I have owned a queen-sized DreamFoam Mattress Ultimate Dreams 13-Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress with my boyfriend for a couple of years now and adore it. I will be moving by myself soon to finish graduate school, however, and I need to buy a new mattress. I may well own this new mattress only for 8 months before I have to re-sell it, but there is also a chance I could stay at the new place for a year or two. Since there’s a big likelihood that this will be a temporary situation, I can’t justify the $600+ to buy a new Ultimate Dreams 13-inch Gel.
I am considering the following mattresses, all of which are cheaper:
Ultimate Dreams Copper Gel Memory Foam Mattress
DynastyMattress New Cool Breeze 12-Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress
Sleep Innovations Shiloh 12" Memory Foam Mattress
Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel 13 Memory Foam Mattress
I spoke to Chuck at DreamFoam about the Ultimate Dreams Copper Gel, which has 3 inches of memory foam at 3.5 lb density. I haven’t been able to find the density for the others, but the Dynasty also has 3 inches memory foam, the Sleep Innovations has 2.5 inches, and the Brentwood has 3.5-inches.
One of my favorite things about the Ultimate Dreams 13’’ Gel is its softness. For reference, I am a side-sleeper, 5.4 ft, 130 lbs. Chuck tells me that the Copper Gel and the Dynasty will both be a bit firmer. If I want to purchase something in this price range seems that I will just have to compromise and get something a bit firmer, but I would appreciate your input if you guys know anything about these mattresses. I realize things like the “feel” of the mattress are subjective, but I would still welcome any comments and opinions about these mattresses. Because this will likely be a temporary mattress, I don’t mind about things like durability too much.
The Dynasty is very well rated in many of the reviews and blogs I’ve found online. I have been able to find shockingly little about the Copper Gel (perhaps it’s new?) although I trust DreamFoam.
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … It’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
If you are restricted by budget and there aren’t any mattresses available to you that meet the minimum durability guidelines here then I would use a minimum guideline of 3 lbs for memory foam and 1.5 lbs for polyfoam so in terms of durability the Dreamfoam Copper Gel mattress would make a suitable choice. I wouldn’t go lower than this because foam softening and breakdown may affect how well you sleep before 2 years.
Without knowing the density of the foam layers I can’t make any meaningful comments about the other mattresses you mentioned but if you can find out the information in this article about any of them I’d certainly be happy to make some comments about them
The copper gel is relatively new but if you know the density of the foam layers then it really doesn’t matter how new it is anyway since the density of the foam is the single biggest factor that will affect the durability and useful life of the mattress.
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 anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general 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. In many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general 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).
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
I would also make sure that you are comfortable with the options you have to exchange or return a mattress and any costs involved just in case your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for because I wouldn’t want to sleep poorly for 8 months - 2 years and the only way to know for certain how well you will sleep on any mattress will be based on your own experience.
Thank you very much for your reply, Phoenix. Just called DynastyMattress. The density of the 12 inch is 4 lbs.
I do realize I shouldn’t make a choice solely on what other people think about a mattress-- it’s a very personal choice. But considering that I won’t be able to try any of these mattresses and that it’s not necessarily easy to get information on them, I would welcome any knowledge that folks have about them. I will take it all with a grain of salt, of course.
You can see some comments about Dynasty in posts #3 and #4 here and a forum search on Dynasty (you can just click the link) will bring up more comments and information about them as well. I would also want to know the density of the two convoluted layers underneath the memory foam as well because convoluted layers can be less durable than solid layers of the same material (see post #2 here)
I would also keep in mind that there is always some additional risk and uncertainty involved in buying a mattress that is made in China or other imported mattresses that may be subject to longer periods of compression during shipping and storage that can sometimes affect the durability and useful life of the mattress (see post #6 here).
I would also put much more emphasis on the return policy of an online purchase (and the costs involved) so that you can decide on whether a mattress is a good “match” for you and how well you sleep on it based on your own experience rather than using other people’s experience that may be very different from your own.
The return policy for the Copper Gel is the 30 days given by Amazon; the return policy for the Dynasty is 120 days. The truth is that I don’t think the return policy matters for mattresses of this price ($349 approx). If I wanted to return the mattress, I would have to hire someone to help me take the mattress to a shipping store to return it and also cover the cost of shipping. Adding all of that up, I would likely have to pay close to the actual price of the mattress to return it. It would make more sense to re-sell it on Craigslist if it doesn’t suit my needs.
30 days is normally enough to decide if you are sleeping well on a mattress and I certainly wouldn’t keep a mattress that causes you pain or discomfort when you sleep on it unless it’s too firm in which case you can add a topper. There would be little “value” in buying a mattress that you don’t sleep well on regardless of the price or even if it was free.
The cost of returning a mattress may also play a role in your choice as well.
You can see the costs involved in returning an Amazon fulfilled mattress through their large items return department in post #11 here.
If the Dynasty mattress is fulfilled by Amazon then you would be subject to the Amazon return policy not the Dynasty return policy.
If you are buying a Dynasty mattress from their own site and you need to return it you can see the details of their return policy here. As you mentioned you would be responsible for the cost of return shipping and which could be several hundred dollars since you won’t be able to recompress the mattress and use a courier to return it so any returns would be with a common carrier which is much more costly.
You would be lucky to receive 50% of your purchase cost if you are re-selling a used mattress on Amazon.
That’s what I have, a 12 inch gel foam mattress and it is the best mattress I’ve ever slept on. Super supportive for my lower back issues and i can sleep in for hours without getting bed sores.