Serta 10 Inch Memory Foam Mattress
We’ve been looking at the top-selling memory foam mattresses with a special emphasis on more affordable ones. The Serta range is at the top of the price bracket we’re looking at, but they’re still extremely popular products. We rated this product lower as we thought the other mattresses provided better value for the money, but this product is still good (if you’re looking to spend a little more). The 10 Inch Gel Memory Mattress is one of the leaders in its class, and our review will show you just what a good deal it is.
Size
The 10 Inch Gel Memory Mattress comes in five sizes to suit the most popular beds. These options are currently available:
- Twin
- Twin XL
- Full
- Queen
- King
- California King
Construction
Core
This is the only 10-inch mattress we looked at that has a three-layer construction, which created a good impression right for the start. The upper layer is 1.5 inches of memory foam infused with beads of gel. This is thinner than some other layers we’ve seen, but to compensate it’s fitted on top of a 1.5-inch support layer made from profiled ActivAir foam, which adds a lot to the mattress’s ability to shape itself to your body as well as creating a network of air channels through it. Finally, the base is identical to Serta’s 12-inch gel model – 7 inches of high-density support foam, enough to make this mattress suitable for use directly on slats or hard surfaces without compromising comfort.
Cover
The cover material is a good quality cotton fabric that fits tightly to the mattress, making for a very neat appearance. Like other Serta mattresses, it isn’t removable and can be spot cleaned only, which earned a small minus; removable, washable covers aren’t hard to do and really should be a standard feature, but sadly they’re still relatively uncommon.
Comfort
Like its 12 inch brother this mattress was rated medium-firm, but like most memory foam ones it was substantially firmer than a similarly rated coil one. However for a 10-inch mattress, the upper layers are relatively thick, at a total of 3 inches, and this seemed to make for good comfort all around. Most reviewers found it to give a good combination of support and cushioning. We suspect the ActivAir foam plays a large role here; it has closely packed peaks molded into its top surface, and this shape combines with the extremely springy foam to deform easily under pressure. The result is you can sink gently into the surface without coming in contact with the base layer.
Overall most people found this to be firm but not uncomfortably so, and it also provided good support for users with back or joint problems. If you like a firm mattress this one performs very well and is definitely worth considering.
Ventilation
The majority of the products we looked at used open cell foam to reduce the heat retention problem associated with many memory foam mattresses. Like the 12 inch version, this Serta one uses two different methods instead, and we think it’s probably more effective.
The foam in the upper layer of the mattress contains many small beads of conductive gel. As well as adding extra support these draw heat away from your body and distribute it throughout the top layer. This has the effect of keeping the mattress at a uniform temperature rather than creating hot spots around you. The structure of the second layer, with its foam fingers, creates a large air space under the memory foam. Air circulating through here takes heat away from the upper layer and passes it out through the sides of the cover, keeping the overall temperature down.
Most reviewers found this mattress managed heat very well and kept them at a comfortable temperature. It’s not quite as effective at this as the 12-inch model, probably because the ActivAir layer is thinner, but it’s still very good.
Features
This mattress came in the vacuum packaging that’s becoming standard for foam mattresses, making for a compact package. It’s quite a heavy one though, so it’s best to do what Serta recommends and get it on the bed before cutting away the packaging. The mattress will take a few hours to expand to full size – we’d suggest giving it a full day to make sure everything’s even. Like the other Serta model, we reviewed most people said this one had no chemical odor even straight out the box.
This mattress comes with a 20-year limited warranty.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a very comfortable mattress with excellent ventilation this could be the one for you. It’s slightly more expensive than the Sleep Innovations and Lucid models we looked at but still represents excellent value for money. If you need a King or California King size the 12-inch model is actually cheaper, but if that’s too much extra height for you – or you have a smaller bed – we would definitely recommend this 10-inch version.