Ecogel vs Ultimate Dreams vs Aloe Adelle

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I have been looking into buying a new mattress for the last month or two. I started out looking at a local furniture store and really liking the tempur pedic cloud luxe but I just couldn’t justify spending 5K on a bed. So I started doing research online and I have now learned more then I really wanted to know about mattresses. With the help of this site and others I have learned how much the name brand mattresses are marked up and how inferior they are made. I came across the beducation videos and learned that the store they are from “mattress to go” is just a few miles away from where I live. I visited Jeff and was all set to purchase the Ecogel Blue Heaven but wanted to give it some thought before I buy. That is when I visited this forum and found Brooklyn Bedding and Dreamfoam. Now I feel like I am standing on a three sided fence and I need I little push to figure out witch mattress to purchase. I am hoping Phoenix and other members here can help educate me and help me determine the best fit for me.

The three mattresses I am trying to decide between are listed below. I am 6’3" and about 200 lb my wife is 5’10" and about 140lbs. We are both side sleepers and we are both tired of waking up with hip and lower back pain from out 10 year old spring mattress. The three mattresses I am trying to decide between are listed below. I have some concerns about each one and I am having a hard time trying to decide which one to try.

Dreamfoam Ultimate Dreams 13" Gel Memory Foam Mattress
https://www.amazon.com/DreamFoam-Mattress-Ultimate-Dreams-13-Inch/dp/B0092UCN0Y
3" of 4lb gel memory foam, 2" of 5lb memory foam, 8" base of premium base foam

Brooklyn Bedding 14" Aloe Adelle
http://www.brooklynbedding.com/memory-foam-mattresses/14-inch-aloe-memory-foam-mattress
3" of 4lb gel memory foam, 3" of Talalay latex and 7" of 2.17lb HD Omalon foam core

Therapedic Ecogel Memory Foam Blue Heaven
https://www.matt-to-go.com/Blue_Heaven.html
2" 5 lb. 15 IFD High-Support Open-Cell Memory Foam, DynaFlow Airlock System, 2" 4 lb. 12 IFD EcoGel Second Generation Gel Polymer Infused Memory Foam, 2" 24 ILD, 5.5 lb. Conform Talalay Latex, Non-Toxic Flame Retardant SafeGuard™ Fiber. 1" 2.0 lb. 18 IFD Latex-Enhanced Support Layer. Core: 6" Heavy Density 1.8 lb. Perfect Form Support Soy-Infused Core.

The Blue Heaven I was able to try out at Mattress to Go and it seemed a little firmer then other foam mattress I have tried. It is sold from a local store but does not have an exchange or trial period. I am also not sure if the multiple layers are better then just a couple of layers of foam in these other mattresses. The Ulitmate Dreams I found in this forum and it seems to have many good reviews written about it. But this one does not have any trial period either. This bothers me since I am unable to try it out and see how it feels before I buy. I have tried the tempur pedic cloud luxe at the local store and I really liked it and this mattress from what I have read is close to the same feel but maybe a little firmer. And finally the Aloe Adelle which I am not able to try out either but it does have a 120 day trial period. I also think the interchangeable layers are a unique feature but I’m not sure how practical they are or how much they actually will be changed. This mattress seems to be the biggest gamble since I have nothing to compare it to like I do with the Ultimate Dreams.

So I think it may come down to the quality of each mattress. Which one of these mattresses are a better quality construction and which uses better foam? I’m thinking the Ecogel may be better made since the foam is infused with gel but I may be off in left field some where and that is why I need your help. Can you help outline the strengths and weaknesses of each mattress listed or even recommend another choice if these one are not of good quality? How long should I expect these mattresses to last? Is the Ecogel really worth twice as much as the Ultimate Dreams and fifty percent more then the Aloe Adelle? The engineer in me is starting to take over and this search for a new mattress is starting to turn into what is feeling like a second job. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

Hi cartman,

None of your questions have any “absolute” or definitive answers because there are too many variables involved and all of these mattresses are “apples to oranges” comparisons. There is also no formula that can predict which mattress may provide you with the best pressure relief or support that is more accurate than your own personal experience. I would also question the real life benefits of this type of detailed “engineering analysis” when it won’t answer the real question which is which mattress will provide the best PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) over the short and long term. The choice between them would be more about your personal preferences, your confidence that one will be more or less suitable for you, your options if it’s not, and on all the other factors, tradeoffs, and benefits that are part of each person’s personal value equation that that are most important to them.

