90-Night Sleep Number Review: Could a $9.5K Smart Bed and Base Settle Our Mattress Disagreements?

CNET

24-07-2025

Aly Lopez/CNET
Do you and your partner butt heads over your bedroom setup? Whether it's about sleep positions, mattress firmness, bedroom temperature or the number of pillows on the bed, it's unlikely that you'll agree on every detail -- and we know how frustrating it can be.
As members of CNET's sleep team, my partner Dillon and I have been involved with the mattress industry for quite some time. After testing dozens of beds and countless bedding and sleep-related products, we are gradually honing in on a bedroom setup that works for both of us. This is in an effort to avoid sleep divorce, an increasingly popular solution for couples who toss and turn and keep one another awake night after night.
Our main challenge has been finding a mattress that accommodates our differing firmness preferences. Dillon, primarily a side sleeper, likes soft beds that offer ample pressure relief for his shoulders and hips. In contrast, I favor firmer mattresses as I spend most of the night on my stomach and need extra spinal support. During our 30-night mattress testing series, we found a few beds that came close to meeting our needs, but have yet to uncover "the one."
Enter Sleep Number. The brand hooked us up with its ClimateCool smart bed and FlexFit 2 adjustable base, with cooling technology and modifiable firmness levels on each side. That way, Dillon and I can set our respective sides to the perfect firmness level for each of us.
We spent the past few months sleeping on Sleep Number and testing its innovative features. Read on to learn how we fared on this high-tech combo after 90 nights and whether it's worth the investment.
An introduction to Sleep Number
If you've been shopping for a new bed (or even if you haven't), you've likely come across Sleep Number. Founded in 1987 and operating over 600 stores throughout the US, the popular mattress and bedding company is known for its adjustable air mattresses. These allow you to set each side of the bed to your personalized "Sleep Number" setting by inflating or deflating the air chambers with the connected app or remote. These smart beds also include SleepIQ technology, which provides sleep and health insights.
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Six series of smart beds are currently available at Sleep Number: Classic, Performance, Memory Foam, Innovation, ClimateCool and Climate360. Prices range drastically between series, from $999 for a queen-size c1 mattress to $10,249 for the queen-size Climate360.
Dillon and I tested a king-size ClimateCool smart bed with the FlexFit 2 adjustable base, a combination that retails for $9,449 before tax. We thoroughly analyzed our Sleep Number setup to provide a detailed and honest review of our experience to help you decide if it's the right choice for you and your partner. There's a lot to unpack, so let's dive in.
Delivery and setup process
Sleep Number smoothly orchestrated our delivery and setup process. The home delivery technicians tackled the daunting task of lugging the heavy king-size smart bed and base to our sixth-floor apartment without batting an eye.
After getting the bed and frame situated and connected, the technicians helped us set up the Sleep Number app on our phones and walked us through creating our separate profiles. The mattress was delivered flat, not rolled up and compressed like a standard bed-in-a-box mattress, so we wouldn't have to wait a few days for inflation before sleeping on it. We were ready for our first night.
It took no time for our pets to start enjoying the new Sleep Number bed.
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First impressions and initial thoughts
After allowing our pets to get the lay of the land, we began our initial tests. This included lying in each sleeping position on the mattress and noting characteristics such as support, pressure relief and comfort. We analyzed the bed's materials, examining the overall construction and appearance of the mattress and base.
Design and construction
This smart bed has a lot going on. It stands 12 inches tall and features soft yet supportive ceramic-infused gel foam designed to draw heat away from your body.
It's not hybrid, meaning there are no coils or inner springs. The main support layer consists of two responsive air chambers on either side of the bed. These chambers automatically respond to your movements and inflate to maintain your ideal firmness setting as you move around.
\We are pulling back the foams to show what the air chambers look like inside the mattress.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Cooling technology
The 'dynamic airflow system' sits atop the two air chambers, which Sleep Number says can cool up to 15 degrees on either side. The bed is wrapped with a breathable cover, through which the airflow system pulls your body heat away. This sets Sleep Number apart from other cooling mattresses or covers that release cool air or circulate cold water.
