Tempur Mattress Reviews Australia – are you considering buying one of these high spec memory foam mattresses? With prices starting north of $3000 AUD, it’s one of the most expensive mattresses on the Australian market so surely it’s the best…. right? Do real people agree that Tempur is the best? What about Australia’s most trusted review site? And are there other options (spoiler alert: yes)?
I’ll give you an analysis of what real people are saying, and give my own review and comparison with other (Australian owned) mattresses that you just might want to consider in your hunt for that perfect bed.
- What Does Canstar Blue Say About Tempur Mattresses?
- Analysis of real customer reviews on ProductReview.com.au
- My own opinion (+ comparison with some Australian owned brands)
Want a mattress with similar materials to Tempur without the big price tag? You need to read about ErgoFlex, Australia’s longest standing mattress in a box brand.
What Does Canstar Blue Say?
Canstar Blue is one of Australia’s best known and respected review websites, and have been helping people make purchasing decisions for more than 10 years.
Canstar Blue surveyed hundreds of Australians in 2020 to find out which mattresses they found best for:
- Comfort
- Quality of sleep
- Durability
- Support
- Value for money
Interestingly, Tempur mattresses did not feature in the top 4. The brand that rated best across all categories was an Australian owned brand: SleepMaker. Sleep Maker make mostly hybrid mattresses that contain latex and memory foam, and are also available at big box retailers. I’m not really surprised at this, because SleepMaker offer great value for money and materials that are better suited to the Australian climate (naturally breathable latex, pocket coil support).
Tempur mattresses DID make the Canstar Blue top 7, but for a mattress brand that costs exponentially more than others I would have expected it to perform better. I think maybe more people own SleepMaker and the cheaper brands and are therefore able to comment on them because the prices are more accessible, but it’s still food for thought when you’re considering investing in Tempur… you could be just as happy (or happier) with something better value.
What Are People Saying On ProductReview.com.au?
There are not as many reviews on this popular Australian product review website as I was expecting. Given that Tempur is the biggest name memory foam mattress, I was expecting to see thousands of reviews. Instead, I found a handful.
I was expecting them to be mostly positive, but it was actually a real mixed bag. Reading through the Australian Tempur reviews on their website was no different to reading through reviews for any other foam mattress.
There were people who:
- loved it
- were getting the best sleep ever
- felt this was the best money they’d ever spent
But there were also people who:
- didn’t like the way the mattress responded to changes in room temperature (memory foam responds to heat as well as pressure, and with such a dense and slow moving foam like you find in Tempur mattresses, some people felt it was too firm in the winter as the foam hardens up in response to cold and softens in response to heat)
- felt they could have got as good a sleep on a mattress that cost lest
- noticed it sagging after a period of time
- people who live in hotter parts of Australia tended to complain more than others about the mattress retaining heat
In fact, the Tempur Sensation Mattress, which is one I have tried personally and felt it was the most comfortable of all the Tempur mattresses, had the biggest mixed bag and was only rated 2.5 stars out of 5 by real buyers. The softer, Tempur Cloud mattress, didn’t fare much better: 2.7 out of 5.
My Opinion On Tempur Australia + Comparison With Some Australian Owned Brands
Tempur have been in the memory foam business longer than any other mattress brand, so they’ve had the most time for research and development. They really play on the fact that they were the first to take the technology from NASA and revolutionise the mattress market. And fair play to them, they have.
Tempur Mattress Features:
- Removable cover for easy washing. The fabric of the cover is nice… a fairly standard knit. What’s good about it is it has the best quality zip I’ve seen on a mattress cover, it’s a really sturdy zip that moves really easily along its tracks. Tempur call it a “quick refresh” cover, and this means you can just unzip the top portion of the cover to wash it, which is a whole lot easier than trying to take the cover off an entire mattress. To sum up the cover: standard fabric, superior zip, clever design.
- Cool touch panel: zip the top cover off a Tempur mattress and you reveal a blue panel. This is a “CoolTouch Technology” fabric, and it actually feels cold to touch. It’s kind of amazing. This helps absorb excess heat as you sleep: it’s critical for memory foam mattresses to include temperature regulating features to avoid trapping heat.
- Your choice of mattress depth: 21cm, 25cm, or 30 cm. 25cm and 30cm are the most common mattress heights for all foam mattresses. It’s nice that Tempur give you options.
- Your choice of soft, medium, or firm. I liked the feel of the medium the best, the “Sensation Luxe” (this is the 30cm high model). There was a clear difference in the feel of each mattress.
- The comfort layers of a Tempur mattress are made up of 8 – 15 cm of “Tempur Materials“. These are the memory foams of the mattress, and depending on which model you go for, they’ll be a blend of support and comfort memory foams. Tempur claims to have the highest density (read = most durable) materials in the industry. It’s hard to verify this as I can’t access densities from all the other brands.
- The rest of the mattress is a polyfoam support core, seems pretty standard to me.
It’s actually a pretty nice mattress, and you’ve got a lot of choice (firm or soft, thick or thin). However, the memory foams inside Tempur mattresses are very slow moving foams, which I’m not a fan of myself. And the only cooling technology it has is the cooling panel. I prefer foams with a better balance of conforming and responsiveness, and that will work harder to regulate body temperature. For me, Tempur is not worth the big price tag.
What if….
What if I told you there were Australian owned mattresses that had similar performance to Tempur, some containing latex which works even better in Australia, some memory foam mattresses, and gave you the chance to order from the comfort of your own home to try out with at least a 100 night, no obligation sleep trial? Some of these mattresses out-perform Tempur on both the customer review sites we talked about above, and some are quiet achievers that should not be ignored.
Are you interested? Then you need to know about the “mattress in a box” companies. These are mattresses that are made from high quality materials, compressed in roll-pack machine to fit neatly in a box, then are shipped straight to you. These brands are able to offer extremely high quality mattresses at a fraction of the cost of brands like Tempur, because there is no middle man. The big sleep trials and same warranty (or better) than Tempur make them an option that’s hard to ignore.
These are some of the most popular options:
- Macoda: Macoda is a hybrid that features latex and memory foam, similar to the extremely popular SleepMaker I mentioned above. Even better: the coils in the support system of Macoda are zoned for targeted support, and it has a 100 night sleep trial. LEARN MORE ABOUT MACODA HERE.
- Sleeping Duck: This is one of the highest rated mattresses on ProductReview.com.au. It features thick foam layers atop a zoned coil base, similar to Macoda but without the latex. Standout feature: the foams in Sleeping Duck are customisable. You can swap the panels around to guarantee your perfect fit. 100 Night Sleep trial. LEARN MORE ABOUT SLEEPING DUCK HERE.
- Koala: Koala is an extremely popular mattress brand (it’s probably the most popular) and outranked Tempur in Canstar Blue’s customer survey. It features a tencel cover (made from Australian Eucalyptus) and two proprietary foam layers inside. It has a longer sleep trial at 120 nights. Standout feature: made in Australia and Koala partners with the WWF to donate a portion of their profits to koala protection. LEARN MORE ABOUT KOALA HERE.
- Hugo (MY TOP PICK): Hugo is an all foam mattress that is made in Australia, similar to Koala. The difference with Hugo is it contains both memory foam and latex, making it a game changer for Australian customers. There aren’t many all foam mattresses in the Australian market that contain both, so for the price Hugo is an absolute standout. Of course, you get a 3 month sleep trial too. LEARN MORE ABOUT HUGO HERE.