My role is to help eliminate the worst choices and help you reach a point where your final choices are between “good and good” and you have reached this point. Beyond this my job is to step out of the way and give you some guidelines about how to choose rather than “what” to choose or the type of technical analysis that would take many hours of analysis and thought with very few real life benefits. You are really past the point of “better and worse” because none of the mattresses you are looking at have any weak links in terms of quality and durability would not be a significant issue with any of them. Durability is also relative to each person because long before foam or other components break down completely they will soften or degrade to the point where the mattress may no longer be suitable or keep you in your “range” of needs and preferences when it would still work perfectly well for someone else for many more years (see post #3 here for more about relative durability). If for example you choose a mattress that is “on the edge” of being too soft in either the comfort or support layers then even a relatively small amount of softening may put you over your line while someone else would still be fine. In other words … your comfort choice will play as big a role in the durability of a mattress and how long it may last for you as the quality of the materials.

If you are looking for the most durable materials and this is the most important factor for you then latex would be on top followed by 5 lb or higher memory foam but this doesn’t take into account what is above and below each layer or whether the most durable material or the design of the mattress will be suitable for your comfort or support needs and other preferences.

In other words … final choices are more about preferences and tradeoffs and your confidence that a mattress will be suitable for you in both the short and long term (or if its not how close it is and what your “fine tuning” options are from that point). Local testing that is done objectively and accurately has the best odds of success (as long as you aren’t just testing for “subjective comfort”) or of making an initial choice that is “close” enough that fine tuning will take you the rest of the way there but some of the online choices also have the option of making comfort or support changes based on your own personal experience which of course lowers the risk involved with an online purchase that makes these options available.

Again … the only “better or worse” is the degree to which a mattress provides you with the PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) that you need and of course knowing the quality of the materials so you have a reasonable assurance that the PPP you need and prefer will last (which you do). Only you can know whether a mattress “works” for you because there is no formula that can accurately predict this that is more accurate than your own experience.

The differences in material type in all these mattresses is also a matter of preference not “better or worse”. Latex, memory foam, and combinations of the two all have a very different “feel” and performance but one is not better than another even though many people may strongly prefer one over the other or even though one may be more durable than another.

Perhaps most of all though … I would keep in mind that when you look back on your mattress purchase the thing you will remember most is how well you slept (or didn’t) over the years no matter how important the other factors are when you are making your purchase.

Once you are down to final choices … technical analysis plays a very secondary role to your needs and preferences and your own confidence that your final choice will be the best match for your personal value equation.

As you can see in post #2 here questions about “which is better” or “which would be my best choice” are among the most common questions on the forum but are also the ones that nobody else can answer with any specificity beyond pointing out any weak links to eliminate and making sure that each person is taking all the many objective, subjective, and intangible factors into account that may be important to them initially or over long term use.

With the choices you have available … it would be difficult to make a “mistake” in terms of quality or value and the only real way to answer which is 'best" for you is to ask yourself which one you believe has the best chance of providing you with all your needs and preferences that are the most important to you in both the short and long term (see post #2 here).

Phoenix

3

Thanks Phoenix for all the information and expertise you have supplied. It has been very helpful in the search for a new mattress. I was all ready to purchase the ultimate dreams 13" gel memory foam mattress from amazon until I found out that the base was made of 1.5lb foam. Now it makes me question if this is still the right choice for me.

It seems that the ultimate dreams gel is still a great value but the choice between it and the ecogel blue heaven is not as clear cut as I once thought. Now I am back to wrestling between these two mattresses. It is a decision I have to make and hopefully I will decide soon on one of them.

I’m thinking, it may not be correct but it is what I’m thinking, that the ecolgel has the edge in quality materials since it has 7" layer of foam on top of its 6" 1.8lb base foam compared to the ultimate dreams that has 5" of foam on top of 8" 1.5lb base foam. I like the feel of both but the ecogel feels a little firmer and the tepurpedic luxe that I have tried which is similar to the ultimate dreams has a softer and more of a sleeping on a cloud like feel. I think I prefer the temurpedic feel. Also the ultimate dreams is $1400 less than the ecogel but I think I my get a few more years of use out of the ecogel due to the quality of materials. So I am trying to decide if this increase in price is justified by the increase in quality. I know that the feel and the best PPP is a big deciding factor but the difference in price seems to be to great to ignore.

