Breathability of latest most breathable (reticulated) memory foams vs Talalay

The overview of memory foam states: “even the newer generation more breathable memory foams are not as breathable or open celled as other types of foam.”

I don’t know when this was written and I don’t know of any specification for breathability so I was wondering if anyone knows how the most breathable memory foams compare to Talalay…

Elite Foam claims 95% breathability improvement: Page Not Found
Amerisleep claims their Bio-Pur+ is 70% more breathable than Bio-Pur: Our Technology | Amerisleep

Thank you.

Hi kyebean,

Unfortunately there isn’t any specific information that compares the breathability or sleeping temperature of all the hundreds of different types and versions of foam materials (latex foam, polyfoam, and memory foam) and most of the information you will read will only say that a particular foam material is “some” percentage better than a reference material which really doesn’t help much in the bigger picture. It’s very difficult to get these types of specifications in the industry,

Most of the memory foam that is being used today tends to be more breathable and/or temperature neutral than most of the older memory foam formulations and this has been a significant focus in the memory foam side of the industry. There is more about some of the different technologies that are being used to “cool down” memory foam (and other foam materials as well) in post #6 here.

Reticulated foam is a foam material that uses either an ignited gas or a chemical process to reduce or remove the windows in the cell structure of a foam (leaving the thicker cell struts) to improve the airflow through the foam material (see here). Filter foam or outdoor (dri-fast) foam that allows water to easily flow through the foam are examples of highly reticulated foam.

While it’s impossible to be specific on a material by material basis … in very general terms I would consider most latex to be more breathable and temperature neutral than most polyfoams (and Talalay would generally be more breathable than Dunlop) which in turn would be more breathable than most memory foams or gel memory foams.

In addition to this though … a single foam layer in a mattress is only one of many variables that will affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress and in many cases may not even be the most important one.

While it’s not possible to quantify the sleeping temperature of a mattress for any particular person with any real accuracy because there are so many variables involved including the type of mattress protector and the sheets and bedding that you use (which in many cases can have just as significant an effect on temperature as the type of foam in a mattress) and on where you are in the “oven to iceberg” range and because there is no standardized testing for temperature regulation with different combinations of materials … there is more about the many variables that can affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress or sleeping system in post #2 here that can help you choose the types and combinations of materials and components that are most likely to keep you in a comfortable temperature range.

Phoenix

Thanks, Phoenix. From what you said, I would expect that even reticulated memory foam that’s twice as breathable as closed cell memory foam would be less breathable than Talalay. Vita Talalay says that it’s 20 times more breathable than memory foam on their website, so that would be consistent with that expectation even if their comparison was exaggerated (and not controlling for mechanical channels) and based on closed cell memory foam (which it probably was).

By the way, would you recommend certain Talalay manufacturers over others or are they pretty equivalent?

Hi kyebean,

Probably yes but the only way to know for sure would be if you were to see the results of independent testing for a layer of each material that were both the same thickness.

No … both Talalay manufacturers (Talalay Global and Radium) are both high quality materials that would be closely equivalent in terms of durability. There is also more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here.

Phoenix

Are you familiar with Radium’s Embrace foam? I can only find fairly vague descriptions of it. It’s marketed as a cross between memory foam and Talalay but which one it actually is, what the real differences are and how they achieved them I have no idea.

Hi kyebean,

Radium’s Embrace is a version of Talalay latex that uses a blend of natural and synthetic rubber that is specially formulated to have a slow response that is similar to memory foam rather than the highly resilient response that is typical of latex. I have “played with” a sample of it but I’ve never slept on it and I haven’t seen it used or sold in North America. While I’m not a foam chemist (and latex compounding formulations are proprietary information) … my understanding is the slow response characteristics comes primarily from the blend of styrene and butadiene they use in the synthetic rubber which can alter the properties of the blend.
ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: vitatalalay.com/products/embrace/

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix,

Did the Radium Embrace feel like it was temperature sensitive or did it keep its feel about the same as it warmed up?

Hi Sleep Well Solutions,

The sample I have is a small square that is 4" x 4" x 4" so I can only test it by “hand feel”.

  1. I put it in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour and when I took it out it was much firmer and had a slower response and took several seconds to recover when I pressed it firmly.

  2. I gave it about 5 minutes to come back to room temperature with a few occasional “squishes” along the way and it was noticeably softer and the response rate was noticeably faster at about 2 seconds.

  3. After playing with it and “squishing” it vigorously for a couple of minutes and then keeping it squished with my hands for a couple of minutes to warm it up a little with use the response was similar to the room temperature response but a little softer and a little faster (about 1 second). This would probably be similar to the firmness and response when you sleep on it.

  4. I then heated it up in front of a hot radiant space heater while I was squishing it for a couple of minutes and afterwards the response rate was even quicker and almost instant (less than 1/2 second) and it was noticeably softer yet.

  5. I then left it on the counter at room temperature for about 5 minutes or so with the occasional “squish” and the response was about the same as #3.

While this isn’t scientific it clearly shows that it has some temperature sensitivity but the firmness and response range seems to have less variance inside the temperatures that you would normally encounter when you are sleeping on it than it is at the more extreme ends of the temperature range.

Phoenix

Thanks Phoenix for your reply. Very comprehensive “non-scientific” testing. Sounds like an interesting product for those wanting some of the cradling of memory foam, without getting stuck in a hot rut, so to speak.