SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
[Edit: Jump down a few posts as I did finally receive the samples...] This has become a three-week-long joke. They keep promising to send samples (which they charge for), but I haven't gotten them yet. They haven't charged my credit card, but that's not the point. I'm finding them to be not good on their word. And that's a crying shame because they carry the full range of Foamex foams at good prices. I've been corresponding via email with another member of the forum, and he tells me he didn't get samples he was promised either. Right, samples. I too requested some from sleepwarehouse.com and they were going to charge me $5 each. That was weeks ago, and they haven't arrived and my credit card was never charged. What a way to do business. Come on SleepWarehouse. Please. Pretty please with sugar on it, send me the samples I requested. This message was modified Sep 22, 2007 by haysdb
|
Energia
|
I also received samples of 4 lb and 5 lb Energia. These samples are 2.5" thick, by 12" square. If I'm reading the numbers on the foam correctly, the 4 lb is an ID 27 (Firm), the 5 lb is an ILD 35 (X-Firm). They also offer an ILD 16 (Plush) foam which I did not request a sample of. What Foamex says about Energia: Energia™ is the first comfort material to successfully marry high resilience with luxurious, shape-conforming comfort to create a distinctively restorative sleep experience. I wish I had samples of PU foam to compare the Energia to, but I don't. It is extremely dense compared to any other PU foam I am familiar with. The highest density PU foam I have ever even heard of for bedding applications is 3.2 lb, and here are 4 lb and 5 lb foams. Foamex claims superior durability and I have no reason to doubt it. My Energia samples have very fine and consistant cell structures (very similar to Sensus), and a very open cell structure. I don't know what Foamex means by "the shape conforming comfort of memory foams". This is a very "fast" and resilient foam, without any sort of memory foam feel. It feels a little like latex, but a bit less resilient and has a "quicker" feel to it. Resilience: My totally unscientific ball rebound test used a baseball. I had to throw the ball noticeably harder into the 2.5" thick Energia than I did into the 2.8" thick latex, in order for it to bounce back to the height I released it from. If latex has a ball rebound of 60%, Energia is probably around 50%. The ILD of the Energia is 35, the measured ILD of my latex, 38. Resilience is not a measure of quality, so I'm not claiming any superiority for latex just because the ball bounced higher, I'm just trying to compare the characteristics of the two materials. Speed: I don't have any way to substantiate this. When I smack my hand against the foam, my perception is that latex has a bit more of a "damped" quality to it, but this could just be the sample size. The Energia is a 12x12 square, whereas the latex is 6'x7' square. I think Energia could be used successfully as a less expensive substitute for latex. It's PU foam, but it does appear to be a very high quality PU foam. However, a 3" layer of ILD 35 in a Cal King size costs $400, so it's priced only 25% to 30% less than latex. A 2" or 3" topper of ILD 16 Energia could be a reasonable alternative to latex or memory foam. A 2" topper costs $220 for a king. This message was modified Sep 22, 2007 by haysdb
|
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
Thanks for the excellent reviews haysdb! What about smells, did you notice any off gassing or odors? The Venus sounds like a great product. I think I would like that better than Sensus (and I really like Sensus). The durability could be incredible. I'm leary of energia. This is a replacement for resilitex. However, it sounds pretty similar. Just so everyone knows, I own resilitex in the "medium" and "firm". It is dense, but it is not durable. It felt great for a year. Then it cratered. Resilitex was discontinued and some time after, energia came on the scene. I have my doubts that it will be as great as it sounds. However, I hope to be proven that it is. It would be nice to have a durable alternative to latex for people building their own mattresses. |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
Something I don't think I mentioned, or emphasized enough, is that Venus is obscenely expensive. $600 for 2" in a king size at the time of this writing. There is a guy on eBay, believe it or not, that's selling it for a bit less than that. Oh, and it's a special-order foam and non-returnable. This later fact is one reason I thought someone here needed to take a look at it. Foamex claims Energia retains 99% of it's height, and loses less than 1 point of IFD after 50,000 cycles of 80% compression, but I don't know how valid these roller tests are. It's an industry standard test, I believe, but I don't think you can ignore the impact of TIME on the longevity of a foam, so we don't really know the durability of any foam that hasn't been in the field for many many years. |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
I'm not sure what Foamex's strategy is regarding Venus. It's positioned as a luxury item, but I don't know that they have really promoted it well. Does anyone know if it's featured prominently in premium mattresses? From the ebay source, Venus for 2" is about $200 more than 3" of Sensus in a king pad. It would be interesting to compare the comfort of those two foams. Would an inch less of Venus be more comfortable than Sensus? |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
Venus is trickling into the marketplace: |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
| I thought it had been out for a year or so. I had seen a few of those companies before in searching for Venus. Once you know how much the various layers cost plus given what a cover might cost, there is a heck of a lot of markup found on traditional mattresses. |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
MequonJim wrote: What about smells, did you notice any off gassing or odors? Unfortunately I can't help you there. My sense of smell is not acute. This is "anecdotal" at best, but I'm using three of the layers of Foamex foam I got from Sleep Warehouse as a seat cushion. My chair never has gone high enough for me, so I thought I would give it a try. 2.5" of ILD 35, 1" of Sensus, and finally 1" of Venus. I have been sitting here for an hour and my backside actually feels quite cool. Cooler than the fabric cushioned chair. Something I find interesting is that even sitting on 4.5" of high density foam, it's not any too much. I've never thought about what the IFD of an office chair seat cushion would have to be, but it would have to be pretty darn high to avoid bottoming out. I'm thinking 44 at a minimum. Anyone know? BTW, the 12" square pieces aren't really big enough for a permanent seat cushion. :-) This message was modified Sep 23, 2007 by haysdb
|
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
|
SleepWarehouse customer service strikes again. On Nov 16 I ordered a 2" topper of soft latex. I received a confirmation email that my order had been received and my account successfully charged...and not a peep out of them since. I called today to check on the status and...they have no record of my order. My issue has been escalated to a supervisor who is supposed to call me back. This would not be the first time a company's online order system has been connected to a black hole. I should have called sooner. |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
| Now I am concerned about my FBM order I placed a week ago. |
Re: SleepWarehouse - Samples of 4 Foamex foams
| They (SleepWarehouse) did get back with me yesterday, and admitted the problem was on their end and not with UPS - some sort of disconnect between their online system and their shipping dept. They said they are expecting a new order of latex this week and will ship mine out ASAP. They offered to send me two free contour memory foam pillows in compensation. I declined because I don't need them, but it was a nice gesture. |