How To Sort Through All the Different Memory Foam Mattresses
On the survey we've been running lately, we've been getting a lot of questions from people confused about all the different memory foam mattresses they've seen advertised. A typical question was
"Are they all the same, and how much does quality change with price? There are so many brands and prices."
Boy, can I sympathize with this visitors confusion. Even though we are in the business, we often feel somewhat overwhelmed looking over all the memory foam mattress options we see from manufacturers when we visit the annual industry trade shows. While they each have their own hype, honestly it all runs together after a short time.
For us, the bottom line has always been comfort and quality. This has helped us to narrow the options a bit. We just aren't comfortable with the quality of the least expensive memory foam mattresses. Often these use very low density memory foam. Or they are manufactured in China and compressed in a way for shipping (by hydraulic press, rather than by vacuum packaging) that we just feel may damage the foam and cause problems later.
We also ruled out the highest priced options. Why? Well, while they did often have a very nice feel, they didn't have any appreciably better feel than the middle tier memory foam mattresses. And to be honest, they are just so pricey that we just didn't feel that many people would want to afford them.
So after ruling out these lowest tier options and the highest, there are still a great number of memory foam mattresses that all have nice feels. How to pick from these? Our first criteria was quality. And that really meant the quality of the foams used in the mattress. One thing we looked at, for instance, was the density of the base foam used in the memory foam mattress. A lot of companies cheap out here and use 1.6 or 1.8 lb density foam. But a bit higher density base foam can really make a big difference in the comfort and support of the mattress. The mattress we offer, for instance, was one of the few that used 2.2 lb density foam in the base foam. And this was one of the reasons we decided to test it out rather than some of the other models we looked at.
We also looked at the quality of the memory foam used in the top layers of the bed. How do you judge this? The first way we gauge the quality of a memory foam is very subjective - how does the memory foam layer feel? And you'd be surprised at the differences. Some feel too soft and squishy, some overly hard. Again, it is sort of the goldilocks principle here - we look for one that doesn't feel too hard or soft, but just right. This helped us narrow down the options we liked - just a few had both the high density base foam layer and the "just right" memory foam layer.
The next way we gauged the quality of the memory foam was to look at durability data - if the manufacturer had this kind of information. There are a couple of types of durability data - data from the manufacturer on any problems with the foam (compression problems or other quality problems), and those from mechanical tests done in a testing laboratory. The main mechanical test we've come across is testing the foam by rolling a heavy roller across the mattress for thousands of passes and testing the compression of the foam.
Not all manufacturer's have this kind of durability information on their mattresses. Sometimes the mattress is just too new, or the manufacturer is a small company and doesn't do this sort of testing (which is expensive).
But we really wanted to go with a manufacturer that did have this sort of quality and durability data - to make sure that we would be getting a mattress that wouldn't have any sort of durability problems down the road for our customers. That is one reason it took us so long to find a mattress that we liked. We found a few that we liked based on general quality and feel, but most of these were small manufacturers that had very short track records - both in making mattresses and in being in business. And while these manufacturers may make a nice mattress, we opted to go with a manufacturer that was larger, had been in business for many years, and had a mattress with a proven track record of durability (both in the real world and in the lab). When we looked at the various mattresses we liked in this light, just a few had this combination of feel and manufacturer credibility.
After having winnowed our list of memory foam mattresses based on the quality of the foams and manufacturers, we then considered customer issues - how is the mattress made (quality of workmanship), are the foams used safe and hypoallergenic, how is the mattress shipped, and what is the manufacturer's warranty? After factoring in all of these issues, we found that the one mattress that stuck out was the mattress we now carry - our 10" Memory Foam Mattress. It was the only one we looked at that had the price point we were shooting for, the quality of foams we required, and the customer issues (workmanship, certified hypoallergenic foams, vacuum packed for easy shipping by UPS (rather than expensive and lengthy shipping by common carrier for mattresses shipped in their full configuration), and a 20 year non-prorated warranty (very hard to find this kind of full warranty in the mattress industry).
So that is how we sorted through all the options to pick our mattress. And while it took us a long time to find one that met all our criteria (2 1/2 years), it has proven to be worth the wait. We have had a great customer response to our memory foam mattress and very low returns (less than 7% for a mattress people are buying sight unseen).
I hope explaining how we sorted through the various memory foam mattress options helps you to see how you might go about sorting through them yourself. One other thing you may want to consider is the money back trial offered on the mattress. Because no matter how much effort you put into selecting a memory foam mattress, you just won't know if it will work for you until you try it our for yourself. That is why we offer our 365 day money back guarantee - so our customers know they won't get stuck with a mattress if they don't find it comfortable. So before buying, make sure you understand what the money back trial is for your mattress and that the retailer stands behind it.