I am in the Ottawa Area and have read your guidelines, and will be visiting three local retailers in the area:
Matelas Lapensée, Matelas Dauphin and The Hardy Mattress & Feather Inc. They are currently closed, but when they open after the new year I will go to each and evaluate the differnet choices in terms of PPP, and the composition of the layers and their quality, etc.
In the mean time, I saw that you recommended https://en.memoryfoamcomfort.ca/ and I really liked the feel of the Tempur-Pedics in some of the bigger chains and know they are of the memory foam kind. It’s obviously a much riskier buy to go with an online purchase, but It seems they use high quality materials. In case I don’t like any of the local choices as much or the price is too high, I was wondering if you could advise on The Stratus Vs the Cumulus Mattresses that they offer?
Stratus (bottom to top): Queen Cost: 1,439.00 CAD 1. 2 lb High Compression Foam - 2"
2. 2.5 lb HR Polyfoam - 4"
3. 3 lb HR Foam - 2"
4. 5 lb Aerus Memory foam - 2"
Cover: Natural Eco Bamboo Strech Material to keep you cool.
Cumulus: Queen Cost: 1,549.00 CAD 1. 2 lb HR High Compression foam. - 2"
2. 2.5lb HR polyfoam - 4"
3. 5 lb Aerus Memory foam - 4"
Cover: Natural Eco Bamboo Strech Material to keep you cool.
My question here:
I like the make of the Stratus due to the Energia foam layer , because they describe this mattress to be firmer and give the feeling of being on top of the mattress, which I prefer having tried a few memory foams in stores. However, The Cumulus is described to have a 2lb HR High Compression Foam in the bottom 2" of the support layer, where as the Stratus is described only with 2" of High Compression Foam (no HR). is this any obvious weakness in the support layer of the Stratus Mattress?
In addition, can you tell any obvious weaknesses in the makeup of these mattresses? as far as I can tell , these meet the minimum density criterias that you recommend, but only just barely. I’ve seen some ppl here state that some fo the local ottawa retailers have made composition for them with 3 lb polyfoam in the support layer, and 5.7 lb memory foam in the comfort layer( Hardy Mattresses). Moreover, would a Latex/Pocket Coil support layer be more preferable than the High Compression Layer described in these two mattresses here?
In addition I feel the quality/value ratio may be good from MemoryComfort because they offer free shipping until January 6, and they pay all taxes + add on 2 Free Memory Foam Pillows.
They are likely the same material and neither of them would be HR (which starts at 2.5 lb density). All of the foam densities are good quality and there are no obvious weak links in either mattress. “Just barely” would be 1.8 lb density (for polyfoam) or in some cases even 1.5 lb density (in lower budgets in the support layers or in a two sided mattress) and the foam densities here … especially in the more important upper layers … are well above that.
This would be a personal preference issue rather than a “better worse” issue.
Thanks for the response Phoenix. This reassures me about the quality. One question though:
Looks like their return policy is only covered under a limited warranty scheme, and if there are any obvious defects in the mattress. Do you think this is a warning sign, or just something that is more common in the local businesses and the fact they don’t have the big money to just lose money on a mattress just because a customer did not like it?
Mattress return policies are built into the cost of a mattress under the assumption that a certain percentage of customers will return or exchange it so the customers that don’t return or exchange a mattress pay for the ones that do. The actual return rate and the cost to a retailer or manufacturer that is added to their mattresses would depend on the specifics of the policy, the type of mattress and the options it provides for “fine tuning” after a purchase, their success rate with matching mattresses to their customers, and on what they do and how much they recover their costs with returned mattresses. Each person is unique so there is never a guarantee that an online purchase will be a good “match” for the needs and preferences of any specific customer so this would really be a matter of your “risk tolerance”, whether you are more on the “I can sleep on anything” end of the scale or the “princess and the pea” end of the scale and your confidence in the suitability of the mattress for your specific needs and preferences based on your conversations with them and your ability to test mattresses locally that would be similar (usually with the guidance of the online retailer or manufacturer).
In other words … it would be would be part of your personal value equation and isn’t a reflection of the quality of your mattress or a “warning sign” but would be a caution to take into account as part of the “value” of any online purchase.
I was doing some more reading, and wanted to touch on your point below:
I read the Support Core section of the site, and came across a statement where in you advise to be wary of claims from stores that say their 2.5lb HR foam is indeed High Resillience. In the Stratus, the density is indeed 2.5lb/ft3 (the 4" layer), but is there any way to tell if it is true HR (2.4 progressive resistance and 60% resillience?)
I really wouldn’t worry too much about whether it’s actually HR in the base layer of a mattress and in many if not most cases the foam manufacturers themselves don’t provide the detailed specs of the foam to the mattress manufacturer. The main reason for the greater durability of HR polyfoam is more the higher density of the foam than anything else and in terms of durability any polyfoam with a 2.5 lb polymer density would be close equivalents in durability terms.
It can become somewhat overwhelming to try and find out every specification of every foam in a mattress and in most cases they won’t be available anyway so as long as you know the density then the rest is less important. The most common misrepresentation of HR polyfoam is when the density is less than 2.5 lbs and they still call it HR when of course that’s not possible.
Regardless of all the more technical specs of their foam … there are no weak links in any of the layers.
Both our memory foam mattress are of similar quality. The Cumulus has more of a Tempur-Pedic feel to it, you will sink more into this mattress and rest on a firm support core. The mattress do not have any bounce to it, and is preferred by those who enjoy a very stable and inert mattress.
The Stratus has a layer of HR foam that feels similar to latex. This layer adds a bit of resilience to the mattress which gives it a livelier feel while relieve pressure points. This mattress is easier to move around in, and has a slight bounce to it.
The 2 inch of memory foam on top molds and contours to your body, and helps reduce pressure points. Both our mattresses are covered with a deluxe bamboo cover and have a 20 year limited warranty.
In the next few weeks we will be offering the possibility of creating your own custom mattress. First you will choose your HD, HR or latex core. To the core, you will have the option to add separate toppers of comfort levels with either latex, memory foam or both. This will offer our customer more choice, and the possibility to custom design your mattress according to your specifications.
As for warranty issues, because we use only high end foams, we have never had any claims in the last 10 years