Need help with memory foam mattress for side sleeper

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I’d like to ask your advice on my recent search for a mattress. I have used themattressunderground.com extensively in my search and have narrowed down my selections to what I see are my three best options. I was hoping you’d be willing to share any other input you might have that could help me make the final decision.

A little about me -

I’m male, 5’11", 160 lbs, I always sleep on my sides, and have terrible back pain from a spine rotation that is the result of sleeping on too firm (and too old) of an innerspring mattress. I have narrowed my search only to memory foam mattresses. The most comfortable mattress I’ve personally tested was very plush (2" of 3.7 lb foam on top of 3" of 3 lb foam), to the point of being afraid it would not have enough support once it softened up after the break in period. I definitely prefer something more plush than firm though.

I was really hoping to find something locally I could test in person, but after visiting the locations listed on the forums for the Minneapolis area, I could not find anything I liked. Because of that, I’ve resigned myself to the idea of ordering a mattress online. I do this because I feel quite confident that the proper combination for me will be at least 2" of 4 lb density foam on top of 2" of 5 lb on top of a high quality base. The 5.3 lb foam as a top layer has proven too firm.

With that in mind, I’ve narrowed it down to the following three options -

Rocky Mountain Tamarack 10" - 3.3" of 4 lb Bayer Softcel foam on 3" of Dual Bayer Utracel Convoluted foam, on 3.9" of Bayer Utracel support foam (the other option from Rocky Mountain is the CoolComfort 10" which has 2" of 4 lb Aerus on 2" of 5 lb Sensus but I’m not a fan of mattresses where the individual layers aren’t bonded together. I have no reason to dislike them and could probably be easily convinced of their benefit)
Memoryfoam Cirrus Supreme-ES 11" - 2" of 4 lb Select-ES foam on 2" of 5.3 lb Select-HD foam
Selectabed Tri-pedic Platinum 10" - 2" of 4 lb on 2" of 5 lb on 6" of high resilient polyurethane foam

The Rocky Mountain and Memoryfoam are nearly identical in price, the Selectabed is a few hundred more but I have no problem extending to that range if it means a mattress I’m happier with.

I’d also be willing to hear any other suggestions you might have.

PS - Please don’t think what I’m about to say is in any way intended to solicit a response from you, I’d rather say it and never hear from you than not get the chance to say it at all - thank you so much for the contribution you’ve made through themattressunderground.com. I can’t tell you how seriously I take this decision, as I have been living with this back pain for way too long, and the information you’ve provided is the single greatest resource I have found anywhere. I will recommend it to every person I ever meet who will ever search for a mattress and think your services should be recognized and praised and awarded publicly and to the highest extent.

2

Hi stenstageous,

First of all … thank you for your kind words. It means a great deal to me when the site can help people make better choices.

As you probably know … you are choosing between some great choices and have narrowed down your final options to choices that are all high quality and good value. although you already have some great options available to you … post #12 here has a few other memory foam options that you may want to consider if you want to make your final choices even more difficult :slight_smile:

At this stage it can become difficult to choose between choices that are all good quality and value but the best advice I could provide would be to make sure you have a longer conversation on the phone with each one of them. You may find that you “connect” with the information provided by one of them more than the others because the design or materials seem to be more suitable in terms of what is most important to you or they may somehow “connect” more with your specific criteria and this more detailed information or the insights they provide may not be obvious from research on their websites.

Secondly … I would include all the factors in your personal value equation that are important to you in your decision including of course the design and materials of your mattress but also some of the other factors that may be just as important to you or your “comfort” with an online purchase including the guidance, options, and benefits that come with the mattress before, during, and after the sale. The “value” that is added by things such as return or exchange possibilities, delivery method or costs, or other additional benefits that come with every mattress purchase or even just the knowledge and experience of each manufacturer in helping people in your particular circumstances and the confidence they inspire in you can be an important part of how comfortable you are in ordering from a particular online manufacturer.

