Need a new mattress and becoming quickly bewildered (Austin, TX)

[phoenix]

Hi zab,

Sleepworld is no longer located in Austin. The founder also died, so I don’t know if this has affected the quality. I wonder if I should just avoid this company.

Yes, I mentioned in my description that you’d have to travel to Houston to look at their mattresses, which might take them out of the running for you.

With respect to the online options, none of them have over 1.8 lb foam in the bottom support layer. So, in terms of durability with respect to my BMI, my options are somewhat limited.

I’m not sure what online options you’ve looked at, but there are plenty using 2 lb or higher density in the polyfoam core. Take a look at the simplified choice thread here for a few examples. Also, for your application, it’s not as if a 1.8 lb or even 1.5 lb polyfoam core of a higher ILD couldn’t work for the time frame you specified. The guidelines are just that – not absolutes. Just realize with lower density foams that durability can be shorter.

If I were to go with an online option, I think I’m leaning toward the Best Mattress Ever or the Novosbed.

Those certainly could be good choices for your application and they both use good quality materials. I would be sure to phone either company and explain your needs and situation before making any final purchase decision to receive their recommendation of what they think will work best for you.

The Novosbed has 5.0 lb memory foam, which seems rare among the online options. It’s also 11" thick (most of the options are 10"), which might be a bonus given my BMI. However, it is on the pricier side, and the trial period is restrictive. I’m also worried that the mattress will have that memory foam “feel” that I don’t like.

The medium version does feature a total of 4" of 5 lb memory foam, which would be a good quality material. I’m not sure what you mean by the trial period being “restrictive” – it is 120 nights. They offer a Comfort+ kit to help with customization after 30 days and you can return after 60 days. Any sleep trial longer than 30 nights should give you enough time to know if you prefer any mattress. And being a mattress with 4" of memory foam in the upper layers, this product certainly will have a “memory foam” feel to it.

By contrast, the Best Mattress Ever uses two layers of latex-like foam at 4.0 lb each. Those specs seem good. I also wonder if the latex-like foam will help produce the feel I’m looking for. Otherwise, it’s a tough choice between these two options. The Best Mattress Ever is, however, considerably cheaper. That could be a tiebreaker.

Yes, the TitanFlex polyfoam is a very high-density foam that is supposed to have some good resilience to it, akin to latex, but of course not the same as latex. It will be a more “buoyant” feel than the Novosbed.

Otherwise, the Casper seems to be ruled out given the 1.5 lb foam in the bottom support layer. (Though SLTD reports that the layer is 1.8 lb. I will need to confirm.)

It’s 1.5 lb polyfoam for the core. I confirmed this in January with Casper.

Unless you are extremely knowledgeable about mattresses and their construction (which would be very few individuals), I’d avoid attempting to predict via a few specifications how a mattress might feel to you. You may be better off trying products locally to see if you have an affinity for a certain type of componentry and then attempt to find other mattresses using similar componentry to keep you in the same “range” of product. If you think you don’t like memory foam, then I would avoid products using that in the upper comfort layers.

Any input on my decision-making process would be much appreciated! Am I missing anything important?

In my opinion I’m worried you’re starting down the “rabbit hole” of mattress analysis paralysis . I’d suggest going out and trying out some mattresses locally.

The demand for higher density in the comfort layer is more important for memory foam than polyfoam (given that the latter is more durable than the former) - is that correct? So, in other words, for my BMI, 4.0 lb would probably be okay with respect to, say, TitanFlex foam, but less so with respect to memory foam. Is that right?

Both memory foam and polyfoam can be quite durable – one isn’t necessarily more durable than the other. The densities I recommend were listed in the durability guidelines I linked for you in my previous reply. A polyfoam above 1.8 lb would generally be quite durable. The 4 lb high-performance polyfoam used in the BME would be a very high quality material. With memory foam I would generally recommend 4 lb or above.

Is there any significance to the relation of the thickness of a layer to its density? For example, if two mattresses are otherwise equal, but one has a 5.0 lb top layer of 3" thickness whereas the other has a 5.0 lb top layer of 4" thickness, does that matter? I ask, because many of these mattresses have different total numbers of layers and the thicknesses are often different. This makes it somewhat confusing to compare them in terms of durability.

Good question. The density is actually quite simple – it is the mass per unit volume of a cubic foot of the foam. In the USA, we express it in pounds per cubic foot. The thickness of the piece of slit foam that is used within a mattress does not change the density that is expressed for that foam.

A number of these mattresses claim to be “cooler” than competitors (“breathable foam,” “graphite gel,” etc.). How seriously should I take these claims, and how can I assess them?

Regarding cooling memory foam claims, you can read more about phase change materials in post #9 here and at the end of post #4 here) and you can read more about the various different types of gel foams in post #2 here. In general terms gel foams will tend to have a temporary effect on temperature while you are first going to sleep until temperatures equalize but have less effect on temperature regulation throughout the course of the night.

Thermally conductive materials such as graphite would be a little more effective than the gel that is more commonly used but it would also depend on the amount of graphite that was in the memory foam.

In very general terms … gel and/or other thermal conductive or phase change materials can have “some effect” on the sleeping temperature of a particular material but how much of an effect they will have and how long the effect will last will depend on the specific formulation of the material and on the “combined effect” of all the other materials and components of the sleeping system including your sheets, mattress protector, and bedding. Many thermal conductive or phase change materials tend to have a more temporary effect when you first go to sleep at night or over the first part of the night than they will over the entire course of the night.

It’s not really 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 very general terms … the materials, layers, and components of a sleeping system that are closer to your skin will have a bigger effect on airflow, moisture transport, and temperature regulation than materials, layers, and components that are further away from your skin and softer mattresses or foam toppers will tend to be more “insulating” and for some people can sleep warmer than firmer versions of the same material.

Phoenix