My husband and I ordered our first
Saatva
mattress nearly two years ago. This is the sixth in my series of detailed
reviews of our customer experience as first-time
Saatva mattress shoppers.
I have already explained our product research process and
reasons for choosing the king Solaire mattress and Adjustable Base Plus, why we opted to try the
upper-flex
configuration and our first experience with
Saatva’s white glove mattress delivery service, as well as my review of our
Saatva organic cotton sheets and mattress pad.
In today's post I’m sharing my candid feedback on what my husband and I loved
about our new Solaire mattress and Adjustable Base Plus, as well as a couple
of things about the upper-flex (aka head split, split-head, top split or
split-top) configuration that didn’t work for our needs and led us to exchange
our upper-flex mattress for a solid, standard king Solaire, which we have been
sleeping on for nearly two years and absolutely love.
Disclosure: I have joined the company’s affiliate program, which means that
if you choose to make a purchase through one of the links in this post I may
be eligible to receive a commission, at no cost to you. I highly recommend
the Saatva company and its products for their excellent quality,
performance, price and customer service. The opinions, product reviews and
recommendations in this post are my own and are based on my personal
experiences. The decision to click on those links to learn more about the
company’s products or make a purchase is greatly appreciated, but entirely
up to you.
Saatva Solaire Adjustable Firmness Mattress Product Review
As I explained in a couple of previous posts in this series, my husband and I
aren’t always on the same sleeping schedule. I often read in bed after he has
gone to sleep, and on the weekend, he often reads in bed while I sleep late.
So, the upper-flex configuration of the king
Saatva Solaire mattress and
Saatva Adjustable Base Plus (formerly called the Lineal adjustable base), which allows each sleeper
to raise and lower the head of the bed on their side only, was very appealing.
Since we always gravitate to sleeping in the “spoon” position (even
subconsciously, in our sleep), we had concerns about whether one of us would
end up with our arm getting stuck in the center split along the top portion of
the upper-flex mattress. However, since the mattress topper we purchased would
fill in most of the split, we decided to give it a try, knowing that we could
return it or exchange it for a solid king Solaire mattress, if we wished,
thanks to the very generous
Saatva in-home trial, warranty and return policies.
|
|
The upper part of the upper-flex Saatva Solaire mattress is split
to allow the head of each side of the bed to be raised and lowered
independently
|
What We Loved About the Saatva Solaire Mattress
-
Very comfortable and supportive. Both my husband and I have back
problems and joint issues, and we appreciate waking up with no aches and
pains.
-
Individually customizable firmness for both sleeping partners. We
love being able to set the mattress firmness for our respective sides to our
individual preferences, and to quickly make it softer or firmer on the fly,
if desired, when changing sleeping positions. Having 50 firmness settings
that can be adjusted incrementally with the touch of a button on the remote
gives us both true, precision customization!
- Thoughtfully designed, six-layer construction.
-
The
countouring 3-inch Euro pillow top with Lumbar Zone Quilting
provides more support in the center. It is covered in a breathable,
hypoallergenic organic cotton, treated with Saatva's exclusive Guardin
botanical antimicrobial treatment. Saatva uses a Paladin flame
barrier made of a poly & rayon blend instead of fiberglass or toxic
chemical flame retardants.
-
Next is a 1-inch layer of ergonomic 5-zone natural latex that
provides enhanced lumbar support and pressure-point relief. This natural
latex is naturally hypoallergenic, resistant to mold, mildew and dust
mites and doesn't off-gas.
-
Under that, a CertiPUR-US certified 2-inch gel-infused memory foam
helps disperse body heat away for cooler sleep and contours to your body
to relieve pressure points.
-
Moisture barrier layers protect internal mechanical components to
prevent bacterial growth.
-
No-sink vulcanized air chanbers with multi-directional box baffle
design provides consistent, edge-to-edge comfort by maintaining even
firmness and support throughout the mattress, from side to side and from
head to toe.
