Hi there. My wife and I have been sleeping in our Tempurpedic Rhapsody queen bed for almost 8 years now and we love it. It has developed softer spots in the areas we sleep on, but it’s still very good and supportive. We’re thinking about a king bed and I was just in a mattress store this past weekend walking back and forth between the Rhapsody and Allura for the better part of an hour and I was wondering if someone can confirm my observations.
First off, the store was pretty cool inside, and the Rhapsody was on display at an inner room while the Allura was next to a large window, so it was in a colder spot.
My observation was that the Allura has a softer feel for the first 2 inches of pillow-top foam, but after that the next layer seems to offer very firm support. The Rhapsody seems to have a more progressive feel to it.
Standing beside the bed and leaning down with my hands on the edge of the mattresses, the Rhapsody gave way more than the Allura did.
My confusion comes from the description of the Allura as Medium firmness, while the Rhapsody is called Medium-Firm. My observation based on the beds on display was that the Allura feels less firm but more supportive, if that makes sense. The top layer gives a sense of it being less firm, but then the layers beneath offer more support/firmness than the Rhapsody. What I’m not sure of is whether I got that sense due to temperature or age of mattress differences.
So what I’m hoping is that someone can help me confirm/understand the Allura. I really liked the way it relieved pressure points on the top layer and then offered firm support underneath… But was it like that because it was so cold and I was only heating the top layer when I laid down on it? Is it going to keep that personality for a long time, or will it end up being all over softer than the Rhapsody once it’s broken in after a couple years?
Firmness and softness is always subjective and relative to the body type, sleeping positions, and perceptions of each person. As you mentioned as well … with memory foam it can also depend on the temperature of the environment because memory foam changes in terms of softness/firmness based on temperature, humidity, and the length of time you are lying on the mattress. It can also depend on whether the mattress you are lying on has been broken in or is new (you can ask the retailer how long the mattress has been on the floor). I would make sure that you have tested both of these (or any memory foam mattress) for a minimum of 20 - 30 minutes to make sure the memory foam has had the chance to soften especially with higher density memory foam which tends to take longer to soften than lower density memory foams.
In addition to all of this there are also different types of firmness that each person may be more or less sensitive to (see post #15 here).
There are also two versions of the Allura … one of which is in the Cloud line and uses 4.1 lb memory foam on top (the softest memory foam they make but which is also faster responding than their higher density memory foams) and the other is in the Contour line and uses 7.1 lb memory foam on top and would feel firmer.
The Rhapsody uses 1.2" of HD memory foam (which is 7.1 lbs and is softer then their 5.3 lb memory foam but firmer than their 4.1 lb memory foam) over 2.8" of their 5.3 lb memory foam and as you mentioned is “rated” as medium firm. With a thinner layer of the HD memory foam on top the “feel” of the 5.3 lb memory foam would “come through” more than it would with the Allura.
The Contour Allura uses 2" of HD memory foam over 2.8" of their 5.3 lb memory foam so for most people it would be softer than the Rhapsody (it has a thicker layer of softer memory foam on top but it may take more time for the top memory foam to soften) but it may take some time for the softness of the higher density memory foam to become apparent. The “feel” of the HD memory foam would be more pronounced in this mattress than it would be in the Rhapsody.
The Cloud Allura uses 3.2" of 4.1 lb memory foam over 1.6" of 5.3 lb memory foam so for most people it would be the softest of the three (and would be in the softest range of all the mattresses they make).
Both the 5.3 lb memory foam and the 7.1 lb memory foam would be very durable materials. 4.1 lb memory foam is a "medium density/durability memory foam and would be less durable than either of the other two (although for most people that were in an average weight range it may also make a good choice because the tradeoff between durability and the feel and performance of the mattress in terms of PPP may be worth it. Once you are over about 200 lbs or so I would tend to minimize the use of 4 lb memory foam for durability reasons.
OK great, thank you. I was trying the Contour line. (Thank you for clearing that up - I was confused when their website said the Allura came in either soft or medium).
I’ll go and check it out again at a different store, but it sounds like you’ve confirmed what I thought. The composition of the two beds is similar, but the Allura offers a thicker HD layer over the same thickness of 5.3 lbs. It seemed to me as though that helped distribute my weight over the 5.3lbs more evenly, allowing it to offer flatter support at that layer.
This would make sense because the 8 lb memory foam would have more “contouring support” (softer initially and more highly contouring and more “supportive” as you sink in more deeply than lower density memory foam).