Cover and overall appearance
The mattress cover was coarser than I expected, with perforations for airflow.
Aly Lopez/CNET
I don't find the Sleep Number setup as visually appealing as other mattresses and frames we've tested. Ultimately, that's not what matters. You'll cover the mattress with sheets, comforters and pillows anyway.
I immediately noticed the mattress cover felt slightly scratchy and coarse. It's designed with perforations to allow air to ventilate through, but I was surprised the cover didn't feel soft or slick like other cooling mattresses.
Adjustable base
Our CNET sleep team ranked Sleep Number's FlexFit 2 as one of the best adjustable bed bases of 2025. It features zero gravity, head and foot elevation, snoring adjustments and soft under-bed lighting. Note that the FlexFit 2 base is designed exclusively for Sleep Number smart beds and is unavailable for individual purchase.
Dillon enjoys the elevated FlexFit 2 adjustable base.
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Our first few nights
A new mattress takes time to get used to. It might be weeks or even months before your body fully adjusts to a new sleep surface, which is why most mattress companies offer generous trial periods.
My first night was rough. I wrote in my notes, "It stinks. The chemical off-gassing smell is bad. My throat started hurting, and I was coughing. I couldn't put my face down while lying on my stomach like usual because the smell was so strong. I'm going to take the sheets off today to let the mattress breathe."
This is common with new mattresses, but it took us by surprise as the bed hadn't been compressed in a box, which is normally when off-gassing is the worst. However, as is typical of mattress off-gassing, the unpleasant smell completely dissipated after a few nights.
My second and third nights on Sleep Number continued to be a little rough. I struggled to find the right firmness level, tossing and turning as I tried to get comfortable. I could feel the coarseness of the cover through our sheets on my bare legs, which initially drove me bonkers, as I'm sensitive to certain textures and materials touching my skin. However, I'm pleased to say it no longer bothers me to that extent.
Aly Lopez/CNET
This never bothered Dillon -- he immediately found the mattress more comfortable than I did. He also had to experiment with different firmness settings before finding one that worked for him, but he wasn't nearly as sensitive to the off-gassing smell or cover texture as I was.
The second our bodies hit the bed for the first time, we were pleased with the size of our king Sleep Number. Dillon and I have mentioned multiple times to each other that we can't imagine going back to a queen now that we've had a taste for such ample space.
Moving our Sleep Number setup
Two weeks after receiving our Sleep Number bed, Dillon and I moved from our sixth-floor apartment into an older two-story home. The move was unexpected. Had we been anticipating it, we would have scheduled our Sleep Number delivery after we'd moved.
Sleep Number offers moving services for situations like this, but they come at a cost. Disassembly is $250, which doesn't include transporting your bed to a new location outside the home. Reassembly is $250, and the disassemble and reassemble services can't be scheduled for the same day. The relocation service is $250, but only applies to moving the bed or base to another room within your home, not a new location.
We decided to save the $500 and relocate the bed and base ourselves -- after all, Dillon and I basically move and test mattresses for a living. At one point in the moving process, we exasperatedly agreed that it might have been worth paying the Sleep Number technicians to do it for us, but ultimately, we were successful. The most challenging part was lifting the base up our tight staircase and into the new bedroom, which required disconnecting and taking it apart completely, including removing the legs.
Moving our Sleep Number mattress and base was tedious and required heavy lifting, but it was certainly doable.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Sleep Number provides instructional videos for disassembling and reassembling its bases, which were helpful. We referred to them multiple times to ensure we did everything safely and correctly -- and I'm glad to say that overall, given the circumstances, it went smoothly. It's definitely a two-, if not three-person job.
Our thoughts halfway through
After about a month, I was actually looking forward to going to bed, whereas I had been questioning everything in the first week of testing.
Firmness
The bed's firmness levels can be adjusted in increments of five, ranging from 5 to 100. After several weeks of trying various numbers, Dillon and I honed in on what worked best for us. Dillon found his ideal Sleep Number setting to be 25 -- not too soft, but soft enough to get comfortable on his side without his arm or shoulder getting numb or tingly. I settled on 70, though I sometimes make it a tad firmer or softer depending on my mood and whether I want to fall asleep on my side or stomach.
