GhostBed Mattress Review | Reasons to Buy/NOT Buy

Owned by the Nature’s Sleep bedding company, GhostBed Classic is a mattress with a feel you won’t find anywhere else. It separates itself from the other big-name bed-in-a-box brands like Casper and Nectar by using three kinds of foam. In addition to the Classic, GhostBed also has a GhostBed Luxe option, but this review is strictly for the GhostBed Classic. Get my thoughts on who would enjoy this mattress, the firmness, price and more below.

First impressions 

I’m a big fan of anything spooky and scary, so of course GhostBed partly sold me on the cute ghost showcased on the end of the bed in its logo. Aside from that, I am a fan of the mattress and the fact they include a thin latex foam layer in the comfort layer. I love latex foam for several reasons, namely the bounce and responsiveness it can add to a mattress. Paired with that memory foam center layer, it creates a more unique feel in the GhostBed Classic than the standard foam mattress, combining the best qualities of each foam. 

Straight out of the box, it does have a noticeable chemical-y smell and that’s because of the synthetic foams used and the compression process. It will go away eventually. Most bed-in-a-box mattresses emit this odor when you unbox them, except for natural and organic mattresses.

Firmness

When judging firmness, I try to gauge how much I’m sinking into the mattress, how much pressure relief I’m getting and how supported my back feels. Is it sagging into the bed or in a straight line? For the GhostBed Classic mattress, I think it offers a little of both. 

That memory foam promotes a contouring feel around your curves but it doesn’t feel difficult to switch positions on. It also gives ample support to my spine when I’m sleeping on my back or stomach. As a result, I’d rate the firmness around a medium, or a 5 out of 10, with 10 being the firmest. It’s right at that sweet spot for firmness profiles that are accommodating for a lot of different sleeping positions. 

Comfort

The GhostBed Classic mattress is entirely made from foam and it’s about 11 inches thick. As I mentioned above, this bed utilizes three different foams, including synthetic latex foam. Synthetic latex foam has similar characteristics to the natural and organic forms of latex but without the steep price tag. That said, it isn’t eco-friendly.  

Here’s a rundown of the three foam layers in the GhostBed Classic mattress:

1. First is 7.5 inches of a dense polyurethane foam which acts as the main support layer.

2. The center has 2 inches of gel memory foam which is better at regulating temperature than the typical memory foam.

3. The comfort layer is 1.5 inches of GhostBed’s latex foam. It’s perforated across the surface, which lets air pass through, making it more breathable than most other foams like poly or memory foam.

The cover on the GhostBed Classic mattress is made with polyester and viscose, and I must warn you it’s not machine washable. So, although you can take the cover off, I don’t recommend you throw it in the washing machine. If you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you when you try to fit it back on. 

Feel

The three major foams typically used in mattresses are poly foam, memory foam and poly foam. Most mattresses don’t use all three, but the GhostBed Classic is different. I feel the support and sponginess of the latex foam, but it doesn’t bounce like the typical latex foam bed. That’s because I can also feel the slow-moving, contouring feel of the memory foam poking out underneath the latex foam. That makes it more neutral-feeling like poly foam, resulting in a blended foam feel overall. 

If you’re someone who hates the feel of a memory foam mattress because it can give you that “sinking” feel, you’ll probably be really pleased with the GhostBed Classic mattress. It’s pressure-relieving, but you aren’t going to become nestled into a memory foam cocoon. 

Motion isolation

This mattress does a great job at deadening movement, even though it contains that latex foam top layer. There are no springs and memory foam is second-to-none at isolating movement throughout a mattress. This is a feature to take into consideration if you share a mattress with somebody.  

Edge support

When you find yourself near the edge of a mattress at night, you don’t want to suddenly feel the sensation of falling off — or worse, actually topple off. This happens if the sides give easily and don’t offer proper support. Foam bed-in-a-box mattresses generally have average edge support, and the same goes for the GhostBed Classic. It didn’t blow me away, but it also shouldn’t be bad enough that you won’t be comfortable on the edge. 

Temperature

The GhostBed Classic mattress isn’t going to sleep cold, but it is better at regulating temperature than other foam mattresses on the market, like the Casper and the Layla mattress. That gel memory foam helps prevent the bed from retaining heat, and the latex foam lets air pass through the entire layer. I didn’t sleep hot when testing out the GhostBed Classic mattress, and I think most people will have that same sentiment. 

Who is it best for?

Considering the bed’s all-foam construction and medium or 5 firmness level, here are the types of people I’d recommend this GhostBed mattress to. 

Position

Mattresses in the center of the firmness scale offer ample pressure relief and support to side, back, stomach and combination sleepers. This makes the GhostBed Classic ideal for just about everyone, sleep position-wise. 

Body type

Foam mattresses aren’t as supportive or durable as hybrid mattresses, so I would mostly recommend this bed to people under 230 pounds unless you plan on keeping it in a guest bedroom. I don’t think you’ll get the right back support over time, especially if you sleep on your back or stomach. Check out the GhostBed Flex mattress or our list of the best hybrid mattresses. 

Price

Latex foam is usually decently expensive, but this GhostBed mattress is synthetic and will be a little nicer on your wallet. It’s in the range of your average bed-in-a-box prices, on par with brands like Nectar and Casper. A queen size will retail around $1,295 but you can find the brand running promos pretty often.

Warranty, shipping and trial 

If you’ve never purchased a mattress online before, you should know that it looks a lot different than purchasing it in-store. It’ll be delivered to your door(typically for free), rolled up inside of a box. Not a mattress-size box, but a box the size of a set of golf clubs. After you unbox it, it will slowly expand to its full size.