-
Underlying it all, a reinforced power edge enclosure provides a
stable base and houses the quiet air inflator and hoses out of sight.
|
|
Each layer of the Saatva Solaire adjustable firmness mattress
contributes significant benefits to the sleeping experience.
|
-
Doesn't feel like sleeping on an air mattress. The adjustable
firmness layer with its inflatable vulcanized air chambers is the fifth
layer down from the sleep surface. And, unlike an air mattress, the Saatva
Solaire has firm, supportive edges.
-
No center dip. Even with each side of our king Solaire adjusted
to different firmness levels, the center of the sleeping surface is level
all the way across.
-
Remote controls with large, easy-to-read buttons. We love being able
to adjust the firmness without having to put on our glasses or accidentally
pressing the wrong button.
|
|
Solaire mattress remote control instruction card
|
-
Surprisingly quiet firmness adjustments. The firmness adjustments on
the Solaire mattress are made by inflating or deflating the reinforced,
vulcanized air chambers via the remote control. The air inflator and hoses
are enclosed in the bottom layer of the mattress, which not only keeps them
out of sight but also muffles the noise of the motor, making the process of
adjusting the Solaire’s firmness surprisingly (and delightfully) quiet.
-
Made in the U.S.A. from eco-friendly materials. This straightforward
statement about the company’s values (from the Specifications/FAQ section of
the product page) is one of the things that make us proud Saatva supporters:
“Every Saatva mattress is made to order and handcrafted in America with care
and pride, using only the highest quality, consciously sourced materials. We
could have settled on cheaper materials and produced our products elsewhere
for higher profits, but we've never wavered in our commitment to quality. We
believe it's the right thing to do for our customers, our American workers,
and our economy.”
-
Generous in-home trial period, pressure-free sales support and customer
service, and hassle-free returns or exchanges.
Here’s what the company promises: “At Saatva, we never pressure you to make
up your mind quickly. All of our mattresses come with a 365-night home
trial, so you have plenty of time to decide whether it’s right for you. If
at any point during your home trial you’re not satisfied, just give us a
call and we’ll come pick up the mattress and refund your money, less a $99
processing fee to cover our cost of gas and labor for the pickup. That’s
it.”
Based on my personal experience when my husband and I decided to exchange our
upper-flex king Solaire mattress for a standard king, I found that promise to
be sincere. In fact, the customer service representative who helped me arrange
our mattress exchange and schedule the new pickup and delivery was terrific.
(More about that in my next post.)
What We Didn’t Love
While we loved most aspects of our new king Saatva Solaire mattress, there
were two issues with upper-flex option that turned out to be deal-breakers for
us.
-
Top-split mattress issue for couples who like snuggling or sleeping in
the “spoon” position. Our concerns about one of us ending up with a shoulder in the gap while
snuggling together in the spoon position turned out to be justified.
-
Top-split bedding challenges. My husband and I found that it took
both of us to successfully wrestle the mattress and bedding into submission
when we wanted to put on or take off the split-top mattress pad and sheets.
In addition, there are far fewer options on the market for split-top vs.
standard, solid fitted sheets and sheet sets, and we weren’t able to find
any high-quality flannel split-top sheets, which we prefer during our cold
New England winters.
For those reasons, after sleeping on our upper-flex Solaire for more than a
month to give it a fair in-home trial, at the end of August 2021 we decided to
exchange it for a standard (solid) king Solaire mattress.
Saatva Adjustable Base Plus Product Review
If you don’t already own one, the company now offers two models.
-
The
Saatva Adjustable Base allows you to raise and lower the head and foot of the bed. The
simple wireless remote has a built-in flashlight (handy for nocturnal
trips to the bathroom or kitchen). The zero-clearance design and removable
legs allow it to be used on most platform bases, if desired. However,
it is not available in the upper-flex option.
