I was in the need for a new bed and I decided to splurge a little and get a memory foam mattress. I have been researching foam mattress online for quite a while and have heard mostly good things about visco-elastic memory foam mattresses. All was good with these except for the price. Lucky for me my new job gave us Costco memberships…so I checked out there site and saw that they had Novaform Memory Foam mattresses in their online catalog. With a little bit more research I decided to purchase one. I would have gotten it right from the costco store, but they only had queen size beds, and I wanted to stick with a full/double size since all of my bedding was already that size. I waiting until the conversion rate between the US and Canada favored the US dollar and ordered the Novaform mattress online at costco. The price was 669.99 plus taxes Canadian, and it included shipping. Include PST and GST and the price was up around $100 more…still a bargain for a memory foam mattress regardless of brand or store!
Costco had good email communication and shipped the mattress the next day. 2 days later it was scheduled for delivery and I was ready to get the mattress. My excitement quickly turned into rage once I found out the douchebag driver at UPS decided not to drop it off that Friday night when it was scheduled. Of course here in Canada they do not do fuck all on the weekend, so I had to wait until Monday to sleep in this new memory foam bed. Well Monday I go to work and the Novaform was delivered. It comes in a giant box, it was like 3.5 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet and weighed around 80 lbs. If you purchase the queen sized bed at a costco store the price is a bit cheaper (no shipping) and it comes in a sweet box with a metal frame on the bottom with casters so you can roll it around. Well I lug this bitch into my bedroom, open the box…Inside there is this giant mylar/tinfoil looking bag that is vacuum sealed around the foam mattress. I read the instruction and carefully cut this open.
Inside is another bag containing the mattress and is also vacuum sealed. Well the second you cut this bag open it whistles as air is sucked in and the mattress starts to grow. I open it the rest of the way and the stick of toxic fumes hits my sinuses… I read reviews that the smell was intense for a few days and reminded people of gasoline…it smells more like paint thinner…and it is pretty strong. Well I unfold the bed and wait 24-36 hrs for it to completely grow. The smell goes away after a few days and the bed grows to its full 12″ thick size. For those of you that do not know the mattress is 12″ thick, 9″ of regular foam, and 3″ of high density heat sensitive memory foam. It is then covered in a removable cover. Now for the best part…the sleep. The bed is amazing, better than any bed I have ever slept on, it is firm yet soft and gives just enough support but had enough give in it to not make your neck or back hurt when you wake up. I also bought a Novaform memory foam pillow for 22 Canadian and the thing is equally brilliant.
If you cannot buy the bed, do yourself a favor and go to costco and buy the pillows…they are great. Overall the Novaform bed gets a solid 9 rating and probably a 10 for value, at least compared to other memory foam mattresses. I would be careful of the stink of the mattress and would not recommend getting it in the winter…wait until you can air the room out for a few days…the smell was STRONG, but it goes away and the sleep that you get is more than enough to make up for the smell. Another sweet feature is that if your partner gets up in the middle of the night, you sleep right through it. It is simple amazing. Do yourself a favor and go get one of these “space age” Novaform heat sensitive memory foam mattress at costco.I am looking at the Novaform Gel Sleep Memory Foam mattress. How is the gel memory foam topper made? I would like to know all of the contents because I have lung disease and concerns about the products used in the gel topper if it would affect my breathing and could possible deteriorate my lung disease.
Also a friend bought me the gel pillow. Would appreciate an immediate reply. Despite all the dire reviews, not all foam is created equally. Novafoam however will have a very very strong chemical off-gassing and I would avoid it with your condition. While I agree the natural beds would be best, some people either don't have the money to afford something like OMI, are allergic to latex or just can't afford it. There are memory foams that are not toxic and don't use chemicals to pass the fire retardant laws. There are a couple of brands I carry that are Certipur certified and have either little to no scent and use non-toxic fire barriers, and they are more affordable. I am not one for self-promotion here, but if you Google "non-toxic memory foam mattress" you will find beds such as the foam beds from Jeffco or Bed in a Box that are tested hypoallergenic and tested non-toxic. I agree with the replies here regarding that brand of memory foam. However, not all memory foam is created equal.
Your question did not state whether it was budget, feel or referral that brought you to Novaform so I'll try to address budget and feel. First, the feel of memory foam: some people love it some people hate it. Personally, I like the way you sink into memory foam and how it forms around you. Tossing and turning is reduced so you sleep more soundly. I notice you're in Cornwall, ON. There is a Canadian manufacturer of memory foam called Zedbed. They use more water and soy than any other brand thus eliminating that off-gassing mentioned here. Zedbed is the only Canadian manufacturer of their own memory foam and so you know, with Canada's strict regulations on EVERYTHING, it's the safest memory foam around. Queen sets start at $2099.A terrific way to try and get more for your money is considering buying a less expensive innerspring mattress without any pillowtop or eurotop and then adding a topper. In this case, if you still prefer the feel of memory foam, I would recommend an organic latex SLOW response topper in 2 or 3 inches from Pure LatexBLISS.
You can mimic the feel of a memory foam mattress for a fraction of the price ($1000-$2000 for a queen set). If you were not referred to this mattress, then please consider an all latex mattress, truly the cleanest option of all. If you can go organic you will rid your sleeping environment of almost all dyes, toxins and chemicals. The gel isn't your worry. It's the memory foam you should be avoiding. Memory foam consists of 61 chemicals, some of which are toxic. It off gasses those toxic chemicals, which, for most people, attack your respiratory system. Memory foam is a dangerous product for everyone. For you, it could very well be deadly. Alice, memory foam is basically a "gasoline brick," it is true there are 61 chemicals in these beds some of them are known carcinogens. If you are susceptible to off gassing the best way to go is Organic Latex from OMI, they have the purest mattress on the market. If you are looking at gel because it makes memory foam mattresses sleep cooler then you are buying a band aid for a problem you don't need to create by buying a memory foam mattress.