Need help judging 2 store-brand foam mattresses with these layers:

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

these were for lower cost alternatives to icomfort and hopefully with better base foam density than icomfort as well (both at Mancini Sleepworld --Bay Area):

[b]Sleepworld Designs Visco Perfect Choice 8’’ Firm
Queen Set ($1019) Mattress only ($839)

Features:

2’’ of 2.5lb Pure Memory Foam
6’’ of 1.9lb - 45 ILD True Support Base Foam[/b]

Stretch Knit Zippered Cover
Choice of 4’’ or 9’’ Multi-Slat Center Supported Sustainable Wood Foundations
10 Year Non-Pro-Rated Limited Warranty

[b]Sleepworld Designs Visco Luxury Select 12’’ Plush
Queen Set ($1179) Mattress only ($999)

Features:

1/2’’ of 3lb. Pure Memory Foam
4’’ of 3lb. Pure Memory Foam
7’’ of 1.9lb - 45 ILD True Support Base Foam[/b]

Stretch Knit Zippered Cover
Choice of 4’’ or 9’’ Multi-Slat Center Supported Sustainable Wood Foundations
10 Year Non-Pro-Rated Limited Warranty

2

Hi protege,

Sleepworld certainly wouldn’t be one of my choices in the Bay area (see post #2 here). There are some great choices in the area but Sleepworld isn’t one of them IMO.

2.5 lb memory foam is about the lowest quality you can find and I would avoid it completely with the possible exception of a very thin quilting layers (@ 1" or so).

3 lb memory foam is also very low quality/density.

I personally wouldn’t go below 4 lb memory foam and if you are in the range of 200 lbs or so than I would hesitate to go below 5 lbs if durability is an issue (except again for very thin layers).

1.9 lb base foam is better quality than the Sertas (1.8 lb is usually the minimum I consider to be acceptable … at least in the top part of a support layer and in a reasonable budget).

These are not good choices in terms of either quality or value IMO.

Phoenix

3

Thank you. This is interesting because in the case of the iComfort insight, they have a okay quality top layer, but a substandard base foam. And in this case, they have a decent base, but the top layers are low quality.

It seems like if I could buy a base layer of this or higher quality and put a topper like the insight has, I would get something that is affordable and of good quality --plus as the top layer wore out, I could replace it with a new topper.

I have no idea how to do it, but I feel like buying these beds should be done like making a layer cake, selecting the layers you want and stacking them. I wonder if the place in Berkeley does something like that? Also, if I treat these as separate layers, do they need to be glued together or can the topper simply rest upon the base and/or other layers that are part of it?

Thank you for the information.

[quote=“Phoenix” post=10274]Hi protege,

Sleepworld certainly wouldn’t be one of my choices in the Bay area (see post #2 here). There are some great choices in the area but Sleepworld isn’t one of them IMO.

2.5 lb memory foam is about the lowest quality you can find and I would avoid it completely with the possible exception of a very thin quilting layers (@ 1" or so).

3 lb memory foam is also very low quality/density.

I personally wouldn’t go below 4 lb memory foam and if you are in the range of 200 lbs or so than I would hesitate to go below 5 lbs if durability is an issue (except again for very thin layers).

1.9 lb base foam is better quality than the Sertas (1.8 lb is usually the minimum I consider to be acceptable … at least in the top part of a support layer and in a reasonable budget).

These are not good choices in terms of either quality or value IMO.

Phoenix[/quote]

4

Hi protege,

Some of the icomfort top layers are OK quality and some of them use some very low quality polyfoam in the comfort layers. The gel memory foam itself is 4 lbs density but it uses gel particulates which if anything would lower the durability of the gel foam (even though it raises its density because gel is heavier than the memory foam) so I would put their gel foam in the sub 4 lb memory foam durability range. Their Kool comfort memory foam is 5 lbs which is good quality. They also use some good quality fast and slow response latex in some of their models. Overall they use a combination of low, mid, and high quality materials in their comfort layers. As you mentioned their base layers are 1.5 lb density which is lower density than a mattress in these price ranges should have.

While I wouldn’t want most of the lower quality iComfort top layers in a quality mattress (at least not the gel memory foam or the polyfoam layers) there are certainly mattresses available in the Bay area that use high quality memory foams and polyfoam base layers in their mattresses on top of higher quality polyfoam and sell for reasonable prices. One of our online members sells memory foam mattresses that use both polyfoam and memory foam layers that can be rearranged or replaced similar to what you are suggesting. You can see them here.

There are many latex manufacturers that do this but not as many memory foam manufacturers. One option that would accomplish something similar would be to buy a mattress to use as a base layer and then add a memory foam layer on top. If you put loose layers inside a tight fitting cover … the layers wouldn’t require glue although latex is more “sticky” than other types of foam which may shift a little if they were carried or handled or even possible over time but it would be a simple matter to open the cover and put them back.

There are also many manufacturers that can make a finished mattress but open it up to replace a layer if necessary and then tape edge it back together again.

Phoenix