-
The
Saatva Adjustable Base Plus
(formerly Lineal Adjustable Base) adds more advanced features, including
full-body wave, leg and head massage with three speed options, an
anti-snore preset that elevates the sleeper’s head to open up airway
passages, a Zero-G preset for “weightless support” and under-bed lighting.
It is available in a full range of sizes, including the upper-flex option
for queen and king sizes. It also features a wall-hugging design in the
standard configuration (but not upper-flex king or queen).
|
|
The wireless remotes for the Saatva Adjustable Base (left) and Saatva
Adjustable Base Plus (right)
|
An upper-flex queen or king Solaire mattress with a top split needs to be
paired with an adjustable base that allows the head of each side of the bed to
be raised and lowered independently. For an upper-flex king Saatva Solaire
mattress like ours, two twin XL adjustable bases (each with its own wireless
remote) are joined side-by-side, sync’d with a special cable and configured to
make the lower part of both bases respond in unison to either remote control,
while the head of the bed on each side responds only to the remote assigned to
that twin XL base. (The upper-flex queen base is configured the same way with
two narrower adjustable bases.)
If you purchase a compatible Saatva mattress and adjustable base at the same
time, you also get a nice discount on the base.
|
|
If you buy a Saatva Adjustable Base Plus to go with an upper-flex
(split-top) queen or king Solaire mattress, you get two twin XL
adjustable bases (king) or two narrower bases (queen)—without the wall
hugger feature—that are connected and sync’d with a cable so the head
of each base operates independently while the lower parts move in
unison
|
What We Loved About the Saatva Adjustable Base Plus
-
User-friendly remote controls with large, easy-to-read buttons. The
buttons are also spaced far enough apart so we rarely press the wrong button
by accident, as often happens on remote controls with small, hard-to-read
buttons that are crowded together.
-
Ability to raise the head or foot of the bed to the desired angle.
The Head button on the remote lets us raise or lower the head of the bed to
whichever angle we find most comfortable for different activities, such as
reading, watching TV or working on a laptop. When we had the upper-flex
Solaire, we also really liked being able to raise or lower the head of the
bed on our side without disturbing our peacefully sleeping partner (which is
why it took us more than a month to decide whether to keep it or exchange it
for the standard king Solaire).
After a long, active day, it’s so nice to be able to lie down and put our
tired, swollen feet up just by pressing the up arrow on the Foot button.
There’s also a button for raising the head and foot of the bed
simultaneously.
-
Customizable Snore and Zero-G presets. The Saatva Adjustable Base
Plus remote has dedicated Snore (anti-snore) and ZG (zero-gravity) buttons
with preset adjustments. Both buttons can also be reprogrammed to your
personal preferences (and then reset to the original factory defaults, if
you wish).
-
Pressing the Snore button elevates the sleeper’s head above their chest to
reduce pressure on the airway and help increase airflow. Since my husband
snores loudly (according to him, my snoring is much more “ladylike”), we
find this preset comes in quite handy. (Elevating your head may also help
mitigate acid reflux-related sleep disruptions.)
-
The Zero-G preset slightly elevates both the knees and the head while
raising the feet to the same level as the heart. According to Saatva’s
website, this preset “mimics the position astronauts take during liftoff,
which eases the stress on their bodies as they escape Earth's gravity.”
Both my husband and I have old back injuries that act up from time to time
and the zero-gravity preset helps relieve the pressure on our spines. It’s
also good for just relaxing and unwinding at the end of a stressful day or
taking a quick, restorative break in the middle of one.
-
Return the bed to the Flat position at the touch of a button.
Whether you have made manual adjustments to the head and/or foot of the bed
or used one of the presets, you can use the Flat button to return the bed to
its default, level position and shut off the massage (if it’s on).
