Red Nomad 3-inch Mattress Topper
Pros
- Superior comfort
- No smell
- Feels great for majority of sleepers
- Doesn't trap heat at all
Cons
If you haven’t heard of Red Nomad or their product line, allow us to get you intimately acquainted. Welcome to a product review of our pick for the undisputed best memory foam mattress topper of 2016: the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper! Read on to see just how amazing this topper is, and – more importantly – if it’s the right fit for your personal needs.
Quick FAQ
The Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper is going for less than $170 on Amazon.
If you order the Queen, it will come shipped in an Amazon box weighing roughly 25 lbs and with dimensions 21” x 14” x 13.5”.
The topper is 3 inches thick and has a density of 2.5 lb pcf. It is made of ultra-premium visco elastic memory foam.
Comfort is a very subjective metric that changes a lot from person to person. That being said, we believe the Red Nomad 3-inch Mattress Topper will have between a soft and medium firmness depending on your body weight; more importantly though, it will provide a guaranteed increase in comfort and reduce pressure points regardless of your preferred comfort level.
Not at all. In fact, this topper is designed to be used as an addition to mattresses that may originally be too firm for side sleepers. The Red Nomad 3-inch topper will not only make these mattresses more comfortable for back sleepers, but they will do exactly the same for side sleepers as well.
From our own personal tests, the Red Nomad 3-inch Mattress Topper didn’t smell much; we don’t think you will have to worry about it either.
Nope; our week-long sleeping test on the Red Nomad 3-inch proves that the topper does not trap heat at all.
You can check out warranty information here.
The Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper has been reviewed using the Zen Score System, which gives a score out of 100 based on 6 main factors: Unpacking (20pts), Smell (20 pts), Feel & Firmness (20 pts), Durability (20 pts), and Heat Regulation (20 pts) .
Contents
Unpacking the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper
The Queen-size version of the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper comes shipped in an Amazon box weighing roughly 24 lbs and with dimensions 21” x 14” x 13.5”. Open the box and you’ll find the topper is rolled up tightly in an air-sealed plastic bag like so:
All you have to do now is cut open the plastic bag and roll the topper out. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, but there are some general guidelines to follow:
TIP: Open the mattress topper in a room that is currently unoccupied and well-ventilated. Memory foam mattress toppers tend to expand much quicker and have a less strong odor than memory foam mattresses, so no need to air it out for a few days – only a few hours should suffice.
Where Was The Red Nomad 3-inch Mattress Topper Made?
All Red Nomad products are designed, manufactured and produced in the United States of America by Red Nomad.
Is It Made From Safe Materials?
Red Nomad produces their premium memory foam in accordance with the strict standards of the CertiPUR-US program, 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
Thickness & Density
The Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper has a thickness of 3 inches and carries a density of 2.5 lbs pcf (pounds per cubic foot). Unlike for memory foam mattresses, we do NOT have hard-and-fixed recommendations when it comes to the thickness and densities of memory foam mattress toppers. This is because toppers are typically used to make an existing mattress softer/ more comfortable. For this to happen, the topper needs to be thick enough and soft enough to provide added support and comfort to the sleeper. Therefore, a topper with an equal or lower density than that of the existing mattress (if it’s a memory foam mattress) will ensure a softer sleeping surface
Let’s use a simple example to explain. Imagine you currently own a 10-inch memory foam mattress with a top-layer density of 3lb pcf. After trying out the mattress for a few weeks, you realize it’s slightly too firm for you. So, you decide to purchase a memory foam mattress topper to make it more soft and comfortable. In this case, your best bet is to purchase a topper that is 2-3 inches thick and carries a density that is equal or less than that of the memory foam mattress you already own. So in this case, you would go for a topper with a density of 2-3 lb pcf.
Total points awarded for Unpacking: 19 / 20
Smell
Typically, memory foam mattress toppers carry a less-strong odor than memory foam mattresses. Since they are much thinner and have less surface area, any smell/ odor you may encounter will likely go away much faster than with a memory foam mattress as well. These aren’t fixed rules, mind you, but it’s generally true.
With that being said, we can definitively say that from our personal unboxing and unpacking of the topper, we noticed no smell whatsoever.
