Based on your advice, got a memory foam mattress from The Original Mattress Factory and was very happy with it. Am now bed shopping in Israel and have checked out memory foam mattresses from Sealy, Simmons and one from TempurPedic, which I’m told is their original one. My questions: is memory foam a bad choice for a warm climate? If it’s an ok choice, any suggestions for how to pick a good one here? Thanks for your wise counsel.
Hi anonymom,
Unfortunately I don’t have any knowledge about the Israeli market so I won’t be able to help in terms of specific retailers or manufacturers I’m aware of there but the process and steps involved in choosing the best quality/value mattress would be the same in Israel (or any country) as it is in North America.
The best place to start is always the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to 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” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and 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).
The brand name of a mattress isn’t particularly important because outside of how suitable a mattress is for you in terms of “comfort, firmness” and PPP, a mattress is only as good as it’s construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it (see this article and the quality/durability guidelines it links to) regardless of the name of the manufacturer and the mattress materials that are used in Israel would generally be the same as the materials in North America.
The only caveat is that in North America the foam density guidelines for polyfoam and memory foam that I would normally suggest are expressed in lbs/ft3 while I believe they would be expressed in kg/M3 in Israel so you can use the online density converter here to “translate” them.
Just as a quick reference to help you translate some of the minimum densities in the quality/durability guidelines that would apply to different types of mattresses or different weight ranges …
For Polyfoam:
1.5 lbs/ft3 = 24 kg/m3
1.8 lbs/ft3 = 29 kg/m3
2.0 lbs/ft3 = 32 kg/m3
For Memory foam:
4.0 lbs/ft3 = 64 kg/m3
5.0 lbs/ft3 = 80 kg/m3
I would tend to look for smaller local or regional manufacturers/retailers or online manufacturers/retailers that are completely transparent about the type and quality of all the materials that they use in their mattresses so you can identify any lower quality materials or weak links that could compromise the durability and useful life of any mattress you are considering and make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here relative to your weight range … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article).
Memory foam in general does tend to be less breathable and sleep warmer than other types of foam materials so there will be a larger percentage of people that will report temperature regulation issues on memory foam in a warmer climate (especially if they don’t have air conditioning) than in a colder one although overall it would still be a minority of people that have temperature regulation issues on any mattress.
While it’s not possible to quantify the sleeping temperature of a mattress for any particular person with any real accuracy because there are so many variables involved including the type of mattress protector and the sheets and bedding that you use (which in many cases can have just as significant an effect on sleeping temperature as the type of foam in a mattress) and on where you are in the “oven to iceberg” range and because there is no standardized testing for temperature regulation with different combinations of materials … there is more about the many variables that can affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress or sleeping system in post #2 here that can help you choose the types of materials and components that are most likely to keep you in a comfortable temperature range.
In its simplest form choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …
-
Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.
-
Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.
-
Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Phoenix
Hi, when I told a friend who resides in Israel that I was looking for a mattress, she recommended Dr. Gav. That mattress isn’t available in the US, but apparently is a well known brand there. For what it’s worth, my friend swears by it, & is the only mattress she will buy.
Hi anonymom,
There is some discussion here about buying a mattress in Israel.
I don’t know anything about them other than what is on their site but http://en.polyron.co.il/ also sounds intriguing.
Phoenix