ttran, thought Iâd chime in not based on a huge background of mattress knowledge but because Iâve been in your shoes and wrote several of the companies you mentioned. Dynasty, Slumber Solutions, any of the Zinus brands (Night Therapy, BestPrice Mattress, Vivon, Spa Sensations), basically most of the Amazon listings and typical brands of lower cost âbed in a boxâ type mattresses from Overstock, Wayfair etc are similar. Theyâre a more affordable product and not necessarily bad but theyâre hard to filter through. Like Phoenix said, most of these use 3-3.5lb density mem foam. Some use 4lb or even 5lb, but thereâs different qualities of memory foam so one brands 5lb may not be all itsâ cracked up to be.
Itâs difficult to get the information out of them (I know from contacting Sleep Revolution and BestPrice Mattress, along with their parent company Zinus - and from my email correspondence with Linenspa). Poly foam density can give a better idea of general durability, but it canât tell how it feels or how firm it is. So itâs a chunk of the answer but not the whole thing. Trying to sort through the sales pitches can be a bear. They use terms like âairflowâ foam when more often than not itâs really eggcrate foam. How well it transfers or channels air through the middle of the mattress to keep people cool is debatable since when youâre laying on it, it mashes flat. Itâs not exactly a structural air duct inside with forced air flow. They promote huge warranties because the coverage is minimal and thereâs no comfort guarantee. Foam softening isnât covered. Significant body impressions arenât covered until theyâre beyond what most people would find tolerable. The biggest part of the problem is suitability and comfort since most canât be tried out even for a few minutes in a store.
In my own searches into mem foam mattresses, I started to get sucked into the sales hype. Some brands will say gee, why are you paying x amount for a mattress which is all poly foam with only a couple inches of memory on top? Our mattress xyz gives you a full 5" of the âgood stuffâ which makes them sound better. The problem with 5" of memory foam is the way memory foam acts. Itâs firm(er) (depending on ambient room temp etc) initially. Then when you lay on it, your body heat softens it giving the memory effect. It doesnât smash flat, so it has some support but will generally continue to sink during the 7, 8, 9hrs youâre asleep. That can end up being a deep cradle with risk of throwing the body out of alignment. Maybe not in the first hour or two, but maybe halfway through the night. More isnât always better.
I can relate a bit to what Phoenix is saying about the personal value and the risk involved. A family member of mine needed a new bed. Maybe it was beginners luck, maybe itâs because sheâs physically smaller than some (around 5ft, 125lbs). She got a Spa Sensations 12" mem foam from WalMart. It had great reviews and I didnât know what I do now from the months Iâve been a member of this forum. The mattress unpacked properly and swelled up to itsâ proper size (some donât fully expand). From the info I could get from Zinus, it uses 1.8lb density base foam in 2 different firmness layers and a 3rd layer of 3lb memory foam. Still nothing indicating firmness really and everyone has different ideals anyway. Initially it was quite firm on top, 7mo later and itâs a bit softer. This may be due to ambient temps, the difference between 65 degrees and 85-90 degrees (and yes the a/c is running lol). Luckily for her itâs working out great so far. She found good alignment and itâs comfy for her. I gave it a try since I needed a new bed also. It is comfy, in my opinion. However Iâm 5â6 and around 190. After laying on it for 20-30min, despite feeling it was comfortable I wasnât in alignment. I could feel my hips sinking laying on my side and back both. Had I based my decision off the trusted personal âreviewâ of a family member, I could very well have been disappointed. She wasnât trying to steer me wrong, weâre just very different in physical size and what does in fact work for her, didnât for me. Itâs not a bad mattress, itâs not uncomfortable - it just isnât supportive enough for me and therefor doesnât work. For 300-350 depending on sales for a queen, I really wanted to like it. Had I jumped the gun and bought it, I have a feeling I would have been disappointed and rather than saving a few hundred, I would have spent a few hundred on something that didnât work and had to start over. So far itâs only been 7mo so only time will tell how it continues to hold up for her.
Thatâs why someone canât tell you what a good mattress will be. They can only tell you what works for them and despite how trustworthy and sincere they are, what works for them just may not work for you. Which will pretty much be a risk for any online sight unseen purchase. If Phoenix or anyone else were to tell you hey, this a great mattress. It feels incredible⌠and you found out it wasnât comfortable for you or didnât work for you in terms of support (which no one can really know but your own testing), your disappointment will fall on whoever made the suggestion. Just like my family member had no way of knowing that what worked so well for her turned out to be wrong for me. It sounds vague or non committal and when weâre in need of a mattress we just want answers. The best mattress in theory of materials for durability performance, longevity etc could end up being your worst nightmare if itâs too firm/soft or if you sink too deeply and end up with restless sleep or back and neck stiffness. Because thereâs every body shape configuration and sleeping habit/position conceivable, thereâs no way to estimate how a mattress will work out. Whereas something like car tires, they know roughly the weight range of common vehicles, the forces applied during turning, the friction wear over similar road surfaces. With more stable âvariablesâ they can rely on, itâs much easier to say tire xyz is a 50k mile rated tire. The more constant and reliable the variables, the more consistent the outcome. Mattresses just donât work like that unfortunately.
If you are considering different mattress types (mem foam to latex), the often repeated advice is to try them in person if possible. I had to go several towns away to get to a mattress store and luckily they had latex beds to try. Iâm so glad I did because not being familiar with it, thereâs no way to âguessâ at what itâs like. That really is the best advice. Iâm still amazed how a small piece of latex 3" thick can be easily smashed flat under my hand. Sitting on a âtest blockâ 16x16" by 6" thick, it disappeared beneath me and I thought no way will this work. Laid down on 6" thick in a twin size and felt like being on a pool float riding on top of the water. Had I bought blind, Iâm sure I would have gone way too firm for my liking. Itâs like trying to describe âsilly puttyâ to someone whoâs never seen it, trying to tell them if you pull it slow it stretches - if you pull it fast it will break and snap - you can roll it in a ball, roll it paper thin, press it on a newspaper and it will peel up with a copy of the image on it. No way to really grasp how it can be all those things.