Updated: June 8, 2015 My wife and I have had a pillow top mattress for years and it's slowly losing it's firmness. We recently slept on a bed that had a mattress topper and were quite impressed with the level of comfort they provide. Don't get a mattress topper confused with a mattress pad, although many people interchange the terms. As I started to research mattress toppers I also saw them referred to as mattress enhancers and they are usually made out of memory foam. Those of us with back pain will appreciate the added softness that the memory foam mattress topper pads provide. Many reviews we read online were from owners who had suffered from back and neck pains for years and couldn't find the right mattress. Now they are realizing that a simple accessory like a mattress topper can make all the difference in the world. They are designed to take away those ordinary aches and pains by reducing pressure points. Experts do say that they are not very effective is your current mattress already has sags and dips in it.
The mattress toppers work best with newer mattresses that are just a bit too firm. Buying Guide - The top brands for mattress toppers are Sealy, Serta, Sleep Better, Sleep Joy, Simmons, HoMedics, and Sleep Studio. The foam toppers come in regular sizes - queen, king, twin, full, and California king. Expect spend anywhere from $70 to $150 for these memory foam mattress topper pads. You will often hear the term "foam density" and this is measured in pounds per cubic foot. The better quality memory foam has a density of 4 lbs or higher, although in many reviews we read online the higher the density the lower the rating the mattress topper received. Those pads with a higher density may last a bit longer (5 years +) but you may find more comfort in a less dense mattress topper that might last 3 to 5 years. It all comes down to comfort - keep in mind that we sleep roughly 8 hours a night which means you need a comfortable bed and mattress for your back and neck. The thickness of the mattress topper is another feature to consider.
They range from 1" to 4 inches and beyond. The most popular variety are those that are 2 to 3 inches thick - a 2 inch pad is fine for most and experts say the 3" toppers are better for heavier people. When you do buy a mattress topper just place it on top of the mattress and usually they will fit under you quilted mattress pad. In terms of mattress topper reviews - we found an excellent article done by the Wall Street Journal comparing the top brands on comfort, price, etc. The reviews point towards brands like Sleep Better and Sleep Studio versus the names like Serta, Simmons and HoMedics. Those suffering from arthritis and fibromyalgia mention that placing a memory foam pad on top of their mattress help to ease their aches and pains and lessens their symptoms. You can browse all the most popular mattress toppers and pads online here. Memory Foam Mattress Topper: BEST - The leading seller on Amazon is the Sleep Better 2-Inch Visco Elastic Memory Foam Mattress Topper which sells for around $70 for the queen size.
They do offer 5 other sizes depending on your bed dimensions. The visco elastic memory foam is 2 inches thick and features 2 1/2 pounds per cubic foot density. Owners definitely note that the topper helps to reduce the turning and tossing many of us are used to at night. In reviews for other leading brands we found that owners say the mattress toppers actually make them sweat, but that is NOT the case with the Sleep Better brand. Features include something called "temperature-smart" which refers to the open cell foam which keeps things cool on your body as the material can breath throughout the night. It contours to your bodies shape helping to relieve pressure points and get you a good nights rest. Comes with a 5 year warranty. The Sleep Better 3-Inch Visco Elastic Memory Foam Mattress Topper is also very popular with reviews just slightly less positive than the 2 inch model. Visco Elastic Foam Mattress Topper: As we mentioned above you will often see the mattress topper pads referred to as "mattress enchancers" and the best example of that is the Visco2 Ventilated Mattress Enhancer sold by Sleep Studio.
This popular seller on Amazon features a breathable Visc02 high performance memory foam that is superior to most other brands. The 3 zone ventilation provides better air circulation and enhanced support. This leaves your body cooler compared to the competition and provides you with a more comfortable sleeping temperature. Sleep Studio also adds an anti bacterial and anti-microbrial treatment to all their products making them very "fresh". Owner reviews are very positive for this mattress topper with comments like "absolutely great on the back" and "great for college". Those recovering from surgeries which require lots of bed rest say these mattress toppers work wonders and keep you comfortable for longer. Also, we read countless reviews online from college students who say the mattresses their given in dorm rooms are terrible and these foam toppers makes a great investment for 4 years.The last time I bought a mattress for myself was about 11 years ago. I bought a fairly new full-sized one off a coworker.
