Hi Quickstrike,
All the layers and components of a mattress affect the feel and performance of all the other layers above and below it and the mattress “as a whole” so the “ideal” thickness of any somnigel layer(s) would depend on all the other materials and components in the mattress and the design goals of the mattress. It doesn’t make much sense to arbitrarily decide how thick any individual material or component “needs” to be without taking into account all the other materials and components and the complete design of the mattress.
The Somnigel (which is also supplied by Leggett & Platt) is a type of buckling column gel that comes in layers that are either 2.25" or 1.125" thick.
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Somnigel is just one of several versions of buckling column gel that are available in the market with similar properties. The others are Intelligel and Orthogel/Nexgel. They are all very durable materials. There is more information about them in this article and in post #2 here and the posts it links to. A forum search on “buckling column gel” (you can just click the link) will also bring up more comments and feedback about them as well.
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In very general terms they all use some type of thin foam layer on top of the buckling column gel to even out the feel of the material and they can be used as a comfort layer on top of any other combination of materials and components that are used as transition or support layers (such as polyfoam, latex, or innersprings).
The choice between different types of materials and components in a mattress or different types of mattresses is always a preference choice (assuming that the materials are durable enough for someone’s body type) and some people may like a particular mattress that uses Somnigel while others may not.
In its simplest form … choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to …
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Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) … or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you’re not confident that it would be a suitable choice.
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Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress that would compromise the durability of the mattress (see this article and the durability guidelines it links to).
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Comparing your other finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Phoenix