So far so good… Bergad Isoform Mattress
Bergad Isoform Mattress Bergad Isoform Mattress Many of the reviews here give a lot of detailed information about the isoform mattresses. I am not g...
Do NOT buy this mattress Bergad Isoform Mattress Firstly if you are at all concerned about your health or well being I would stay as far away from the...
The Background
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I broke a vertebrae in my lower back while snowboarding and the pain prompted me to look into a new mattress. The one I had at the time was a generic spring mattress which was great for the first 5 years but when I moved to a new apartment and had to sort of fold it a bit to get it into a narrow doorway, some of the middle springs bent and the mattress had sagged in the middle ever since. The sag never bothered me at all until the injury - I had to sleep on the couch or the floor if I wanted to get any sleep.
I recalled my friend telling me he got himself a Tempur-pedic brand mattress for X-mas and how he loved it so I went over to the mall and tried one at Brookstone. It was heaven. For the first time in weeks, I was lying on my back and not feeling any pain. The guy almost had to kick me out of the store - I didn’t want to get off the bed.
So I was now obsessed with the Tempur-pedic bed but I just couldn’t accept the idea of paying $1300.00 for a glorified hunk of FOAM. I did an exhaustive amount of research on the internet and came to find that the most important element of the Tempur-pedic mattress is the 3 inch top layer - they call it their “Tempur® - comfort material layer” which is simply their brand of visco-elastic foam. Underneath that there is a 5 inch layer of standard foam - the kind you’d find in any furniture cushions. They have a third, bottom layer which is basically egg crate foam but I don’t believe it contributes to the feel of the mattress in any way and only provides another layer and another color on the cut away marketing picture of the mattress making it look more sophisticated than it really is.
Due to expensive importing costs, and an expansive and persistent marketing campaign, the Tempur-pedic mattress maintains it’s relatively high price. The Tempur company had the market all to themselves for many years and they strictly controlled prices disallowing retailers to give breaks on the price and so their mattress continues to sell well amongst well to do back pain sufferers.
It took a decade, but there are now American companies producing these visco-elastic foam mattresses. I looked at a bunch of brands and Bergad had the cheapest prices and most favorable reviews on Epinions.com
I suggest you look over the options yourself; a simple search on Epinions.com for “foam mattress” will give you plenty to read about.
The Review
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Sales personnel (or person I should say) took a couple of tries to get through to initially. They appear to be a smallish operation. I spoke to Saul Bergad - father of the owner - and he seemed more eager to get the mattress sold than give me a list of facts about the mattress. For example, I asked him how their isoform mattress compares to the Tempur-pedic and he said it “was slightly softer” - this is not the case, it is in fact firmer than the Tempurpedic. He then told me that the foam was 5 lbs/in^3 (Tempurpedic is 5.3 lbs/in^3) and when I mentioned that on Bergad.com it listed the density of the isoform as 5.5 lbs/in^3, he said “oh yeah, I just usually round it off to 5. I asked him other questions about the warrenty and 90 trial period and he yessed me through every one of them, assuring me that every concern I had was unwarranted. Well, not sure if he just didn’t know what he’s talking about or if he just wanted me to shut up and give him the credit card # but I was a bit put off by his apparent lack of knowledge and confidence in his own product. It seemed that I had a better understanding of the visco-elastic foam matress market than he did - might want to work on that Bergad.com.
I bit the bullet and went ahead with the purchase. I’m hesitant to buy such an expensive (and large) item on the internet but a couple of positive reviews on this web site gave me the confidence to go for it. Saul had assured me that not only would I be able to return the mattress within the 90 day trial period if I was not satisfied, but that they would not only RETURN THE PRICE OF THE MATTRESS AND SHIPPING but also PAY FOR THE RETURN SHIPPING as well. This sounded unbelievable but I figured what the hell, Tempurpedic has the same policy but they hold you responsible for the shipping.
The mattress was shipped to me in MA in less than 7 days and it took that long due to a bad snowstorm in PA where Bergad is located. I was so eager to try it out that I moved it downstairs, moved my old mattress and put the new one on by myself with a bad back.
There is a weird smell out of the wrapper but nothing unbearable. The terrycloth covering is nice and it has a rubberized footing matterial on the lower half.
I used my existing split box spring as it was in fine condition and was completely rigid and flat.
After laying on it for about 5 minutes my concerns about the quality were alleviated. This was a bonified visco-elastic mattress. It did seem firmer than the Tempurpedic at the time but I figured that was due to it having been out in the cold for so long.
After a couple of nights on it, the firmness lessened a bit. I went back to Brookstone on my lunch break after a couple of days and lay on their mattress again just to get a fresh comparison (expressly for this review and my own assuredness). The Tempur-pedic is indeed “softer” as in when you lay on it, you “sink” in a bit quicker and it is a more dramatic feeling of sinking. The isoform sinks just as much and in the same fashion, just markedly slower and more subtle. However, it is no less comfortable than the Tempurpedic as they both settle in the same fashion and provide the same support. It’s that more noticeable initial “Oh, I’m sinking into a weird quick sand cloud” sort of feeling that the Tempurpedic has over the Isoform as it is slightly less dense than the Isoform ( 5.3 lb/in^3 vx. 5.5 lb/in^3).
Another cool thing is that the mattress has hardly any motion transfer at all. You can roll in and out of bed without worrying about waking the other person (persons?) sleeping next to you.
The bed does seem to retain heat. In my case this is a good thing as I feel nice and cozy in my bed in the morning. It will be interesting to see how this works out in the summer time but I anticipate just needing to remove a blanket and keep a fan on to keep cool.
I mentioned that I had to fold my old mattress to get it into a doorway - well another benefit to this foam mattress is that it folded in the same doorway and it was no worse for wear afterwards. You can fold this thing twice and it won’t complain at all. The manufacturer claims it will last 10 years or they’ll replace it and there’s another 10 year prorated warranty after that. We’ll see about that.
After a week my back pain has subsided to the point where I don’t wear a back brace anymore even though the doctor wanted me to wear it for another two weeks. I am enjoying the fact that I don’t ‘roll’ into the center of my bed anymore and I’ve been waking up in the same position I started out in the night before, well rested yet reluctant to get out of my cozy bed.
I’ll be sure and update this after 6 months or so.
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