It may have its detractors but the Tempurpedic mattress is the best. It was the first memory foam mattress available to the public and is still the number one best seller. What follows are just some of the reasons why I consider it to be best viscoelastic mattress.
I have to confess that I bought a Tempurpedic mattress years ago when it first came out. Back then the company only sold one mattress - the equivalent of today's Tempurpedic OriginalBed. I just loved the unique feel of it; when you lay down on it you could feel it changing shape, conforming to your body. My wife and I found it to be extremely comfortable. It was comfortable yet incredibly supportive and there was zero motion transfer - something that had been a bug-bear of my wife's all through our married life, but no more.
Since then other manufacturers have produced their own versions of a memory foam mattress (viscoelastic) with mixed results. The manufacturing process used by Tempur is secret and no two viscoelastic mattresses are the same. Sad to say, there are many inferior version that are being 'dumped' on the market and, to add insult to injury, they even claim that their version is better.
So, why is the Tempurpedic mattress the best? First off, the viscoelastic foam it produces if 5.25 lb/ cubic foot. For memory foam to provide the correct support is should be between 5 and 5.8 lbs/cubic foot. Inferior mattresses quite often come with a density of 4 lbs or less. If you're thinking of buying a cheap memory foam mattress don't buy it unless it has 5 lbs density or above. Some manufacturers will tell you that there 'unique' formula provides the same support even though it's less dense but don't believe it for one minute. All it means is their mattress has more air and less foam, which makes it cheaper to produce.
However, reputable manufacturers like Sealy and Restonic do use high density viscoelastic foam in their mattresses but again, remember no two foams are the same. Typically, companies have failed to reproduce the support and comfort of the Tempur mattress and what they have tended to do is produce up market, more luxurious models usually by adding softer memory tops - akin to pillow tops - and fancy mattress covers.
Tempurpedic has responded by manufacturing its own line of luxurious memory foam mattresses - the CelebrityBed and GrandBed being examples.
I'm not a fan of these newer, softer and more luxurious mattresses. I hear numerous reports about the soft tops developing craters in a fairly short space of time; basically, the soft viscoelastic doesn't seem to last the course. And, when the top goes the whole mattress needs replacing, which is an expensive proposition. I think it's far better to by a 'standard' viscoelastic mattress and buy a separate topper like the Tempurpedic mattress topper. That way you get the softer top and if and when it sags you can simply buy a new topper.
Tempurpedic mattresses were first used (and still are) in hospitals. The pressure relieving properties of viscoelastic made it ideal for long-term, bed-ridden patients. In trials involving 23,000 patients the Institution for Clinical & Physiological Research at the Lillhagen Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden concluded that patients suffered from less pain and experienced greatly enhanced and deeper sleep. No other memory foam mattress has such a pedigree or has been tested so thoroughly.
Finally, the Tempurpedic mattress is the best because of the company's belief in its product. No other supplier of memory foam mattresses has as long an in-home trial period with a no questions asked return policy.