Why You Can Trust CNET Beautyrest SmartMotion Base 3.0 review: Get a custom night's sleep at the touch of a button
From massage to zero gravity and USB chargers, Beautyrest brings it all to the SmartMotion Base 3.0.
Sleep is personal. No two people sleep the same, and while there are plenty of tips, research and tools out there to improve your nightly rest, it all comes down to comfort. The Beautyrest SmartMotion Base 3.0 is the company's latest high-end, motorized bed frame, and it aims to give everyone the options they need for a better night's sleep.
Beautyrest SmartMotion Base 3.0
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The $1,500 base comes with several customizable features, but it isn't really a smart bed. That is, not until you pair it with the Beautyrest Sleeptracker Monitor, a sensor available for free with your bed purchase (or for $200 individually) that records your sleep stats and works with Amazon Alexa . Of the four smart beds we tested, Beautyrest gets most things right. However, if you're looking for temperature control, the WinkBed CoolControl Base is a better bet. If you're looking for a way to smarten your existing mattress, the Eight Sleep Mars+ is a good place to start. If you're ready to spend big bucks on a new bed, and you're curious about sleep stats, I'd recommend the SmartMotion Base 3.0 and Sleeptracker Monitor.
The Beautyrest SmartMotion Base 3.0 includes Zero G and SnoreRelief settings.
SmartMotion Base 3.0
I tested the queen-size Beautyrest SmartMotion Base 3.0 in my own home for just over five weeks. Apart from one weekend trip to visit my parents, my husband and I slept on it every night. Setup was simple, but this bed is really heavy, and it comes in one piece. It barely fit up the narrow stairs of my 1940s home. That said, the single piece does make it easy to assemble. Attach the legs at the desired height (there are options for 3-inch, 5-inch or 8-inch legs), plug in the power cord and install the included headboard brackets if you're using a headboard. A printed installation guide and owner's manual are included in the box.
The SmartMotion Base 3.0 includes USB charging ports.
Beautyrest makes two other SmartMotion bases, the 1.0 and the 2.0. There's a comparison chart on the Beautyrest website. To sum it up, the 3.0 model adds a third preset memory position, four USB charging outlets, and a "next to nightstand" feature that keeps the mattress close to the wall when the head end is raised. Sturdiness gets better down the line as well. The SmartMotion 1.0 has a weight limit of 650 pounds, while the 2.0 and 3.0 models can support up to 850 pounds. I tested the base and Sleeptracker Monitor with Beautyrest's Sonya Luxury Firm mattress, but the SmartMotion Base 3.0 is compatible with any adjustable, standard innerspring or memory foam mattress.
Comfort and customization
Because you can use the SmartMotion Base 3.0 with any mattress, firmness and material are up to you. With your preferred mattress installed, the SmartMotion Base 3.0 adds customization for motion and massage. Mechanics in the base support raising and lowering the head and foot of your bed independently, and the king size model includes individual movement for each side of the bed. A "Zero G" setting that raises your feet above your heart to relieve pressure on the lower back and promote circulation. I found Zero G to be comfortable and even a bit floaty as the name implies, but I didn't find myself using it very often. My husband and I agreed Zero G was a comfortable setting, but not one we'd use for anything longer than watching a movie or reading before bed. That's primarily because we're both side sleepers, and the shape of the mattress in the Zero G position isn't as comfortable overnight.
The SmartMotion Base 3.0 comes with a remote to control these features, and you can override the three preconfigured preset buttons to save your own favorites. There's also a handy magnet on the side of the bed to hold the remote, a feature I appreciate since my nightstand is already crowded.
One of the features missing in this smart bed setup is the option for temperature control, like you'll get in the Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed and the WinkBed CoolControl Base. What it lacks in climate control, the SmartMotion Base 3.0 attempts to make up for with its massage feature. There are six levels of massage for the head and foot of the bed. I enjoyed the first two levels, but beyond that the noise was too loud, and my second-story bedroom felt like it might shake apart. That said, if massage chairs are your thing and you'd like that feature in a bed, Beautyrest will impress you with its vigor.
