Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My wife and I are very satisfied with this topper, which we're using to give an extra layer of softness to our basic Sleep Number C2 mattress. Compared to memory foam toppers and beds we've owned in the past, the plentiful polyester fill in the Downlite Extra Plush Bamboo Top Mattress Pad is not quite as luxuriously soft, but much more consistently supportive, noticeably cooler, and has no lasting scent. WHY *NOT* MEMORY FOAM Although everyone seems to rave about memory foam, we've been profoundly disappointed by two separate, high-end memory foam beds and one 4" thick high-quality memory foam topper--all of which we've owned in the last 7 years. After a lot of money, frustration, and back pain, here is the truth we finally realized about memory foam... Although it does feel wonderful for the first one to three years you sleep on it, it DOES develop a memory and eventually stops offering you proper support while you sleep! After extended use--always a little over 2 years in our case--memory foam starts to compress and crater deeper and deeper where you sleep, and takes increasingly longer to "reset." After more than a year or two of satisfied sleeping, we would begin to notice the foam developing semi-permanent depressions under our bodies. These depressions gradually became ruts you could literally roll into if you tried to shift your body position to either side of the depression. Then a few weeks after that phenomenon began, we would start waking with increasingly severe back pain (especially me). For relief, I would have to sleep on the couch for at least TWO WEEKS until the foam would recover and allow the ruts to disappear. Then I could sleep great on the bed for a few more nights again, but the depressions would reappear much more quickly--in the course of only about 3 or 4 weeks. So it was back to the couch for two weeks, back to the bed for three, two on the couch, three on the bed---you get the idea. We've had that exact same experience with two different brands of very high quality ($1000 ballpark) memory foam mattresses and one high quality ($400) topper. For the record, we're not particularly "large" people. I'm 185 lbs. and my wife is about 120. The problem IS the memory foam. Never again! WHY WE LIKE THE DOWNLITE EXTRA PLUSH BAMBOO TOPPER Unlike memory foam, the polyester fill in the Downlite Extra Plush Bamboo Topper compresses but does not develop a "memory" to sag. For one thing, it isn't thick enough to sag. I would estimate it as approximately 1.5 to 2" thick, though the quilted construction makes it difficult to measure. When you lay on it, the loft compresses but does not collapse--meaning that it gives you softness and support, but runs none of the back-pain-inducing risks that we've experienced with thick memory foam mattresses and toppers. Unlike memory foam, the Downlite topper is not nearly as hot at night. We still might get sweaty during our sweltering Georgia summers, but we don't have to constantly kick off the covers to get relief from the suffocating feeling we usually got from memory foam sealing off all airflow to our backs. Since I've been sleeping on memory foam for so long, I can't say how the Downlite topper compares with other kinds of pads and mattresses, but it is definitely cooler and more breathable than memory foam. There is also no scent. When it first arrived and I removed it from the packaging, there was a mild (but not obnoxious) odor, but it faded before we slept on it that night. By contrast, memory foam ALWAYS has a distinctive smell. It can be quite strong initially, but even if it fades, it never goes away. I don't know how to describe it except as a kind of minty-sweet-plastic smell. We got used to it and stopped noticing it except when laying on our sides with our noses close to the memory foam, but we're grateful that the Downlite topper does NOT have a scent to put up with. WHICH MATTRESS WE'RE USING Your satisfaction with this topper may vary based on the firmness of your mattress. We bought it to add surface softness to our Sleep Number C2 mattress. The (air) mattress is adjustable for firmness, but we wanted to make sure we couldn't feel the air bladders and also wanted to make the bed top feel a bit more "cozy" or "snuggly." So far, this is a marked improvement as a topper for our bed. We do miss that undeniably more luxurious-feeling softness of brand new, high quality memory foam, but I will not fall for that trap again. If I ever buy another memory foam topper, it won't be any thicker than 1.5" because memory foam just doesn't have the long-term support anyone who suffers from even mild back pain truly needs. No one ever seems to tell you that, so I hope you can learn from our expensive mistakes. I'm convinced the reason you see so many rave reviews of memory foam is because people review it during the initial, impressive phase of its life--before sleeping on it for several years to discover its defects. See my review of the C2 Sleep Number mattress if you want more information on the Sleep Number beds. If you have one of those (basic) mattresses, this is a nice upgrade to the surface softness. CONCLUSION Overall, I recommend this topper. It's nicely padded, nicely supportive, nicely constructed, and almost entirely scent-free. I'll report back to update this review later, after we've slept on it for a substantial period of time. [UPDATE 9/10/2013: After two full months sleeping on this topper and our C2 Sleep Number bed, I am THRILLED with the improvements in my neck and back pain--which have essentially disappeared. Each time I lie down on the bed, I'm still aware that the initial "cushy" softness of the memory foam is missing, but after lying down for a few seconds, that observation immediately gives way to a pleasant impression of how firm and supportive the bed feels against my back. After two months, that same initial impression continues to replay in my mind when I go to bed each night. More importantly, I can now attest with full confidence that this topper and bed combination alleviates ALL of the neck and back pain issues I was experiencing with the memory foam mattresses and toppers we have previously slept on. In two months, I haven't had ANY serious problems with pain--and that's a remarkable change from the almost daily pain I was experiencing before. More impressively, a week ago, I strained my back badly when I slipped while raising a sailboat mast and strained to catch the mast before it slammed down onto the concrete. The last time that (same incident) happened, I couldn't move out of my bed for two full days and I suffered excruciating lower back pain for three weeks before I recovered full mobility. This time, although the pain and strain felt nearly as bad as last time, I was able to get on my feet the next morning and now, a week later, although my back is still tender, I'm recovering exponentially faster than before with near-full mobility and can again lift modest amounts of weight (like my one-year-old daughter) comfortably. The only possible explanation is that this bed is so supportive, it is accelerating my recovery. I now realize now that the last time I injured my back, the memory foam topper we had at that time was probably exacerbating the strain at night, stretching out my pain and debilitation unnecessarily. Suffice it to say that I am well pleased with this topper and our C2 Sleep Number mattress. My wife--who is now pregnant--has remarked a few times that she misses the cushy softness of the memory foam a lot, but even she (with her much better back) agrees that this bed's supportiveness is still much better and gives her better "through-the-night" sleep comfort. She just likes her bed to be very soft feeling, and this topper just isn't as initially soft as a more foam-like material would be.]