Four moves and a decade later, we’ve decided it’s time to replace it with an adult (and sometimes an extra toddler)-sized bed. When we started looking, I was shocked at the prices. $3000 for a mattress? What the heck are these things made of? Knowing very little, we went shopping for a mattress and other things on a Saturday morning. The first place, we stopped, Sleepy’s, seemed nice enough. We laid on a few and honed in on the one that we both felt most comfortable in. Meanwhile, Audrey discovered the fun of letting herself fall backwards onto mattresses and did it all over the store. She was giggling and the whole store couldn’t help but look and smile at her. Unfortunately, we soon stopped smiling. When we found something we liked, the seemingly helpful salesman started to get more aggressive. He asked how much we were looking at paying and I made up a number on the spot, something way below the listed price on the bed. The said he would “talk with his manager” and see if he could get us that price.
Then he started asking us if we could commit and have it delivered tomorrow. Anne had walked outside to give Audrey a break by that point, so I said I had to go out and talk with her about it. We talked about it for a bit, then decided we didn’t like the high-pressure sales pitch, so we got ready to leave. I had the car started up when the salesman came out and approached the car window. He then said that he had “talked to his manager” and he could give us the price we wanted AND a free “platinum package”. I said we would talk about it and let him know. We again decided this was sketchy, but to make good on my promise, I went in and gave him my phone number and left. Later that day we went to Jordan’s Furniture, generally known to be a reputable place with reasonable places. The salespeople there were nice and NOT high-pressure. Prices were generally lower, but strangely, we couldn’t find the mattress we found at Sleepy’s. They had Sertas, but not the one we liked.
Being indecisive, we left with a couple new names of ones we liked. Later, we went to Mattress Discounters. The woman there was not pushy and told us about the BBB complaints that Sleepy’s (a 700-store chain) had gotten. We decided to think some more and head home. At home, I did some research online and I found something strange – I couldn’t find much of anything on the mattresses we saw that we liked. I found some mattresses, many of the same brand, but not the same models. I later came to find out that this was completely intentional. The mattress industry is one big scam. There is no way to make an objective decision on a mattress using actual facts. Here’s a few things that the mattress industry does to get you: 1. They mark up their prices 100% to 200%!! No wonder the first guy was able to get his “manager” to give me such a steep discount. They were probably still going to make hundreds of dollars of profits on it. 2. They give the same mattresses different names in different stores or they set up exclusivity agreements by mattress line in certain stores.
This makes it impossible to comparison shop because… 3. They make it really had to get actual facts about the mattresses. Stuff like coil counts, materials, overall construction are shrouded in secrecy. But that doesn’t really matter because… 4. There’s no objective measure of mattress quality. Consumer Reports won’t rate them because they can’t get the data and there’s no testing that actually says higher coil counts are better or the number of wires in the coils makes a difference in any way. You’re left to deciding how much you believe the marketing. Is a pillow top made of alpaca hair any better than one made of cotton? Your guess is as good as mine. 5. There’s very little online reviews of mattresses, probably because the model names are so fractured. The ones I did find looked more like content-free sites designed to attract referral credits. With some more research, I found out that it was somewhat possible to compare mattresses models from different places.
It turns out that they really only make one hardness variation in each line. So you can assume that a Plush Firm mattress in the “Classic” line, is the same as another Plush Firm in the Classic line, even if they have different names. was very helpful in figuring this out. We were able to understand which mattresses we saw and how they related to each other. For example, the mattress we liked at Jordan’s was a product line better than the one we saw at Mattress Discounters, even though they came out to the same price! Clearly Jordan’s had the better deal, but US-Mattress had an even better deal. So I did something I never thought I could do, buy a mattress over the internet. I’m pretty sure it’s the same one we saw in the store and the free delivery and frame were a good deal. I’m sure that even if I’m getting it at half the price I saw it listed at elsewhere, they’re still making a decent profit on it. Anne and I agree that buying a mattress is worse than buying a car.