A few months ago my husband and I switched from a full motion water bed to a firm mattress that was previously in the guest room. The support of the water bed (firm, but with a wonderfully soft feel) is worlds different than the support of a firm mattress (almost like a sheet of plywood), and we both had difficulty making the switch. We talked several times about trying a memory foam topper, but always decided against it because of heat issues, especially on his part. I found the Mem-Cool topper on Overstock and ordered it without any discussion, because I knew that he would say no. I was hopeful about this topper because of the good reviews I read from folks who claim to put out lots of heat and sweat heavily.
When it arrived, we unrolled it in the guest room and let it sit for 4 days. We flipped it after 2 days in an attempt to help with the odor. It regained its shape within 24 hours. We have had it on the bed for about two weeks now and it still has a bit of a chemical smell. My husband says that he doesn't smell it, and it must be dissipating, because it is not as noticeable now as it was when we put it on two weeks ago. My husband told me not to expect to keep the topper on for more than 3-4 days. Despite the reviews and description, he expected his warmth issues to increase with this topper. After the second night, he commented about how much cooler he had been the previous two nights. I was always 'just right' in the water bed, but had started sweating profusely when we switched to the regular mattress. I also found after a few nights with the memory foam that I was not waking up soaked. This was the clincher for us!! We are both sleeping much cooler now!
I was originally afraid that 2" would not be thick enough, but I am glad that I did not go any thicker. It took a few nights to get comfortable on this topper, mainly because it is such a different feel than both the water bed and firm mattress. I now feel very strongly that anything thicker than 2" would have been too thick, and I would almost like to try something a bit thinner than 2".
I read some reviews that complained that these toppers are not quite wide and long enough to cover most mattresses. I am afraid that those people did not read the description closely and most of them lack the ability to think outside of the box. We have a Queen mattress, which measures 60"x80" - Overstock's Queen topper measures 57"x77", which is 3" too short in width and length. If you take time to look at things, you will notice that there is no price difference based on size. In other words, a twin topper costs just as much as a California King and King topper. Based on this, we purchased the California King topper, which measured 70"x80". It was already the correct length; we cut 10" off of the width and it is now a perfect fit! I am a pediatric physical therapist, so I will have no problem putting the other 10"x80" strip of foam to good use! Think outside of the box folks!
Overall, we are quite pleased with this purchase, and given the same circumstances, would not hesitate to make the same purchase again.