Hi brian.r.hamilton,
I see nothing wrong or even inaccurate or contradictory in their replies to you and if anything you may have asked the wrong questions.
I think it’s important to recognize a few things …
First of all your perceptions may be very different from many other people who don’t feel the same “clay like” feel when they lie on Tempurpedic memory foam or at least wouldn’t describe it the same way you do. One person who feels one thing on a particular brand of memory foam may describe it very differently than another person that tries the very same memory foam because they can be more or less sensitive to the different properties of memory foam or their subjective perceptions may result in different descriptions of the same material.
Body type, sleeping style, and preferences can also affect how people “feel” a particular type of material.
The response of memory foam also depends on several variables including including temperature, humidity, pressure, and time. These variables may also result in a different experience with the same type of memory foam.
The “feel” of memory foam depends on all the layers of a mattress that it is part of along with layer thickness … not just on a single layer.
In your email questions you were trying to compare 3 different types of memory foam based on certain criteria but your “criteria” didn’t provide them with a good indication of your perceptions or the specifics of the type of memory foam you are looking for (or how you feel it such as “I’m looking for memory foam that has a clay like feel”).
The first response they provided was as accurate as most people would want to know based on the criteria you mentioned (firmness, resilience, and support). You asked first about the similarity between their memory foam and Sensus based on these 3 criteria and their answer was as accurate in general terms as your 3 criteria make possible. By these criteria they would be similar for most (but of course not all) people.
Don’t forget too that there are many people who would perceive that Sensus and Tempurpedic feel very similar. As a matter of fact there are many people who believe that Tempurpedic and 3 lb “junk” memory foam feel very similar (just read the thousands of online reviews that say so).
In your second question you asked how it compared to Tempurpedic in general terms and their reply was that their foam is very similar in feeling to Tempurpedic. This would also be correct for the majority of people because they actually design their mattresses to have a similar feel as the various Tempurpedic models based on their own and customer feedback. Their reply was based on a broad comparison and would also be accurate in most people’s perceptions and didn’t contradict their first reply.
Memory foam can be very “tricky” to compare to the level of specificity or details of every foam spec in the way you are trying to do and the answers you receive may never be as specific to your own perceptions as you are hoping for.
Email is also not the best way to deal with much more detailed or complex questions (that you may not even realize you are asking) and the answers you get may answer what you actually and specifically asked even though you meant to ask something else. Again … the answer you receive may be accurate enough for most people based on the specifics of what you are asking but may still not be accurate enough for you based on your own perceptions or based on criteria (a clay like feeling) that you didn’t mention.
Memory foam verbal descriptions (and memory foam itself) can be “tricky” because it responds to so many factors, has such a wide range of characteristics that different people feel and respond to differently, and has so many variables that can affect how it feels and performs. As I’ve mentioned before … if you are looking specifically for the feel and performance of Tempurpedic as you perceive it and to the level of specificity that is important to you … then even memory foam that is “close” by most people’s description or standards may not feel “close enough” for you and you would probably be better off buying Tempurpedic rather than trusting that someone else’s description, no matter how accurate it may be in more general terms, will also describe your own personal experience.
Phoenix