The other handy feature worth mentioning is a SnoreRelief preset that raises the head of the bed to relieve snoring. On the Best queen mattress in 2021 I tested, this raises the entire mattress, but a split-king model would allow you to raise only one side to stop your partner's snoring, as long as they've surrendered their remote control. No one in my household snores, so I couldn't fully test the effectiveness of that setting. Other manufacturers also include snore relief features, including Sleep Number and their 360 Smart Bed.
Sleeptracker smarts
What makes this system smart is the Beautyrest Sleeptracker Monitor, an option that's free with the purchase of a SmartMotion Base 3.0. The Sleeptracker Monitor is a sensor, encased in light-weight foam, that adheres to the base just beneath your mattress. Beautyrest recommends situating the monitor toward the outside of the bed and directly under your pillow for the most accurate heart rate and breath rate readings. You'll need a sensor for each person sleeping in the bed.
The Sleeptracker Monitor's sensors detect your motion, heart rate in beats per minute and breath rate in breaths per minute, so the monitor can decide when you've fallen asleep and when to begin or end a sleep recording. That information also tells the Sleeptracker Monitor when you're in different cycles of sleep. In your daily sleep report, you'll see a bar graph breaking down the length of you REM, light and deep sleep segments each night.
The Sleeptracker app is available for Android and iOS devices. Create an account, pair your sensor and you're ready to snooze. The downside here is that if you do have a second sleeper, that person will also need to create an account in order to record a second person's stats on the other side of the bed. That also means you can only see stats for your side of the bed in the app. To view the other side, you'd need to log out of your account and into your partner's. It's not a deal breaker, but it is an inconvenience and both people will need to be on board with adding the app to their phone.
The Sleeptracker Monitor app displays time asleep as well as heart rate and breath rate.
The Sleeptracker Monitor also works with an Amazon Alexa skill. You can ask questions like "Alexa, ask Sleeptracker how I slept last night". Alexa promptly reads out your total sleep time, sleep score and sleep efficiency percent. You can also ask Alexa to ask Sleeptracker to start or stop a sleep recording. I tested the skill with an Amazon Echo Spot on my nightstand, and while it's handy, It took several minutes for the start and stop commands to register with the app on my phone. The Sleeptracker Monitor did a better job on its own.
The Alexa skill is a nice touch, but not one that's exceptionally useful. Since you log in to your Sleeptracker account to enable the Alexa skill and each partner needs their own account to be monitored on the same mattress, there is no way to hear sleep reports for two individuals. The second sleeper would need their own Alexa device or app to hear their Sleeptracker results. That makes it less than ideal for couples who might have just one Alexa device in their bedroom, if any.
Alexa is the only smart home integration you'll find with the Sleeptracker Monitor. Unlike the Eight Sleep Mars+ mattress we tested in this roundup, the Sleeptracker Monitor won't work with any other smart home stuff.
Over the month I used the Sleeptracker Monitor, there were a handful of inaccurate heart rate readings. From previously sleeping with different wearables, I have a pretty good idea of what my resting and sleeping heart rate is. It hovers around 65 or 70 BPM. Though that is what the Sleeptracker Monitor recorded the majority of the time, there were some nights where it detected my heart rate around 38 BPM. I'll chalk this up to my marathon-running husband, whose 40 BPM resting heart rate is so strong I can feel it from across the bed.
The AI Sleep Coach in the Sleeptracker app offers insights based on your sleep stats.
Other recordings for when I was awake, out of bed or in deep sleep were accurate and the AI Sleep Coach in the app offered insights based on my night. The tips provided weren't really customized but they did correspond to trends in my sleep data. It's a nice bonus feature, but not something I'd call truly helpful.
Should you buy it?
Because this bed is so adjustable, it's great for picky sleepers or anyone who needs special sleeping positions. Add the Sleeptracker Monitor and you'll get a clear picture of your sleep life. The Sleeptracker Monitor is even reasonably priced sold separately and often on sale. It's a good way to gather sleep data, especially if you're opposed to keeping your wearable on overnight. However, you won't get temperature control with this bed and when it comes to smart home integrations, you'd be better off with the Eight Sleep Mars+ mattress.