My husband and I are looking to buy a memory foam mattress. We want something firm, since my husband is a stomach sleeper, but still with good pressure relief, since I’m a side sleeper. We’ve been to some different local mattress outlets but not found one with good information or stock for us (we live in the Seattle area). After looking at this site extensively, it seems that the Ultimate Dreams 10" mattress (Amazon.com) might be a good choice for us. I’m hesitant mostly because we can’t try it, which is nerve-wracking, and because I’m not sure details on the base foam. The only other option we’ve found that wasn’t a big name we could try in person was a Northwest Bedding Revive, but that only has 1" of memory foam and won’t tell us the density of either layer, so I think we’ve decided it’s out.
First, do you think that the Ultimate Dreams sounds like it may be a good fit? We like it because it seems to be about the only option in our price range that meets our criteria (firm king Certi-Pur memory foam).
Second, any recommendations on places to visit nearby?
Third, any recommendations on where to get a low-cost box or other support for the mattress that will be sufficient?
And fourth, thank you so much for this site! You saved me from buying a non-Certi-Pur mattress. It seemed too good to be true, so it was!
The first place I would start with your research (if you haven’t read it already) is post #1 here which has all the information, steps, and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choices.
Once you get to step 3 … the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Seattle area are in post #2 here.
As you can see in mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here … I’m happy to speak to the quality/value of a mattress (and Dreamfoam/Brooklyn Bedding is certainly among the best quality/value available in their price ranges) but the most effective way to choose a mattress in terms of it’s suitability for your body type, sleeping style, and preferences is either your own personal experience on a similar mattress with similar materials and design or if that isn’t possible then more detailed conversations with a retailer or manufacturer who knows their mattresses better than anyone and can use their knowledge of their own mattresses and “averages” of their customers to help you make the most suitable choices in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). The base foam is 1.5 lbs as far as I’m aware but it’s always a good idea to confirm any mattress specs directly with the manufacturer.
Thank you for the reply! I’ll look into nearby retailers; ideally we’d like to find one in person but everywhere I’ve looked has just had icomfort, tempurpedic, etc, which is why I turned to online.
My one question about that Ultimate Dreams mattress, then, is isn’t 1.5lb way too light for a mattress? I thought the minimum was 1.8? Thank you!
1.5 lb polyfoam would be risky in a comfort layer unless it was either two sided mattress or was in a very low cost mattress where lower quality materials with less durability are part of a lower budget choice. The weak link of a mattress though is in the upper layers not the base layers so for most people of “normal” weight I would consider the 1.5 lb polyfoam to be suitable in a lower budget range where there were high quality materials in the comfort layer. If you were in an above average weight range where you were more likely to “go through” the comfort layers and compress the foam underneath it more then I would certainly consider a higher density base foam.
Everything is a tradeoff and it depends on your specific needs and preferences and which parts of your personal value equation and the many tradeoffs involved are most important to you.
OK, good to know! We really want to avoid early body impressions, which has been our repeated downfall with our expensive innerspring mattress that we bought blind. I would think those would come from the support layer, not the comfort layer, but am I wrong? I’m about 150 lb and my husband is about 200, so I would think that with 3" of comfort layer we wouldn’t really be “going through” it to put too big a load on the support layer.
A typical person’s body loads a mattress more from the hips and shoulders, which is where imprints usually begin. This load is greatest where the body contacts the mattress and lessens as it disperses through the mattress. The comfort layer is exposed to the vast majority of these compression/stretch forces, and is almost always where permanent indentations/deformations occur. It is very rare to see a support layer deform before a comfort layer.
Low-density pillowtops can be the worst culprits, with some deforming within months.
Ditto to what Novosbed said and yes its the other way around. The weak link of a mattress is almost always in the upper comfort layers not the support layers and a mattress will tend to soften and break down from the top down and under the areas with the greatest weight and least surface area (the pressure points).
This also depends on the thickness and firmness of the comfort layers and on the weight of the person because with a mattress with thinner and softer comfort layers or with higher weights you will compress the foam or support system underneath the comfort layers more and in addition to the quality of the comfort layers, in these cases (thinner/softer comfort layers and/or higher weights) the durability of the support layers would also become more important even though it’s not normally an issue.
The more a layer is repeatedly compressed the more important durability becomes and the top layers of a mattress almost always compress relatively more than the deeper layers.
There are many innerspring mattresses that have completely lost their comfort and support for example adneed to be replaced because of the softening and impressions of the comfort layers even though the innersprings themselves are usually still fine.
