Hi levander,
It wouldn’t surprise me if you didn’t receive a reply … or at least didn’t receive a specific reply. The question you are asking could take an employee many hours of research to look through their spec book at the details of every mattress they make and even then without the specific order of the layers the information would not be all that meaningful. They may almost need to re-write all their spec book to extract the information you are asking for which of course is not something they are likely to do.
Email is usually best for questions that are more “black and white” or much less complex or time intensive and can be answered in a quick reply. With more complex questions or questions that have an “it depends” in the answer (which is most mattress questions) that a customer may not realize … it’s usually much more effective and faster to talk with manufacturers or a knowledgeable employee on the phone to help them clarify or narrow down the more detailed specifics of your questions that you may not realize are part of it and to help them “translate” an answer to the level of knowledge or understanding of the person who wants the information.
[quote]But, I didn’t want to buy it because I’ve seen several people mention pillowtops always go bad well before the supportingy layers do.
I’ve seen people in other forums say point blank, “do not buy a pillowtops because it will not last more than a few years.”
Do you disagree with this advice?[/quote]
For the most part yes … but not in every case no. It depends entirely on what materials are in the pillowtop. A pillow top is just a method of construction and is like a topper which is attached separately to the mattress in a way that it provides a little bit more independent compression and response. This more independent response means that the “feel” and performance of the pillowtop is less dependent on the layers below it and it can “act” a little bit softer. A topper is even more independent than a pillowtop construction and would “act” a little bit softer yet so if a pillowtop is “bad” because of how it acts more independently … then a topper would be worse yet. But of course it isn’t.
The reason that most people talk about pillowtops going bad (or toppers for that matter) are because in the mainstream market a pillowtop usually uses lower quality and fairly thick layers of lower density polyfoam which will soften and breakdown fairly quickly compared to higher quality materials. If a topper used these same materials it would “break down” even faster but of course a topper can be replaced and a pillowtop can’t.
You can read more about many of the factors that are involved in the durability of a mattress in post #4 here and the other posts it links to but in essence … this is good “practical” advice but only because in most cased the materials in a pillowtop in most mainstream mattresses will soften and break down much too quickly. If the pillowtop materials (or the materials in a topper) are higher quality … then a pillowtop wouldn’t be nearly as “problematic” but this is much less common and you would need to know the details of all the layers in the mattress (including the pillowtop)…
As you will read in the post I linked … the top layers of a mattress are the most subject to the mechanical forces of repeated compression while you are sleeping and tend to be the weak link of a mattress but if these materials are higher quality this can make up for the additional stresses of using them in the top layers. Firmer materials will also be more durable than softer materials because they won’t compress as much which is also a durability factor.
Overall … the suggestion to avoid pillowtops completely would be good “general” advice which would increase the odds of buying a more durable mattress if you were shopping for most major brands or at most mainstream stores where you can’t find out the specifics of the materials in the mattress. For those who know how to tell higher quality materials from lower quality materials and are able to find out the details of all the layers in their mattress though … then a pillowtop construction (or adding a topper) would be much “safer” if you knew that the materials inside it were more durable and higher quality and a pillowtop can be a good option in these cases.
This is also the reason that in an apples to apples comparison (using the same materials and layer thickness) a topper will be less durable than a pillowtop (which is why topper warranties are usually less) which in turn would be less durable than the same layer inside the mattress cover which in turn would be less durable than the same layer that was inner tufted or quilted to remove the “false loft” in the layer and reduce the degree of repeated compression it was subject to. On the other side of the coin … a topper will also absorb some of the compression forces of sleeping which will add to the durability of the layers below it.
The ability to exchange the top layer if it wears out faster or if your needs or preferences change (or even for experimentation) is certainly one of the advantages of a mattress / topper sleeping system. These advantages are shared by mattresses which have zip covers and exchangeable layers to some degree with the difference being that with these you would be somewhat limited to exchanging a layer for another one that was a similar thickness. If you have a good idea of how one topper (or upper layer) feels and performs on your mattress … it will also become easier to “predict” how a different material may feel and perform as wewl on the same mattress because you would have a reference point that was based on your personal experience. The first time you add a topper to a mattress is the riskiest.
The risk would involve the topper more than the mattress itself because if you have a “base” mattress that is suitable for a topper you can fine tune and change its feel and performance by changing the thickness, type, or softness of the topper without having to change the mattress itself. The first time is the most difficult and risky because you don’t yet have a "mattress / topper reference point that applies to your own experience so the best way to choose is to sleep on the mattress by itself and then use your actual experience to decide on how and how much you want to change the pressure relief, secondary support, and “feel” of the mattress itself.
The “read first” post here that is pinned at the top of the forum has links to some testing guidelines that can help you test more specifically and objectively for PPP. While nothing is absolutely certain to be an accurate predictor of your actual long term sleeping experience … subjective testing for feel probably has lower odds of making a good choice than random chance alone (see this study) because most people’s tendency is to make choices that are often contradictory to their own long term interests based on the subjective feel of a mattress in the managed environment of a showroom. More specific and objective testing that has specific “targets” in mind will substantially improve your odds of making the most suitable choices.
Hope this helps.
Phoenix