You can see the dip here on Dillon's side compared to mine on the right. This is also why Dillon didn't have to worry about the edge support.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Dillon and I quickly noticed that, because his setting is quite a bit lower than mine, the surface of our bed is not flat. His air chamber is more deflated, making his side lower. This forces us to stay far apart on our respective sides; otherwise, I have to resist his "gravitational pull" and actively try to keep from rolling down into him. Given the bed's construction, I understand it's essentially unavoidable, but it has taken quite a bit of adjusting to get used to. I don't love it.
Elevation and temperature
Because of the extra space on our king-size bed, I no longer felt claustrophobic sharing it with our pets. I began making more of an effort to use the advanced features, such as the head elevation for reading or watching TV before sleeping. Dillon used to snore quite a bit, which is another reason we were excited to use the base's elevation feature, but he hasn't been snoring on this bed like he has in the past (thankfully, for both of our sakes).
At the start, we were sleeping cool enough not to need the bed's cooling technology; however, once the warmer months began rolling around, that changed. I set up our custom "SmartTemp Programs" in the app, where you can select the days of the week, times and intensity of the cooling fans you want to run.
You can set up a customized 'Deep Sleep Cooling Program' for each side of the bed through the app.
Aly Lopez/CNET/Sleep Number
The dynamic airflow system pulls warm air away from your body rather than pushing cool air through the bed. Sleep Number says it can lower your "microclimate" up to 15 degrees in combination with the ceramic gel-infused foam layers. While we don't have a way to measure this, I've found it effective enough to help keep me temperature-neutral. Dillon wishes it would get cooler -- he still overheats at night, even using this feature.
Sleep Number app
Halfway through our 90-night trial, we noticed the bed was not working correctly when selecting certain functions on the app. For instance, when we tried adjusting the head and foot of the base, my side would elevate while Dillon's would stay in the same flat position. My cooling fans weren't kicking on, while Dillon's were. We followed the online instructions for troubleshooting, inspecting all connection points and unplugging the bed to restart it, which worked. We haven't had any issues with it since.
There are a lot of moving parts underneath the Sleep Number FlexFit 2 smart base.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Final thoughts and scores
CNET's sleep team uses an objective, standardized system to test and rate all mattresses. For this particular series, Dillon and I established a separate customized system to subjectively rate the qualities we seek in a mattress. Firmness and feel are scored out of 20 points, while the other elements are scored out of 10, for a possible overall score of 100. We ranked these factors preferentially, meaning what we liked or didn't like on a personal level.
Firmness
Aly: 17/20
I prefer medium-firm to firm mattresses as I spend most of the night on my stomach. The supportive surface helps keep my spine aligned -- I don't like the feeling of my midsection drooping into the mattress if it's too soft. After testing different firmness levels, I found my ideal Sleep Number setting to be 70 -- firm enough to offer support and soft enough to lie occasionally on my side. I think the adjustability of these Sleep Number smart beds is better suited for sleepers who prefer firmer surfaces, like me. The more air in the chamber, the firmer it gets -- but for those who prefer soft beds, like Dillon, having less air in the chamber doesn't necessarily make it feel softer, in the traditional sense.
My Sleep Number setting of 70 is supportive enough for stomach sleeping and just soft enough for side sleeping.
Dillon Lopez/CNET
Dillon: 16/20
The firmness level is adjustable, so in a perfect world, you can achieve your ideal firmness. Because of how this mattress functions, I don't think it's as accurate as a mattress constructed to be at your ideal firmness. As a side sleeper, I prefer it soft. While you can deflate the air chamber, it is not quite the same as a bed crafted with soft foam and pressure-relieving materials. Plus, when the bed is set to the lowest firmness setting at 5, it deflates so much that you can feel the harder surface of the air system and other materials beneath the foam. Still, it's been working decently well for me.
