We bought the Simmons Phenom Comforpedic 12 inch Supreme Plush from Sleepys after our pillow top Sealy Posturepedic caved-in after 8 years. We liked the pressure-relief the Phenom would provide but after 2 weeks, we are sleeping “hot”. Reading your excellent articles, I now see the mistake made with only buying the 1inch cooling gel top layer. I also now see the potential down the road for sagging and foam break down.
Sleepy’s recommends exchanging Phenom to the Simmons Beautyrest Legend Plush Mattress. It too has a memory foam top but I have been unable to find the specs on Legend’s foam density and other pointers that you provide. My concern is that it may also run “hot” and/or deteriorate if made with similar foam-top layers. Of note, I’m never a “sweater” in bed. We are 2 side-sleeping adults, mid-40’s, tall weighing 170 & 220 pounds.
Do you have any intel on whether the Beautyrest Legend contains similar top layer/potential heat-producing layers? Also, is the foam used on the Legend a higher quality than the Phenom? If there are other Sleepy’s-carried mattresses that you like beyond Legend, I would enjoy hearing your perspective. I live in downtown Boston and unfortunately didn’t make it to Gardner prior to this purchase and don’t want to lose an $1,800 store credit. Thank you!
You were fortunate to get 8 years out of your mattress … assuming you were sleeping well for all 8 years :). It may also be worthwhile checking to see if the visible impressions are deep enough to quality for warranty coverage.
There are a number of factors that combine together to affect sleeping temperature relative to each person including your mattress protector, sheets, and bedding (see post #2 here and the other posts it links to) so it’s not really possible to accurately predict whether a mattress or “sleeping system” will sleep hot for a particular person based on just the type of foam because of all the variables involved. A mattress that will sleep hot for some people can still be fine for others.
Simmons also makes it much more difficult to assess because they don’t disclose all the specifics of the materials in their mattresses. I would keep in mind though that in general terms, memory foam comfort layers will tend to sleep warmer than other types of foam layers because it’s a more insulating material that usually has less airflow than other types of foam. Gel memory foams can have a limited effect on temperature (depending on the specifics of the gel foam) but once temperatures equalize the foam is still an insulating material and can contribute to sleeping hot. There is more about gel memory foams in post #8 here and post #2 here and the other posts they link to.
Unfortunately Simmons (or Sleepys) doesn’t generally provide this information so it’s not really possible to know the specifics of any of their mattresses.
The layers of the Phenom are listed on the Sleepys site …
Sculpted stretch knit cover
1" AirCool® Memory Foam with TruTemp™ Gel
1"AirCool® Memory foam
1"AirCool® Memory foam
1.5" Blended Latex
AirCool® Edge Support
6.5" AirCool® Transflexion® Core
… but they don’t disclose the density of the top 3" of memory foam and it would be much safer to assume they are lower density/quality and would be a potential weak link in the mattress.
Sleepys doesn’t disclose much information at all about the Legend but you can see here that the foam density of the memory foam comfort layers in a similar mattress is hovering around or below the bottom of the range that I would consider to be OK. You are almost certainly being “upsold” so that they can maximize their profit on a mattress exchange by selling you a more costly mattress.
Post #2 here has more about the two main “strategies” that you can use when you are in the difficult position of exchanging a mattress at a store when there are really no great quality/value options available to you.
Thank you for your input. Ironically, our purchasing decision was between the Phenom and Jordan’s Beautyrest 4000!
I’m told the foam density for both the Phenom’s 3" memory top foam and the Beautyrest Legend foam (a TOTAL of 1.5 inches comprising nxg, memory purfoam and slow recovery latex) is likely 5 pounds density. I am quite surprised there is only 1.5 inches of foam in the Legend, it appears much plusher/higher.
Is it fair to say that despite having significantly less memory foam than the Phenom that the Legend is priced more because of the 14.75 gauge coil system? Or does something just seem amiss about the pricing of the Legend?
I certainly wouldn’t assume that the memory foam in the Legend is 5 lb density (it’s not likely) and there is more than 1.5" of foam in the mattress. The 14" 4000 plush uses the same coil system as the Legend and has 5" of foam in the comfort layers (memory foam and polyfoam) so it would be reasonable to assume that the foam in the Legend is 1" less or about 4" since it’s a 13" mattress.
The innerspring in the Legend would be a more costly component than a polyfoam support core in the Phenom so this would be part of the reason but I think it would be much closer to the truth to say that the biggest reason is that the Legend is priced the way it is is that it is a so called “exclusive” to Sleepys. Even though it is very similar to other Beautyrest mattresses that use the same coil system and only has small changes to the cover and inner components (so that it’s more difficult to make comparisons to other similar Simmons mattresses) the story about its exclusivity makes it easier to charge more than it’s really worth. In other words you are paying for the “story” much more than for any better quality materials in the mattress.