All the objective, subjective, and intangible factors that are an important part of any mattress purchase can play a role in which of your final choices is best for you.

The good news is that all of them are head and shoulders above the choices that are typically made by the vast majority of consumers who end up buying a major brand from a chain store :slight_smile:

I’m looking forward to hearing about your final choice.

Phoenix

3

Thank you so much for your reply Phoenix.

I reviewed the information in the links you provided and found things I had missed that were important for me to check on with the three vendors I was considering.

Most of my final concerns had to do with the ILD of the comfort layers and the quality of the base. Not only did Selectabed appear to have the highest quality base material in their mattress, they were the most helpful in providing the information and even had it readily accessible rather than having to look it up and call me back.

For that reason, combined with all my other research and interactions with those companies, I went with the Tri-Pedic Platinum from Selectabed. It will be hear in a few weeks and I will be sure to update this post when I receive it.

Thanks again for all you do.

4

Hi stenstageous,

Just for reference … ILD in memory foam is not particularly meaningful because it changes with conditions and testing methods and is not equivalent to ILD in other foams although it can provide some indication of the relative feel of a memory foam. On the other hand of course … density is one of the main factors in the quality and durability of a mattress material … especially in the upper layers.

As you probably also know … I also think highly of Rick and the mattresses he designs and I know as well that the service and guidance they provide is excellent as well.

It’s great to see you did such good research and then made a final choice between some very good options based on the parts of your value equation that were most important to you.

Most importantly of all … congratulations on your new mattress.

I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve received it and had the chance to sleep on it.

Phoenix

5

stenstageous you may have gotten it backwards with memory foam

higher density with memory foam means higher quality and durability - you want the highest density on top where you will most directly feel it and also where the foam will bear the brunt of the abuse

of course you want softer foam on top and firmer on bottom, but that has little to do with density

for example a good combination might be 8 LB Venus foam on top of 5 LB Sensus foam. the Sensus is firmer than Venus while Venus is higher density, quality and durability.

of course ultimately my theoretical comments may be irrelevant to your particular situation given the extremely limited availability of good memory foams - in other words they foams that theoretically should suit you best may not simply be available. this is the main reason i am using Latex - you can get it in any ILD from 14 to 44 while memory foam is mostly about 10 to 15, plus most latex is “good” while most memory foam is “bad” …

i probably wouldn’t use more than 3 inches of memory foam of the kinds of foam that are available to us. the only way i would go for a mattress with more memory foam than that is if i was getting a Tempurpedic because they have more specialized types of memory foam that can work for deeper mattress layers which aren’t available to us. pretty much all the memory foam we can get is usable only for the top 2 - 3 inches of mattress. Bayer can be the exception - thats’ why Rocky doesn’t sell it as a topper, but uses it in their custom mattresses instead. even so, it’s still just 15 ILD so it is only a hair firmer than 14 ILD Sensus.

6

Ok so the new matress arrived two days ago.

Here is how the foundation arrived -

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Here is how the mattress arrived (foundation in background) -

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The frame -

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There was a little disappointment with the frame - the first was that the instructions were absolutely shredded and there were four bolts with the packing that had no explanation -

10

Here is the assembled frame. The other disappointment was that it was not configured for particular sizes so it had to be adjusted numerous times to get the sizing just right for the foundation. I also felt the support for the foundation was kind of lacking. There is just one center cross bar that the two foundations must equally rest on by about an inch. This might be a typical configuration that many people have seen or dealt with but it was new to me -

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Here is the foundation on the frame -

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Here is the mattress on the foundation (there is a bed skirt on so you can’t see the foundation anymore) -

13

Here is what the foam looks like inside the cover. It has the airflow option so that’s two inches of 4 lb density memory foam on top of 2 inches of 5 lb density memory foam on top of the airflow channel which is part of six inches of high resilient polyurethane high density foam -

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The finished product -

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As for a review of the mattress, just a reminder it’s a Selectabed Tripedic Platinum Eastern King -

It is heavy! Over 130 pounds. There was definitely some off gassing but nothing intolerable. The first night I slept with the windows open and a couple fans on and it wasn’t noticeable at all while I was sleeping. The next day I left the windows open and fans on while I was at work and most of the smell had gone. It’s now day three and you can barely notice it.

