Mattress Forum

Ditto on what Sandman has said, and overstock.com ... many searches... no longer carries any Mem foam higher than 4 lb density in topper thicknesses and sizes.  I, too have the 1 inch 5.3 lb from foamorder.com.  Remember to search for their discount... you will enter it in the info line at the final order page... think it is "Recession09"... and your price will be adjusted down 10%.  Just bought one inch 5.3 from them a couple of months ago.

Memory foam sleeps hot to me also, and I am quite heat sensitive.  My aged parents were split on it:  my dad, who was cold natured, fibromyalgia and other ailments... absolutely loved the 5 lb ;pink "sensus" product in 2 ", on top of his bed.  My mom who was hot... sank in more... and hated it because she was "in a hole".

If you buy 1 inch, you can fold it to test 2 inch... and if you like that.... buy another.  You can do the same with latex if you can find 1 inch in density ILD you want, but latex is a bit more "structural".... a 2 inch 20 ILD piece was firmer than 2 x 1 inch 20 ILD of the same material... because it structurally "pushes back"... and 2 inches of it in a block all tied together.... pushes back harder.

I am still, maddeningly, experimenting after several years of over 25 mattresses bought or "exchanged with bribes" from local sellers, and many configurations of PU, latex, memory foam and all of the above.  Search my ID for some of my earlier posted thoughts.

IN general... which density or ILD of a product and which product is subjective.  Latex compresses "linearly" the greater the force, the greater the pressure, so behaves more like a spring.  Solme like that, some don't.  This is called "pushing back" by the public.  Memory foam "melts" to your shape based on body heat... the closer it is to your body, the more heat it has to melt with, so, the greater the shaping.  The more stuff between you and the mem foam.... like a fairly thick mattress pad... sheet... the less it will mold (the "harder" it will feel) and vice versa.  When I use mem foam, I completely eliminated the mattress pad, because for me, that takes away a signficant amount of shaping capability of the mem foam.  Others use the wool filled pads and like them. I didn't.  Thought it was hot, too. I just use 2 sheets.. or three...and will just hope I don't ruin the material  Right now I don't care, just want something I can sleep on "today".

So you might have one inch of supersoft PU (most commercial mattresses, even some with mem foam and latex) put some "cheap but luxurious" Poly foam on top.  Foamdistributing.com has it in 1 inch, call it "supersoft".. and even softer in eggrate "supersoft."

Once Mem foam is more than 2 inches away, it gets little heat, is very hard.  It will also feel like a rock in a cool room in wintertime when you first lie on it.  Many mem foam mattresses are sold under misunderstanding:  the feel is firm in the showroom for the 10 minutes that the person is on it.  I even made a mistake of purchasing a spring mattress with mem foam top thinking it was a lot softer.  It was being offered in an unairconditioned warehouse environment... at over 90 degrees... so it was a lot softer in the SR than when I got it home!  Figure that one.

Because of temperature properties... MF will feel very different the minute you lay on it from 30 minutes ... 1 hour... all night.  Probably why there are many who complaints about tempurpedics... and there are many... because they didn't and couldnt try it out in the showroom long enough.  Goes for all mem foam mattresses.

The top 2 inches of whatever you are using will be 90% of the "feel", but the next 3-4 inches can be critical also.

In general, you can soften a firm mattress ...and especially with memory foam which doesn't really provide its own support... you need a pretty firm mattress on which to add a topper.  There is one "bridge" product  Rejuvenator at Overstock.com... stiff 2.5 inches of hard PU foam with 1.5 inches of 4 lb high qual mem foam.. that worked pretty well on a too soft mattress before I cut it apart.

For me, with lumbar back problems, 165 lb 6 foot.. kinda boney... and side and back sleeper... one combination that was "pretty good" is 1 inch of 4 lb ..."Mem cool" at overstock.com, they still have this.... over 1 inch of the 5.3 lb from foamorder.com.  This on a pretty firm mattress, because you will sink through these and feel "unsupported" if you have any more than the 2 inches, IMHO.

Of course, the challenges are that all of the densities and feels and weightings are subjective... and will vary with your weight (heavier foks need stiffer product).. and whether you sleep on your side or back.... personal preferences...and compound that with significant other preferences!

Good luck, and let us know how it works.

shovel99

If you go to 2", then I think you will find more options (like foambymail).  I also saw a place that sells 6lb in 2".  

Hi Paul.  Do you like the 5.3 memory foam from foamorder?  I have not heard any other feedback on that.

I have been using pretty much the same setup for the last year.  Sealy Reserve coils (probably too firm for my taste), 2" 32 naturual talalay with a 20ILD cutout under the shoulder + 1" 24 natural talalay + 1" 19 blended talalay + 1" 5.3 foamorder memory foam.   Sometimes I have the 19 ILD on top of the 5.3, when I want it a bitter firmer and cooler.   I tend to prefer the memory foam on top, and it has not caused heat issues lately.   I still have 1" of mem-cool and 1" of Sensus, so maybe I will try replacing the 19 with one of those again to see how I like it.