Mattress Forum

I'm new to the forum, so forgive me if I am asking a question that has been answered before.  I searched the forum, but haven't been able to find what I am looking for.

So like so many other people, I am looking for a Tempurpedic quality matress for a much lower price.  Putting together pieces of foam is also an option.  The thing is, even the top manufacturers of memory foam mattresses like Serta, are not as dense as a Tempur.  When I go to the store that has all of these mattresses sitting side by side, I go up to them and slap my hand on the surface.  Slapping my hand on to the top of a Tempur, feels like slapping the stomach of a fat pig.  It feels solid, almost like it is a waterbed filled with gel.  When you press your hand into it, the top layer slowly depresses.  When you get on the bed and move into position, you do not immediately sink into it, which allows you to move into position much easier.

With the Serta iComfort for example, when you slap your hand on the surface, it feels like you are hitting thick foam.  It has a slight bounce to it (unlike slaping the Tempur which is absolutely solid when you slap it).  When you depress it with your hand, your hand depresses the top layer much quicker than the Tempur.  When you get on the bed to move into position, you sink a little bit each time you move, which makes it harder to move around (this seems to be consistant with all of the different memory foam beds that aren't Tempur).

So I am confussed; supposedly the memory foam in a Tempur is supposed to be 5.x lbs.  So many other memory foam mattress manufacturers claim to also use the same 5.x lb. memory foam, yet you can clearly feel a density difference with the above tests.  I've purchased three different memory foam beds over the past 5 years, and have been disappointed with all of them.  None of them have had the solidness of a Tempur.  I don't want to make the same mistake again.

Back in 2003, I purchased a 4" 5 lb. memory foam topper on eBay for about $350.  At the time I needed a queen size.  I put it on top of a cheap IKEA mattress, and for the next 3 years, this was the most comforable bed I had ever slept on.  The topper felt as dense as a Tempur.  It was very solid, and it didn't get as hot as the memory foam beds I have recently had.  I could lay it on the floor, and it slept even better than when it was on a mattress.  In 2006 I moved from CA to TX, and I did something I never should have.  I crammed the topper into a large plastic container for shipping.  When it arrived to TX, I left it in the container for a few months, because I was now sleeping on a King size mattress.  I went to open the container to use the topper for a guest room, only to find that it had split into the 4 sections I folded it in.  I wanted to buy a king and queen size replacement from the same eBay company, but I couldn't find the company on eBay that I bought it from.

So now I am wanting a split king mattress (two Twin XL).  I'm hoping that someone can help me find, or put together a mattress that is so close to a Tempur that it would be hard to tell the two apart when you do the above tests, but at a price much lower (hoping to spend no more than $800-$900 total)

Thank you,

Austin