-
Surprisingly quiet motor. The motor for raising and lowering the
head and foot of the bed is much quieter than we had expected, which was a
very welcome surprise! While not as quiet as the motor that inflates and
deflates the air chambers in our Solaire mattress, we especially appreciated
being able to raise or lower the head of the bed on our side (when we had
the upper-flex Solaire) without the motor’s noise rudely awakening our
sleeping “better half.” The constant hum of the motor when using the
vibrating massage options can be a bit annoying, but since we rarely use
those features, it isn’t a problem for us.
-
Under-bed lighting and remote controls with a built-in flashlight.
The top left button on the remote control turns on (or off) an array of LED
lights on the underside of the base that are bright enough to illuminate the
few steps to our bathroom in the middle of the night, but not bright enough
to awaken whichever of us is still asleep. If I decide to make a cup of
herbal tea to help me get back to sleep, I can press the top middle button
on my remote to turn on the built-in flashlight to light my way to the
kitchen and back.
-
Designed, engineered and assembled in the U.S.A. Choosing a Saatva
adjustable bed base, like choosing a Saatva mattress, supports American
workers, jobs and companies.
-
Sturdy materials and construction. It was obvious at first glance
that our new adjustable bed base was made of robust, high-quality materials
and was built to last.
-
Excellent manufacturer’s warranty. Since the Saatva Adjustable Base
Plus is a final sale, it’s reassuring to have such a good full
5-year/limited 25-year warranty
[https://www.saatva.com/warranty/saatva-adjustable-base-plus/] in case
anything ever goes wrong.
-
Compatible with most bed frames. Both of Saatva’s adjustable bed
frames are compatible with most bed frames that are designed to accommodate
an adjustable base. This includes all but one of the
bed frames Saatva offers, which come in a wide variety of elegant styles that
would look great in our bedroom. We’re hoping to purchase one in the future.
What We Didn’t Love
-
Vibrating massage. The remote control on the Saatva Adjustable Base
Plus lets you select a full-body wave, head, or leg massage. Although my
husband and I both love getting a massage, neither of us is a fan of the
vibrating base “massage” features. However, many people love them and find
that the vibrations relax their muscles, especially after a workout.
-
No wall-hugger technology in the upper-flex configuration. When we
made our decision to try the upper-flex Solaire mattress and Saatva
Adjustable Base Plus (then called Lineal), we understood that we would be
giving up the convenient wall hugger-technology, which simultaneously lifts
the head of the bed and glides it back toward the wall, so that your
nightstands remain within easy reach. That technology wouldn’t work for the
upper-flex setup, where the joined Twin XL bases operate independently at
the head but in unison at the foot, so it isn’t included in the upper-flex
configuration.
Since all Saatva adjustable bases are final sale, when we exchanged our
upper-flex Solaire for a standard king we couldn’t do the same with our Saatva
adjustable base. We knew that when we decided to try the upper-flex, so it was a
calculated risk and the only thing we regret about that decision.
Next Up: Exchanging Our Saatva Mattress
In my next post I'll share our experience with exchanging our upper-flex king
Solaire for the standard king Solaire.
Be sure to subscribe* to Review This Reviews to be notified when new posts in
this Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper series (and my popular keto diet
success series) are published!
*See the email subscription box in the sidebar; if you are viewing on a mobile
device and don't see the sidebar in your browser, click on "View web version"
at the bottom of the page.
Saatva Solaire Mattress and Adjustable Base Plus Product Reviews by Margaret Schindel
Posts in This Series
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 1: The Journey Begins
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 2: How to Choose the Best Saatva Mattress for Your Needs
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 3: Ordering a Saatva Mattress and Adjustable Bed Online — A Candid Review
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 4: Saatva Organic Cotton Mattress Pad and Sheet Set Product Reviews
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 5: Saatva Mattress and Adjustable Base White Glove Delivery and Setup
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 6: Saatva Solaire Mattress and Adjustable Base Plus Product Reviews
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 7: Exchanging a Saatva Mattress: My Personal Experience
Confessions of a Saatva Mattress Shopper, Part 8: Which Queen or King Saatva Solaire Mattress and Adjustable Base to Buy
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
