Sleep Innovations 8 Inch Memory Foam
The SureTemp range of memory foam mattresses from Sleep Innovations is an extremely popular choice, marketed as offering very high performance for a reasonable price. They’re available in a wide selection of sizes and thicknesses but all use the same basic construction centered around Sleep Innovations’ high-quality Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress. Here we review the 8-inch model.
Size
The 8 Inch Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress is available to suit most of the popular bed sizes. Currently, it’s offered in these five form factors:
- Twin
- Full
- Queen
- King
- California King
Construction
Core
This mattress is made up of two layers of foam. The base is a 6-inch piece of high-density support foam, which adds cushioning and strength; it’s topped with 2 inches of Sleep Innovations’ proprietary SureTemp open cell memory foam, which provides immediate support and comfort by molding itself to your body shape as you sleep.
Cover
Like Sleep Innovations’ other SureTemp mattresses this one has a non-removable polycotton cover. Note that although the cover has a zipper, if you actually remove it you will void the warranty as explained in the leaflet. Unfortunately, this means you can’t take the cover off and wash it, so we recommend that you only use this mattress with a protector or overlay. That’s a pity because the cover material feels comfortable through a sheet. Sleep Innovations do point out that the cover can be spot cleaned as necessary, but we would still have preferred to see a removable cover.
Comfort
This mattress is rated as medium-soft to medium-firm, like the other SureTemp models. In fact, it’s definitely towards the firm end of the scale, although not as hard as any of the Lucid by LinenSpa ones we’ve reviewed. Most reviewers found it very comfortable, with a nice combination of good support and ability to mold itself to body shape. It doesn’t score quite as highly as the 10 inch SureTemp with its outstanding 3-inch comfort layer, but it still performs very well. The extra density of the SureTemp foam seems to be particularly good at preventing movement from one side of the bed from disturbing a sleeping partner on the other side.
Several reviewers who suffer from back or shoulder pain commented on how much this mattress helped them sleep, so if you have any muscle, skeletal or joint problems this could be an ideal choice.
Ventilation
Because of the density of memory foam, it can have the effect of trapping heat close to your body, which may be uncomfortable in warm weather or if you tend to sleep “hot.” Mattress manufacturers have developed a number of solutions to this, including ventilation channels and gel impregnation. SureTemp mattresses go with a common solution – open-cell foam. Cheaper closed cell foam allows almost no air to move through it, whereas open cell foam does permit airflow. The result is that heated air can filter away from you, helping to keep you comfortable. SureTemp foam has thicker cell walls than most other types which also assists in maintaining ventilation.
The result as far as this mattress is concerned is that most reviewers found it very well ventilated; even people who normally suffer from heat commented on how well it coped.
Features
This mattress comes vacuum-packed, making for a much smaller shipment. It is quite heavy and the box is easier to handle with two people; it might also be a good idea to place it on the bed before removing the packaging, as it can be awkward to move around once it has unrolled.
Sleep Innovations recommend leaving vacuum packed mattresses to expand for a day before using them, and we would agree with this. Most of the expansion takes place in the first few hours but leaving it longer will ensure it has reached its full size and there no remaining bumps or dips. There may also be a chemical smell when it’s first unpacked; this is a result of it being sealed in an airtight package and will dissipate quickly.
Like its 10 inch relative, this mattress comes with two free memory foam pillows. These go very well with the mattress itself and add a nice bit of extra value.
This mattress comes with a 20-year limited warranty.
Conclusion
This is the cheapest and thinnest mattress in the SureTemp range, but it still performs extremely well compared to most competitors. Normally we would recommend a 10 or 12-inch memory foam mattress for anyone who suffers from back pain or other skeletal problems but we have to make an exception here and say that the 8-inch SureTemp offers performance close to a high-end orthopedic bed at a fraction of the price. It’s also very comfortable for general use, and if you find thicker mattresses make your bed too high this could be exactly what you’re looking for.