We have a nice hybrid mattress from Arizona Premium Mattress. We like the mattress very much and I recommend it given its comfort and value. However, my wife sleeps cold and has felt colder on this mattress. We have a cotton/wool mattress protector on it, but that is not helping much.
So, I would love to get her a 2-3" topper made of wool or down for Christmas, but I have no idea which topper might provide more warmth, as well as a luxurious feel. She is fond of her down comforter, so I am leaning towards a featherbed, such as those offered by cuddledown.com.
However, its not really possible to try out a topper for 30-60 days like a mattress so I am wary of pulling the plug on a $800 topper whether it be down or wool.
Please help me find a good topper. Any suggestions on the kind of topper, as well as a manufacturer or retailer is appreciated. Thanks.
There is more information about choosing a topper in post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to, and there are some topper guidelines in post #8 here that you can also use.
In case you haven’t already seen it, there’s more detail about featherbeds in this post. Featherbeds can be any combination of feathers and down, and depending upon the fill power, fill weight, and feather/down ratio, the comfort (and insulating factor) of the topper can be varied. This can add a small amount of warmth and extra surface plushness, and indeed you would want to “fluff up” the product frequently, and even rehydrate the down over time.
The type of breed used for the raw wool and the thickness and resilience of the wool fibers, the compression of the wool batts, the tufting or quilting of the topper, and the overall construction and layering of the topper along with the amount of wool inside will all affect the feel and performance of the wool topper, so I would suggest a conversation with any retailer or manufacturer you are considering to talk about a specific topper (wool or down) if you aren’t familiar with a specific topper. There is also more about wool toppers with some sources in post #3 here. Also look in post #8 here. Wool is among the best temperature regulating materials, but keep in mind that it regulates temperature in both directions (it’s used in the desert and also in cold climates because of this) so while it may not feel “cool” … it generally doesn’t feel “hot” either, but in thicker layers and higher concentrations it can have a more insulative impact. It also helps to regulate moisture and reduce the perception of temperature that comes from higher humidity levels (similar to how temperatures feel cooler on less humid days than they do on more humid days).
Overall, I don’t keep a detailed listing of all the suppliers of various types of toppers, as that would be much too large of a task to maintain in an ever-changing environment. But hopefully some of the information and links to various providers I’ve provided will help to give you a good start.
I’ll throw in my two cents here for your consideration, as I’ve had extensive experiences with both materials. But as they say, your mileage may vary. :lol:
I currently have a plush all-Talalay bed configuration. My topper uses a covering quilted to a thin layer of wool. On top of this is a 2" baffled wool topper. Between my mattress pad (a very thin polyurethane film mattress protector) and fitted sheet, I don’t notice too much of a temperature difference with or without the wool topper. Localized I can say there may be a “slight” increase in warmth, but I find that this heat is distributed very well by the wool. If I had a thicker 3" wool topper, or one that had a higher ounce fill, I might notice a larger difference in temperature. And, as a side note, I tend to sleep hot, so I’m quite temperature sensitive.
Now, back in the day, I was an amateur athlete and lived in Lake Placid. It gets very cold there, and in one of the boarding homes I stayed at they had basic firm innerspring mattresses, but they had down comforters that we used to keep warm. I can’t speak to the fill power, fill weight or feather/down ratio of these (here’s a good article about that), but I can tell you that we slept in a room that was quite cool and with these particular down comforters I slept very warm. Even through nights that were -30 outside and probably in the low 50s in the room. I’m guessing these were a better fill power, and the fill weight was higher, as I remember helping change the linens there and changing out the cover on the comforters (they were from Innsbruck, but I don’t remember the store).
I know your request was for information about a topper, and my experience with the down was with a comforter, but I wanted to include that as reminder that what you cover yourself with can also have a dramatic impact upon your sleeping temperature.