Both the Tempflow
(left side) and the Tempur-Pedic (right
side) Mattresses were placed side by
side for Comparison purposes. |
Reporting on the latest space
industry new has enabled myself, as well as the
rest of the Space Daily staff, to witness some
of the greatest technological advancements in
the space industry. However, one of our most
fond advancements has been the one we get to
enjoy personally on a daily basisthe creation
of NASAs space age visco-elastic (also known as
memory foam) used so widely in the bedding
industry.
In case you
might not already know, the leading company who
produces visco-elastic foam mattresses is
Tempur-Pedic. They were the first to market
NASAs technology in the 1980s and the
Tempurpedic mattress line has increased in
market share steadily since. Over the last five
years there has been an explosion in the bedding
industry with many other mattress companies
bringing their own visco-elastic foam mattresses
to the market place.
However, it is
unclear how many of these mattresses really
offer a similar feel and quality that the
Tempur-Pedic brand image has been able to
spring board off of. The feeling I am referring
to, in case you have been living on Mars and
haven't tried one out yet, is the sensation of
your total body being supported as if the
mattresses was being molded around you, only to
have it slowly come back to shape after you roll
over.
To be fair, not
every person has felt that visco-elastic space
age foam mattresses are the best choice, citing
that they can often get too hot because of the
lack of breathability that occurs with the very
dense visco-elastic foam.
That is why we
were excited to test out a new patented
visco-elastic memory foam mattress called the
Tempflow, which claimed to offer a ventilation
system to keep you cooler, while comparing in
feel, support and comfort to the Tempur-Pedic
brand.
|
The Tempflow uses
a patent pending technology that
allows body heat to ventilate out
the mattress, while cooler air can
flow back into the mattress. See
www.Tempflow.com for more
information about how their
technology works.
|
They did so by offering a design
that uses many small ventilated holes that
travel through the surface of the memory foam
and exit through the convoluted airflow channel
middle layer. While the patent pending design of
the Tempflow looked impressive, we wanted to
take it one step further and actually compare
side by side this new mattress to the
TempurPedic mattress model that they believed it
most directly compared to. They chose the Deluxe
bed by Tempur-Pedic, so we ordered one of each
for comparison testing purposes (the Deluxe bed
has been renamed as the Tempur-Contour Signature
since our original purchase, but the overall
design is basically the same).
Upon inspection
of the two mattresses, we noticed that the
covers both seemed to be made of a stretchable,
thinner velour material (since the time of this
first article, Tempflow is offering an upgraded
bamboo Kool-Flow
stretch cover and the Tempurpedic mattress below
is currently using a Multi-Fiber knit cover).
After removing the covers of both mattresses, we
found a thinner socking material that we were
informed was used to make mattresses fire
resistant. Each mattress had an approximate one
inch top layer composed of a softer
visco-elastic foam, followed up by what appeared
to be three inches of a slightly firmer
visco-elastic foam.
Tempflow (left) and
Tempur-Pedic Deluxe Bed (Updated to the
Tempur-Contour Signature) (right) both
use socking material for fire
resistance. the socking material is thin
enough to allow the foam to conform
around the body.
|
The formally DeluxeBed
(now Tempur-Contour Signature) has two layers of
what appeared to be the same type of bottom base
foam, while the Tempflow we tested had only one
thicker bottom base foam layer. Both mattresses
use a convoluted area on the surface of the base
foam with peaks and valleys that enabled airflow
to travel across them, although the Tempflow
channels now use squared off peaks (presumably
for more channel strength).
When I pushed
on the surface foam for each mattress, I was
able to feel air come out the sides of both
mattresses at the convoluted side portions.
However, with the patented ventilation
technology of the Tempflow, I was able to also
feel air come out the top through the many small
holes in the visco-elastic foam on the surface,
where as I could not feel any air come through
the Tempur-Pedic visco-elastic foam surface.
Then came the most important test of all, the
direct comparison of lying on both mattresses
and testing the pressure comfort, feeling of
proper support, and temperature comfort.
