First of all thank you for such a wonderful website, it has helped me so much!
I’m trying to ID a mattress. My partner loaned me his mattress while he was out of town for a long time. It’s a memory foam mattress. When he brought it to my home he rolled it up and tied a cord around it. It was very portable vs. a standard mattress. This mattress has provided some of the best sleeps I’ve ever had, but now that he’s back in town he’s taking it back and I’m left with my old postrapedic pillow-top mattress that has a hammock dip in it and I sleep terrible on. Time to go mattress shopping! I just need to ID the materials in my partner’s mattress.
I don’t think his mattress is 100% memory foam. When I press my finger into it side-on, only the top has memory foam. I would say the top memory foam layer is about 4 inches. The layers underneath are a mystery. I don’t think the deeper layers are coils because that wouldn’t allow the mattress to be rolled up for transport, so that should give some clues. My partner bought this mattress 10+ years ago and it still functions perfectly, so this could be another clue.
I’m a combo back/side sleeper who is tall and boney with a BMI 20 or less (I’m pretty lanky) and the memory foam pads all my pressure points nicely without sinking too much. It’s a firmer mattress than what I would traditionally use but it actually works out perfectly because the memory foam on top yields nicely while the slightly firmer layer supports my boney hips. The problem is that I don’t know what the deeper layers are, I can’t find this mattress anywhere, and my partner doesn’t remember where he got it.
Don’t suppose you could wager a guess at what materials this thing could be made of? I only need ideas because I can test different combos at a mattress store. THANK YOU in advance! I’m going to share your website with everyone I know!
There really would be no way to determine what is on the inside of a 10-year-old unknown memory foam mattress. Even if you cut the product open, that wouldn’t tell you the density or ILD of the materials being used. It is most likely that the mattress is using some sort of polyfoam support core (as that was most common 10 years ago versus pocketed springs), but again that won’t tell you much. Attempting to replicate an old product like that would be mostly wasted energy, and you’d be much better of looking at modern memory foam mattresses and finding something that approximates the comfort that you prefer using good quality and durable materials.
You’d want to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next 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 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 the information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the 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.
If you want to shop online you may wish to use the experience and expertise of the members listed in post #21 here who are all very experienced and knowledgeable and specialize in providing the type of help and guidance on the phone that can help you make good choices. There are a wide range of memory foam options included in the choices there and I believe that all of them compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, and transparency.
If you have more specific questions as you go through your mattress search, I’ll do my best to be assistive.
