in a year’s time, once the Lazery Sleep has between 500-1000 reviews on Amazon (depending on their advertising efforts), it will be as highly rated as the Sound Asleep.

We’re geeks, we know…let’s move past it…

What makes the Lazery air mattress so comfortable?

The same things as in the Dream Series – the air coils, the dual chambers, the reinforced top.

Overall, we rated Lazery Sleep Air mattress at 93, with one point higher in the category of pump (because of the remote) and a lower rating in value for money – 89/100.

*latest update: a friend of hours from Ottawa, sent us a link to the Lazery air mattress in blue which is not available on the American market – it looks exactly like Sound Asleep.

Bottom line – the two airbeds are equality comfortable and the choice basically comes down to two things:

1. Color preference
2. Price

#3 -Fox Plush High Rise

Or “the Beast” as we call it around the office. It’s the 3rd top rated air mattress of this update.

In spite of the feminine “Plush” in the name, if there is an airbed that will appeal more to men, it this Fox.

Reasons?

Primarily, because it’s much heavier and more difficult to handle, it weighs a whopping 40 pounds (the King size) and it’s the only bed on the list that comes in more than two sizes. Yet, it’s the best choice when it comes to sizes other than twin or queen.

The first two are the most comfortable twin/queen air mattresses but if you are looking for something to back in, like a King size, you should take a closer look at this one.

It’s rated 88 in comfort

With the top choices, we said that you won’t have to worry about a topper because there’s minimal air rushing.

If you are looking for a bed that you’ll set up and down and store every day or if your plan is to travel, we’ll gently try to steer you away from this bed.

You might think we’re exaggerating but just take a look at the image below…and bear in mind that it’s SoundAsleep queen in the picture and the Fox is a twin.

Why is it so heavy?

Two reasons:

1. Because it bigger (higher) than other air mattresses and sits at 25”
2. Because the vinyl used to make it is 43% thicker (see image below)

It more than makes up for the bulkiness once set up

What makes it third most comfortable air mattress?

The pillow top chambers.

It’s small chambers of air on top of the main chambers which makes a kind of a cushion/topper that makes it 3rd best here.

The chambers also isolate you better from air currents inside the bed, which makes a huge difference if you are sleeping in a cold room.

The weight capacity is 750 lbs for a queen airbed.

Conclusions

The Dream Series Is still the most comfortable air mattress in twin and queen size, only it now has red-in-the-face buddy in the form of Lazery mattress, which also comes in twin and queen.

We already hard at work trying to figure out if the same company makes the two airbeds and we believe we’ll have the information by the time of the next update.

We anxiously await it.