Leesa Legend Mattress review: An ideal option for side sleepers who run hot or have back pain

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Over the last six years, I've tested 100 mattresses professionally, but I'll never forget my first: the Leesa Sapira Hybrid Mattress. The Hybrid is the top pick in our best mattress guide. I slept on it for two years when I wasn't testing other mattresses. When Leesa offered to send me its luxury hybrid mattress, the Legend, I looked forward to trying it.

During my 22 nights on it, I slept great and regularly awoke feeling refreshed with fewer aches and pains than usual. I also liked how it cradled my side-sleeping body and kept me from overheating, making it an excellent choice for hot sleepers.

Construction

The Leesa Legend Mattress is made in a factory in Arizona, and I got to see firsthand how Leesa mattresses are made during a tour of the company's facilities. The 12-inch Leesa Legend features CertiPUR-US-certified foams and individually wrapped pocket springs. The cover is made of Merino wool, organic cotton, and fiber from recycled water bottles. The layers from top to bottom: a comfort foam layer with holes for breathability, pressure-relieving memory foam, a combination of micro-springs and foam for targeted pressure relief and zoned support, a foam transition layer for support and pressure relief,  and a base layer of larger pocket springs for durability, support, and motion isolation.

Set up

The Leesa Legend was delivered to my house in a large box. I found no unboxing directions in the box, but the process is intuitive. Dump the mattress on your foundation, unwrap the first layer of plastic, and cut through the second plastic layer, being careful you don't damage the bed. The whole setup process took me about five minutes.

Once I removed the bed from the vacuum seal, there was a new bed smell, but this dissipated by bedtime.

The Legend is heavier than most beds

at 119 pounds, so have someone help you unbox, set up, and move the mattress. I liked that the bed didn't flop around, though; this made maneuvering it around my test area easier.

Review of the Leesa Legend Mattress

I slept well on the Leesa Legend. For context, I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 220 pounds. I mostly sleep on my side but occasionally wake up on my back or stomach. On the medium-firm Legend, I was most comfortable on my side but also spent some time on my back.

Thanks to a decade of playing roller derby, I have a laundry list of aches and pains. Yet, the impressive pressure point relief of the Leesa Legend helped me sleep well and left me feeling refreshed and relatively ache-free. 

To gauge how cool a bed stays and how quickly the heat dissipates, the first thing I do each morning is measure the surface temperature of the mattress with an infrared thermometer. Then, I measure the temp again two minutes later. I can see how well the bed dissipates heat by comparing the measurements. The Leesa Legend was outstanding at staying cool and dissipating heat, earning it a recommendation in our best cooling mattress guide. On average, the mattress was 14.7 degrees cooler two minutes after I got up. I also felt cool each night I slept on it despite my tendency to overheat on other mattresses.

The Leesa Legend provides an optimal balance of motion isolation and bounce. I measure motion isolation by dropping a bowling ball onto the bed near a soda can. If the can falls over, the mattress has poor motion isolation. If it stays upright, the bed does an excellent job of dampening. The can fell over each time in my tests. 

However, a vibrometer placed on the opposite side of the mattress from the drop registered a relatively low reading. This suggests that motion isolation is about average and may not be good enough if you share a bed with someone who moves around a lot at night. On the other hand, the Legend is bouncy, which couples may appreciate during sex.

For more details about how we test each mattress, check out our article on how we test mattresses.

Cons to consider

The Leesa Legend Mattress did poorly in my edge support test. The edge of the mattress sank more than average when I sat on the side. I felt like I might fall off when lying down on the edge.

The Legend is heavier than most and doesn't have handles sewn to the sides. Consequently, it's hard to move around. If you don't have a friend to help you set it up, consider paying the extra $159 for in-home setup. For an extra $40, the service includes removing your old mattress and frame.

Since the Leesa Legend has an average firmness, it may not provide enough support for stomach sleepers, who generally need something firmer to keep their spine aligned.

What are your alternatives?

The Leesa Legend is not cheap, costing nearly $3,000 before any discounts, which are typically available year-round. However, I think the price is justified for the quality you are getting, especially when you consider that its backed by a 10-year warranty.

Also from Leesa, the Leesa Sapira Hybrid is the top pick in our best mattress guide because its average firmness can appeal so well to most sleep types. It's about $450 cheaper and, in my opinion, superior to the Legend. Couples will love the great edge support and motion isolation. However, it doesn't have zoned support, and the Legend might still be a better option for some side sleepers since it's softer. Read our full Leesa Sapira Hybrid Mattress review.

The Leesa Legend also compares to the similarly priced Saatva Classic and Helix Midnight Luxe.

The Saatva Classic is the best luxury pick in our best mattress guide. It comes with an in-home setup, a 365-night trial period, and a lifetime warranty. It also notably dissipates heat well. I tested the Luxury Firm, which is much firmer than the Legend. However, unlike the Legend, the Saatva Classic is available in two other firmnesses: Plush Soft and Firm. This makes it a great option for sleepers of all types. Couples may also prefer the Saatva mattress because it has better edge support. Read our full Saatva Classic Mattress review.

The Helix Midnight Luxe is actually made in the same factory as the Leesa Legend, and they share a lot of similarities. They have the same trial period, firmness, poor edge support, and excellent cooling. However, the Helix has a pillow-top design, which gives a little extra plushness and height and a longer warranty (15 years) but worse motion isolation. If you like the idea of dual coils in your construction, the 16-inch Helix Midnight Elite incorporates dual layers of micro coils in addition to individually wrapped zoned coils at the base for a truly decadent mattress. 

The bottom line

If you're still on the fence about the Leesa Legend mattress, remember that it comes with a 100-night risk-free trial, so you can return it if it doesn't fit your needs. If you're a side sleeper who tends to overheat, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better mattress, especially if you want one with a good balance of bounce and motion isolation.