I am leaning toward the ultimate dreams right now but I have been going back and forth between the two for the past couple of days. I am hoping by this weekend I will make a decision and pull the trigger on one of the two mattresses. Thanks again for all your help Phoenix and feel free to chime in if you have any advice in deciding between these two mattresses. I’ll let you know which one I decide to go with once I make a decision.

4

cartman if you think a memory foam mattress is too firm make sure you spend enough time laying on it. memory foam reacts to heat so it will soften up once you warm it up with your body.

i frankly doubt memory foam can be too firm - i think it can only be too thin - but i may be wrong.

latex certainly can be too firm however.

also don’t think of value in terms of price you pay versus cost of materials. think of value in terms of price you pay versus quality of sleep. if somebody sells you a pure latex mattress for less than the cost of the latex itself it can still be a bad value if you can’t sleep on it. of course you want materials that will last at least a few years, but beyond that it doesn’t matter how fancy they are as long as you’re comfortable.

spend as much time actually laying on mattresses as you do reading about them - yes people will give you weird looks when you’ve been on the same mattress for half an hour but it’s still better than waking up with pain. i discovered that even with an instant foam like latex my impression of the mattress changed dramatically after i spent time laying on it as opposed to just briefly - with memory foam the difference should be much greater.

5

g1981c

Thanks for the comments and I will certainly take them under consideration when deciding which mattress to choose. I may not have been clear on what I was trying to say, it was early this Moring when I typed up the post. I was trying to say that the ecogel mattress felt firmer then the tempurpedic cloud luxe. I wasn’t trying to say the mattress was firm it just might have come across that way. Sorry for the confusion. I noticed that the ecogel had a 2" layer of latex on top so that might be why it seemed a little firmer then the luxe.

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Hi cartman311,

I think g1981c’s comments are good ones. It can be tempting to make choices based on the “commodity value” of a mattress (or other types of "technical analysis) which of course can play an important role but there are just as many other factors that are just as important in a final choice.

Just to throw another worm into the mix since you are considering a latex/memory foam hybrid … you may also want to consider the Brooklyn Bedding Aloe Adele which has 3" of memory foam, 3" of latex (both interchangeable), and 7" of 2.17 lb base foam.

Phoenix

7

Greets, I’m in nearly the same boat as cartman311.

I visited a few mattress stores, from local to big-names, and had settled on the Therapedic Ecogel Blue as my “local, tested, and certified pretty-green” mattress. The Ultimate Dreams 13" Gel Memory Foam was my “online, untested, and probably not-as-green” mattress.

I’m about to go back to Macy’s and try the Cloud Luxe one more time. For now, I’m leaning towards the Ultimate Dreams because it’s a bit less than half the cost of the Ecogel.

I’m mostly just relating my situation here for posterity - Phoenix, your posts have been invaluably informative. I’m glad to have found this community before ordering anything!

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Hi heytonytony,

I’m glad the site was able to help you :slight_smile:

You are in the good position that you have eliminated your worst choices and are choosing between all good ones. While I and almost every member here knows from personal experience how difficult it can be to try and take into account all the objective, subjective, and intangible factors that are part of getting down to one (it took me weeks to make my final choices between my finalists) … at least you are in a position where it would be difficult to make a “mistake” in quality and value terms … unlike the majority of consumers who at this point are busy trying to decide between a Sealy and a Simmons or other major brands which are all poor value :slight_smile:

Phoenix

9

Well I pulled the trigger last night and ordered the ultimate dreams 13" gel from Amazon. Should be here sometime this weekend. I’ll post how I feel about it once I sleep on it for a night or two. Maybe that will help you out with your decision heyytonytony.

10

Fantastic!

I’ll likely jump in soon as well - maybe even before your’s arrives :stuck_out_tongue: After doing a spot more research and laying on the Cloud Luxe (and other memoryfoam/gel construction mattresses), I think the Dreamfoam mattress should be fine for me. For the environmentally conscious, Brooklyn Bedding’s website also states they strive for green practices, which is as much as the Therapedic franchisee in my area can say about the Ecogel. The only (possible) issue that still exists is “buying local” - I’m pull the “I’m new here” card for now, I suppose.

I wonder if the “2 latex pillows for liking us on Facebook!” thing with Brooklyn Bedding applies to their dreamfoam line as well? :cheer:

Thanks again!

