There is a huge difference between each memory foam mattress. This is mainly due to the way each mattress is made and the layers that form it.
The cheapest memory foam mattresses are quite similar to the memory foam toppers as they are only a solid piece of foam with thickness greater than 6″ and thinner than 12″. The are usually made out of single layer Memory Foam and have to be placed on top of regular solid mattress base or spring mattress very similar to toppers.
When we say single layer we have to underline the fact that Memory Foam as everyone knows it is not really that generic and there are about 10 different brands/type of memory foam out of which the Visco Elastic Memory Foam is the most popular and affordable. Visco elastic is based on the NASAPedict memory foam that is also used in TempurPedic Mattresses and its the most wide spread type of foam. All different types of foam differ mostly on the pressure they can sustain and therefore there are soft and firm memory foams.
The best type of memory foam bed is one that is made of a combination of different layers with different densities. The photo (top-left) is of mattress with 5 layers. The top layer is always the softest layer and is made from thick 2-3LB memory foam, the lower (2nd) layer is made of thinner harder/denser memory foam as well as the one below it. Those two layers are mainly for support of your body weight when you lay down. The fourth layer is usually regular density memory foam which is harder then the 1st layer but softer then the 2nd and 3rd layer. The last is the 5th layer which is the hardest from all and is made to support the base of the mattress…..
Most of the memory foam mattresses like two above are supported by spring mattress bases. The main difference is that the first one (single layer memory foam mattress) requires full size spring mattress to be added below it and is mainly used similar to topper. The second one has its own built in spring mattress base and comes as a single piece.
It is interesting that the characteristics of the first one are really close to the second one and in situation where you already have good spring mattress it is strongly advisable (lets say not advisable but it will be quite cheaper) for you to get only single layer mattress as their prices are about $400-$500 compared to the multilayer mattresses that cost more than $800. The five layer mattress that I’ve described above costs about $1,000 on the market and the effect that you’ll feel is not worth the extra $500-$600.
I promise to write separate article on what is exactly the difference between each mattress and give you more information on how to choose your own mattress. I just want to mention that there are so many different types that my head start spinning when I think about it and It’s really hard to get the perfect mattress without some nice guidelines on what to look for
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Hello!
Could you tell what density should be a base layer of a good and reasonably inexpensive foam mattress? What does 2.0 HD mean?