Although the tried and true coil spring mattresses are still extremely popular today, another type of mattress is rising up the ranks in terms of support, comfort, durability and affordability. What type of mattress is this? The memory foam mattress. Memory foam mattresses are becoming a popular seller because of the extensive number of contouring ridges throughout the material and the way the body sinks into a cradle of softness for optimal sleep.
While there are some issues with memory foam beds, such as they can sleep on the hot side without the proper measures taken to prevent this, and they can be firmer than most people are familiar with; the amount of contouring comfort is still enough to entice people from all over the world. Some manufacturers use covers made from cooling materials to offset the heat-retention abilities of memory foam while others use a combination of materials in the construction of the mattress. Two of these manufacturers, Bear and Dreamcloud, have each produced a memory foam bed that employs these cooling abilities respectively.
Today we are going to take an in-depth look at the Bear Mattress, a pure memory foam bed, and see how it measures up against a hybrid of memory foam and latex, the Dreamcloud Mattress.
Breakdown of the Bear Mattress
Construction of the Bear Mattress
When a mattress is marketed with the tagline “the best mattress for athletes”; it needs to have something special to backup and prove this claim. The Bear model has that backup, as it is pure foam bed which uses combination graphite-gel memory foam and a specialized, unique bed cover made from Celliant material. This material is a unique blend of fabrics with restorative properties but more on that below! The Bear Mattress is a Canadian product that is constructed using only safe and organic materials to reduce the likelihood of coming into contact with harmful chemicals to nil. An impressive 10 inches, this bed can be used with a numerous of supports or simply rest on the floor alone and offer the same high-quality support and comfort.
Top – Celliant Cover
The Bear model does come with a pre-attached cover that can be removed whenever laundering is needed. This mattress cover can be laundered at home in your own washing machine provided that the cleaning instructions are followed in the order listed on the laundering tag. The Bear Mattress uses a specialty material called Celliant to construct their bed cover and it is because of this material that the Bear product is considered a recovery mattress for athletes. This material reportedly transforms trapped body heat into infrared light. This infrared light will then target areas of the body that experience a lower than average blood flow due to physical activity and muscle strain. The infrared light then heats up the areas, encouraging blood flow to the strained muscles, allowing for restoration and repair.
First Layer – Graphite-Gel Memory Foam
The first layer of the Bear model that is directly below the Celliant bed cover is an inch and a half thick layer of graphite-gel memory foam. This layer is a combination layer by taking two types of memory foam and fusing them together to create a plush layer of comfort that has its own cooling properties from the gel pockets. These tiny gel pockets will expand and contract to create multiple airflow channels, removing heat from the bed before it gets the chance to rise to the sleeping surface. The graphite side of the graphite-gel memory foam acts as the contouring portion of the first layer, allowing for the sleeper to sink into the bed to the point that cradles of material surround them. This cradle of material will support the body and encourage the sleeper to relax into a natural position for proper spinal alignment all along the major joints.
Second & Third Layer – Proprietary Foam
Breaking down the second and third layer of the Bear model can be done as one section as both of these layers are the exact same. Each layer is an inch of proprietary foam that rests directly on top of each other to work in tandem to provide a high level of support for the sleeper, regardless of the sleep position they are currently in. These layers will act as transitional layers to the denser foam layer that is the final layer of the mattress and allow for the body to sink only to acceptable levels before stopping.
Final Layer – Base Foam
The final layer that exists in the construction of the Bear is six and a half layer of dense base foam that acts as the overall support for the mattress itself. While it does support the sleeper, reducing motion transfer and allowing for the upper layers to fully contour to the sleeper, it also allows the mattress to maintain its original shape.
Firmness of a Bear Mattress
The Bear model can be purchased in two different firmness levels to suit the customer’s wants and needs. Each size of the Bear, from the twin to the king size beds, can be purchased in either medium-firm or firm. Whether you chose the medium-firm or you chose the firm version of the Bear, the overall cost is the same; a fact that cannot be said about some of the mattresses available as an online purchase where the cost can be increased depending on the firmness level.
- Medium-firm models are considered the more universal bed firmness levels because they are suitable for sleepers of all positions – front, back and side.
- Firm beds are more suitable for back and front sleepers due to the higher tension found throughout the mattress so side sleepers may find there is too much tension throughout the mattress for a solid night of rest.
