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As excited as my wife and I were about purchasing an RV last winter, an addition that would liberate us from the confines of quarantine, we were less than thrilled by our new rig’s stock queen-size mattress, which was firm to the point of being board-like. Given my wife’s recent struggles with low back pain, roughing it with a budget mattress simply wasn’t an option. Unwilling to drop a big chunk of change on a new mattress, we decided to explore a more affordable solution—a top-rated mattress topper.
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The Search for Comfort
Our online quest for the right mattress topper revealed two basic material options and a broad range of price points. More affordable options that hovered in the $50 to $100 range consisted of the classic egg-crate-style toppers, while the upper tier of the market, $100 and up, was made up of memory-foam toppers.
Choosing Not to Put an Egg-Crate Topper in Our Basket
From my experience, egg-crate toppers start out well, providing back-pain relief with small bumps that conform to the contours of the body. But after a few months of use, those foam bumps that at first provide such great support start to become compressed and eventually offer little to no support at all. So, while the affordable price of an egg-crate topper was tempting, we knew we needed something that would last longer.
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A Familiar Feeling
Our bed at home is a Tempur-Pedic, a purchase we made when my wife injured her back last year. And while it was quite an investment, it’s been the difference between restless nights of aching low back pain and blissful sleep for my wife. So, when I found a Tempur-Pedic mattress topper dangling in front of me in Amazon’s search results, I bit, even though it was one of the most expensive toppers on the list. Although our experience with our Tempur-Pedic mattress was a huge factor in deciding to spend the extra money on the topper, it also helped that it had an overwhelming number of positive reviews.
Get the Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR Supreme 3-Inch Mattress Topper at Amazon for $246.99.
First Impressions
When the mattress arrived, I was skeptical at first. The topper was wrapped so tightly in its packaging that I wondered if it would achieve the memory-foam comfort it promised. (This wouldn’t have been the first time we were disappointed with a product that had overwhelmingly positive reviews.) But, sure enough, once unwrapped, unrolled, and given a chance to breathe, the mattress puffed up to its full 3-inch thickness.
The Verdict
After a few days of allowing it to air out to eliminate a minor chemical odor, we tested the topper out on the RV mattress. It fit evenly on the mattress, and the fitted sheet wrapped nicely around both, even with the extra 3 inches of thickness added by the topper.
After our first night on the Tempur-Pedic topper, I must admit I had buyer’s regret…not for the topper, but for our Tempur-Pedic mattress at home. Like our new mattress, this topper has the same Tempur material that makes it soft enough to conform to the curves and angles of my body but still firm enough to provide support for the head, neck, and lower back. It was so surprisingly similar in feel that I wondered if we could have saved a lot of money and bought this topper for our old mattress instead of splurging on a high-end new one.
Upon Further Review…
Since we added the Tempur-Pedic topper to the mattress in our RV several months ago, we’ve spent about 20 nights sleeping on it. While it’s not quite as comfortable as the Tempur-Pedic mattress, it certainly lives up to its premium price tag by giving a rigid budget mattress high-end comfort. My wife’s back can’t do without it, and we’ve even decided that the topper will accompany us on our Fourth of July visit to my parents to supplement their firm guest bed.
A topper can also help improve a mattress for certain sleep preferences (or problems!). Check out our guides to selecting the right mattress topper for side sleepers, for sleepers with back pain, and for hot sleepers.
