Hello. First post to the site after searching and reading for some time. I’m a 160 lb. back and side sleeper. My arms often fall asleep on my 10-year old Sealy Posturpedic, and I am constantly tossing & turning. I’m looking for something softer, but not so soft that my arms still fall asleep after sinking too far into the foam (plus it would probably sleep hotter). I’ve narrowed my choices to the following mattresses. I realize nobody can rely on reviews or make recommendations, as agreeability is subjective, but in terms of quality of materials & construction, value, longevity, warranty, customer service, off-gassing, etc. does anyone have any knowledge or educated opinions about the pros and/or cons of any of my choices?
DreamFoam Mattress Ultimate Dreams 13-Inch Gel Memory Foam
I’m assuming that you’ve read the mattress shopping tutorial (which is the first place to start your research) but two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read (just in case you haven’t read them yet) are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
While I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of PPP and how well you sleep the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the quality/durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
Because your own personal experience is the only way to know for certain whether any mattress will be a good “match” for you in terms of PPP … the exchange/return policy (and any costs involved) can also be a more important part of the “value” of an online purchase just in case (and in spite of the “best judgement” of everyone involved) the choice you make doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for.
In terms of the quality and durability of the materials …
The DreamFoam Mattress Ultimate Dreams 13-Inch Gel Memory Foam: contains …
3" of 4lb Gel memory foam
2" of 5lb Memory foam
8" of 1.8lb HD Polyfoam
Their descriptions and comments indicate that this would be similar to the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe in terms of firmness (possibly a little firmer).
They have a 45 day trial period with a $99 cost to return or exchange the mattress.
There are no lower quality materials or weak links that would compromise the durability or useful life of this mattress relative to your weight range.
The PlushBeds 12" Cool Bliss Gel Memory Foam: contains …
3" of 4 lb gel memory foam
2" of 100% natural Dunlop latex
2" of 2.5 lb convoluted polyfoam
5" of 2.5 lb polyfoam
With the 2" of latex under the top layer of memory foam it would likely have a more resilient (springy) feel than a mattress that uses 2 layers of memory foam.
They have a 100 day trial period which costs nothing to return the mattress unless you open any bonus items in which case the cost is $99.
There are no also no lower quality materials or weak links that would compromise the durability or useful life of this mattress relative to your weight range either.
The Alexander Signature Select: contains …
1" - 1.5" polyfoam quilting (depending on the firmness you choose)
2" of either 4 lb or 5 lb convoluted memory foam or 2" of non convoluted 4 lb memory foam (depending on firmness)
2" of either 5 lb convoluted memory foam or non convoluted 4 lb memory foam (depending on firmness)
8" of 2 lb convoluted polyfoam
The soft would approximate the firmness of the Tempurpedic Cloud Elite or Cloud Luxe, the medium would approximate the firmness of the Tempurpedic Cloud Supreme, and the firm would approximate the firmness of the Tempurpedic Contour Elite.
They have a 101 day trial period which allows you to donate the mattress to a local charity for a complete refund at no cost or have it picked up for a $75 cost.
I would be somewhat cautious about the two layers of convoluted memory foam layers in the soft version which would be less durable than a solid layer of the same material although overall they would likely still be OK and wouldn’t be a weak link in the mattress that would compromise the durability or useful life of this mattress relative to your weight range either.
The Saatva Plush Soft:
I’m guessing that you are referring to the Loom & Leaf (which is made by Saatva) rather than the Saatva innerspring mattress (the Saatva mattress is a completely different type of mattress from the other three you are considering).
If this is the case you can see some comments about it in post #2 here in the simplified choice mattress topic.
They don’t include any information about which of the Tempurpedic mattresses it would be closest to.
They charge a delivery fee (probably under $100) and have a 75 day trial period which only costs you the price of the original delivery which isn’t refundable.
It also contains some materials (convoluted 4 lb memory foam in combination with the 1.5 lb base layer) that are lower quality/density than I would normally like to see in this budget range although they would also probably be OK for your weight range as well.
In terms of durability I would rate the PlushBeds 12" Cool Bliss Gel Memory Foam first and the DreamFoam Mattress Ultimate Dreams 13-Inch Gel Memory Foam next and then the Alexander Signature Select (soft) and the Loom & Leaf.
Thanks, Phoenix. They are listed in order of preference, and I think I really would prefer to just consider the DreamFoam and PlushBeds as the primaries to contrast, although I’m not sure the Cool Bliss $1349 price is justifiable over the Ultimate Dream’s $699; is it really twice as good? This is the Saatva mattress to which I was referring.
I have read many people on Amazon complain about edge support on the Ultimate Dreams. Does the Cool Bliss suffer from the same?
I wonder, does anybody have any personal testimony to add?
This would be a completely different category of mattress than the other three mattresses you are considering (see this article). It uses a Bonnell innerspring for a support core and includes a microcoil, polyfoam, memory foam, and synthetic polyester fibers in the comfort layers.
There is more information about Saatva mattresses in post #2 here and in post #1 here and the rest of the topic and a forum search on Saatva (you can just click the link) will bring up more comments and feedback about them as well.
While Saatva would be a “better than average” quality/value choice compared to many of the mainstream mattresses made by the major manufacturers (which I would avoid completely) … some of the materials they are using are less durable than I would be comfortable with and for most people they wouldn’t be in the same “quality/value” range as many of the other options that use higher quality and more durable materials that most of the members here would know about as a result of the information on this site. I would also be cautious about making a purchase based on some of “marketing exaggerations” on their site.
