Hi - head spinning with choices… Have pretty well decided that since sleep quite hot we want either latex or techno gel. Healthy Back people helpful and seemed sincere - the techno gel is great but sooooooo much money. I am not opposed to shelling out for a great mattress but they seem quite new and I would like to hear someone’s actual experiences over a few weeks or months. Also considering the HB bliss essence . This site seems to be the most useful 
I’m in NOVA and in the middle of a mattress search. I was at Healthy Back this week and was discouraged from even trying the technogel. I was told they have received a lot of returns on them. However, they did highly recommend the technogel pillows.
I have narrowed my search down to latex. I was at the Savvy Rest store in Vienna this morning and found a mattress there that was very comfortable. I am now trying to decide between that mattress and trying to replicate it by ordering online and saving money. Not sure what to do and am eagerly awaiting Phoenix’s response to my post.
FYI, Savvy Rest if having a 20% off sale, which ends tomorrow - so you might want to check them out. They also offer free layer switches for 90 days. The saleswoman there was very helpful, informative, and not at all pushy…the only drawback is it’s more money than I want to spend.
Hi Terriwin and FairfaxMom,
@Terriwin …
I added my thoughts about the Technogel to your other post here.
I also added my reply to your post in the other thread here. At least you know that you have access to a very similar mattress for less although the 20% discount makes the difference a little closer and may justify a local purchase in spite of the greater expense. I would also suspect that if you decided to go in that direction and were to ask that the sale price may still be available for an extra day or two “unofficially” although of course I don’t know that for sure
That’s interesting too about their recommendations against the Technogel. Did they say the reason for the returns? I suspect they would be comfort issues connected to buyers remorse with only an inch of the material but that is just speculation.
Phoenix
I may be going back to the Healthy Back store this week for some other items. If I do, I’ll ask again about the specific problems with the technogel and report back.
Hi FairfaxMom,
That would be great … and I appreciate it 
Phoenix
I just tried out a Technogel mattress (in NOVA at Tysons Health Back Store) - the Armonia latex with a 1/2 technogel comfort layer - and it is amazing. I spent quite a while no my back and quite a while on my side and then I simply did not want to leave the store. I actually went in to try out their latex mattress, and after trying out all of the tempurpedic and latex mattress, found the Bliss Pristine latex ($2,800 king) to be the best of the bunch. But then I tried the Technogel out, and when I went back to the Bliss Pristine it didn’t feel nearly as good by comparison. Shoulder support, hip support, overall alignment was all perfect. Everything was perfect but the price, which was around $4,300 for the king size. I was all set to spend over $2,000 for a mattress plus another $2,000 for an adjustable base for a total of $4,000-$4,500, but I was not expecting to drop around $6,500 total. Ridiculously, they throw in an iPad, which does me no good since I already have a brand new one. This really spoiled everything because I would have just gone for the nice Talalay latex bed, but by comparison I did not find it anywhere near as comfortable, certainly not anywhere near the 90% level. Aaarrgggg!
Hi Da,
That’s certainly a big jump in budget and I would also question spending that much on a mattress as well when there is only 1/2" of gel and the rest is polyurethane. There may also be other gel options available to you such as the Evosleep in this thread.
If it was me, I would want to know for sure that I couldn’t get to 90% using either different latex layering or even other materials before I went in that direction (or that budget) unless there as clearly nothing else that would do and the cost justified the benefits compared to any other mattress I tried (not just the PLB).
Phoenix
I would love to find an option that had similar characteristics to the Technogel Armonia (pure Talaly latex with a 1/2 or so of pure gel comfort layer). The Evosleep does not appear to be available anywhere on the east coast (I am in McLean, Virginia 22101, across the river from Washington DC), and does not seem to be available for online purchase or shipping from what I have found. Are there any other suggestions for a supplier of this mattress or something comparable to the Technogel (available at the Healthy Back Store but it appears to be about $1,500 overpriced!). Any more suggestions are appreciated as always!
Hi Da,
Are you sure that the Technogel Armonia is Talalay latex?
While there’s not a lot of information about it online … the third mattress on the Technogel site is a pocket coil and I didn’t think that Technogel used latex in any of their mattresses. There is also a Malaysian reference to it here (which shows a pocket coil).
Regardless of what it is though … perhaps you could choose a mattress that was similar in construction to the Armonia without the gel on top and then add a gel topper such as one of these on top. While of course it wouldn’t be an exact duplicate … it may be close enough to warrant what would likely be a significantly lower cost.
Phoenix
PS: Added later … the Technogel site now lists the Armonia and it clearly has a Talalay latex core although it doesn’t say if there are any other layers besides the technogel layer and the Talalay.
Am I sure? Now that you ask, I have doubts. What I am sure of is that I asked three times and got an affirmative response each time. While I will not spend what the are charging for this mattress - I really want to stay under $4,500 for the mattress with adjustable base - it is enough that I want to get the right mattress without having to add a topper. I will need to just keep looking for the right firm latex. Though I don’t see any results yet, I imagine I must be getting closer…
Hi Da,
I’ll have to call healthy Back because now you have me curious.
You’ve probably seen this but just in case there is a Washington list in post #2 here which shows some of the other options that are reasonably close to you.
Phoenix
After lying on many mattresses DH and I have found the technogel deluxe to be far and above the most comfortable we have tried. Feel supported all over with no pressure points. Lay on it twice for about a half hour each time to make sure. , all foam and memory foam no springs. Have been given some info on layers but waiting for specifics about densities of the layers.