Feel of a Bear Mattress
The Bear Mattress is extremely smooth and soft due to the Celliant mattress cover, largely in part to its stretchy fabric that stays cool thanks its multiple air flow channels. The Celliant mattress cover features an attractive crisscrossed boxy pattern that offers an additional slight ridge for comfort purposes. When weight is applied to the Bear Mattress, the contouring ridges of foam are visible and easily felt without much provocation.
Unique Features – Bear Mattress
Celliant Mattress Cover
The Bear Mattress’s top selling point is the unique blend of material that is used in the construction of the mattress cover – Celliant. The Celliant cover provides cooling properties to the otherwise heat-retaining memory foam with its multiple microscopic air flow channels. The makers of Celliant claim that the material is technologically advanced enough to improve your over physical health by transforming trapped body heat into infrared light while the material is being worn or used. This infrared light will then seek and target areas that suffer from low blood flow for whatever the reason. It will then encourage blood flow to these areas while increasing circulation levels, allowing for the muscles to receive oxygen and repairing blood cells.
Breakdown of the Dreamcloud Mattress
Construction of the Dreamcloud Mattress
The Dreamcloud Mattress is considered a hybrid bed because it uses multiple layers of foam combined with latex for a contouring experience that must be felt to be believed. Using only hypoallergenic foams and natural latex harvested from latex trees grew in humid climates, this high quality bed combines materials to an astonishing 15 inches of height that provides a deeply comforting, contouring experience to the sleeper’s tired body.
Top – Cashmere Topper
Coming equipped with a Eurotop mattress cover, the Dreamcloud Mattress provides an additional layer of softness by using a polyester and cashmere blend. This bed cover uses a Truetufted design, which means that there is a quilted design with tufts of fabric that add a weightless softness to the mattress. The Dreamcloud mattress cover also has small strips of lightweight foam infused throughout the material to activate the deep contouring properties from the minute body weight is applied to the bed.
First Layer – Gel Infused Memory Foam
Lying directly below the cashmere and polyester blend bed cover is a layer of gel infused memory foam. This gel infused foam features miniscule pockets of gelatin that serve the purpose of pure temperature control. Memory foam is known as being extremely heat retentive but the gel pockets infused throughout this layer offsets the amount of heat that is built up under the sleeping surface of the bed. This allows for the foam to do its job with supportive contouring and reduces the likelihood of a negative experience.
Second Layer – Soft Quilted Memory Foam
The next layer of the Dreamcloud Mattress is a thick layer of soft quilted memory foam that adds a level of cushiony plushness to the mattress that otherwise wouldn’t exist in a memory foam mattress. Using a second layer of foam increases the level of contouring found throughout the Dreamcloud Mattress, offering sleepers a restful and fulfilling night of slumber.
Third Layer – Natural Latex
Following dual layers of foam is the natural latex layer (which is the layer that allows the Dreamcloud Mattress to have the designation of a hybrid bed) which applies its own style of contouring for the sleeper. Latex is not a heat retaining substance, so additional temperature control is also provided by this layer for the sleeper.
Fourth Layer – Supporting Memory Foam
The Dreamcloud Mattress, like a majority of memory foam beds, employs a thick layer of dense foam that does not have the bounce or give of the more lightweight layers. This is because this layer serves as one of the support layers in the mattress. These layers are deemed support layers because not only do they support the sleeper for weight distribution and motion transfer reduction; they also reduce the amount of wear and tear on the bed itself.
Fifth Layer – Super Dense Soft Memory Foam
The fifth layer of the Dreamcloud Mattress (or the sixth layer if you count the mattress cover) is a dense layer of memory foam that has an incredible lightweight softness to it. This layer combines the denser material with the softness to provide a luxurious cushion for the sleeper and to prevent them from reaching the next layer in the construction of the mattress – the patent pending bedrest coils.
Sixth Layer – Patent Pending Bedrest Coils
The second to last layer of the Dreamcloud Mattress is a patent pending Bedrest Coil system designed exclusively by the makers of the Dreamcloud Mattress and features encased coils that offer a level of movement and bounce not typically felt in a foam mattress. This layer reduces motion transfer because of the separately encased coils but also uses the gaps between each one as another method of temperature control. While the temperature of the sleeping surface located on the mattress is reduced, it also provides an allergenic barrier between mites, allergens and even bacteria that can form and multiply in the dark recesses of the mattress.
