SolidEdge HD support

The mattress I found in the store is labeled with SolidEdge "HD SupportFlex" System which the sales rep told me the edges are foam which makes it difficult to sit on the edge of the bed. However, when I research this mattress online, all descriptions say SolidEdge HD System which is reinforced for solid sitting on the edge. How can the internet say it's reinforced, but the one in the store is not?

Seen 6,167 times Last updated Oct 2016

Laurie

Oct 2016

One Answer:

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GoodBed Help from San Francisco, CA

answered Oct 2016

Hi Laurie -- Thanks for your question.

"SolidEdge HD SupportFlex System" is just a fancy name that Sealy gives to the 3 inches of harder foam that goes around the edge of the mattress. As you understood it from your online research, the reason it is there is precisely because it makes it easier to sit (or even sleep) along the edge of the mattress.

Here's how it works. The coils that provide the primary support for the mattress are designed to support your body in a prone position. They need a certain amount of give in order to conform to your body's curves, and any one spring doesn't need to be that firm since in a prone position your body's weight is distributed over a large number of springs. However, if you were to sit along the edge of these springs, then most of your weight would be concentrated on just a few springs, which would mean that these few springs would compress a lot when trying to support all your weight. To you, this would feel saggy and give you the sensation of slipping off the edge a bit.

They solve this problem by putting a few inches of "perimeter foam encasing" around the coils. This foam is harder than the coils, so that when you sit on it, it doesn't compress as much. Broadly speaking, incorporating a solution such as this into the design of a mattress is known as edge support.

Where your salesperson got confused is that all-foam mattresses (i.e., ones that substitute the coils for a big block of support foam) do not tend to have great edge support. This is because they tend to use a single piece of support foam that goes all the way across the mattress (from edge to edge), rather than having a separate harder strip of foam around the perimeter to make it easier to sit on the edge.

It's a shame that your salesperson gave you such misleading information in this case. Unfortunately, the reality of this industry is that the average mattress salesperson stays in their job for months, not years, which isn't enough time to develop useful expertise about the product they are selling.

I hope that helps.