Healthcare Ultimate Comfort Memory Foam Mattress

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hello all.

Just joined the forum and wanted to throw my experience, so far, on the new Healthcare Ultimate Comfort Memory Foam Mattress we just purchased.

Background:
I’m 5’4", 170 lbs, 53 yrs old, a few injuries but none that bother me and no history of back problems. Back and side sleeper, no stomach sleep at all. Semi-athletic but declining in my activities. Small beer belly, battling that constantly. Computer worker, so I sit around 8 hrs a day, (sentient job). No major health issue other than GERD, (acid reflux, occasionally, nore on that later)

Wife is, about same height, 145 lbs. 52 yrs old. No health issues, No back issues. Stomach and side sleeper. Also a computer worker, sentient. Need to mention she holds more knowledge that Wiki, but can’t seem to stop damaging cars.

Was using a Cal King Serta iComfort memory foam, firm mattress that had broken down. Still comfortable to initially fall asleep but awoke with a stiff back every morning. I think the internal base foam had failed. Rotated several times but it was done. Tried toppers but since the foundation was gone, the surface treatment had no effect.

Ran to our local furniture store and purchased an $1989.00 Aireloom internal spring, mattress, Queen size (mistake). Firm model. Included the matching boxspring and “certified” mattress cover that was needed for the 10 warranty condition. ($129 itself.
I was afraid of the top layer breaking down prematurely before the springs gave out but was told this model “pre-compresses” and stitches the foam so it won’t.
First week was good. comfort ok and I was getting used to the smaller Queen size. (not bumping wife in the face with my elbows)
Second week the firmness really started to come through. Less sleep every night. Tried throwing my 2.5" gel/foam topper on it for some relief. Bad idea. Back ache and wife complained about the heat retention.
Third week was tossing all night.Little sleep.Made the decision to take this back. Furniture store allowed for a one-time re-selection credit.

Bought a Healthcare Ultimate Comfort Memory Foam CalKing mattress and box spring set with the neato mattress cover again. Total was $1140, so we have a store credit. Initial impression was it felt really nice. The density felt very supportive and the sales illustration showed multiple layer construction. The sales lady said she has not had any returns on these. I’ve dealt with this store for many years and haven’t been let down or mislead so I trust her commentary.
The sales pitch was quality foams without the premium name brand price. 10 yr warranty.
What the hell. I bought it.
I figured if I got good rest for 3-5 yrs, I could spend a grad for that. Then buy something new again for another $1000.

Got home and researched the company, no reviews on it or other bed/sleep forums. Definitely backwards but I was exasperated and wanted immediate relief.

Found a couple of posts on the Healthcare company foam on this forum, so I joined it.

Mattress came compressed and rolled up in a vacuum sealed bag. Weighed about 180 lbs. Opened the bag and let it expand for about 5 hrs before the first night. 11 inches high. The zip-off cover top is heavy and thick with a nice quilted design. It is pretty snug fitting after it’s done expanding and I would hate to consider putting it back on if I ever had to wash it. If that expensive mattress-protective cover does it’s job it’s worth it.

First night was a shock as my body was getting used to the new mattress. Woke up with a small stiffness. wife woke up with complaints of a stiff back.
Second night (last night) was better. She had less back stiffness, same as me.
It was also the first night of my Jawbone UP3 fitness/sleep tracker. I was surprised and how little amount of deep sleep I registered ( 18 minutes ) and just over an hour of REM sleep. the rest was light sleep with 6 episodes of wake throughout the night.
My goal is to work on getting some daily excercise and exertion throughout the day and increase my deep sleep times. Also work on not having a few alcohol drinks late in the evening, as this interrupts sleep patterns as well.

Also will look into a possible full mattress bed wedge that will elevate head and torso to prevent bouts of acid reflux.

I’ll continue to post my observations as I go through the break-in process.
Hope this helps someone in the same boat.

Forgot to mention, I dont’ know the ILD rating of the mattress, nor can I find any on their website.

This is a great site. Very informative folks.

2

Hi shortnugly,

Thanks for taking the time to share your comments and feedback but for the sake of other members that read it I would be very cautious about buying the same mattress … or any mattress where you don’t know the quality/density of the foam layers (see the guidelines here).

While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would always keep in mind that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general (with or without videos) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because most consumers have little knowledge about mattresses and mattress materials or how to assess the quality of the materials in a mattress and any mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews in general certainly won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).

What you would be “feeling” would be the firmness of the layers which has little to nothing to do with the density of the foam layers. While density is the single biggest factor that affects the durability of a foam material … any density of foam can be formulated in a wide range of firmness levels.

While nobody can speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of PPP (Posture and alignmentthe most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the quality/durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.

[quote]The sales pitch was quality foams without the premium name brand price. 10 yr warranty.
What the hell. I bought it.[/quote]

Without knowing the density of any memory foam or polyfoam layers … “quality foams” is just a sales pitch without any substance or meaning.

While knowing the “quality specs” of a mattress that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress is an important part of making an informed choice … knowing the “comfort specs” of a local mattress that you can test and feel in person isn’t important or even meaningful because with careful testing your body will tell you what you need to know about whether the mattress is “comfortable” and is a good match for you in terms of PPP regardless of whether you know the ILD of any of the foam layers.

Phoenix

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I submitted this very unscientific and very ‘seat-of-the-pants’ accounting of my experience in hopes that someone else may take this information and factor it into a similar experience or discard it altogether. Freedom of choice. I was hoping to add to this entry as my experience on this mattress progresses.

I’m not selling or recommending this mattress, just relayed what factors went into my buying experience.
Who knows? after a week I might be hating this latest purchase.

“and I would be cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general (with or without videos) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you”

isn’t that the whole point of this forum? or other persons’ reviews?

I can appreciate your vast knowledge of mattress construction and have learned a lot from your previous post on Healthcare foam quality.

link to healthcare foam value

I know nothing about mattresses but simply wanted to share.

Might be nice if you allowed more open discussion on people’s opinions without conditions of a research-based format.

Just a thought. :wink:

4

Hi shortnugly,

No … the reason that I started the site was to help educate people about “how” to choose a mattress based on more objective criteria and it was never intended to be a review site (there isn’t even a separate section for reviews) .

While I certainly welcome hearing about other people’s experience because it’s always nice to see how well a mattress that someone chose worked out for them (at least in the very short term) … reviews certainly don’t tell you anything about whether a mattress that one person loves will even be suitable for someone else to sleep on or about the quality and durability of a mattress or help a consumer make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses.

Since all the feedback about any specific mattress is mixed inside many different forum posts … forum searches for any particular mattress will also bring up more information in the search results than just “reviews” that are much a more objective, quantifiable, and meaningful method of research because reading reviews is very different and much less reliable than more legitimate forms of research based on an understanding that each person’s needs and preferences are unique and with a much larger focus on the quality and durability of the components in a mattress along with all the other parts of each person’s personal value equation that are most important to them (that they may not otherwise pay much attention to). In other words … reading reviews is very different from actual “mattress research” and is among the least reliable ways to choose a mattress.

Basing your choice of a mattress on reviews would be something like basing your food choices on other people’s food preferences (that are mostly based on taste) that have little knowledge about the nutritional value of food or how to maintain a balanced and healthy diet and would lead to some very poor quality and unhealthy diets :slight_smile:

All that most consumers know about the mattress they purchased would be how the mattress “feels” to them (which may be very different from how a mattress feels to someone else with a different body type, sleeping style, or personal preferences or sensitivities) and how much they paid for it.

Phoenix