Hi Winnie,
The first thing I would suggest is to read the post that is linked in my signature under each of my posts. This along with the information it links to will give you a step by step process that will greatly improve your odds of finding a great quality mattress but perhaps more importantly of connecting with mattress “experts” that along with the information can help dispel some of the marketing myths that are so common in the mattress industry.
One of these myths is that any material is “good for back issues”. Every mattress has two basic functions which are to relieve pressure and to keep the body and spine in it’s natural alignment in all your sleeping positions. It’s this natural alignment that is good for backs and any material that is used can provide this in the right combination of layer softness/firmness and thickness. A memory foam mattress that is suitable for a particular person using a certain combination of layering can work very well for one person with back issues but could aggravate back issues for the next person who has a different body type and sleeping style. The same is true of any combination of materials.
So anyone who tries to tell you that a certain material is “good for your back” probably has little knowledge of mattresses because it’s the type and construction of a mattress and how well it matches the needs and preferences of a particular person that is important. Materials are just a preference although it is true that no matter what materials are used there are better and worse quality/durability versions.
Memory foam as a category is generally more insulating and sleeps warmer than the other two types of foam (polyfoam and latex) but there are many types of memory foam in the memory foam category and some of these are cooler or warmer than others. There is more about this in post #6 here.
It’s also important to remember that there are many different factors in how warm a mattress might sleep for a specific person and it’s all the different factors together (not just the type of foam used in the top layers) that will determine the sleeping temperature of a mattress. There is more about this in post #16 here. When you hear about how only a single layer makes a mattress sleep cooler and the other layers or factors aren’t mentioned … it’s usually about marketing rather than education. Gel is not a “wet” feeling material and in most cases it’s infused into the memory foam itself in various ways which changes the feel and performance of the memory foam its added to.
If you mean the Select Foam mattress … then for most people the answer would be yes. They have made and tested these to have a similar feel using similar or better quality materials than Tempurpedic but any time when you are using different foam suppliers and matching the subjective “feel” of a mattress (there is both an art and science involved in “feel matching”) it may be very close but some people may feel some differences. They use customer feedback in their bricks and mortar store to refine their mattresses so that both the “feel match” and “design match” is as close as possible. There are also other manufacturers who will have a good idea of which of their memory foam mattresses may match certain Tempurpedic models (again for most people) because Tempurpedics are so widely available. The good news though is that if you are one of those who doesn’t think the mattress matches (no matter how many others may think it does each person has their own perceptions) … then they have a good return policy.
Mattress matching is much more complex than most people would realize and part of this is because the feel of a mattress is subjective and easily forgotten, part is because in some cases slight differences in construction and layering (including layer thickness) can make a bigger difference than many people suspect, and part of this is becuase there is much more to how any materials feel besides just it’s softness/firmness. There is more about “mattress matching” in post #2 here along with post #2 here.
Some of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Lexington area are listed at the end of post #3 here.
Phoenix