Looking for mattress protection? I’m going to compare two of the top brands – SafeRest and SureGuard.
Quick Pick: Go with SafeRest as the price is lower and it offers a bit more comfortable surface.
Read on for a detailed review of these mattress protectors and encasements.
Protection
Before buying a cover for your mattress, it’s important to decide on the level of protection you need.
I highly recommend steering clear of cheap mattress pads with no waterproofing properties.
With mattresses costing several hundred or even thousands of dollars, you don’t want to take chances. Remember hearing about the mattress warranty when you made your big purchase? An average mattress warranty period is 10 years, but some extend to as long as 30 years.
Long warranties often come with fine print, so it’s important to know what to do to keep the warranty intact. What’s the most common way a mattress warranty is voided?
Stains.
A stain will void nearly any mattress warranty. This can come from a pet or child having an accident on the bed, a spill, or even natural body oils discoloring the mattress over time. One way or another, without a good mattress protector, any mattress will end up discolored and stained over time.
Let’s say your mattress ends up sagging after only two years. Time to put that warranty to use for a replacement! But if there’s a small stain on the surface, even if it’s nowhere near the sagging area, the manufacturer is almost certainly going to make excuses and deny your claim.
A nice waterproof mattress protector should cost less than 1/10th the price of the mattress but ensure that you can make use of your warranty if needed.
So what’s a good product to buy?
To keep things simple, I’ve narrowed down to a couple of the best brands out there – SafeRest and SureGuard.
Each has two types of waterproof products – a mattress protector and mattress encasement.
Protector vs Encasement – What’s the difference?
A mattress protector puts the waterproof barrier at the top, where most of the problems happen. Underneath, there’s a layer of waterproof material to block liquids and odors. At the top is a layer of cotton to make the pad comfortable and keep it from feeling too hot or too cold. The sides of these mattress protectors are simply cotton and elastic, so only the top of the mattress will be fully protected.
Protectors are the inexpensive choice if you’re looking to keep your mattress safe from stains and odor. They also help prevent bacteria and allergens from getting into your mattress. Those affected by asthma or allergies can benefit from these hypoallergenic pads.
A mattress encasement adds complete protection to the sides and bottom of a mattress. The mattress is put inside of the encasement, which is open on the side, then closed up with a zipper. Unlike a mattress protector, a mattress encasement can completely keep bed bugs and dust mites away from your mattress.
Hopefully you never have to deal with the nightmare which is a bed bug infestation. Choosing an encasement can stop bed bugs from getting to your mattress in the first place, rather than having to potentially spend hundreds of dollars later on a steam treatment.
Mainly need the cover to protect against bed wetting? A mattress protector will be easier to put on and take off for frequent washing.
Concerned about bed bugs or dust mites? Go with a mattress encasement.
Fortunately, neither option is very costly. At most, you’ll spend around $50 for a queen size or $60 for a king encasement. Choose based on the level of protection you’d like to have.
Winner: Both SafeRest and SureGuard are great choices. They provide equal protection in their comparable products. Go with an encasement if you have any concerns about dust mites or bed bugs.
Comfort
Not too many years ago, if you wanted to waterproof your mattress, it meant getting a noisy, plastic-y cover that was too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer.
Thankfully, better stuff is available today. The waterproof linings are no longer made of vinyl and are breathable – air can get through to keep them from getting too hot or cold. There’s no crinkling noise when you move around on the mattress.
Another recent improvement is that of the “comfort layer” of these mattress pads. Both SafeRest and SureGuard have a cotton terry surface just as you’d find on a standard mattress pad. This adds some cushioning and goes a step futher in keeping your bed from feeling too hot or too cold.
Winner: SafeRest has a slightly softer and more flexible feel, though both brands are very good in terms of comfort.
Durability
Since these protectors and made to keep messes away from the mattress, they need to be able to handle repeated washing.
SafeRest and SureGuard each recommend washing their covers before their first use. Both are safe to machine wash with warm or cold water – but skip the bleach. Either brand’s covers should be dried on low heat, as high heat will over time damage any waterproof pad.
As long as you follow these steps, both brands seem to hold up very well to long term use.
I do have one recommendation. After the first washing, try pouring a bit of water on the cover and make sure none gets through. With any brand, on rare occasions there will be a defective cover which doesn’t hold water. Best to find this out before putting it on your mattress.
How about warranties? Both brands cover their full line for 10 years. For comparison, the AmazonBasics protector only has a 1 year warranty. Utopia Bedding makes no mention of a warranty.
Winner: Both brands hold up well to repeated washing.
Price
Costs vary depending on whether you want an mattress protector or encasement, and the size. Expect to pay no more than $50 for queen and $60 for king size, with some being considerably less.
Queen & King protectors – SafeRest is about $15 cheaper.
Twin protectors – SafeRest is a few bucks less.
King encasements – SafeRest is around $7 less.
Queen & Twin encasements – prices are identical.
Winner: SafeRest, with most of their prices being lower than SureGuard.
Fitment
Of course, none of the above matters if your mattress cover doesn’t fit.
Mattress protectors allow for the very largest mattresses, such as multi-layered pillowtops. Both brands here work for up to 18″ mattresses, which covers just about everything.
Mattress encasements are more of a “fitted” solution, so they come in different thicknesses.
Some examples of common mattress depths:
- BedInABox PacBed Original – 11″
- Casper Mattress – 10″
- Ghostbed – 11″
- Novaform Plush – 12″
- Purple Mattress (Medium rated) – 12″
- Sleep Number 360 c4 – 12″
- Sleep Number 360 i7 – 16″
- Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme – 11.5″
- Tuft & Needle – 10″
Here’s how the two brands size their encasements out:
SafeRest: 6-9″ – 9-12″ – 12-15″ – 15-18″
SureGuard: 6-8″ – 9-12″ – 13-16″ – 17-20″
Curiously, there are some gaps in the SureGuard sizing. This could mean if you have a 8.5″, 12.5″, or 16.5″ mattress you’ll be stuck choosing a cover that’s either a bit too snug or too loose. If you’re in this gap, I think SafeRest would be the better choice.
Regardless of brand, if your mattress is borderline on its sizing, pick a cover that lists your size on the bottom of the range. Better to be a bit loose than to not fit inside at all.
Winner: SafeRest’s size offerings leave no gaps and make more sense.
Conclusion
We do have a clear winner here. Both brands make similar products, with fitment being nearly identical. Either is a good choice in terms of durability and effectiveness.
What I’ve found is that SafeRest is lower priced in nearly all sizes. On top of that, the comfort is just slightly better than that of SureGuard’s covers.
Again, you’ll need to decide if you want protection just for the top of the mattress (protector) or the whole thing (encasement). Once you have that down, SafeRest’s covers get my recommendation.