Meet the AS5 Mattress by Amerisleep! The AS5 is a 14″ luxury memory foam designed to provide great softness, while still allowing for breathability, cooling, and responsiveness.

Does the soft AS5 mattress make it hard to beat? Continue reading below for my full review or skip to the review summary if you’re in a rush!

How does the AS5 Compare?

The Amerisleep AS5 mattress is the softest option in the Amerisleep line. It is also the thickest (14 inches) and most expensive at $1899 for a queen (with discount).

Amerisleep has 5 models total, the others being AS1, AS2, AS3, and AS4. The AS5 (formerly known as the Independence) has a very plush feel, and is definitely best for someone looking for a very soft and Pressure-relieving mattress.

Construction

The AS5 is an all foam mattress made of four layers totalling 14 inches in height. It was designed to be the softest mattress in the Amerisleep line and uses what they call the Active Flex layer, which is not present in the construction of any of their other models.

Cover – The cover for all of the mattresses in the Amerisleep line is made of a soft blend of polyester, Celliant and spandex. It’s a stretchy material that snaps back into place quickly, so you won’t have to worry about the cover bunching up when you change positions on the mattress. Some studies have shown there are recovery benefits to Celliant. I don’t have the expertise to discuss these studies, but if it interests you I recommend doing some research on the subject.

In terms of how the cover felt, I found it to be pretty soft and that it had a bit of a cozy feeling to it. As I was pressing into the mattress I could feel airflow through the cover, which showed its breathability to help with temperature regulation and cooling.

Comfort – The comfort layer of the AS5 consists of 3 inches of memory foam (4 lb density, 10ILD) which will allow you to sink into the mattress for pressure relief. This material has a slow response to pressure and will provide the classic memory foam feeling of contouring to the body. Some memory foams have a reputation for trapping body heat but Amerisleep uses a plant-based memory foam with an open celled structure, which will help to dissipate that heat and help you sleep cool.

Compression – Below the comfort layer is 2 inches of foam (3 lb density, 11 ILD) that Amerisleep calls the Active Flex layer. This foam is a soft material with roughly the same firmness as the memory foam above it, so it will allow the sleeper to sink in further for greater pressure relief. While it is a soft foam it has a quick response to pressure to provide some bounce so, while you will sink in, you won’t feel stuck in the mattress.

Transition – Below the Active Flex layer is a 2 inch poly foam layer (1.65 lb density, 30 ILD) that is convoluted to create space in the mattress for air to flow through for temperature regulation and cooling. This layer has a quick response to pressure and is a bit firmer to act as a transition layer from the soft layers above to the base below. I should also mention that it is zoned to provide pressure relief in common problem areas such as at the shoulders and lower back.

Base – The foundation of the mattress is made of a 7 inch layer of high density poly foam (1.8 lb density, 35 ILD) that works to support the layers above it as well as deep compression support to the sleeper on top. The base is also the layer that gives the AS5 its shape and provides some durability to the mattress as a whole.

Firmness

When I first pressed into the AS5 I felt the soft memory foam comfort layer allow me to sink in pretty easily and contouring to my hand. Because of the slow response to pressure I could see the outline of my hand when I removed it from the mattress. As I applied more pressure and pressed into the mattress with both hands I found that I sunk pretty deep into the mattress before interacting with the support layers.

Everyone will feel the firmness of a mattress a little bit differently because of different body types, weights and sizes. To make sure that you would get a better idea of the firmness of the AS5 I brought in three more testers to try it out. The wider variety of opinions on the mattress should give you a better idea of what to expect from the firmness of the AS5.

As I mentioned before the AS5 is designed to be the softest mattress in the Amerisleep line and our testers found that to be true. 6.5/10 is generally considered to be a medium firmness and with an average of just under 6/10 the AS5 came in on the softer side of the scale. I personally rated the AS5 as a 5.5/10 and found that the soft comfort and Active Flex layers allowed me to sink pretty deep into the mattress.

Check out how the firmness of the AS5 stacks up against the other Amerisleep mattresses.

Pressure Map

Instead of just describing the feel of the AS5 I wanted to provide a visual representation of where pressure points may form while you are lying on the mattress. To do this I placed a pressure map on top of the mattress and lied on my back, side, and stomach. On the image below pressure will be represented from blue (low pressure) to red (high pressure).

When I lied down on my back the AS5 had a classic memory foam feeling of a little bit of firmness followed by sinking in and contouring to my body. As my weight and body heat caused my to sink in further I could feel the mattress fill in the space beneath my lower back. The pressure map results above show low pressure across my entire body, which I expected as my weight was pretty evenly distributed. I was pretty impressed by how easily I was able to adjust my position given how deep into the mattress I was sinking and I credit that to the quick response of the Active Flex layer.