The weekend before it arrived, I spent a weekend out of town sleeping on a different bed than my old one and it absolutely destroyed my back. I have had problems with a facet joint causing some pretty serious pain for almost a week now and have been unable to sleep on my side (my natural sleeping position) ever since. The first night sleeping on the new mattress was the first time I’ve been able to sleep on my side comfortably.

The pain slowly came back throughout the day, but on night two, I slept well and woke up with the pain at a minimum. I’m hoping with a few more days, it might work itself out without having to go to the pain clinic for an injection.

All in all, I’m thrilled with the bed. It’s a little firmer than I hoped but I think as it loosens up over the next couple weeks it should be perfect. No problems at all with temperature. The recovery time of the foam is faster than I expected. When I change positions in the night I don’t even notice it having to recover to my new position.

That’s all I can think of for now. If anyone has any questions I’d be more than happy to answer them. And I can’t say thank you enough to Phoenix for the help and for the amazing resource in themattressunderground.com.

16

I’m just curious on how the mattress feels when you lying on it? Does it just sink in with no springiness?
I’m trying to figure out how a memory foam mattress is supposed to feel.

17

There is very little springiness. It’s tough to describe. It’s very supportive which some would mistakenly describe as firm but it is not really firm at all. The body sinks in just slightly and there is very little pressure anywhere. I think the best way to describe it would be more of a cradling effect.

18

Thanks for the info. I just wanted to get a comparison with the Cool Lux memory foam mattress that I just got.
I think I have the same feeling.

19

I am adding selectabed to my list of possibilities. Did you try any tempurpedics? Is the tripedic platinum similar to the Cloud Supreme?

20

I only tried a couple Tempurpedics but ultimately decided against them for two reasons - the first reason, one of the major pieces of advice from Phoenix (site moderator) is to avoid the major brands. While he’s mostly referring to big guys like Sealy, Serta, Simmons, etc. he does in at least one post include Tempurpedic in that group. The reason he suggests staying away from major brands is because the level of quality you get for the price you pay is far less than what you get from an outlet or factory direct store. From the research I did, I would agree with him completely and I would venture to say that Selectabed’s materials are of a very high quality and a very great price as well.

The second reason is that I personally think the 5.3 lb density foams are too firm for me, which is the most common density in Tempurpedic’s comfort layer. Many might argue that’s not the case, that a 5.3 lb density foam actually feels softer than lower densities because although it is more dense, once it starts to absorb your weight and heat, it gets softer and softer and more cradling, but that hasn’t been my experience from testing. The 4 lb density foam from Selectabed has been perfect for me as a side sleeper because it has very low pressure and great support.

Another reason I could add, which is why I can’t give you a good answer as to whether or not the Tripedic Platinum is similar to the Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme, is that on the Tempurpedic website it’s very hard to find the real specs about how the bed is composed. It says it’s 11" and has a TEMPUR-ES comfort layer, a TEMPUR support layer, and a dual core base layer, but without further research you can’t tell what density, size, or quality any of those materials are. Is that 3" of 5.3 lb comfort layer over 2" of 7.4 lb support on a high resilient base? Or is it 2" of 3.7 lb comfort layer on 2-1.5" layers of 2.7 lb density support foam, on 6" of a lower quality high density foam base? Odds are, Tempurpedic wouldn’t use that low of quality, but the point is they’re not upfront about it and you have to do some research to figure it out.

I would definitely recommend calling Selectabed and speaking with Chris. He actually talked me down from a higher priced bed because of my sleep position, height, and weight. From all the conversations I had with their company, I really got the sense that their first concern is helping you find the exact right mattress for you.