I’ve been reasearching memory foam beds for awhile now and came across this site. This has been the BEST place to research brands/mattress and get honest feedback! I went to every store in my area testing all different types of memory foam, all with a ridiculous price tag…I came across the Ultimate Dreams 13" gel on this site with very good feedback from every buyer, even on amazon the reviews are great so I decided to buy the king 2 weeks ago and so far it’s living up to its expectations!..From this site I have a very basic understanding of foam density and I saw a few posts on here that the base of this bed is 2.25lbs density so I contacted the seller of the mattress and asked what it the density of the premium base foam was he replied with 1.5lbs, 30ILD high density foam. So my question is does that sound low to you guys? Don’t get me wrong I like the mattress, but I hope I don’t have to spend more cash on a new bed a year from now.
Yes it sounds low and it also doesn’t sound correct. Their amazon latex mattresses use 2.35 lb base foam and the ones on their site use 2.17 lb Omalon polyfoam so I think that the density got lost in translation somehow.
I’ll ask when I talk with them next but I don’t think its correct.
I was ready to pull the trigger on purchasing the ultimate dreams 13" gel foam mattress until I read this thread. I was under the assumption that this mattress had at least a 2.0 lb density base foam. I am in the market to purchase a mattress and dream foam is on the top of my list so I contacted Brooklyn Bedding and chatted with Jacob about the density of the base foam. He didn’t know off hand and had to go look it up. He confirmed that they are using a 1.5lb base foam in the ultimate dreams 13" gel foam mattress. I believe he understood what I was asking since he did state that the beds they sell on their web site were over 2.0 lb density foam and were a step above the dream foam line. He also stated that this 1.5lb base foam should outlast any other foam that is used on this mattress.
Now I am very hesitant to purchase the ultimate dreams 13" gel mattress since I have found out that it uses a 8 inch 1.5lb base foam. Should I be or does this low density have very little effect on the quality and longevity of the mattress? What is a good density for a base foam on a mattress like this one? I’m sure it is covered somewhere in the forum but I was unable to find it. Also my second choice, Ecogel Blue Heaven, uses a 6 inch 1.8lb base foam, would this be a better choice or is the small increase in density a non factor in deciding between the two mattresses?
Let me say thank you for all the information and wisdom you have supplied on this forum. This forum has been a great resource for me in my search for a new mattress. I feel that I am more knowledgeable and I am able to make an educated decision when selecting a mattress. If it wasn’t for this forum I would have settled for one of the “S” mattresses and probably would have made a choice I would have regretted down the road.
Since I have a very basic understanding of foam density would you mind sharing your thought on what would make for a good base foam layer on a memory foam mattress and if 1.5lb 30ILD high density foam is sufficient for a base layer?
The base foam is 1.5 lbs so the information is correct. I normally suggest that 1.8 lb polyfoam is the minimum I would consider in a higher budget mattress but in a lower budget range (which of course this is) I would consider 1.5 lb polyfoam as well. Exceptions would depend on budget and on the construction of the rest or the mattress and on how well it “fits” the other foams that are being used and on personal circumstances.
There are higher and lower performance foams in each density level (more or less resilient, more or less compression modulus etc). Some “high performance” foams are made in a similar way to HR polyfoam for example and while the biggest factor in their durability would be density … they would also have better specs than other more conventional foams in other ways besides density.
The density of a foam is the primary factor in its durability but all the foam in a mattress also interacts together so foam that is deeper in a mattress will compress less and be more durable than the same foam that is closer to the surface. A base layer with only 2" of foam on top will not be as durable as the same base layer with 5" of foam on top for example. Cell structure, firmness levels, convoluting, formulation and chemical differences are also other factors in foam durability. The weak link of a mattress in other words is usually in the upper layers not in the support layers … and this would be particularly true with a mattress that had 5" of foam in the top layers above the support layers. You can see more about the different factors involved in durability in post #2 here.
My understanding is that the foam they are using is a higher performance foam with a lower density which they chose both to save cost and because of how it contributed to the “feel” they were looking for (similar to the Tempurpedic Cloud Luxe but a little firmer). The support layers in a mattress designed like this would be the “best” place overall to save costs and reduce prices in this type of design because you could “get away” with lower density because of the thickness and quality of the foams above it so the overall durability of all the layers would be similar and “balanced”.
So the bottom line is that this is part of the tradeoff that contributes to the overall “value” of the mattress and in this specific case I agree that the base layer would not normally be the “weak link” of the mattress.