Final Layer – High Density Memory Foam
The final layer of the Dreamcloud Mattress acts as a support system to the entire mattress and the sleeper – all at the same time. This layer is composed of pure high density memory foam and allows for the mattress to be used with or without additional supports such as bed frames or foundations. This layer allows for the upper layers to cradle the sleepers’ body in a cushion of contouring softness but is dense enough to prevent them from sinking too deeply in the foam.
Firmness of a Dreamcloud Mattress
Normally, a mattress is rated on a sliding scale of one through 10; with one holding a “soft” designation and 10 holding a “hard” designation. Using this sliding scale, the Dreamcloud Mattress comes in with a rating of 6.5. Some people would argue this is a firm mattress whereas others can make the point this is more of higher-end medium-firm mattress. Either way, this mattress is more focused on firmness levels then soft comfort but it is suitable for sleepers of all positions – from front to back to side.
Feel of a Dreamcloud Mattress
Using a variety of materials in multiple layers throughout the Dreamcloud Mattress is exactly how it becomes a plush cushion of softness. Each layer has its own individual softness level that is topped off with the hand-crafted Eurotop mattress cover. This cover features hand-tufted pockets of fabric that allow for a massaging ripple under the bedsheets.
Unique Features – Dreamcloud Mattress
Cashmere Topper Combined with Hybrid Status
The Dreamcloud Mattress is one of the only online bed-in-a-box purchases you can make that features not only foams of various strengths but also natural latex with pocketed coils and topped with a cashmere blended mattress cover. This topper, as it is referred to on the Dreamcloud website, features a Eurotop design or little tufts of cashmere material to add to the softness of the mattress. Each one of these little tufts of material is stitched by hand and is designed to act as its own security in terms of moving on the mattress. The tufts are stitched down throughout each layer and come to a rest in the heavy dense support foam.
Which One to Get?
Bear Mattress
The Bear Company is a pure online marketer that sells bed-in-a-box memory foam mattresses that are made purely in Canadian using only natural and safe materials. These mattresses are all designed with the sleeper in mind and feature a revolutionary Celliant material to repair the body from tortuous aches and pains. Bear offers to their consumers a full 100 nights to use as a risk-free trial period which is ample time for the mattress to break down from its new and stiff state as well as allowing for at least one season change to fully gauge the temperature control of the Bear Mattress. If you chose to keep your Bear Mattress because of the excellent contouring, temperature control and you find those residual aches and pains from sleeping are fading away, then you are covered by the 10 year limited warranty that is offered to consumers at no additional cost.
Dreamcloud Mattress
As a hybrid mattress that towers over the competition at a staggering 15 inches, the Dreamcloud Mattress offers a level of supportive contouring that not many mattresses can match. With each individual layer working in tandem with the rest to provide a deep and fulfilling sleep; it is no wonder that more people are recommending Dreamcloud as the next must-have mattress. Typically a trial period from a mattress company doesn’t exceed 120 nights but the Dreamcloud Mattress is available to consumers, risk-free, for a full year! Dreamcloud allows for the sleeper to fully test the mattress for 365 nights and if they decide they can’t live without it, allows for the consumer to access it’s Everlong (lifetime) warranty.
Bear VS Dreamloud Comparison
| Bear | Dreamcloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Layers Used | 5 layers
|
8 layers
|
| Height | 10 inches | 15 inches |
| Firmness | Medium Firm | Firm |
| Motion Transfer | Minimal | Minimal |
| Breathability | Good | High |
| Trial Period | 100 nights | 365 nights |
| Warranty | 10 year limited | “Everlong” (lifetime) warranty |
| Pricing (Queen) | $925.00 US | $1, 299 US with monthly payments available |
| Shipping | Free within Canada; fees and duties for other countries |
Free shipping within the US (do not ship to HI, AK, or internationally at this time) |
Conclusion
When the purchase you are debating on making is as expensive as a new mattress, it is essential that you take your time and consider all the options! Look at what you are expecting or desiring in your mattress and make sure it will suit your needs – from the position you sleep in to the level of chronic pain you experience on a daily basis. Speak to a professional for guidance if you are unsure what you need or want in your mattress because it is you that will have to sleep on it! You want to ensure that you are supported with maximum comfort to ensure that upon waking, you are ready to put your best foot forward.