Dream Foam vs. Lucid Mattress vs. other options

[phoenix]

Hi DarklyDreaming,

I had finally settled on a 14" four-layer plush mattress from Lucid when I stumbled across this forum. After doing (a lot! thanks, Phoenix!) of reading, I see that would have been a bad idea. I did some reading, some price comparison, etc.

You’ve probably read some of these but as you know I would be cautious about Lucid and I would read post #6 here and post #2 here along with this topic and the posts they link to before considering them. A forum search on Lucid (you can just click the link) will also bring up more information about them as well.

Based on this, and some communication with the company, I think I have settled on the 13" gel-foam mattress from Dream Foam. I’ve had some trouble searching these forums for info on them (I think because both words appear so much and some say “dream foam” others DreamFoam…)

A forum search on ultimate dreams 13 gel memory foam or on dreamfoam 13 gel memory foam (you can just click the links) will bring up most of the forum posts with comments and feedback about it (without including too many posts about other mattresses).

There is also more about the most important parts of the value of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses but it really boils down to …

1. Your confidence that a mattress is suitable for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and your recourse if it isn’t.
2. Checking to make sure that a mattress uses good quality and durable materials that are suitable for your body type.
3. Making good quality/value comparisons between your finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

While the Ultimate Dreams 13" gel memory foam mattress would certainly be a great quality/value choice for most people that are in average weight ranges (lower 200’s or less) … you are also “on the edge” of a weight range where I would be cautious about softer mattresses and I would also tend to reduce or minimize the use of 4 lb memory foam as well because they will tend to be less durable for those that are in higher weight ranges regardless of the manufacturer that uses them.

The mattress is similar to the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe in terms of softness so I would first make sure that you have carefully tested the Cloud Luxe to confirm that it isn’t too soft for you in terms of PPP (you can use the testing guidelines in the mattress shopping tutorial for this).

It also uses 3" of 4 lb memory foam and I would be cautious about this as well with your weight (see the foam density guidelines here). The same cautions would also include the much more costly Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe as well which uses 3.5" of 4 lb memory foam.

If you have confirmed that the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe isn’t too soft for you (which would give you a good reference point for the Ultimate Dreams 13" gel memory foam mattress), and you are OK with the possibility of a shorter useful life than would be the case for others that are in a lower weight range, then it would certainly be well worth considering and would be a great “value” purchase compared to many other mattresses that use the same or even lower quality/density materials but are in much higher budget ranges.

Phoenix