Looking for a Cloud Luxe equivalent

My husband has a lot of back pain and when we went to a store he liked the Cloud Luxe best. We ended up getting the Cloud Supreme for budget reasons but during the 30-day trial period I did more research and realized that there were better-value options out there! We are working on returning the Cloud Supreme right now and trying to choose our replacement.

We have a queen wood frame we want to keep. I like Brooklyn Bedding prices, and I’ve narrowed it down to the latex Aloe Alexis in comfort level 8 ($1400) and the memory foam Cool Luxe ($1300). I have heard that latex is more durable in the long run, and I also like the fact that with the Aloe Alexis, if the comfort levels ‘wear out’ in 10 years we can replace them without getting a whole new mattress. On the other hand, Mario at BB says that there is no difference between the durability of latex and memory foam, which seems a bit sketchy to me. Also, he said that the Aloe Alexis would have a similarly soft ‘feel’ to the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe (since it has the two comfort layers on top of the support layer, rather than just one like Tempurpedic’s Cloud Supreme or BB’s Bamboo Bliss), but I’m worried because we haven’t had a chance to try out an all-latex mattress in person yet. I assume it will be fine, since they are both foam and I am not picky about the exact feel, but my husband is the one with back pain. (He says he trusts whatever I pick, though.)

For budget purposes, I am also considering the Dreamfoam Ultimate Dreams Eurotop ($900) and the Ultimate Dreams Ultra Plush ($600), each in a level 8 softness. However, there are some bad reviews especially on the Ultra Plush that the support layer gives way after less than a year. Durability is a big part of my budget/value equation, so I’m concerned about that.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

(P.S. We will need a new foundation, and I’ve narrowed it down to the Ikea Sultan Aram and this one on Amazon. Thoughts on these would be good as well! https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Fully-Assembled-Mattress-Foundation/dp/B00DGAZRCM/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t $200)

Hi collation,

There are three main types of “foam” (polyfoam, memory foam, and latex) and they are all very different from each other. Both polyfoam and latex are resilient foams and memory foam has little to no resilience at all and is almost the “opposite” of the other two.

All of them come in a range of softness/firmness levels but latex and polyfoam respond directly to compression while memory foam responds to heat, humidity, time of compression and its softness and firmness changes with different circumstances and conditiions. You can read a little more about the differences between memory foam and latex in post #2 here.

Softness and firmness is also subjective and perceived in different ways by different people. There is more about the different types of softness (“feel” softness, surface softness, pressure relief softness, support softness) in post #15 here.

Before you purchase a mattress with a material that you aren’t familiar with it’s probably a good idea to do some local testing with mattresses that use the same material. While the design of the local mattress may not be the same so that the mattress may still be very different in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) … at least you would have a better idea of whether you like the general characteristics and response of the material itself.

For someone with back pain the suitability of the specific design of the mattress is more important than the materials that are used. The goal is to make sure a mattress allows you to sleep in good alignment in all your sleeping positions and of course one of the benefits of a mattress like the Aloe Alexis is that you can customize the mattress after a purchase (either by re-arranging or exchanging a layer) if your sleeping experience indicates that you need to make changes to pressure relief or alignment.

Both memory foam and latex can be very durable although I would give the overall advantage to most latex compared to most memory foam. The single biggest factor in the durability of memory foam is density and while all latex is a durable material … the type and softness of latex can make a difference in its durability. There is more about the many factors that can affect the relative durability of a mattress and it’s useful life relative to each person in post #4 here.

I personally don’t believe that the support layers are “giving way” after a year and if this was true then they would replace it under the warranty.

For heavier people though that “go through” the latex layers and compress the support layers more and where they were already on the edge of having a mattress that was too soft for them then foam softening of the base layer may be the cause of what they are describing and for heavier people that sink into the mattress more deeply a higher density support core would be well worth considering.

My first suggestion for anyone is to make sure you’ve read post #1 here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choices. If you have specific questions along the way I’d certainly be happy to answer them as well.

As you may know Dreamfoam is one of the members of this site which means I think very highly of them and they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of quality and value.

You can read more about foundations and box springs in the foundation post here and the other posts it links to. The Simple life foundation certainly looks strong enough but it also has wider gaps in between the wires which for some mattresses or more elastic materials could allow the foam to impress into the gaps over time. You can read more about wire grid types of foundations in post #10 here.

The Ikea website doesn’t give any details of the top surface of the Sultan Aram foundation that would be supporting the mattress, the distance between the slats, and appears to use cardboard on top (which would reduce ventilation under the mattress). I would want to know more information about it before I could make any meaningful comments.

