As always, many (many) thanks to Phoenix for providing this forum and sharing your expertise.
Like many here, I went to the local mattress chain store and narrowed it down to a couple of models from the iComfort and Optimum lines. For comparison’s sake, I also tried out some Tempur-Pedic models though I had no intention of spending that much. While they were all memory foam mattresses, the Tempur-Pedic felt distinctly different. It felt like what I read about here and other places: slower recovering, more conforming, viscous and I think, warmer. The others were certainly comfortable, but they didn’t feel like “memory foam”. Is this what others notice? If so, I don’t think I ran across those posts here. I wasn’t looking at the entry models, so I think the foam densities were somewhat comparable to the Tempur-Pedic. Is this due to the quality of foams even at the same density? Do you think Tempur-Pedic is selecting foams that are slower recovering to enhance the effect to consumers and other manufacturers are using faster recovery to reach a broader market? Would the quality of support layers have that much of an effect? Perhaps, too, the warmth may masquerade as conformity. Ok, that was a lot of questions, mainly I’m just wondering if others feel such a difference.
Fast forward many hours of reading here, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered a mattress from one of the member companies here. I was somewhat expecting it to be more in line with the feel of a Tempur-Pedic. It’s not. This is not a complaint. In fact, I may have found that I didn’t like having to climb out of a slow-recovering hole to turn over or that a material that conforming was entirely too hot. It is comfortable and I have no reason to doubt that the materials are superior than those in the Sealy and Serta with regards to longevity. But so far, it feels more like an iComfort/Optimum… to me. I have only slept on it a few times and I know that it should soften up some over the next week or two. I don’t feel like I’m sleeping in the mattress. I definitely feel like I’m sleeping on the mattress and I don’t think I’m turning over any less than on my old mattress. Just some observations and curiosity.
Your observations are very astute. You can read a little more about Tempurpedic and their “reputation” here and you are quite right that there are hundreds of different types of memory foam with different properties even at the same density as you can read here and here.
The most common complaints with the “old style” memory foam mattresses were that people felt like they were sleeping in sand and it restricted movement (which is a necessary part of healthy sleep), sleeping temperatures were warmer (slower recovery means more hysteresis or energy absorption and the energy that is returned in more resilient materials is turned into heat with memory foam), offgassing, chemical smells and sensitivities, and the “hidden” complaint which was that sex was very different and for most more difficult (at least until they learn to accommodate the different surface) because no energy is returned.
When the iComfort and the popularity of gel foams came along and to a lesser degree others before that … people started to realize that memory foam didn’t have to have the properties of Tempurpedic and the market as a whole began to prefer and turn towards memory foam that had faster recovery properties, slept cooler, and that didn’t have what most people would consider to be the same degree of “weaknesses” (even though there are certainly a smaller group that prefer the older style memory foam mattresses). The “feel” of the iComfort was a massive hit even though they used lower quality and less durable materials to achieve it.
Quality as I usually define it on the forum is more about durability not performance. Every density of foam whether it is polyfoam or memory foam can be made with different properties in the same density. In most cases the quality/durability of the upper layers will be the weak link of a mattress not the support layers. The upper layers will also be a more significant part of what people feel when they lie on a mattress while the effects and performance of the base layers will be part of what they feel in the morning which is when the effects of sleeping out of alignment is most noticeable. The performance of every layer as well as the design affects the properties or suitability of a mattress as a whole but the density/durability of the upper layers is the most important part of durability. Certain more desirable properties in polyfoam or memory foam can also be more costly to make and even in the same density some foams are more “high performance” in some of their specs and more costly.
So yes … the faster recovery, cooler memory foams (whether they are gel or otherwise) are more appealing to the broader market and it’s less common to find the slower recovery memory foams which is more of a “hallmark” of Tempurpedic and a few other memory foam manufacturers.
Tempurpedic is also well along in the process of removing their specs from retailer sites as they seem to be changing and downspecing their mattresses and their “feel” is also changing over time as they too are responding to consumer complaints about their memory foam (or to consumers buying more of other manufacturer’s memory foam). the days of Tempurpedic dominance is coming to an end as memory foam alternatives (in every quality range) continue to be introduced. There is some strong evidence that for example they are now using 1.5 lb polyfoam in some of their upper end mattresses where they used to use 2.2 lb and they are just assuming that consumers will “assume” that they are the same as they used to be. They are also using some lower quality/density memory foam.
Any density memory foam can have a wide range of performance and there are lower quality foams that would have a feel that some people prefer or that work better in certain designs than some higher density alternatives. This is why I always mention that you can’t “feel” the quality of a material when you are testing mattresses. The quality (as defined by density and durability) only determines how long the material will remain close to its original performance levels … whatever they may be depending on how it was manufactured.
Thank you for those posts and your lengthy reply. They were all very informative. Are we inevitably losing the pressure-reliving qualities of memory foam as we try to alleviate their shortcomings?
just tried the icomfort today. and liked it! and i really liked a Sealy optimum i tried. i love these news foams, i’ve always hated mem foam. I immediately thought: ooh, i wonder which BB’s feels like. :D.
pm’ing you, i’d love to know! off to look at the ones BB has. Damn, more options. :pinch:
No … the pressure relief of memory foam doesn’t depend on its resilience but more on it’s point elasticity (ability to take on the shape of the body) and the design and layering of the mattress. Even latex which is the most resilient foam category and springs back instantly can be just as pressure relieving as memory foam.