Quick Summary
Pros
- New Energex gel-infused foam technology
- Very comfortable and plush
- Soft feel
- Perfect heat regulation
Cons
- May be too soft/ saggy for heavyweight people
They call it “Arctic Dreams” for a great reason! This mattress offers top-notch heat regulation through a new patented gel-infused foam layer called Energex gel foam. The 10” thick, two-layered foam mattress provides lots of support, superior breathability, and enough comfort to shake a stick at.
Memory foam mattresses (the lower quality ones, at least) tend to have a reputation for capturing heat, which can make it quite uncomfortable for even the most heavy sleepers.
For mattress manufacturers, one answer to this issue has been to use memory foam with cell structures that are more open and well-ventilated; foams that are more breathable will allow heat to flow through, not capture it. However, there is a drawback: the more open the foam cells are, the less dense it will be.
Less dense => less support => less durable
Another solution has been to infuse the memory foam with gel liquid. Depending on the type of gel used, the foam becomes much more capable of regulating heat, but with a drawback as well: the foam’s firmness could increase, meaning a potentially less comfortable sleeping experience (especially for sleepers sensitive to firmness).
Enter the DreamFoam Bedding Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress, a foam mattress that uses the best of both solutions while minimizing the drawbacks.
For this review I tested the Queen-size mattress on using our standard Zen Sleeping Scoring System. I also got in touch with 18 verified purchasers of this product who have used the mattress for at least 5 months. Since the mattress has only been out for ~6 months, I couldn’t find purchasers who have owned it for any longer; regardless, I’m excited to share my experiences as well as those of my interviewees.
Table of Contents
Initial Checks
1. Where was the memory foam mattress produced?
The Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress is produced in the USA by DreamFoam Bedding. Their website offers more of their products and accessories, but unfortunately is unfinished in some places. For instance, they have links to their About page, but with no actual link provided. I don’t like seeing that, so I will have to deduct a few points.
3 out of 5 points awarded.
2. Is the manufacturer listed on the CertiPUR-US site?
Yes, which means their mattresses are :
– Made without ozone depletes
– Made without PBDE flame retardants
– Made without mercury, lead, and other heavy materials
– Made without phthalates regulated by Consumer Product Safety Commission
– Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions for indoor air quality
5 out of 5 points here.
3. What is the actual thickness/ density of the memory foam layer?
The Arctic Dreams actually offers a super soft quilted top layer that is .75” thick.
I always recommend purchasing a memory foam mattress with a top layer of at least 3 inches, but in this case it’s completely fine. DreamFoam Bedding basically decided to add an extra layer of comfort over the layer of gel-infused foam, which is a big plus as gel foam mattresses tend to be firmer than conventional visco foam mattresses.
5 out of 5 points here!
4. What is the actual thickness of the foam in the supporting layers?
The main memory foam layer consists of 3 inches of fast response Energex gel foam at a density of 3lb pcf. Energex is a new patented memory foam material that is made of viscoelastic and gel-infused foam. The foam is described as “visco with a bounce”, with a feel that is livelier than conventional memory foam. After laying on the mattress, the foam will bounce back to its original shape much faster than standard foam, which also means it will retain its shape more and not sag too much while you’re sleeping on it.
I normally prefer a density of at least 4lb pcf, but in this case it’s also fine because there is a .75-inch thick, super soft top layer to add some support and comfort.
The bottom layer is 6.25 inches thick and made from convoluted high-density polyurethane foam. The bottom layer is supposed to provide you the majority of the support, preventing your body from sinking too deep. Now, you may be asking yourself what does the “convoluted” in “convoluted HD poly foam” mean? Well, the short answer is that this layer of foam uses a combination of polyurethane and egg crate foam to give more support at the center of the mattress where it’s needed.
Often, mattress companies will make an entire layer out of Egg Crate foam, and that’s a big red flag. 10 times out of 10, a manufacturer that uses just egg crate foam in a layer, does so to increase the thickness of a mattress at very low cost. Over time, this layer will tend to sag and lose form. Luckily for us, DreamFoam Bedding uses a combination of high-density polyurethane foam, as well as convoluted foam. This combination achieves a much more desired result.
4 out of 5 points!
Feel & Firmness
Setting up the Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress was pretty simple and easy. In total the packaging weighed around 65 lbs, and the mattress itself was around 62-63lbs. After opening, I placed the mattress on a nice foundation (don’t use box springs!) and let it sit in a well-ventilated room for 24 hours to achieve its full shape and thickness. It may have achieved full shape before the 24 hours was up, but a few hours here and there doesn’t make too much of a difference. Sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised by a mattress that reaches its full size in a fraction of the time, but as long as it doesn’t take more than a couple days, you’re all good.
The first thing I noticed about the feel was how soft the quilted top layer was. Seriously, it felt so super duper soft! I really like that DreamFoam Bedding included this .75-inch thick layer, as it is definitely something that I haven’t experienced before in my other product reviews. You can definitely tell that they care about customer satisfaction!
Not only that, but my sleeping experience on this mattress was akin to sleeping on a cloud. It was so, so, so soft. If you like soft mattresses, this will be perfect for you. A few of the verified purchasers I interviewed actually thought the mattress was a bit too soft for them. After some more research, it turned out that this is the case for more heavyweight people, around 220 lbs and up. As a point of reference, I weight exactly 200 lbs, and I thought it was very comfortable and not too soft.
Out of the 18 customers I interviewed, 15 of them thought it was a perfect fit for them. 3 of them thought it was too soft (the same people I mentioned previously). Those same 3 people also reported the mattress as starting to sag too much on the sides, i.e. losing edge support. This may be another indication that the mattress, while a great choice for many, may not be as great a choice for heavyweight people.
My rule of thumb: Soft, comfortable, plush, and cloud-like. I loved sleeping on this mattress.
I award the DreamFoam Bedding Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress a 18.5 out of 20 for Feel. Not much to conclude here – it was great.
Smell
Most memory foam mattresses come with a distinct “new memory foam” smell that typically goes away after a few days of being aired out. I personally didn’t notice much of that smell with the Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress, but 12 out of 18 verified purchasers I interviewed claimed there was an odor after initial opening. The general consensus was that it was the typical “new memory foam” smell, and that it lasted for up to 3 days.
Tip: After opening, place the mattress in a well-ventilated room, preferably one that lets sunlight through.
I award 15 out of 20 points in this section.
Heat Regulation
I slept for a week on the Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress and took notes every morning on how hot I felt the night before. My results were absolutely astounding – not one night did I feel too hot or cold. The bed maintained a perfectly neutral temperature every night… it was a dream come true.
I received similar responses from the customers I interviewed: 17 out of 18 of them thought the temperature was perfectly neutral.
For heat regulation, I award 20 out of 20!
Value
DreamFoam Bedding is providing a very high-quality mattress for an extremely affordable price. The Arctic Dreams offers a brand new patented Energex gel foam technology, superior heat regulation, and a very soft/ plush feel for half the price of some of the other mattresses I’ve reviewed here.
If you are on a budget of $300 and are in the market for memory foam mattresses, I doubt you will find a better deal than this one. The quality sleep will pay for itself many times over.
For Value, I award 20 out of 20 points.
Zen Sleeping Score
We at Zen Sleeping believe that a mattress with a score of >70 passes our performance standards.
With a score of 90.5, the Arctic Dreams 10-inch Cooling Gel Mattress is a high-quality product for a great price. If you enjoy a soft feel and normally sleep hot on memory foam, then you need to take a serious look at this mattress. Below you will see a breakdown of how each section in this review stacks up against one another.