Phoenix

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I figured the quality of the layers was more important than the specific composition, and my husband did like the latex topper he tried once, so I feel that either memory foam or latex could be a good choice. But I will definitely try to find an all-latex one locally for him to try.

Specific question about the Dreamfoam Ultimate Dreams support layers: you said that “for heavier people that sink into the mattress more deeply a higher density support core would be well worth considering.” My husband is 215 lbs, 6’2". I think all the Brooklyn Bedding ones I mentioned are 2.17 lb polyfoam support layer, but I can’t figure out what the base polyfoam densities are on the two Ultimate Dreams latex mattresses I mentioned. Do you know if they are 2.17 lb or 1.5 lb? I am okay with spending more at Brooklyn Bedding for the higher-quality base polyfoam if it will last longer, especially for my husband’s weight.

Hi collation,

They both use 1.5 lb polyfoam (although it’s always best to ask the manufacturer directly to confirm any “outside” information) and your husband is in a weight range where I would certainly consider the higher density foams in some of the Brooklyn Bedding models such as the Bamboo Bliss or the Aloe Alexis.

Like the Eurotop … the BB Bamboo Bliss and Alexis both allow layer exchanges but unlike the Eurotop they also have wool in the quilted cover (wool adds to temperature regulation).

Phoenix

I was recently in a similar situation you’re in trying to find a cheaper equivalent to Tp’s cloud luxe. Last Friday I pulled the trigger on a Brooklyn bedding cool luxe. I did tons of research and poured over reviews as I was quite hesitant to spend $1500 (King size) on a mattress I’ve never seen in person let alone laid in or even touched. The help on this site from the users and especially Phoenix aided me with my decision. It should arrive Friday and I’ll give a report back on my opinion, but keep in mind like Phoenix says, everyone has a different perception of how soft/hard something is but I’ll give my best description and how it feels compared to The cloud luxe.

Well, he tried out an all latex organic pedic mattress today in the plush softness (terra) and reported that it felt springier than he wanted, and he still likes the cloud luxe memory foam best. So now it’s down to sf cirrus luxe and bb cool luxe. I am leaning toward the select foam one because it has 8lb foam in the middle layer and Brooklyn bedding’s cool luxe.only had 5lb foam in the middle layer, so it seems that the higher density foam will be better in the long term for a medium high weight person with back issues. Does this logic sound correct to everyone? select foam is more expensive than Brooklyn bedding, but it seems worth it for greater durability.

Hi collation,

Making final choices can certainly be difficult but post #2 here may be helpful. It took me two weeks of hemming and hawing over smaller and smaller details to make my own final choice so you are certainly no different from many others who are choosing between “good and good” where there are no clear winners and the many objective, subjective, and intangible factors in any mattress purchase are unique to each person.

Higher density memory foam will be more durable up to about 6 lb density or so after which the extra durability of greater density is less but higher density memory foams are also more costly so of course there is always a tradeoff involved.

You are at the point where there are no “mistakes” in terms of quality/value which of course is the best place to be … even though I know it’s not easy to finally narrow things down to one :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Since these are all high value mattresses, we decided to go with the nicest for durability reasons. Select foam gave us a great deal on a queen cirrus luxe with the fall sale and the mattress underground discount: 1700$! I will report back when we receive it and after it has broken in a bit! Thanks all.

By the way, anyone wanting to take advantage of the Tempurpedic return policy should know that even if you buy at sleepys as we did and quiz the salesman very carefully on whether there is ANY restocking fee of any kind, you will still discover when you call to return the mattress that surprise surprise, there is after all a $175 handling fee. Ah well, lesson learned. I still feel like the salesman lied to my face, though, and that feels weird.

Hi collation,

Congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

You certainly made a great choice and I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve had the chance to sleep on it.

Thanks too for the caution about returning a Tempurpedic with Sleepy’s and the handling fee. Although it is on their website here, I certainly agree that your salesperson should have been open about it and not misrepresented the charges or saying there weren’t any.

Phoenix

I made the order over a week ago, and still no shipping confirmation. I called on Wednesday and they said they would look into it and get back to me, but never did. I emailed yesterday and just heard back that it will be shipped on Monday, about a week after they originally said it would be shipped. My credit card is already charged though. I’m feeling a bit worried!

Hi collation,

I don’t think you have any reason to “worry”. Their normal delivery time is 10 business days (which would be about Nov 7th) so if they are shipping it on Monday you would receive it in about that time. It can be shorter and it may even be a few days longer on some rare occasions if there is some glitch in the order or the construction or delivery schedule but it appears that you should probably receive it next week.

Phoenix