That would depend entirely on how you define “twice as good” if you are referring to comfort and PPP because this would be purely subjective. It would be like saying this meal tastes “twice as good” as that meal. It certainly wouldn’t be twice as durable.
You can read more about edge support with foam mattresses in post #5 here and the posts it links to.
The only way to know whether the edge support for a mattress would be “good enough” for you will be based on your own personal experience. It would be fine for “most” people but there may also be some people that would prefer firmer edges.
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would also keep in mind that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful. A mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Having said that … hopefully some of the members here that own any of the mattresses you are considering will see your post and share their comments.
A coworker suggested the Dynasty Cool Breeze, but I don’t think I trust Chinese manufacturing. I’m leaning towards the Ultimate Dreams, but as an edge sleeper I still have some concerns – I emailed the company.
You can read some comments about Dynasty mattresses in posts #3 and #4 here and the posts they link to and as you can see I would be very cautious here.
They don’t mention the density of the polyfoam layers but calculating what the weight of the Dynasty Cool Breeze king size “should be” if the specs in the description are correct (using 1.8 lb density for the polyfoam) leads to …
Top layer: 3" x 76" x 80" / 1728 x 5 lb = 52.8 lbs
Next layer: 2" x 76" x 80" / 1728 x 4 lb = 28.1 lbs
Bottom layers 8" x 76" x 80" / 1728 x 1.8 lbs = 50.7 lbs
Total weight based on foam densities "should be a total of 52.8 + 28.1 + 50.7 = 131.6 lbs.
Listed weight is only 110 lbs.
This means that either the foam density specs in the description are incorrect or the listed weight is incorrect.
As I mentioned in an earlier reply … I would be very wary about using other people’s suggestions about mattresses that would likely have very little knowledge about mattresses or mattress materials (or the mattress they purchased) and that may have very different needs and preferences from your own.
You can see some comments about manufacturers or retailers that aren’t members here in post #9 here and some of the comments in posts #9 here and in this topic may be relevant as well.
There is also more about the membership criteria in post #2 here.
They don’t appear to monitor their web site messages. (Whereas Plushbeds responded same day).
If there is a representative from DreamFoam on this site who can guarantee me an Amazon.com purchase where I can use my Amazon credit card for 12-month financing, AND I can get the 10% discount code, I am likely a new customer. Throw in the free pillow for membership here and I can practically guarantee it :cheer:
Amazon is a completely different company from Dreamfoam so a purchase through Amazon will have different conditions, sometimes a different price, and a different trial and return/exchange policy than purchasing the same mattress from the Dreamfoam Bedding site itself. Any discounts or bonuses that Dreamfoam offers for direct purchases or that is connected to their membership here wouldn’t apply to an Amazon purchase (Amazon isn’t a member of this site) and Dreamfoam would have no control over how Amazon sells their mattresses.
Like many other manufacturers and retailers in the industry Dreamfoam does read the messages on this site on occasion and on some occasions have responded to them as well but the forum here certainly isn’t their normal method of communicating with their customers and again the most reliable way to contact them would be through a phone call or through email or their online chat. I would personally always use the phone (see post #4 here).
Just for reference … in addition to any price differences between Amazon fulfilled and Dreamfoam fulfilled purchases on Amazon and the prices on their own site … there is also a 10% discount for purchases from their site that isn’t available on Amazon (regardless of who fulfills the order) and the trial period on their own site is also 45 days vs 30 days on Amazon as well.
Yes, well that doesn’t allow me 12 month interest free financing. Also although the pillow isn’t really that important, I don’t see any option to include that on their web site.
Just chatted with Keaton from DreamFoam. I wasn’t really convinced on the edge support question for the Ultimate Dreams 13" Gel Memory Foam mattress, although it was suggested that I could customize a latex mattress that would be just as soft but perhaps offer more support.
Also, as suspected I cannot get the best of both worlds on discount and financing. Also they are not offering any bonus items (i.e. pillow).
I also emailed with PlushBeds and my impression of them is say anything. Plus I’ve read more than I should have been able to about misconfigurations.
So I remain unsold and think I’ll have to circle back and reconsider my options.
This isn’t correct. If you are a member here and post on the forum and you order through the Dreamfoam site (not Amazon) then they still offer a pillow bonus and all you need to do is let them know you are a TMU member either in the order comments or through an email.
Most foam mattresses don’t have or even really need side support if they have a support core that is firm enough and the comfort layers aren’t too thick and/or soft for the person sleeping on it. Having said that … there are exceptions to every rule and there is more information about edge support and foam mattresses in post #3 here and in post #33 here. With a foam mattress that is a suitable firmness level relative to the person sleeping on it (both in the support core and the comfort layers) then it normally wouldn’t be a significant issue for most people unless you often sleep or sit with most of your weight concentrated on the very outside edge of the mattress although the outside edges of a foam mattress would generally be softer than an innerspring mattress that has a specific edge support system.
As they mentioned … latex in general is a more “supportive” material than memory foam. There is more about some of the more general differences between latex and memory foam in post #2 here.
So that just tells me that in addition to not being responsive to questions submitted via their web site, they also have unknowledgeable sale reps doing chat sessions.
All the reps at Dreamfoam are knowledgeable and they are also aware of the pillow bonus for TMU members but of course it’s always possible that they misunderstood what you were asking. In all fairness you have been trying to “combine” the benefits of ordering from different sites into a single order which of course isn’t possible.
