Trying to decide on memory/gel foam mattress

[FlausFSU]

HI All,

My wife and I have been looking for a new mattress and this forum has been a great help! Hopefully we can get some additional feedback to help us make our minds up on which way to go. Not that I am expecting a recommendation, as I know Phoenix doesn’t do that, but a more informed opinion would be greatly appreciated.

We went to the local big box stores to get a feel for which Tempurpedic model best suit our comfort and support levels. We are both side sleepers, and preferred a more plush feeling mattress. We are still young and in shape (I’m 6ft 180lbs, she’s 5’5" 105lbs-ish), and don’t have back problems that we are aware of. We liked the Cloud Supreme lines (Breeze and standard), and are using this as our comparison model for the online mattress available. At the store (Mattress DIscounters), they had a bed by Classic Sleep (formerly Dormia apparently) in 11" gel foam with the following construction:

Lycra Stretch Knit removable cover
2" 4lb 12 ILD Ventilated Gel Infused Memory Foam
1" 3lb 10 ILD Ventilated Premium Memory Foam
8" 2lb 40 ILD HD Base Foam

The other model we are considering is the Amazon DreamFoam Ultimate Dreams 13" gel Memory foam. The construction of the DreamFoam seems to be of higher quality materials which is as follows (although I’m sure Phoenix could recite them by heart at this point). While they compare it to the softer Cloud Luxe, most reviews pin it as slightly firmer, which would be fine since we thought the Supreme was very comfortable. If it is slightly softer than that Supreme, we would be perfectly happy with that.

3" of 4lb gel memory foam
2" of 5lb memory foam
8" base of premium base foam (couldn’t find lbs, but I’m sure Phoenix knows)

And finally, we are considering a model from Costco (gotta get our membership benefits somehow). My big hesitation with this is I don’t seem to have a comparison to which Temperpedic model its similar to. Any thoughts? It is the Astoria 12" with the following construction:

Mattress top layer: 2” proprietary premium 4lb slumber tech visco memory foam
Middle layer: 2” proprietary 3lb slumber tech visco memory foam air flow
Bottom layer: 8” Sleep Science patent pending air channel base made with support tech foam

So I guess our questions would be:

1. Based on the construction of the Classic Sleep vs. the DreamFoam vs Astoria , will we really notice an appreciable difference in terms of longevity and quality? We are not the most picky people in the world, and at this point anything would be an improvement over our current sleeping situation. We anticipate this bed to last us maybe 5ish years, as we plan to move and get a king size bed eventually. Which would make this bed potentially a guest-room mattress.

2. We currently have a metal queen size bedframe, would all of these mattress require the same kind of boxspring/platform? Or could we use the metal frame? I tend to think no, so we get adequate support from the memory foam, but if we don’t need a platform it will certainly help in terms of overall $$.

3. Do you know if the Classic Sleep or Astoria model is CertiPUR-US? I can’t seem to find it on the website and don’t remember if I saw the seal on the mattress flyer. Is CertiPUR a big differentiator, where we should not even be considering one without the approval?

4. Anything I might be missing?

Here are links to all 3 beds for futher information
Classic Sleep 11" Cool Gel Queen- http://www.1800mattress.com/en/NEW-Classic-Sleep-11-inch-Cool-Gel-Luxury-Firm-Mattress_91102/?attrValue=Twin%20XL&zipcode=&gclid=CMj7l9336LgCFUuk4Aod9F4Aog

DreamFoam UltimateDreams 13" - https://www.amazon.com/DreamFoam-Mattress-Ultimate-Dreams-13-Inch/dp/B0092UCN0Y/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Astoria 12" Queen- http://www.costco.com/Astoria-12"-Queen-Memory-Foam-Mattress.product.100002164.html

[phoenix]

Hi FlausFSU,

You can see the guidelines I would use for a memory foam mattress in post #10 here. For me CertiPur certification would not be as important if the foams were manufactured in North America (and most American foam manufacturers are CertiPur certified anyway) but if the foam was manufactured overseas it would be an important part of my purchase decision to make sure that the foams have some reasonable expectation of being “safe” in terms of harmful substances or VOC’s.

Classic Sleep 11" Gel memory foam:

[quote]Lycra Stretch Knit removable cover
2" 4lb 12 ILD Ventilated Gel Infused Memory Foam
1" 3lb 10 ILD Ventilated Premium Memory Foam
8" 2lb 40 ILD HD Base Foam[/quote]

This mattress uses low (3 lb) to medium (4 lb) quality/density materials in the top 3" and “just barely” meets the minimum standard I would use for a memory foam mattress (no more than an inch or so of lower quality materials). They are also CertiPur certified*. 4 lb memory foam can make a good choice as part of a mattress design (and Tempurpedic uses this density as well) but around 4 lb memory foam (+/- a little) is the lowest I would go and in combination with 3 lb memory foam I would tend to avoid it even though the 3 lb memory foam is only an inch. It would also not be a good match to the Cloud Supreme and would be firmer. The listed price is also outrageous for a mattress of this quality.

ADMIN NOTE: *Removed 404 link|Archived Footprint: certipur.us/pages/for-consumers/find-products/

[quote]The other model we are considering is the Amazon DreamFoam Ultimate Dreams 13" gel Memory foam. The construction of the DreamFoam seems to be of higher quality materials which is as follows (although I’m sure Phoenix could recite them by heart at this point). While they compare it to the softer Cloud Luxe, most reviews pin it as slightly firmer, which would be fine since we thought the Supreme was very comfortable. If it is slightly softer than that Supreme, we would be perfectly happy with that.

3" of 4lb gel memory foam
2" of 5lb memory foam
8" base of premium base foam (couldn’t find lbs, but I’m sure Phoenix knows)[/quote]

This uses much better quality memory foam in the comfort layers (which are the weak link of most mattresses) and as you mentioned it is a much more realistic comparison to the feel and softness level of the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe. The base foam is 1.5 lbs. this is much better quality and value and among the better budget memory foam choices available.

[quote]And finally, we are considering a model from Costco (gotta get our membership benefits somehow). My big hesitation with this is I don’t seem to have a comparison to which Temperpedic model its similar to. Any thoughts? It is the Astoria 12" with the following construction:

Mattress top layer: 2” proprietary premium 4lb slumber tech visco memory foam
Middle layer: 2” proprietary 3lb slumber tech visco memory foam air flow
Bottom layer: 8” Sleep Science patent pending air channel base made with support tech foam[/quote]

This mattress includes 2" of 3 lb memory foam which would exclude it from consideration. Sleep Science is also manufactured in China and isn’t CertiPur certified so that would be another reason I would exclude it. Costco customer service has little knowledge of mattresses and I doubt that you could get any meaningful information about which of the Tempurpedic mattresses this may approximate and as you can see in post #4 here … buying a mattress from Costco is really a roll of the dice when it comes to it’s suitability or the knowledge that is available to help guide you and the only good thing about a Costco mattress purchase is that you get a free roll if the mattress isn’t a suitable choice. I would avoid this mattress in any case no matter who was selling it.

Out of these three there are only two that meet the guidelines and of these two the Classic Sleep is “on the edge” in terms of quality and is not good value at all at the listed price (or even substantially lower).

So making final choices is usually a matter of eliminating the worst options and then choosing between “good and good” but in this case I would exclude two of your three options anyway so a final choice would be easy between these three

Phoenix