Once I rolled onto my side the results show only a small increase in pressure at the shoulders and hips, which are two problem areas for many side sleepers. I was really impressed with the performance of the AS5 in terms of pressure relief in this position as side sleepers often have trouble with the increased pressure. Because of the higher weight concentration side sleepers tend to push further into their mattresses and prefer softer mattress that allow them to sink in for pressure relief. I found that the AS5 was very comfortable for me in this position and think it’s a great fit for side sleepers.

I moved onto my stomach and, with my weight evenly distributed again, the pressure map results showed low pressure across my entire body. In this position I did feel my hips sink into the mattress a bit, which isn’t good for stomach sleepers. Softer mattresses can cause problems for stomach sleepers as their hips push into the mattress, putting their back in a bad position. Given the arch in my back I would recommend looking at one of the firmer models in the Amerisleep line (AS1, AS2 or AS3) if you are a strict stomach sleeper.

Motion Transfer

For those that share their bed with a partner it will be important to know what it will feel like when the other person changes positions or gets into and out of bed at night. I use the next test to simulate those actions and to show the intensity of motion that is detectable from one side of the mattress to the other.

For this test I dropped a 10 lb steel ball from heights of 4 inches, 8 inches, and 12 inches and measured the disturbance on the other side of the mattress. This should be pretty intuitive: the bigger the lines, the bigger the disturbance.

The AS5 had really impressive results on the motion transfer test for all three drops. I would say that the AS5 had one of the best performances across the board for this test and that I was really impressed with its ability to isolate motion. I credit the soft top two layers of foam with muffling the disturbance across the mattress.

Sinkage Test

Many people buying a mattress will want to know when they will feel like they are more on top of or sinking into the mattress. I have already mentioned a number of times that the AS5 allowed me to sink in for pressure relief but to get a better idea of how different people might sink in I used four balls of varying sizes and densities (a 6 lb medicine ball, a 10 lb steel ball, a 50 lb medicine ball, and a 100 lb medicine ball) and placed them on the mattress to measure how much they compressed the surface.

These different sizes, weights, and densities help to imitate different body parts or different sized people to show how far into a mattress you may sink.

• 6 lb medicine ball: 1 inch of sinkage.
• 10 lb steel ball: 2.5 inches of sinkage.
• 50 lb medicine ball: 5 inches of sinkage.
• 100 lb medicine ball: 6.5 inches of sinkage.

Edge Support

If you share your bed with a partner and need to use the entire surface of the mattress then edge support is an important attribute to look at. Foam mattresses, especially those that use softer foams, can sometimes struggle with edge support when compared to traditional innerspring mattresses, so I was interested to have a look at how I would feel near the side of the AS5.

I did see some compression through the soft top layers of foam while I was lying on my back near the side of the AS5. The image above shows how the mattress allowed me to sink in while lying near the edge and I would say the feeling was pretty consistent with the center of the mattress as well. Even with the compression in this position never felt like I was insecure in my position on top of the mattress.

As I rolled onto my side I increased my weight concentration causing my to compress the top of the AS5 further. As you can see above the mattress contoured to my body well near the side of the structure, which allow my hips and shoulders to sink in and keep my back aligned well. Even with this increased compression and with me hanging off the side of the bed a little bit I felt that the AS5 held up well during this portion of the test.

Finally I sat up on the side of the Amerisleep AS5, concentrating all of my weight over one portion of the edge of the mattress. Again there is compression through the soft layers on top but I found that the transition layer and high density poly foam base did a great job of supporting me on the side of the AS5. Overall I would say that the AS5 has great edge support.

Basic Information

• Sleep Trial: There is a 100 night trial period for this mattress.
• Warranty: Amerisleep offers a 20 year warranty.
• Shipping: The mattress ships free to the contiguous United States and will arrive compressed in a box.

Size and Pricing Information

If you’re convinced the Amerisleep AS5 is for you, click here to save $50 off!

Is the AS5 right for you?

Now that we’ve taken a deep dive into the Amerisleep AS5 it’s time to

• Side Sleepers – Side sleepers want to be conscious of pressure points that can form at problem areas, such as the hips and shoulders, and because of this tend to prefer softer mattresses that allow them to sink in a bit. I found that the AS5’s soft top layers of foam allowed me to sink far into the mattress and that it performed extremely well during the pressure map portion of the review, showing only a slight increase in pressure when I was lying on my side.
• Memory Foam Without Feeling Stuck – The comfort layer of memory foam provides the classic memory foam feel of sinking in and contouring to the body. This comfort layer is immediately followed by the 2 inch Active Flex layer which is soft to allow you to sink in for pressure relief, but has a quick response to pressure to provide bounce and allow you to adjust your position easier.
• Couples – The Amerisleep AS5 performed very well on both the motion transfer and edge support portions of the review. These two tests are what I generally reference when deciding if a mattress would be good choice for someone who sleeps with a partner.
• Soft Mattress – The main takeaway from my time testing the AS5 is that it is a soft mattress that allowed me to sink in for pressure relief. If you prefer the feeling of sinking into a soft mattress with a memory foam feel then the AS5 would be a good fit for you.

Click here to visit Amerisleep for more information.

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