With the socking
removed, it was apparent that both the
TempurPedic DeluxeBed
(Updated to the Tempur-Contour
Signature)
(left) and Tempflow
(right) use four inches of top memory
foam divided up into two layers and both
have convoluted base foam underneath to
increase airflow. However, the Tempflow
has many small ventilation holes that go
through the top layer surface down to
the airflow convoluted air channel
layer. See
www.Tempflow.com for more
information about how their technology
works.
|
After going back
and forth from one mattress to another several
times, I have to admit that I did not discern
much difference in the memory foam sensation and
overall mattress feel between the two
mattresses. I also had several staff members
perform the same test.
The best that
I, as well as the other Space Daily staff
members could come up with, is that the
Tempflow may start off feeling a bit softer
initially, but both seemed to feel the same
after lying on them for several minutes.
At that time I
did not feel that I could make a decision about
which one kept my body temperature cooler, as I
knew that from my past experience that it may
take several hours on a mattress to determine
how hot it can get. So I did just that.
After splitting
a nights sleep on both mattresses, I was able
to verify that the Tempflow did indeed keep my
body cooler overall. It is also a consensus from
the other Space Daily staff members who have
since slept on the two mattresses, that
Tempflow does indeed live up to its claim of
being able keep the body cooler. Since the time
of my first review for the Tempflow mattress,
they have come out with three models and are now
using what they call their Biogreen memory
foam.
One of their
models, called the Eros, uses this new Biogreen
visco-elastic foam. It feels just a touch softer
than our Tempur-pedic Deluxebed (updated to the
Tempur-Contour Signature)
and in our
estimation, it is somewhere between the feel of
the Tempurpedic RhapsodyBed and GrandBed. For
those that want a firmer feel than the
Tempur-Contour Signature, Tempflow offers the
Eclipse, Selene and Copia mattresses (the
Eclipse being most similar to the original
Tempurpedic mattress and the Copia being most
similar to the Tempurpedic Rhapsody in
configuration and feel). With the immediate
softness of their Gaia and Celestia models,
you will get that similar, instant reacting,
plush comfort felt in the Tempur-Cloud Supreme
and Tempur-Cloud Lux mattresses.
The Biogreen
foam does offer a new bonus, as it has been
independently tested and verified to not produce
any V.O.C.s (Volatile Organic Compounds) that
account for that initial smell that many people
complain of when they first get their mattress.
While both mattresses have been rated safe,
allergy sufferers will be happy to know that the
Biogreen visco-elastic foam is about as
hypo-allergenic as you can get. Additionally, we
can't help but be impressed by the fact that
this lack of off-gassing is an environmentally
green way to go.
The Tempflow uses a
patent pending technology that allows
airflow to circulate through the foam
via a patent pending ventilation system.
New to the Tempflow model is their
proprietary Biogreen memory foam. See
www.Tempflow.com for more
information about how their technology
works.
|
Both mattress
companies show their confidence in the longevity
of the mattresses by offering 30-year limited
warranty for the Tempflow and a 20-year limited
warranty for the Tempur-Pedic mattress. Both
companies offer a sleep trial to ensure that you
are completely satisfied youre your purchase,
but the Tempflow offers a 120-day sleep trial,
as compared to Tempur-Pedics 90-day sleep
trial.
Needless to
say, my staff and I agree that this new patented
technology that the Tempflow uses, really
offers a way to get the feel and support of the
leading brand and very popular Tempur-Contour
Select model from Tempur-Pedic, but with a
cooler airflow ventilation system.
Therefore, we
unanimously decided to give the Tempflow
visco-elastic foam mattress our Space Daily
product innovation award for making excellent
use of NASAs space technology for home use and
bringing to the market place a new, innovative
technology that really works.
Tempflow is a trademark
of Relief-Mart, Inc. Tempur-Pedic is a
registered trademark of Dan-Foam A/S
Corporation. We don't sell either the
Tempur-Pedic or Temperflow brands. The
information on this site with regard to Tempflow
and Tempur-Pedic mattress brands is strictly for
comparison purposes.