***UPDATE 10/14/02***

I have had this Mattress for 2 years now, and I am still in love with it. I visit my g/f whom is 2 hours away, and I can feel myself being more fatigued after a full nights rest sleeping on her Simmons Beauty Rest Mattress. I know what some of you might be thinking is the cause of my fatigue, (get your heads out of the gutter) but that's not why! If anything, that'd help me sleep better :)

So I am even more impressed by this mattress. It's been holding up well, no signs of wear at all.
*******

I promised myself that my first purchase upon landing my new job would be a Tempurpedic Mattress. I was unaware that Tempurpedic was just a patented 'special name' for Visco-Elastic Foam. So upon a little bit of research, I discovered that I can find tempurpedic style mattresses at a much lower price from manufactures that are located here in the US (Tempurpedic is imported from Sweden).

Visco-Elastic Foam is a material invented by NASA for their beloved astronauts to sleep on. This incredible material was designed to provide great support based on the heat that your body emits. The foam will soften with heat, thus molding itself to your body, regardless of what type of sleeper you are (On your side, on your back, or flat on your face??).

My favorite past-time when going shopping with my g/f was to visit Brookstone and lay on one of these mattresses. It is great after the agonizing back pain I get from watching my g/f try on 10 different outfits at the gap. I highly recommend the massage chairs there as well.

Anyway, after some research, I discovered that Tempur-Pedic patented their particular blend of visco-elastic, so that it offers a firmness that is unmatched. Therefore, most other brandnames provide a slightly softer material. Depending on your preferences, this may be good or bad, but because these mattresses are heat sensitive, I would assume more firmness would provide better support. This also explains why Tempur-Pedic is able to charge such a premium for such a small difference.

Because of the price difference, I thought I would take the chance and try out one of these so called "knockoff" brands. ABED seems to be one of the top recognized mattress brands. Therefore, I called and ordered their Full-Size Geneva mattress. Upon 2 weeks of anxious waiting, my mattress finally arrives. It was much lighter than I anticipated, and I could immediately pick up the highly recognizable visco-elastic smell as soon as I unpackaged it. I quickly threw my favorite sheets on and took a nap. Ahhhhhhhh....$700 bucks well spent was my first reaction.

It has been 2 months now, and I have had perfect sleep for these pas 2 months, with very little rolling around, back pains, or waking up at night. I have since bought a visco-elastic pillow to complete my set, and sleeping is such a joy now.

After being on a spring mattress all my life, I don't see how anyone can sleep on that garbage. I know I'm a visco-elastic fan for life. If you are skeptical, don't be shy, go to your local Brookstone store and take a 30 minute nap there, then go home, log on to ABED.com, and buy a very similar mattress at a fraction of the price.



Recommended: Yes

Mattress Size: Full/Double
Mattress Firmness: Somewhat firm
Amount Paid (US$): 699.00