Hi BGarfield,
I agree with you about the value of ventilation in a mattress and of course bedding material (see post #2 here and post #29 here about temperature regulation) and this is the “primary” cooling technology which is the most long lasting over the course of the night IMO … but having said that there are some benefits of either thermally conductive gel or phase change gels that can provide some cooling benefits in a different ways. There is a bit more about the three main cooling technologies and their pros and cons and limitations at the end of post #4 here.
Accurate technical data about gel materials is difficult to find and in the current overall environment there is more marketing material available (which can be very misleading) and more “gel hype” than there is technical or specific information but there are some benefits of using gel in foam materials that can improve some of the inherent weaknesses of some foam or memory foam formulations. besides any cooling benefits … this includes gel’s ability to improve the creep properties of memory foam and increase the compression modulus both of which together can improve the tendency of memory foam to continue sinking in over the course of the night.
This particular mattress is using some of the most advanced gel memory foams available on the market.
I am working on an article that will cover gel materials more completely and have talked with many people who are knowledgeable about foam chemistry and the properties of the different types and generations of gel materials that are reaching the market but post #8 here has some preliminary information and links to other posts that can provide a fairly good overview on gel materials or gel memory foam.
Phoenix