| I tried out the Intellibeds today and I was reasonably impressed. Searching here I found a few posts back in 2007 but not much since. What is the collective wisdom on the product? Any current users and their experience? |
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Well there sure is some interesting history to this stuff. The best research I have seen on it was from dbHayes in the legacy forum and his post in this forum refers to the old threads in the legacy forum http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com/forum/intelli-gel-crossgel-flexgel-galastic-intelli-bed-mycomfort-geltec/153-0-1.html Another good thread from this forum is here http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com/forum/has-anyone-bought-nexgel-mattress/8137-A-1.html Budgy mentioned in this thread that he was carrying it and was waiting for someone heavier to test it out on. That was a while ago so he probably could tell us more than anyone about how it is performing. It seems that mycomfort didn't survive the recession and that Natura who bought the rights to Nex-gel http://www.nexgel.com/ is now servicing their warranty issues http://www.mycomfortmyway.com/ This sort of implies that the mycomfort material and Natura's Nex-gel/ortho-gel are the same stuff. The http://www.geltechnology.com/ website is now a dead link so I don't know who is manufacturing intellibed gel now. If you go to the Edizone website you will see that there are lots of licensees http://www.edizone.com/ It seems like there are many versions out there but for many reasons including some of the difficulties of the material itself and the recession, none of them have taken off. If you are considering buying a gel-bed, I would do some looking on the internet as there is a wide variance in prices for what seems like basically the same stuff with different thicknesses or backing. I also had several conversations with different mattress manufacturers about it, many of whom had tried it at various trade shows, and there were a lot of "mixed" reviews for many different reasons. Most of the comments were of the "nice but" variety. A few mentioned they didn't like the feeling when the columns buckled ... kind of a "crackling" feel... and several said it wasn't worth the price. The general gist of the comments was that it was an emerging technology that they didn't think had been really perfected for home use yet. Some also mentioned other materials that were in the pipeline that they thought were better. In general, nobody that I talked to seemed really excited about it. Phoenix This message was modified Nov 12, 2010 by a moderator
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now that we have had more time with it to garner some response it has been pretty positive so far. We carry the Nexgel product, its comparable to Intellibed however from what my customers have told me the pricing is more aggressive than Intellibed. Intellibed may have a couple of different franchises...I am not sure where you are located...I believe there are three Intellibed stores in Canada and they are made for Intellibed by Park Avenue Furniture. I believe there is also a few Intellibed stores in Utah and one in Texas...I have no way of verifying who makes the product for them...although the signage and everything looks identical to the Canadian counterparts so I think its fair to say there is some cooperation. Both Nexgel (orthogel) and Intellibed (Intelligel) the gel is made by Edizone, and then distributed wherever. The Intelligel product is shaped like a bunch of little squares, the Orthogel is a honeycomb style pattern. I have never seen any kind of direct comparison between the two, however I could say that because they are inherently different designs they might feel a bit different. You should see if there is a Nexgel dealer anywhere near you so you can compare and see for yourself how they stack up. Anything I say further than I already have is gonna be pretty biased, and since this is a public forum we gotta try and stay bi-partisan. |
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Phoenix and Budgy thanks for the quick and detailed responses.
My rather short test revieled, as was mentioned, the buckling phenomena. Although it is slightly annoying at first, largely because it is different, it's something I could get used to. In my opinion, it's a really nice feel, and breathes well, which as a hot sleeper, is a distinct advantage. I was wondering why Intellibed used a square pattern instead of a honeycomb. I could see the sqaure pattern buckling easier than a honeycomb, so maybe that was the intent. I did do a quick test on a Natura gel (Nexgel?), and I remember that the sound and feel of the buckling was more noticeable. Is that consistent with your findings? The quest goes on! This message was modified Oct 31, 2010 by simplemind
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| to be honest its been so long since I laid on an intellibed I could not say. plus between all the different models that are made it makes it a little difficult to compare one brand to another, still have to compare mattress for mattress. when I laid on the double gel from nexgel I couldnt feel the honeycomb collapse at all, not unless I was sitting on it. and in that case the bed did not feel comfortable to me, with the single gel models I can feel the gel do what it is intended to do and I quite like the feel of it. |
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The best description I can think of with the NexGel is "crunchy" when I changed position. I immediately discounted it. Howver, the Intellibed didn't have the crunchy effect, but as I changed position, I could hear/feel a slight, muffled sensation. On my side, it was quite nice. I know most mfg. are putting wool, waffle foam, etc. as a topper in there design, but I'm thinking that the gel may be the ticket (for me), just don't have any long term users to confirm or deny. |