Yes, the mattress protector makes a difference...

[phoenix]

Hi sheep123,

I am going to probably try the Luna, price is good and I like that it’s made in the US. I would love to know which protector is the thinnest and less likely to cause change in the foam feeling, but I know nobody has tried all of them to compare!

There are different types of membranes that are used in these types of protectors (see the end of post #2 here) but “in theory” the ones that would have the least effect on the feel of a mattress would be the ones that have a polyurethane membrane (which is the type of membrane with the most stretch) combined with a jersey or knit fabric that would also stretch. All of them have mostly positive feedback " with a minority of negative feedback mixed in with complaints usually mentioning either the effect on sleeping temperature, a crinkly “feel” of the protector, or the durability of the waterproofing or the protector itself. As you mentioned there aren’t many people who have tried them all and even if they had their opinions may be different from someone else that has tried them all since these types of products tend to generate a diverse range of opinions and feedback.

I saw your link to the various mattress protectors, and I have the Berkely Ergonomics one (I think)- got it at European Sleepworks 6 years ago. I really love that protector, but it’s a little too thick- and realized today, it might be causing a bit of a “drum like” feeling- it is very, very tight on the mattress. It loosens up and stretches after being on for a couple of weeks, but when first washed, it almost is too small to fit either queen mattress it’s been on.

I’m not personally familiar with this product but it is a knit which means that it “should” have good stretch which would tend to have low surface tension and prevent a “drum like” feeling although as you mentioned this would also depend on how much it has to stretch to fit around the mattress. There is a picture here of the current BE mattress protector. Does yours look similar?

The all cotton allergen encasement we have from National Allergy is a little “crisp” and crunchy for my taste, even after being washed about 4-5 times over the past couple of years (3 times in the last week to try to reduce the crispness). I have their other polyester style coming for our new full guest futon, will be curious if it’s as crunchy. Wish I could get away with only one protector for the best benefit of the foam of the TN, but I really want an all encased mattress for dust mite and pollen/mold protection (DH and I both have allergies- him to dust mites), and these zipper encasers are hard to take off regularly to wash. I used to wash the organic cotton protector, at least every 2 weeks due to sweat, any less often, stains show up… I change sheets once a week. Waterproof protection is probably a good idea, I do drink coffee in bed, never had an accident, but just in case…

Unfortunately for those that are looking for allergy protection then a 2 protector system is the most realistic approach … one that is “semi permanent” to block the allergens and the other that can be easily removed and cleaned (and has the degree of water resistance that is important for each person’s criteria).

I don’t seem to be very good at searches, I do forum searches here and never come up with the links you provide… Thank you for all your help!

I keep a list of several hundred reference posts that I refer to and I also have a good idea of search term combinations or terminology that is more likely to find the posts I’m looking for without getting overwhelmed by hundreds or thousands of results so I have a few advantages when I’m searching the forum :).

If you are looking for an “exact term” then the site search at the top of the page can be useful because it has the option to search this way (although it doesn’t let you read the entire post to scan for what you are looking for) while the forum search brings up search results that include all the words you are searching for in any order (but does allow you to scan the entire post).

Phoenix