Another thought on memory foam

["alcoaprincess" <alcoaprincess@xxxx>]

I have a challenge out there for folks--do we really know 
what "memory foam" is? I'm starting to believe that maybe the 
name "memory foam" is a marketing ploy to get us to shell out extra 
money for regular old foam (mind you regular old foam is pretty 
pricey, too). 

My reason is this--I bought a fancy mattress topper out of "memory 
foam" a few months ago. It was too big for my bed, so we cut it down 
to size. Shortly thereafter, I bought new foam for our trailer. It 
was high quality grade, but regular foam. 

Then my girlfriend mentioned that her husband questioned whether 
the "memory foam" was for real. So, we devised a test--taking scraps 
of the "memory foam", the replacement trailer foam and some cheap 
foam from Hancock fabrics. We gave a blind test to about 30 folks. 
Verdict--no tester could identify the "memory foam", and for favorite 
foam, the trailer foam came out tops (though there were lots of votes 
for the other two foams).

I looked up the patent for "memory foam." This stated that memory 
foam is intended to take an impression when heated and remain 
compressed in that position when cooled to room temperature. I'm not 
sure if that is desireable--that's the old caved in foam problem. 
Moreover, I don't know--my topper (which had the memory foam 
trademark) does not retain an impression of our bodies when we get up 
(though it probably will when it gets old). 

So, no proof here, just an interesting indications. Indeed, the foam 
may require temperatures higher than body temps to work. But from 
what we could tell from our informal tests, the difference is 
immaterial to most folks in actual handling. We certainly like our 
matress topper--but I've become increasingly convinced that probably 
any old foam would be as nice (not sure about durability--may have to 
test that next).