Molecule 2 Airtec Mattress Review (Personally Tested)

This review has been written by Dan Cartwright – the website owner – who has been testing products and creating online reviews since 2015 to help consumers find the right products for their needs.

The Molecule 2 Airtec mattress is endorsed by several high profile athletes – including Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

But is this mattress comfortable to sleep on, and who is it best for?

Having personally slept on this mattress for several consecutive nights, it’s my opinion that:

The Molecule 2 Airtec is a well-rounded mattress that is suitable for front, back, side, and combination sleepers up to 230 lbs, and is also well suited to couples, warmer sleepers, and sleepers with allergies that need a mattress that won’t trigger a reaction.

In the rest of this article, I have reviewed the Molecule Airtec mattress in more detail, so you can find out if this mattress is right for you or not.

There’s also a video review that shows me testing the mattress and discussing how comfortable it is in specific sleeping positions below.

Not for you? Check out my other top-rated mattresses here.

Molecule 2 Airtec Mattress Review

To sum it up, I think that the Molecule 2 Airtec mattress outperforms most all-foam mattresses in terms of support and pressure relief thanks to its adaptive foams and thicker profile, which means that it can handle heavier weights without the risk of you ending up in bad posture.

The only real weak area is the edge support if you are over 230 lbs, and you tend to hug the edge of the bed.

In which case, the edge support provided by the Molecule Hybrid is the best option for you.

Check out my full review below for more details – see the video above to see how I tested this mattress.

Recommended For

• Front and back sleepers – the Molecule Airtec mattress is ideal for front and back sleepers because the medium-firm feel provides enough pushback to keep your hips well aligned. I personally found that there was enough ‘give’ in the foam to allow for pressure relief on my ribs when sleeping on my front.

• Side sleepers – although I found the Molecule Airtec to be a bit firmer than I expected for an all-foam mattress, I still found the foams adaptive enough to allow for comfortable sleeping on my side.

• Sleepers with allergies – I didn’t experience any worsening of my hay fever or dry skin when sleeping on this mattress.

• Warmer sleepers – I tend to sleep hot, but I didn’t find that I was too warm in the Airtec mattress. I found this to be surprising for an all-foam mattress without any coils.

• Couples – when sleeping in the Airtec with my partner, I didn’t find there to be any transfer of movement, and the mattress was very quiet thanks to its all-foam design. This meant that we could both sleep undisturbed.

• Lighter weighted and skinny sleepers – if you weigh less than 150 lbs and/or have a lower body fat percentage then the pressure relief afforded by the foams can help to soften pressure points and also distribute your weight more evenly across the mattress to remove pressure in your joints.

• Restless sleepers – although this is an all-foam mattress, I did personally find that moving around in the mattress was quite easy.

• Active people – I often go to the gym and box, so I’m quite sore most of the time. I did find that the foams helped to ease the pain on my sore muscles and joints.

• Sleepers with pressure-aggravated conditions – I’ve recently just had shoulder and knee surgery, and I’m still in pain in those areas. So I welcomed the pressure relief provided by the foams on my joints that are still quite sore. If you have conditions like sciatica, then you will likely find that the adaptive foams can help to reduce the pressure on your nerves and muscles.

Not Recommended For

• Edge sleepers over 230 lbs – even though the edge support of the Airtec is quite good for an all-foam mattress, I do think that if you weigh more than 230 lbs, there won’t be a great amount of support if you hug the edge of the bed as you sleep (try the Molecule Hybrid instead).

Pros

• Almost has a luxury-firm feel – although this is a medium-firm mattress, the cushioning of the upper comfort layers gives the Airtec a luxury-firm feel in my opinion. This is good because it provides both support and pressure relief that allows for the maximum range of comfortable sleeping positions. (Here are the best luxury firm mattresses I’ve reviewed).

• Proprietary foams – whilst this is technically an all-foam polyfoam mattress, the foams have proprietary blends that serve specific functions such as improving circulation, increasing airflow, and minimizing heat retention.

• Good buyer protection – the Airtec comes with a lifetime warranty and a 365 night sleep trial, which protects you against defects and gives you good scope for returning the mattress if you’re not comfortable in it.

• Old mattress removal – if you live in California, then you can opt to have your old mattress removed by the delivery team.

Cons

• The edge support could be better – whilst the edge support for the Airtec is pretty good for an all-foam mattress of this type, I’d like to have seen a bit more in terms of edge reinforcement from higher density polyfoam running around the perimiter of the mattress. If you want maximum edge support, go for the Molecule Hybrid with its coil edge support.