Just concerned about durability with this being such a new line of mattresses. Wondered how previous participants in these forums are fairing some months after purchase. I did read about the folks at Healthy Back having a number of returns which is concerning.
We are based in Brisbane Australia, so we are limited with our options over here. Did consider a tempur but the technogel creates way less pressure on my shoulder.
Ok have the specs for the King size technogel deluxe model I am looking at. I have converted density and depth to imperial since you are in the US. I don’t know how to convert the hardness so have omitted that. If you are familiar with the metric measurement for hardness let me know and I can supply.
Overall mattress 12"
Working from bottom up:
Solid box 1" HD poly goes across bottom of mattress and encases bottom 7"of mattress.
6" MD foam 1.5lb
1" comfort foam? 1.75lb
1.5" 2.5lb LR memory foam
1.2" 3.4lb visco/memory foam
gel layer looks about .5" thick didn’t get measurement from salesperson
.5" 2.5lb LR memory foam
I am concerned that the technogel might not maintain it’s exquisite comfort over time . Sales person claims that the number of layers compensates for lower density core. Price $4367.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for sharing. I don’t think I’d buy it for 1/10th of the price.
Hi delrose,
The specs in Ausralia appear to be a little different from some of their mattresses in North America. You can see some of my thoughts about Technogel here and some of the North American specs in the middle attachment in post #3 here and in post #2 here. There is also more about Technogel in Europe in this thread and a forum search on Technogel (you can just click this) will bring up more comments and feedback about them as well.
You can read more about the factors that affect durability and the useful life of a mattress in post #4 here. While it’s true that deeper layers will be less stressed and the layers above them will absorb more of the stress from sleeping on the mattress (a mattress will tend to soften and break down from the top down) … I also think that these are clearly on the low side … especially for a mattress in this price range and the comfort layers would seem to be a weak link in the mattress in terms of the comfort life of the mattress. An inch or so of lower quality materials is usually fine but once you get into the range of about 2" or more it can be a weak link in the mattress and this has 3.2" of lower density materials in the upper layers (assuming all of these are memory foam and not polyfoam). I also don’t know why they would use 1.5 lb density base foam in a premium mattress (outside of cost savings of course) although this would be less of an issue with durability unless someone was in a heavier weight range.
Phoenix
I have some experience with Tecnogel in the past. We used to sell their pillows.
One thing to caution is NOT to buy based on the cool factor.
When the reps first rolled out the Tecnogel pillows to us, they really hyped up the cool factor.
So naturally that was a big selling point that we used. However after a couple of months selling them we noticed a lot of pillows were being returned because they started making the customers hot.
We learned that initially the pillows would feel cool, but after 15- 30 minutes the gel would take the same temperature as the body.
And after speaking with the rep he even mentioned that also happens with the mattresses.
So if you tend to sleep warm, it may not be the best choice.
However their mattresses are well made and comfortable but quite expensive.
Hope this helps and good luck on your mattress hunting.
Decided not to buy the technogel. Thanks to everyone for the advice. We have found another mattress with good quality components that is about 90% as comfortable but should last the distance.
Thanks so much for the info on this site. Most mattress salespeople can’t tell you anything meaningful about their products. Although most were willing to contact the manufacturers for the information I wanted, ther is a definate lack of transparency with most major brands. The exception being one of our independent local manufacturers whose sale staff knew everything about their product.
Thanks again.
Hi dee rose,
Dealing with a retailer/manufacturer like this can be a breath of fresh air compared to most of the mainstream industry.
Congratulations on your new mattress
Would you mind sharing what you ended up buying?
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
We ended up going with a Sleepmaker Chiro Ultimate Dream since it was the second most comfortable bed we tested. Other influencing factors were:
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Really wanted to buy with Makin Mattresses due to their superior customer support and double sided mattresses, but unfortunately just did not like the feel of them.
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Ended up with a pocket coil pillow top bed because all the other memory foam mattresses we tried just were not close in comfort to the technogel or the Sleepmaker, our two close contenders.
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the Sleepmaker bed uses talalay latex and 65/40 dunlop viscoflex and a thin (lLess than 2cm) layer of lower density 25 PU as their comfort layer. I know that 80kg memory foam is ideal, but we but the only beds available with that grade of memory foam from where we live were 100% memory foam mattresses to purchase only online or tempur. I just can’t come at buying a mattress without testing it first, especially since the tempur of that grade was nowhere near top of our comfort list.
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Sleepmaker in Australia now owns Dunlop foams. So all dunlop foams used throughout the mattress we chose. We have had only good experiences with dunlop foam products in the past.
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Sleepy’s, the retailer we purchased from is the only outlet in Brisbane apart from Makin Mattresses that offers a comfort exchange. Sleepy’s is a 60 day, Makin Mattresses is an impressive 5 year comfort guarantee. (Yeah just wish we’d fallen in love with one of their beds.)
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Beds in Australia seem to bed more expensive than in the US across the board. Any reasonable quality king size mattress whether from a large company or smaller locally owned business are $3,000 - $4,000.
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My chiropractor said that the “chiro” in this range of beds is genuine not just a rubber stamp. He said that the Chiropractor’s Association of Australia was involved with the development of and 2 years of testing on these beds. He owns one and has found it comfortable and durable.
Lets hope we do too… just waiting for delivery now.
Many thanks
Hi dee rose,
Thanks for letting us know what you ended up buying
I’m not familiar with the Australian market (although there are some links to some of the Australian forum threads and manufacturers in post #2 here) but it sounds to me like you made a good quality and well researched choice.
It would be great if you have the chance to let us know how it works out once you’ve had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
Phoenix