Hi Immortal216,
You have it exactly right. My preferences in the line would be the Insight (firmer but no extra lower quality foam besides the gel memory foam itself which would be the weak link), the Prodigy (uses mostly higher quality materials but there is a real risk that there is too much soft material for most people for best alignment) and the Renewal refined (which uses more “supportive” materials in the thicker upper layers so the risk is less and it would tend to have better alignment/support along with the pressure relief). It’s still pretty thick on top though. So these models are the “better ones” in the line IMO and may have “relatively” better value than other options in the stores that sell them but none of them have good value compared to the choices I personally would tend to make.
This is not really possible to tell because there are so many variables including weight, body shape, how much someone moves on their mattress, and the degree of softening it would take to put you out of your range of tolerance. For example … if someone was on a mattress that was on the edge of being too soft for good alignment (their hips were sinking in just a little too far but not “over the edge” enough to really create symptoms) … then the initial softening that happens with memory foam and polyfoam over the first 90 days or so could make the mattress too soft and cause backache even though the foams would not be worn out.
I would tend to avoid 4 lb foams with weights over 200 lbs because they tend to not stand up. The good news with this is that the gel memory foam is under the 5 lb memory foam (which would take up more of the initial compression) and there is also some good quality foam below it (to help take up some of the load) so it may last a little longer than if it was on the very top.
Perhaps the biggest unknown of all at this point is the real life durability of gel foams as a group that have gel particles added to them. While the polymer density of the gel memory foam is @ 4 lbs which will usually last a few years less than the fairly typical 10 - 12 years of higher quality 5 lb and higher memory foam (with a wide range on both sides depending on the person), there is a chance that adding gel particulates will make the gel foams even less durable than a “typical” 4 lb foam and they are too new on the market to know for sure. The warranty has a .75" exclusion which tells me that they expect the durability in terms of loss of height will likely be good (which is what the warranty covers) … this doesn’t cover the durability in terms of softening though which can make a mattress unsuitable for sleeping on long before the foam breaks down enough to start losing height without any weight on the mattress and warranties don’t cover this.
If you have a 120 day trial … then at least the initial softening period would be over and this would be followed with a much more gradual softening over a longer time.
They are good quality but not the best value. There are several comments around the forum about Plushbeds (that a forum search will bring up) but in post #11 here their spam of this forum gave me a chance to do a direct comparison with one of our manufacturing members. The comparison was with the 8" mattress and the difference would be more with their higher cost models.
They would certainly be a “better than average” choice but not as good as many local manufacturers (where you would also get the cance to actually test the mattress) or some of the manufacturing members of the site who sell online.
Pillows are a much more subjective and preference/feel based choice than even a mattress (as long as it’s generally suitable for your sleeping position and keeps your head and neck in alignment and supported). I haven’t tried the icomfort pillow but because it can be scrunched (because of the memory foam clusters) it would be suitable for someone who slept in a wide range of positions and needed a very flat pillow for stomach sleeping and thicker for side. The clusters may tend to get a little thin for side sleeping over the course of the night but of course they can be scrunched up again if that happens. Beyond that I would think that some may or may not be comfortable with the feel of memory foam clusters and that part would be a much more personal choice.
On a personal level … the trillow memory foam pillow my DH Is sleeping on is one of the nicest memory foams I’ve tried and both of us like it a lot. She uses it with the outer layer removed to make it a little thinner while I use it (the few times I get to) with the layer added in.
Phoenix