I understand that Tempur-pedic is probably over priced but I’m wondering if you consider them decent bands. I wonder about the toxicity and if the smell ever goes completely away.
The healthy back store where I bought my latex only carries Tempur-pedic and embrace series a brand of memory foam bed they label as theirs. I haven’t researched that yet. It would be simpler to just exchange the latex bad for one in the store. Do you know anything about it?
Another mattress outlet store owned by a couple of guys and is not a chain store… …
Carries air loom beds . Supposedly handmade with quality materials. Have you heard of them ? what is your opinion?
Thanks for your invaluable knowledge and help
Jeanne
Unlike the other major brands … for the most part Tempurpedic uses good quality materials in their mattresses but there are certainly other local and online options that would be better quality/value choices than Tempurpedic which tend to be significantly overpriced compared to other memory foam mattresses that use similar quality/density materials that may be just as suitable, just as durable, and better “value” choices. There are some comments about Tempurpedic mattresses in post #2 here. With Tempurpedic you are paying a significant premium for the name on the label which has little to nothing to do with the quality and durability of the materials or how well you will sleep on a mattress. If you are in a higher BMI range (about 30 or more) then I would also tend to avoid the Tempurpedic mattresses that use 4 lb memory foam such as the Cloud series.
The only reliable way to to assess the “safety” of different materials in more general terms is based on lab tests and the certifications they have for harmful substances and VOCs so that you have some assurance than the VOCs are below the testing limits for the certification (see post #2 here for more information about some of the more reliable “safety” certifications). If the materials in a mattress or the mattress itself has a reliable “safety” certification then for most people they would certainly be “safe enough” … regardless of the type of material or the name of the manufacturer on the label.
Unfortunately Tempurpedic mattress don’t have any certifications for harmful substances or VOC’s that I’m aware of. There are also some cases where people with unusual sensitivities or health conditions can have a sensitivity even to certified materials that most people would be fine with. Any initial smell with Tempurpedic mattresses would normally be reduced to levels that most people wouldn’t notice once they have a chance to air out over the first few weeks but anecdotally Tempurpedic has the most complaints about their smell and sensitivities to their material compared to other manufacturers (see here). In all fairness though this could also be because they are also the most widely sold memory foam mattress in the industry so some of the frequency of complaints would be the result of the sheer number of mattresses they sell.
You can see some comments about the quality of the materials in their Embrace line of memory foam mattresses in posts #9 and #10 here.
Yes I have certainly heard of them and they are included in the list of the top 15 largest manufacturers here. As you can see Aireloom typically isn’t transparent about the materials in their mattresses and in general they are one of the manufacturers that I would tend to avoid unless you are able to find out the specifications of all the layers and components in any of their mattresses you are considering (see this article) to confirm that there are no lower quality materials or weak links that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress. It’s unlikely that you will be able to find out this information with an Aireloom mattress but if you are and you post the information on the forum I’d certainly be happy to let you know if there are any lower quality materials or weak links which would be a reason for concern.