Total points awarded for Smell: 20 / 20
Feel & Firmness
As always, before delving into this topic we like to remind our readers that feel, firmness, and the general comfort level of any mattress differs a lot from person to person. Given that this is a mattress topper review, the goal here will be to figure out if our sleeping experience with the topper makes our sleeping experience more comfortable than without the topper. If there’s no difference, then the topper is not exactly up to snuff. If it makes your sleeping experience firmer (highlyunlikely) then we have a major problem.
Feel & Firmness Test
To test the topper, we used a spring mattress that was already slightly firm for both myself (a 200 lb male) and my wife (a 150 lb female). All we did was place the topper on top of the mattress and sleep on it for 7 nights, recording our general opinions on comfort the following morning. After thoroughly testing out the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper here’s what we found out:
It’s SO comfortable. Seriously. Not only did the Red Nomad 3-inch topper make the sleeping surface much softer than before, but it did so without compromising the level of support. Essentially, my wife and I both felt much more comfortable sleeping on the mattress, without the issue of sagging or sinking into the topper. The topper acted as a perfect buffer between our bodies and the firm mattress, which is exactly what premium toppers are supposed to do. A+ results.
Verdict: back sleepers, side sleepers, front sleepers… whatever sleeping position you prefer, the Red Nomad 3-inch Mattress Topper will make any firm surface feel much softer and more comfortable. Unless you are severely overweight (over 300 lbs), this topper will work perfectly for you.
Total points awarded for Feel: 20 / 20
Durability
How can you tell if a mattress topper will be durable and last long? Well, there are 3 main things to look for: adequate density, high-quality garment construction, and resistance to surface/ edge abrasions. In this section we dive into each of these factors.
Density
The density of a memory foam mattress topper is very important in determining the general durability of the foam material. Basically, the more dense the foam is, the longer it will maintain its rigidity and shape over time. A topper with a 1lb pcf density, therefore, will begin sinking and losing its shape much faster than a topper with 3lb pcf density. However, given that toppers also need to have a density low enough to counteract the firmness of the mattress on top of which they are placed, it isn’t necessary to purchase a topper with a very high density.
With a density of 2.5 lb pcf, the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper strikes a perfect balance.
Garment Construction
Garment construction refers to how resistant the mattress topper cover and actual mattress topper are to tearing at the sides, seams, and edges. The Red Nomad 3-inch memory foam mattress topper does not come with a cover – just the foam. Given that it is produced and manufactured in the USA with premium quality foam, we can generally conclude that the foam material is quite durable and will not be prone to tearing at all.
Surface / Edge Abrasion
A durable mattress topper will be more resistant to surface and edge abrasions; these basically occur from the repeated rubbing of the mattress/ cover surface to sheets, your body, etc over many nights of use. As stated above, the high-quality raw materials used to manufacture Red Nomad products ensure the durability of their products against surface and edge abrasions.
Verdict
The Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper is a highly durable memory foam mattress topper that will last you for 7-10 years.
Total points awarded for Durability: 18 / 20
Heat Regulation
Memory foam mattresses are stereotyped as being “heat trappers”, which is more a testament to the lack of quality memory foam in the market these days than anything else. Manufacturers these days love to cut corners and add more pennies to their bottom line by using cheaper foam materials, which do not allow proper breathability; they essentially trap a person’s body heat in the mattress while they are sleeping. When it comes to mattress toppers though, this is less of an issue because they are much thinner and typically allow more breathability.
Luckily, the Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Mattress Topper is amazing at maintaining a cool sleeping temperature. On every night of our sleeping test, neither my wife nor I noticed ourselves feeling hotter or sticky/ humid. In fact, we both noted feeling comfortably neutral/ warm.
Verdict: if you don’t usually sleep hot, the Red Nomad 3-inch memory foam topper is perfect for you. If you do usually sleep hot, the Red Nomad 3-inch is even more perfect for you.
Total points awarded for Heat Regulation: 20 / 20
Zen Score of the Red Nomad 3-inch Memory Foam Mattress Topper
A memory foam mattress must pass a Zen Score of 70 in order to be recommended by us at Zen Sleeping. The Red Nomad 3-inch Ultra Premium Memory Foam Mattress passes our benchmark with a total Zen Score of 97!
Be sure to leave a comment below if you have any questions or concerns.