You can adjust both sides of the bed from the app, including firmness and the cooling intensity.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Feel
Aly: 13/20
This mattress has what we consider a neutral feel -- it's not super responsive, yet not dense and slow-sinking like memory foam. It's a great middle ground that many sleepers will appreciate, but the overall feel is not my favorite. At the start of this testing series, I preferred traditionally responsive and bouncy mattresses. Once we started testing dense memory foam beds, I found that I loved the viscous, body-hugging sensation. I'm not the biggest fan of the neutral foam feel here.
Dillon: 14/20
Because of its construction, this bed has a unique feel. The primary comfort layer is a neutral 3-inch-thick ceramic-infused foam. Because my firmness setting is comparatively soft, I sink into the bed's layers. It almost hints at memory foam. I would prefer if it had a denser foam feel that offered more pressure relief.
Dillon presses down into the bed's foam, which bounces back faster than traditional memory foam.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Design and construction
Aly: 7/10
The cooling technology in Sleep Number's ClimateCool smart bed has mostly kept me from overheating at night. It makes a loud whirring sound that I don't mind because it sounds like white noise, but you may find it annoying if you're sensitive to loud noises while you sleep.
I would love the cover's texture to be a bit softer or smoother. I was initially concerned about the primary support system being its inflatable air chambers instead of high-density foams or coils, but the chambers seem pretty strong and durable. We haven't had any issues with them deflating or malfunctioning, even after disassembling, moving and reassembling everything.
It may seem strange, but I'd like to shout out the cover's sturdy zippers. Zipping and unzipping a mattress cover can be surprisingly tricky, especially when the zippers break -- which happens to our sleep experts all too often.
Dillon: 6/10
Overall, it's an impressive design, but there are a few areas for improvement. Some of its materials aren't as high-quality as I expected. Despite being marketed as the Sleep Number's cooling bed, it doesn't get nearly as cold as I'd like. I would sometimes get too cold with the Eight Sleep Pod, and it's never come close to that on the ClimateCool mattress. I've still been overheating even without using any blankets.
Motion isolation
Aly: 6/10
I found the motion isolation to be fine -- not the best, but certainly not the worst we've experienced. I did notice quite a few times when Dillon would move around or our cat would jump on and off the bed. It's a little trickier on this bed to determine precisely how well it isolates motion when our sides are at such opposing firmness levels.
One way we test motion isolation is with a glass of water. We roll around and switch positions, observing how much the glass moves and water sloshes around.
Dillon Lopez/CNET
Dillon: 8/10
The motion isolation was solid. I didn't notice Aly tossing, turning or moving around too much, aside from when she would roll into me. Memory foam typically isolates motion best, so I expected Sleep Number to perform worse in this category, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Edge support
Aly: 6/10
This mattress has no reinforced perimeters, but I thought the edge support performed fine. It feels similar to a standard foam mattress around the outside. Because we are sleeping on a king, I never felt like I was close to rolling off, so this characteristic is no longer as significant a factor as it was for us on queen-size mattresses. Due to our varying firmness levels, the edge on my side of the bed performed differently from Dillon's.
Dillon: 8/10
The way the air chambers lie, and because I have a softer firmness setting, I would need to roll up and over the edge to fall off the side of the bed. The bed doesn't necessarily have the best edge support, but I never felt like I would fall off. When I put my socks on in the morning while sitting on the edge, the bed thinks I'm lying down and deflates to reach my set firmness level. It sinks so much that it nearly throws me back into the middle of the bed. I have to actively try to get out and over the edge in the mornings.
Edge support isn't quite as important to us now that we have a king-size with more room.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Policies
Aly: 5/10
Sleep Number offers a 100-night trial period and a 15-year limited warranty. I'd like to see a longer trial period. The mattress industry standard is at least 90 nights, while many other brands offer 120—to 365-night trial periods.
Shipping and delivery options vary based on the item. The smart beds come with three delivery options, ranging from $150 to $350. Some smart beds (like ours) automatically come with premium delivery and setup, a $250 value. If you're not in love with your new bed and want to return it, there's a $250 return fee for most Sleep Number mattresses, which has to happen after the initial 30-night trial and before the 100-night trial is up. Certain products, including the FlexFit adjustable bases, are considered final sale.
