Omaha Bedding Company's Warren Firm mattress

[phoenix]

Hi hcanton,

But looking at the specs, something doesn’t seem right. If I understood what I have read on this website correctly, indeed, the top layers are all very high quality like he said. But the base layer, at 1.5 lbs, looks like it is way under your recommendations of a 1.8 lbs minimum. When I expressed surprise at the 1.5 lb base layer, as it seemed a much lower quality than all the other components, the man at Omaha Bedding was very surprised. He said anything 1.5 and over is considered really good, and that crap foam is foam that is less than 1.0 lbs, and 1.25 lbs is industry average. So I am confused, it doesn’t make sense that they would use really good foam for most of the bed, only to use terrible foam on their base, on their best bed… So, have I misunderstood what I’ve read about foams on this website? Is he possibly talking about some other kind of foam than what I think he is talking about where 1.5 lbs is actually good? This bed was looking great to us, until I saw that last spec, so I want to make sure I don’t pass on it due to a mistaken understanding about what I’ve read here.

Thanks so much in advance for your thoughts!

Thanks for taking the time to list the “correct” specs of your mattress. It’s good to see that you are taking the time to do such good research and it’s also good to see that Omaha Bedding is transparent about the type and quality/density of the materials inside their mattresses as well.

When you sleep on a mattress the upper layers of foam will compress and deflect more than the deeper layers partly because the comfort layers are usually made to be softer than the deeper transition and support layers of a mattress (and firmness/softness is also a factor in the durability of a material) and partly because they are closer to the sleeping surface and subject to direct compression without any layers above them absorbing some of the compression forces first. It’s this constant deflection of the foam materials in the upper layers of the mattress that softens and breaks down the foam and leads to the loss of comfort and support in the mattress. This will also happen more under the heavier parts of the body such as the hips/pelvis than the lighter parts of the body. This is why the quality/durability of the upper layers (the top 3" to 6" of the mattress) are especially important in the durability and useful life of the mattress as a whole because they will usually be the weakest link in the mattress in terms of durability.

The firmer support core is not as big a factor in the durability of a mattress when there are thicker layers of higher quality and durable materials above it that would absorb most of the compression forces that come from sleeping so for those who aren’t in higher weight ranges or in the case of mattresses where there needs to be some tradeoffs between durability and the price of the materials in a mattress then the deeper layers of the mattress are the best place to use slightly lower density polyfoam and 1.5 lb density would also be suitable for a base layer as well as long as someone wasn’t in a higher weight range (mid 200’s or higher) that would be likely to compress the deeper layers more than lighter body types.

In the case of the Warren firm … the top 5 1/2" of the mattress are all higher quality and more durable materials so unless you were in an unusually high weight range then given the thickness of the higher quality materials above it I wouldn’t consider the 1.5 lb polyfoam to be a weak link in terms of the durability or useful life of the mattress (see the guidelines here).

1.5 lb polyfoam is often used in support cores even by the major manufacturers but there are certainly many manufacturers that use higher quality/density foams even in the support core of their mattress and I don’t agree that 1.25 lb polyfoam is an “industry average”. It would be very unusual to see polyfoam that was lower quality/density than 1.5 lbs in a mattress support core unless they were in the lowest budget ranges (although lower density foams are more common in the upper layers of a mattress … especially with major brands).

There is also more detailed information about the many variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to different people in post #4 here and the other posts it links to but if you aren’t in a higher weight range and you have confirmed that the mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP and it also compares well to the other finalists on your list in terms of all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you then it would certainly be well worth considering.

Phoenix