Hi Kootzy,
IMO, Park Place is a well established manufacturer which has better value than many larger manufacturers but having said that they are often not in the same value range as other smaller manufacturers. Of course like most manufacturers this will vary depending on the specific mattress and a particular price rather than the lineup as a whole. One of the things I didn’t like about them is their use of polyfoam on top of better materials like latex or even in many cases memory foam and I strongly suggest that anyone who is considering a mattress from them find out exactly what is in every layer of the mattress. They do have a company owned factory direct outlet that sells online called Mattress Hero.
They are also a licensee for Comfort Solutions which makes the iMattress. Their gel foam seems to have particles of gel in it rather than having the gel infused into the polymer matrix of the memory foam itself. This is similar to the iComfort and others. Post #26 here talks about the different approaches to using gel in memory foam that are being used and which I believe are better. Of course “gel memory foam” itself is only a few years old and is not validated in long term use so they are a more “risky” material in that sense. The promotion of the benefits of some of the gel foams are also overblown in many cases IMO but in this industry when a company has a successful marketing campaign that promotes a so called “new material” and does well with it … everyone else wants their own “better” version regardless of the actual benefits. There are some excellent memory foams (and memory foams themselves are also an improving technology) which may be getting overlooked in the advertising blitz of gel foams not to mention other materials that also have their own advantages. They are an evolving category and while they have their own specific qualities and benefits … they are as much about marketing as they are performance in many cases.
Phoenix