I suggest thoroughly reviewing the terms and conditions of the Sleep Number mattress or base you're buying before making such a large purchase.
After tax and the $300 discount Sleep Number is offering at the time of writing, the price for the king-size smart bed and base is $9,905.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Dillon: 5/10
I agree there should be a longer trial period, especially given how long it can take to get accustomed to and learn all the bed's features. The cost for premium home delivery is steep since most people need technicians to set up and connect their bed and base correctly. I also don't love that disassembly and reassembly costs $500, and they can't be scheduled on the same day, which means you'd have to go without your bed until reassembly can be scheduled.
A bed and base with this many working parts is bound to have technical issues at some point, so I find Sleep Number's warranty lackluster. Not to mention, the high price you're already paying off the get-go.
Sleep quality
Aly: 7/10
Our average sleep over the 90 nights on Sleep Number is only 1 minute apart. Dillon and I have never slept so similarly before, and it's been a welcome change of pace. I'm sure part of it is because we have personalized settings on each side and more space with the king. While I would like to see us get more sleep -- closer to 8 hours would be ideal -- it's still been "efficient," according to our sleep trackers.
Dillon: 7/10
Averaging 7 hours and 5 minutes of sleep per night on Sleep Number, it's not the most I've slept in this series. I haven't been tossing and turning or moving to the couch as much as I used to. It's been consistent. Even though the bed doesn't necessarily get "softer" in the traditional sense, there's been enough pressure relief on my low Sleep Number setting for my arm and shoulder to feel comfortable. I haven't been waking up with any pain or numbness.
Final scores
Drumroll, please. Our final scores for the Sleep Number ClimateCool smart bed and FlexFit 2 base were 70/100 for Aly and 71/100 for Dillon.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Sleep quality breakdown
We gathered our sleep data using Sleep Number's integrated tracking sensors, pictured below. For the last month of our testing process, Dillon and I also started tracking our sleep with Oura rings, which allowed us to assess how accurate Sleep Number's tracking is. Stay tuned for my in-depth comparison between Oura and Sleep Number.
The cover is pulled back to show the tracking sensors running across the top third of the mattress.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Many factors influence sleep quality besides the mattress, including diet, exercise, stress levels, caffeine intake, room temperature and noisy neighbors. Dillon and I strive to maintain a consistent nightly routine and bedroom environment to minimize the impact of these other factors.
Still, we recognize that the quality of our sleep is not determined solely by the bed we sleep on. Obtaining 90 nights of sleep data allowed us to analyze overall trends and patterns, and assess whether our sleep improved or declined compared to previous mattresses we have tried in this series. To ensure the accuracy of this review, we excluded nights when our sleep was affected by something other than our Sleep Number bed. As a result, the data presented here is not perfectly consecutive but provides the most accurate reflection of our sleep patterns.
Average total sleep: Aly versus Dillon
Dillon's sleep average was 7 hours and 5 minutes per night (7.08 on the graph here), while mine was 7 hours and 6 minutes (7.1).
Aly Lopez/CNET
As the graph shows, Dillon and I had very similar sleep experiences over the 90-night trial. Dillon's average restful sleep on Sleep Number was 7 hours and 5 minutes per night, while mine was 7 hours and 6 minutes. My average restless time was 56 minutes per night, while Dillon's was 1 hour and 2 minutes. Dillon's average SleepIQ score was 81, and mine was 79. We have never slept so similarly. Depending on the mattress, one of us usually sleeps better overall than the other, but lately, that has not been the case.
If you've ever been unable to sleep due to an uncomfortable mattress or a partner who snores or thrashes around in their sleep, then you know how frustrating it can be. Though we're not sleeping as long as we'd like, we are both mostly sleeping through the night, waking up around the same time and feeling decently rested has been game-changing.