11

Hi heytonytony,

I think this is about which parts of your personal value equation are most important to you and on your risk tolerance for buying a mattress that you haven’t tried and tested in person. Of course the risk is slightly lower because you have a similar “model” that you can try locally but it’s always worth asking the question … if this mattresses isn’t quite right … what recourse do I have? If objective and “accurate” testing has given you confidence that a mattress you are considering is close to your “ideal” … then this could just be a matter of fine tuning with a topper, a mattress pad, or even different types of mattress protectors. If it is a matter that involves more than just “fine tuning” … then other options may become more important.

No … only to the mattresses on their Brooklyn Bedding page.

Phoenix

12

Very well put, Phoenix.

All things considered, the dreamfoam seems to be the best route to take.

cartman311, did you buy from Amazon or Dreamfoam Bedding (the “sold by:”)? Apart from the difference in price, I’m curious if buying straight from Dreamfoam Bedding gives me more options. I’ll give them a call in the morning, actually.

Congratulations to the both of us!

13

I ordered the one sold by Amazon. I did this since they have a 30 day return policy. I even contacted Amazon to confirm that the mattress could be returned. They said it could and the return shipping would be free if there was an issue with the mattress but I it was something like I don’t care for the color then I would have to pay for shipping, approximately $100. I even had them send me a copy of my conversation with them in case they change their story. If you don’t order from Amazon (shipped by Amazon) call Brooklyn Bedding and let them know your a member here and they will send you a pillow for free. I chose the 30 day return policy over the pillow in case I had issues sleeping on the mattress.

14

Thanks for relaying your experience, cartman311. I’ll likely do the same in a bit. woo excitement!

15

Hi heytonytony,

I would be a little careful with this. When the mattress is shipped it is compressed so it can ship UPS but if you ship it back it will need to be returned with their large item service which is truck shipping and much more costly. Sometimes in my experience the amazon rep will only look at the way it was shipped originally and not realize that if it needs to be returned the shipping method will change and it may be more costly. If you want to make sure of this then I would make sure you talked with their “large items” department which is a different department from their normal returns … just to be on the safe side. See post #11 here.

Phoenix

16

+1 on being in the same boat between these options. I was sold on all-latex but my wife’s preference in the stores is clearly on memory foam. Her arthritic hips feel no pressure on the foam; latex just doesn’t conform enough for her. However, she won’t lay on them for more than 5 minutes in the store so I’m dreading getting one of these home and her hating the heat factor. (She’s also at that point in her life where nighttime heat is very bad… We have full blast ceiling fans on in dead of winter when it’s below freezing outside!)

So, you guys that ordered, hoping to hear your experiences with either of these, especially any thoughts on heat?

17

Hi BmoreE,

Hopefully some of the members here will reply but in the meantime you can also read more in post #2 here about the many different factors that combine together in a mattress and the bedding you choose that will affect temperature regulation.

Phoenix

18

Greets BmoreE

Mine just arrived this afternoon. I’m in the process of wrestling it out of the vacuum packaging, I hope to have a report by Friday. For reference, the nighttime temperature in my area is currently between 5 to 10°C, with 60%s humidity or higher when it rains. Getting warmer again this week, though.

Until then, have you seen this topic?https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/ultimate-dreams-13q-gel-memory-foam-mattress-first-impressions

19

Hi BmorE

I revived my mattress over the weekend so I have had a few nights sleep on it. I haven’t posted anything yet since I originally thought that the mattress was giving me a slight lower back pain but it just hit me yesterday that my back pain doesn’t have anything to do with sleeping on the mattress. It was caused by carrying the king size mattress up a flight of stairs into my bedroom, it sucks getting old.

I am very happy with the mattress and I am glad I decided to order it. I was very hesitant about ordering a mattress online and I am glad I took the chance. The last few nights I have noticed that I wake up in the morning without any aches or pains. Before my bones would ache when I woke up but I don’t have that feeling on this mattress. My wife has also notice the same thing.

This mattress does feel like a temurpedic mattress but I don’t think it feels like the cloud luxe. This mattress is firmer then the luxe just as all the reviews have pointed out. I haven’t noticed any issues with sleeping hot on this mattress. I would wake up once in a while before dripping in sweet but I have not waken up hot with this mattress. I would say that it is about the same as the spring mattress I had before. Neither hooter nor cooler. I do have a mattress protector on it so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.

This mattress is a keeper and the only regret I have is that it took me this long to order it

20

Hi cartman311,

Thanks for the update and feedback … I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Phoenix