Specs

The exact specifications of the Molecule Airtec mattress are as follows:

Performance

Here is a summary of the performance relative to the key metrics based on my personal testing of the Molecule Airtec mattress:

Molecule 2 Airtec Detailed Analysis

In this section, I’ve gone into much more detail in regards to the specifications, the design, and how this affects the comfort potential for different body types and sleeping positions:

1: Specifications

Here’s what the key specifications for the Airtec mattress mean for you as a sleeper:

• All-foam design – because this mattress is made entirely from foam, this makes it a very good choice for couples because the foam dampens cross-motion transfer.

• Quilted top – the top of the Airtec has a quilted top that provides the pressure relief of a pillow top, but doesn’t move around like one. This means that the mattress feels comfortable, whilst also having the stability of a Euro top.

• AirTEC™ foam – this proprietary foam that sits in the second layer is designed to provide pressure relief and support, but without the heat retaining properties of traditional memory foam.

2: Design

The materials used inside a mattress and the way in which they are layered together is pivotal in regards to how the mattress will feel for different body types and sleeping positions.

So to help give you some deeper insights here, I’ve gone ahead and cut open the side-wall of my own Molecule Airtec mattress, so you can see inside.

I’ve also explained what each layer does for you below:

Comfort Layer: BioCharge™ + AirTec™ Foam

The upper-most section of the Molecule 2 mattress is made from proprietary BioCharge™ foam which is a type of polyfoam that’s been engineered to provide excellent pressure relief which helps improve your circulation as you sleep because it removes the pressure on your muscles.

Upon pushing this layer of foam, I found that it responded like memory foam.

This means that it takes a little bit more time to return to its original shape when you move your body weight from it – this is good because it indicates that the foam is molding to your body shape for better pressure relief, like Molecule claim.

The AirTec™ foam that sits below the BioCharge™ layer was much more responsive to my touch – meaning that it springs back into shape faster.

This is good because it means that it provides some pushback to make it easier to move around in the mattress.

This lines up with the claims that this layer behaves more like latex foam – as I can substantiate, having tested several latex foam mattresses.

Transition Layer: RecoveryFlo™ Foam

The RecoveryFlo™ foam layer sits between the support core and the comfort layers to act as a transition layer – which is designed to provide even more pushback to aid with keeping you in good posture whilst also providing some deeper pressure relief.

Upon pushing this material, I found it to be denser than the BioCharge™ and AirTec™ layers – this is what I want to see because it indicates that the layer is capable of providing support whilst guarding against material sinkage.

Support Core: ContourFlo™ Foam

The support layer of the Molecule 2 is made from ContourFlo™ foam – which is basically high density polyfoam that’s been engineered to promote airflow and heat dissipation.

Upon pushing this layer with my hand, I found there to be a high degree of pushback, which indicates that even though this mattress doesn’t contain springs, it can support substantial body weights.

3: Sleeping Position Suitability

Based on the qualities of the foam layers that I’ve described above, it’s possible to gauge how the Molecule Airtec mattress will feel for different body types and sleeping position combinations as follows:

My analysis of this mattress shows the trend that lighter weighted side sleepers under 130 lbs are going to find that the Molecule Airtec feels the firmest, whilst edge sleepers over 230 lbs are going to experience the least amount of support.

Generally speaking, front and back sleepers in the 130 lbs to 230 lbs range are going to be the most comfortable in this mattress.

If you need better edge support, then I recommend the Nolah Evolution – it’s an excellent choice for all sleeper types, but especially for those on the heavier side.

4: Body Type Suitability

Your body type – in the context of how much body fat you have and your body shape – will have some influence on the comfort levels too, as follows:

The trend here is that the lower your body fat (especially under 15%) the firmer this mattress is going to feel, but you can still expect decent pressure relief thanks to the adaptive foams.

The more body fat you have, the softer this mattress is going to feel because you naturally have more padding that reduces the firmness.

Overall, I’d say the Molecule 2 is able to cope with a wide range of body types comfortably.

For the most amount of pressure relief, check out the Puffy Lux Hybrid – it’s my personal mattress of choice.

But if you want a bit more pushback, then I recommend the Avenco with its zoned support.

Molecule 2 Airtec In-Depth Testing Results

Below, you can learn more about how I tested the Molecule Airtec mattress and how it performed in the key areas that are important for getting a good night’s sleep.

Also, have a look at the video above to see me testing the Airtec mattress.

1: Good Overall Support

One of the biggest problems with mattresses that are made entirely of foam is that they typically don’t have very good support.

This is a big problem for sleepers over 200 lbs because you need more pushback/support to counteract your body weight.

For such sleeper, I normally recommend going for a hybrid mattress because they typically have more robust support.

However, upon lying on the Molecule mattress in different positions and pushing down on it on various places across the surface, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the support is very good overall.

There is no defined weight limit for the Molecule, but I’d expect it to be able to handle weights up to the 230 lbs – 250 lbs mark.

I would only express caution if you are a heavyweight front sleeper because this combination puts your lower back at risk of overarching.