Sleep Number versus Beautyrest
Before Sleep Number, Dillon and I slept on the Beautyrest Black Hybrid Series 3. My sleep average on Beautyrest was 7 hours and 31 minutes, while my sleep average on Sleep Number was 7 hours and 6 minutes per night -- a decrease of 25 minutes. It's not the direction I wanted to see my sleep go. I would like to see my total average restful sleep be about an hour longer.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Dillon's total sleep also decreased. On Beautyrest, his average was 7 hours and 23 minutes (7.38) per night, while his average on Sleep Number was 7 hours and 5 minutes (7.08) -- a decrease of 18 minutes. Again, this was not the direction we were hoping for, but not the worst we've experienced in this testing series.
Pricing and comparable options
Here's the deal: Sleep Number's smart beds are pricey. A queen ClimateCool smart bed and integrated base retail for $6,949. Sleep Number's standard stationary frame costs an additional $300, bringing the price to $7,249. The setup we are testing, a king-size ClimateCool smart bed with FlexFit 2 Smart Base, comes to a grand total of $9,449.
That price tag is certainly not feasible for most people. However, if you're serious about a Sleep Number bed that's out of your budget, there are a few ways to reduce the cost. I recommend watching for sales throughout the year, particularly around holidays, which can bring the price down by $800 or more. There are discounts for military members, and you may qualify for HSA or FSA reimbursement through Truemed. Sleep Number also offers financing options.
Comparable options
There are other ways to create a similar setup for slightly less. For example, if you're seeking split firmness options, check out a king-size Sparrow Signature Hybrid by Nest Bedding. The king retails for $2,452. For an adjustable base with dual temperature control and sleep tracking, the Eight Sleep Pod 5 Ultra retails for $5,249. That comes to $7,701 before tacking on Eight Sleep's subscription plan.
No matter how you cut it, a bedroom setup with all these features will cost a pretty penny. Ultimately, it depends on the functionalities you and your partner seek.
Dillon and I will continue to test our Sleep Number setup. Stay tuned at CNET for updates on our experience.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Who should get the Sleep Number ClimateCool smart bed and adjustable base?
In summary, our overall experience with Sleep Number has been positive. Dillon and I are obtaining similar sleep scores, which is a testament to the success of the individualized firmness levels.
Dillon and I feel Sleep Number could improve the ClimateCool in a few areas. The cooling was not as strong as expected, especially considering it is promoted as the brand's coolest option. If you're a super hot sleeper who wakes up with night sweats, I don't believe the Sleep Number ClimateCool will be strong enough to eliminate them. Dillon and I also don't love the awkward height discrepancy from our sides being at different firmnesses.
For the most part, everything has functioned correctly for us, which is a relief considering how many different working parts are involved in a high-tech sleep system like this. When opting for a bed with this type of functionality, you have to be OK with potentially running into issues down the road. It's going to be a much different experience than a simple "dumb" mattress and frame with no bells or whistles.
This mattress's weight limit is 400 pounds per side. Though that is more than the standard mattress, I do wonder about the longevity of the support provided by the air chambers. If you and your partner lean on the heavier side and are looking for a durable, long-lasting bed that will provide a lot of support, I suggest looking for a hybrid bed with steel coils instead.
Our main qualm is the price. Dillon and I personally wouldn't entertain the idea of a $10K bedroom setup. However, if you and your partner cannot agree on the firmness of your bed, are looking for a neutral, middle-of-the-road feel, enjoy using technology and have the budget for it, Sleep Number could be the move.
This bed might be for you if:
It's within your budget
You prefer a neutral foam feel
You want adjustable firmness levels on both sides
You're looking for a smart bed with sleep tracking
You want to sleep a little cooler at night
You like having an app to control your setup
You want to adjust the elevation of your head or feet
You should skip this bed if:
It's out of your budget
You want a bed with dense memory foam
You need a more supportive hybrid bed with coils
You don't want a fancy bed with all the bells and whistles
You don't care about tracking your sleep or health data
You don't regularly sleep too hot at night
You don't need an adjustable base
If you're curious about our experiences with other beds and accessories we've tested in this series, check out the following reviews: