Is the Glacier Apex Hybrid mattress the key to sleep cool this summer? I slept on it for a week to find out

As a lifelong hot sleeper, I struggle with staying cool at night. In addition to using fans and breathable bedding and pajamas, sleeping on the best cooling mattress is an absolute must for me.

I’ve slept on a soft model of a Tempur-Pedic Luxe Breeze mattress for the past two years, which promises to feel 10 degrees cooler than the average mattress. Despite paying a premium price point, I still wake up with night sweats since memory foam is prone to trapping heat.

The Glacier Apex Hybrid is a cooling mattress that costs a fraction of the price of the much more expensive Tempur-Pedic Luxe Breeze. As the Glacier brand’s most premium model, it’s still highly affordable compared with many cooling mattresses. A queen, for instance, is priced at $2,798 at MSRP and is usually on sale for around $1,399 depending on the discount available.

While the steep savings are naturally appealing, I was curious as to whether its hybrid build, which includes coils that promote airflow and copper to help regulate temperature, would outperform my all-foam mattress. It also has twice as many cooling fibers as the Glacier Original Hybrid.

Overall, I was also eager to see if the Glacier Apex Hybrid would live up to its many promises, including low motion transfer, excellent pressure relief and targeted lumbar zone support (which helps promote healthy spinal alignment). The latter feature is a tough sell in softer beds, which tend to be less supportive.

These selling points are what we'd expect to find in this year's best mattresses that we've tested, but are they too good to be true at such a reasonable price point? Here’s an in-depth look at my first week sleeping on the Glacier Apex Hybrid mattress and whether it lives up to the hype…

Glacier Apex Hybrid: Price & trial

Glacier is one of a handful of brands with very generous year-round mattress sales. While you can often snag 20% off most mattresses during non-holiday periods, Glacier beds are regularly 50% off or more. At the time of writing this article, a summer sale includes a whopping up to 65% off.

While the best time to buy a mattress is often during major sales and holidays, you can scoop up a great deal on Glacier Apex Hybrid year-round. Better yet, it comes with an impressive 365-night trial period that allows risk-free returns for one year if you’re ultimately unhappy with your mattress, plus a lifetime warranty that covers any defects in materials or craftsmanship.

• Twin: MSRP $2,198 (usually sold at $1,099)
• Twin XL: MSRP $2,598 (usually sold at $1,299)
• Full: MSRP $2,598 (usually sold at $1,299)
• Queen: MSRP $2,798 (usually sold at $1,399)
• King: MSRP $3,598 (usually sold at $1,799)
• Cal king: MSRP $3,598 (usually sold at $1,799)
• Split king: MSRP $5,196 (usually sold at $2,598)

Although you’ll probably want to replace your Glacier Apex Hybrid around the 10-year mark, since most mattresses last seven-to-10 years with proper care, the lifetime warranty and generous trial period offer peace of mind. After all, a new mattress is a major investment both financially and mentally (adjusting to a new bed can be a serious commitment).

A lifetime warranty and lengthy trial period are indicative of a quality product, but the skeptic in me questions why Glacier beds are always half off or more. Is it really as great as it seems? Read on for a full breakdown of how this mattress performed after one week of sleeping on it.

Glacier Apex Hybrid mattress: was $2,198 now from $1,099 at Glacier
At full MSRP a Glacier Apex Hybrid in a queen size is $2,798, but a regular 50% off Glacier mattress sale takes that down to $1,399. If you want to buy at the best price, we recommend waiting for major sales events such as President’s Day, 4th of July and Black Friday. Mattress purchase comes with a 365-night sleep trial and lifetime warranty.

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Glacier Apex Hybrid: Unboxing and set-up

Like many of the best mattresses in a box, the Glacier Apex Hybrid comes vacuum-compressed, rolled and sealed in a box for easy transport and delivery.

Mattresses in a box tend to be cheaper than traditional mattresses that arrive flat, but you can also add white glove delivery and old mattress removal to your purchase for an extra $225. Personally, I don’t find this fee worth it, but if you struggle with mobility it could be a handy extra add on.

As long as you have two people to move the mattress in a box to your room of choice, it’s relatively simple to transport. My husband was able to move the mattress up a flight of stairs by himself.

Keep in mind that while transporting the mattress on your own isn’t impossible, it’s very heavy. Luckily, it also comes with convenient handles that make it easier to lift the mattress.

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Glacier offers free delivery and returns and ships mattresses within 3-5 business days. While most mattresses in a box can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to fully expand after being compressed, the Glacier Apex Hybrid sprung into its fully expanded form in just 30 to 45 minutes. In fact, it inflated immediately after cutting into the wrapping with a pair of scissors.

Less than an hour later, it was ready to sleep on. There was a minimal off-gassing smell upon releasing the Glacier Apex Hybrid from its box, but it dissipated within a few hours. I also didn’t find it as overpowering as other mattresses I’ve tried. This was a bonus for my husband, who is sensitive to smells and has moderate allergies.

Glacier Apex Hybrid: First week

Night 1: This definitely feels different to a Tempur-Pedic

I went from sleeping on the Tempur-Pedic Luxe Breeze (the brand makes some of the best luxury mattresses on the market) to trying the Glacier Apex Hybrid. I love the Luxe Breeze for its incredible contouring support and medium-soft feel, but the foam material still gets quite hot overnight. It also doesn’t help that I share a bed with my husband, who is a fellow hot sleeper.

I knew the Glacier Apex Hybrid would have big shoes to fill in terms of the comfort and pressure relief offered by my old bed. This mattress is billed as having medium-plush firmness, and my initial thoughts were that the Glacier Apex Hybrid was incredibly soft. I’d rate it a 3 on our firmness scale.

I was shocked that a medium-plush mattress could feel so much more plush than my soft Tempur-Pedic. I even worried about potential neck pain or poor posture while sleeping.

Yet at 14" tall, the Glacier Apex Hybrid offered great support overnight. Its seven layers have two rows of thicker individually-encased coils that mostly kept our spines in neutral alignment.

The Euro-top took a little while to get used to, but both my husband and I got some of the best sleep we’ve gotten in a long time on the Glacier Apex Hybrid. This was also during a heat spell where temperatures soared into the 90s.

My husband and I agreed that between its cooling cover, graphite- and copper-infused memory foam layers that draw heat away from the body, and ventilated gel foam layer, the mattress did a good job of cooling compared with the Luxe Breeze.

Night 2-7: Adjusting to the changes

While my husband, who is a 6’1” back sleeper, felt like his hips were sinking into the Glacier Apex Hybrid, I felt a good balance of contouring and plushness ideal for a combination sleeper such as myself who predominately sleeps on the side and occasionally the stomach.

The mattress is more supportive for side sleeping, though, so if you’re a tried-and-true stomach sleeper, you may want to seek out a bed with a medium-firm to firm feel for better hip support and lift.

Shoulders are often some of the most sensitive joints, which is why side sleepers tend to benefit from sleeping on a slightly softer bed with cradling and gentle pressure relief on the shoulders.

One downside to the Glacier Apex Hybrid was its lack of motion isolation. Hybrid mattresses tend to transfer movement more than all-foam beds where slow-moving memory foam absorbs much of the motion transfer.

This wasn’t a surprise to me given my history of reviewing mattresses, but it wasn’t pleasant to jolt awake at every movement or change of sleeping position.

The extra layer of upholstery from the Euro pillowtop also made it more difficult, though not impossible, to change sleeping positions. The reduced responsiveness (or bounce) wasn’t a deal breaker, but rather required a bit more effort from me to move around on the bed.

On the flipside, I found the edge support excellent. As someone who often curls up at the very perimeter of the bed, the reinforced edges prevented that dreaded about-to-roll-off-the-bed feeling. If you have mobility issues, you should find the sides of the Glacier Apex Hybrid very stable.

Glacier Apex Hybrid: My early thoughts

Most sleep experts agree it takes a minimum of 30 nights to get used to sleeping on a new mattress, so my preliminary week-long review is just a snapshot of my full review to come.

For now, I find myself pleasantly surprised by the great support and pressure relief offered by the Glacier Apex Hybrid. Don’t be fooled by its soft and plush feel. After a week of sleeping on this bed, neither my husband nor myself experienced any neck, back or joint pain (even though my husband says his hips still somewhat sink into the bed when laying on his back).

The cooling is also good, though not the best I’ve ever experienced. While it stays cooler than the Tempur-Pedic Luxe Breeze I’ve slept on for the past two years, the bed still warms up while we're sleeping.

We didn’t feel this so much on our first night testing the mattress, but noticed throughout the week that the cooling capabilities didn’t feel consistent. However, we battled a long heatwave, so I’m curious how the cooling holds up over a month-long period.

While I admit the plush build feels heavenly and we sleep well on the Glacier Apex Hybrid, this bed is much softer than my husband and I prefer. It may also be too soft for people with heavier builds, stomach sleepers or anyone who generally loves a firm bed. If you fall into any of those categories, the Glacier Original Hybrid has a medium-firm feel that may be more supportive.

Would I recommend Glacier Apex Hybrid? If you’re a light or average weight side or back sleeper looking for an affordable mattress with good cooling technology, sturdy edge support and targeted pressure relief, then chances are you’ll love this bed. But if you’re a sensitive sleeper who bed shares, you may want to look for a mattress with better motion isolation.

I'll be back with my full review soon after sleeping on it for over three weeks, so stay tuned!