In such a case, you might like to check out this mattress.

2: Fair Edge Support

Whilst the support in the center of the mattress is very good, I did find that the edge support wasn’t quite as good.

However, I have tested all-foam mattresses in the past that were much worse and to be fair, the edge support for the Airtec is quite good for a mattress of this type.

But if you are on the heavier side, and you tend to sleep closer to the edge of the bed, then I recommend that you go for the Molecule Hybrid because it comes with reinforced edges.

3: Good Pressure Relief

Although Molecule are keen to differentiate their BioCharge™ foam from regular memory foam on the grounds that theirs is more cooling and breathable, I did find that the upper most layer of this mattress did provide pressure relief akin to that of memory foam.

This is a good thing, because memory foam is the best type of material to have in the comfort layer of a mattress for reducing pressure points.

But I do like the fact that because the BioCharge™ layer is only 1 inch thick, it allows the buoyancy of the AirTec™ foam to bleed through from beneath.

This creates a comfort layer that provides a superb blend of pressure relief and pushback that keeps you comfortable without swallowing you up in the materials.

4: Easy to Move Around In

All-foam mattresses do have a reputation of being difficult to move around in because the lack of springs limits the buoyancy of the bed.

However, thanks to the AirTec™ foam, the thicker profile, and the high density transition and support layers, I found this mattress very easy to move around in.

I’d expect this level of mobility to extend up to the 230 lbs mark at least.

5: Excellent Motion Isolation

Because this is an all-foam mattress, I found that I was able to sleep in this mattress with my partner and not feel her tossing and turning at night.

This is really important for me because I’m a very light sleeper that wakes up easily, and I have a hard time getting back to sleep once I’m awake.

6: Silent

There are no springs in this mattress.

This means that the mattress is silent – which is great if you sleep as a couple because you won’t have to listen to the creaking of the springs as you turn over during the night.

7: Ideal for Couples

The combination of the excellent motion isolation and silent design makes the Molecule Airtec an ideal choice for couples in my opinion.

8: Sleeps Cool

I do struggle with staying cool at night because I naturally tend to sleep warm.

And whilst foam mattress don’t typically tend to sleep as cool as hybrid designs due to the lack of the spacious coil core, I did find the Molecule 2 dissipated heat well and I didn’t feel too warm in it.

But if you want to maximize cooling capabilities then I’d recommend the Molecule Hybrid because the coil core allows for more breathing room and the memory foam is designed to be even more breathable than regular foam.

9: Excellent for Allergy Control

Molecule makes a big deal about their foams being great if you have allergies.

I personally have a hard time with hay fever, reactions to dust, and I also have dry skin.

I didn’t experience any reactions whilst sleeping in the mattress, so I’d say that the Airtec is a decent choice if you have similar issues.

10: May Help Alleviate Pain at Night

I have very recently just had my shoulder and knee operated on, so I’m still in recovery and in a fair bit of pain.

Lying down on a firm mattress or surface like the sofa causes a lot of discomfort at the moment, but I didn’t have any major issues when sleeping in the Airtec.

This is due to the pressure relief afforded by the BioCharge™ foam in my opinion.

So if you have a condition like sciatica or arthritis (I also have arthritis in my joints due to genetics and overdoing the sports), then you might find that the adaptiveness of the Airtec can help.

But always talk to your doctor before buying any sleep aid or mattress for the best guidance.

Summary: A Well-Rounded Mattress

Having slept on this mattress myself and tested it extensively, I’d say that the Molecule 2 Airtec mattress performs better than most all-foam mattresses in terms of support and pressure relief.

I think that this is a well-rounded mattress that’s ideal for all sleeping styles in the 130 lbs – 230 lbs range, although I think the Molecule Hybrid will be better for heavier weighted edge sleepers.

Dan

Dan is the founder and head content creator at Bedroom Style Reviews.

He has been working as a professional online product reviewer since 2015 and was inspired to start this website when he ended up sleeping on a memory foam mattress that was too soft and gave him backache.

Through in-depth research and analysis, Dan’s goal with this website is to help others avoid such pitfalls by creating the best online resource for helping you find your ideal mattress, bedding, and bedroom furniture.

Dan is a qualified NVQ Level 2 Fitness Instructor with 6 years’ experience helping clients improve their health through diet, exercise, and proper sleep hygiene.

He also holds several college and university-level qualifications in health sciences, psychology, mathematics, art, and digital media creation – which helps him to publish well researched and informative product reviews as well as articles on sleep, health, wellbeing, and home decor.

Dan also has direct personal experience with insomnia, anxiety, misophonia (hypersensitivity to sounds), and pain from both acute and long-standing sporting injuries – he enjoys writing insightful articles around these subjects to help fellow sufferers of such conditions.

Learn more about Dan here.