Hello all,
As background for this post I would read this topic from post #20 and onwards and my comments in post #71 here.
For the moment I would hold off on any purchase from Restava until the quality/density of their new designs can be confirmed.
I should have more information to update this by Sept 15th or sooner.
Phoenix
Any new news on Restava? They seem to have the least expensive memory foam mattress of the online sellers. I am interested in how you rate the quality of their components before going further.
Thanks,
Pete
Hi hpete,
They haven’t updated me yet and I hope they will in the next day or two (they told me they would provide me with the information on Sept 15th) so this topic can have some resolution.
For the moment … I would avoid them until the quality of the materials in their new designs is known.
Phoenix
Phoenix:
I want to thank you for all the information and advice you have assembled on your website. As I’m sure you have heard 1000 times the intelligent purchase of a mattress by a novice such as myself is a very daunting process. And without your website an almost impossible one.
I want to update you on my decision and the thought process that went into it.
I am very suspicious of Restava for not publishing the specs on their new products and would not be surprised if you drop Restava from your list of quality manufacturers.
I need a low-profile mattress, not over 9 inches high. Because of this I am limited in my choices. In addition to the Restava mattress I found one produced by Select Foam, the SELECT-Cirrus ES 8". Since you rate Select Foam as using quality components and since it has a full refund policy I have decided to purchase from it. They claim their 8 incher compares to the TempurPedic Tempur Cloud. I attempted to do a live test but could not find the 8" TempurPedic in a showroom. I did try the Serta iComfort Insight (also 8") and found it very comfortable. If it weren’t for the low rating of the Serta foam I would have purchased it. Several buyers on Amazon stated that that after only a few months the Serta became too soft. I also tried a higher TempurPedic which was was to my liking. I only hope the single 2.7" of 4 lb memory foam over a 5.3" base will be sufficient. Time will tell.
Thanks,
Pete
Hi hpete,
They did email me two days ago but it was only to say that they are “finalizing the details” and will be giving me a call. I am as disappointed as I’m sure the members here are that would otherwise be considering them and I hope that the information that they end up providing is worth the wait and the frustration.
You can compare the quality of the layers in any mattress to the guidelines here and as you can see 4 lb memory foam would certainly be a suitable density for most people (although I would tend to minimize the use of 4 lb memory foam with higher weight ranges). I would also keep in mind that other memory foam mattresses that are the same thickness may feel very different depending on the specifics of the materials and components inside them.
In any case … it is certainly a good quality/value choice and I hope you have the chance to share your feedback when you receive it and that it works out the way you hoped for.
Congratulations on your new mattress 
Phoenix
Hello All,
I received an email from Restava today but rather than providing the information they said they would about the changes they have made in their mattresses, they asked to be removed from the membership list instead. Of course I agreed because transparency about the type and quality of the materials in their mattresses is one of the criteria for membership.
So I have removed Restava from the membership list and they will also be removing any references to being recommended by The Mattress Underground from their site as well.
It’s somewhat sad to me when a manufacturer changes from being transparent about their mattresses to following the lead of so many of the larger manufacturers and the mainstream industry in general and decides to no longer disclose the quality of the materials that they are using.
For those of you that are still considering them as an option, I would make sure that they will provide you with all the information you need about the materials that they are currently using in their mattresses to make an informed buying decision (see this article).
Phoenix
I just learned about Restava today and out of curiosity I went to their website. They refer to themattressunderground on their website. I didn’t see where they had been added back to your membership, but they are offering a discount as if they are members.
I was wondering what was going on. I am still purchasing from Novosbed, but the delay in getting my mattress due to their recent product change has me checking other ones out.
Hi Geekymom1,
As you probably know from reading this topic … Restava used to be a member of this site but they changed the designs and lowered the foam quality/density in their mattresses and after many weeks they wouldn’t provide me with the information I needed about their new designs so I wasn’t able to confirm the quality/density of their foam materials and because accuracy and transparency is one of the most important criteria for membership here they are no longer a member of the site.
Based on the information in this topic and the other topics I linked in earlier posts … I’m not confident that the 4.1 lb and 5.3 lb density of the foam layers that they list on their site are accurate or reliable.
While any retailer or manufacturer in the industry can provide a discount to the members here if they wish to … they certainly can’t show that they are a member of the site or that they are recommended by The Mattress Underground (which they don’t). When their membership ended they did remove any reference to being a recommended member of the site and the TMU logos on their pages.
For some reason they decided to keep their landing page about The Mattress Underground online and I’m not sure if they still provide a discount of if the page is a “relic” from the time they were a member (none of the forum members have posted about purchasing from them since their membership ended) but either with or without a discount I would be cautious about considering them unless you are completely confident that they can and will provide you with accurate information about the quality and density of all the layers in their new mattresses (see this article).
Phoenix
Thank you Phoenix,
I am not planning on buying from them, but I am keeping my eyes open in case I don’t like the Novosbeds as much as I hope I do. In the case that I hope to not have, I want to have some other options to decide from and I found some positive reviews for Restava that led me to their site. When I saw references to The Mattress Underground on their site I went back to your website to find information on them. When I saw that they weren’t members anymore and that this happened a while ago, I wondered if that had changed somehow and that they were becoming more transparent over the last two years. Obviously, that is not the case. But, now I have another question. (Blame my ADD since I like to bounce around from thought to thought.)
My understand is that the jury is still out regarding the cooling effect gel memory foam creates and I believe that one of your articles states that the initial cooler feel doesn’t tend to last throughout the night due to memory foam temperature absorption. Is this still the expert opinion or is memory gel proving to be a good coolant. A number of temperature cooling designs are advertised by different makers, including Novosbed, the company I have an order in with. Some of these designs are air-channels within the mattress layers (egg crate like) and vertical piping in the memory foam. Have any of these designs actually been shown to be effective or are they just gimmicks and the best option is a good mattress cover, like a wool one (St. Domeir or similar) and good old fashioned air-conditioning.
Hi Geekymom,
While it’s not 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 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.
Gel memory foams (and other types of gel foams) include a very wide range of different materials with different formulations so they aren’t just a single material with the same temperature regulating properties but there is more information about gel foams in general in post #2 here and the posts it links to. In very general terms … gel and/or other thermal conductive or phase change materials can have “some effect” on 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. Gel 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.
There is also more information and comments about the different methods that can be used to help cool down the tendency of memory foam to sleep warmer for some people (including the methods you mentioned) in post #6 here.
Phoenix
Hi PapaMike,
You can see my comments about the discount they offer in post #8 earlier in this topic but I don’t see any claim that they are endorsed or recommended by TMU or that they are a member of the site on the pages you linked.
Phoenix
Here is the link of the blog referencing TheMattressUnderground
http://www.restava.com/blogs/sleep/14042837-mattress-underground
Hi Geekymom1,
As I mentioned in my previous replies to you and PapaMike … I’ve seen all the pages on their site that reference The Mattress Underground and none of them that I’ve seen (including the ones you linked) claim that they are endorsed or recommended by TMU (which of course they aren’t).
Phoenix