Like many reviewers here, I did a LOT of research before purchasing my Perfect Cloud Elegance, including reading EVERY review here. While there is some good information to be gleaned from them, the one thing they can't do is tell me how this mattress really feels. What's too hardto one in too soft to another, and many describe it as both firm AND soft! And I think I'm not alone in the apprehension I felt ordering a mattress that I never tried based solely on how a bunch of strangers say it “feels to them. In an effort to help future buyers, I took a field trip to my local furniture emporium here in NYC (Raymour & Flanigan) to find a mattress with the approximate specs and feel of the Elegance. I tested every memory foam mattress they had (and they have a wide range from many manufactures), and I took a lot of notes.Advice on mattress testing from Consumer Reports:1) Bring a pillow from home (REALLY. This is pretty key), and2) test each mattress for 10-15 minutes, changing through the positions you usually sleep in.My 2¢:Write down the specs from the memory foam mattresses you are considering (how much and what kinds of memory foams and base materials.) Then, in the showroom, find mattresses that align most closely with those specs and settle in. Spend five minutes in every position; take notes on how each one feels to you. With a little homework under your belt, you will be able to make a much more informed decision.So… this is my advice to anyone looking for guidance on purchasing the PC Elegance: Grab a pillow from home, go to a mattress showroom that carries TEMPER-pedic, and find the TEMPUR-Cloud Supreme Medium MF. It has about 4 of two kinds of memory foam over 7.5 of base material for a total of 11.5 high mattress. It has quite a bit of that classic TEMPUR “sinking feeling, conforming to your body, as well as medium support. This is the closest in feeling and specs that I found to the Perfect Cloud Elegance. I think the Elegance may be a tad less “sinking and a bit more supportive, but my Elegance is brand new and the showroom model has a few miles on it, so that really may be a wash. I also noted that the showroom price of the TEMPER-Cloud Supreme is more than 4x the price of the Perfect Cloud.Now, on to my Perfect Cloud Elegance experience:Smell: almost none. Zip. Only noticeable with my nose right on the cover. This was a non-issue in my case.Unpacking: Yes, this is ideally a two person job, though I (a 6' tall, pretty fit man) managed by myself. PRO TIP - once the mattress is out of the plastic and starts expanding – take some time to align the bottom corners on the mattress into the corners of the cover. My cover was a little askew, but a little tugging evened it out. I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't done anything; maybe it would have worked itself out with no help from me at all. I'll never know.Heat buildup: I haven't noticed this as a problem.The feel: I'm not going to tell you how it feels to me since that's useless to you. I will say that if you haven't slept on a memory foam mattress before, it feels very different than what you're probably used to. In a MF mattress, the upper memory foam layers provide various levels of that “sinking feeling while the base layers provide the support. The more inches of memory foam, the “softer the sensation, but the base layers all provide basically the same support. It's just a matter of how much you sink before the support kicks in. You'll want to find the balance that's right for you. Also, some mattresses layer non-memory foams on top (like the Casper) which gives more of a traditional bounce-back sensation. Pay attention to how they are constructed and how they feel as you test and you'll start to make those connections for yourself. The mattresses I tested ranged from 2 of memory foam (less “sinking, more firm) to 6 of memory foam (rather alarming amount of “sinking and hard to maneuver around). The Elegance has 3 memory foam layers totaling 4.5, which puts it in the “medium category, which was consistent with my showroom experience on similar mattresses, especially the TEMPER-Cloud Supreme Medium.Last look: I love this mattress. I'm moving from a 16 yr old medium-soft super pillow top 15 Kingsdown mattress which had lost its magic in both the support and plush departments. Lately, I had been sleeping very badly and not very long, and it was taking a toll. This is a VAST improvement, and I am enjoying my nights ever so much more. I don't regret this purchase, and I have high hopes for many years of the same.8 month UPDATE:This mattress was very comfortable from the beginning, but it wasn't too long before we decided we would like a bit of plush on top to make moving about a little easier. Memory foam is, as my partner put it, a little like sleeping on an eraser–a really comfy eraser, to be sure, but it's a different sensation than a traditional mattress. So we bought this topper *Live Comfortably Cuddlebed Down Alternative Mattress Topper* which is a GREAT complement to the Perfect Cloud. Now we have all the benefits of memory foam with the perfect touch of plush. Still VERY happy with our purchase. I travel a lot, and nearly every bed I encounter is less comfortable that our Perfect Cloud (only the bed in an upscale Paris hotel gave me consistently good sleep quality, or maybe that was just the magic of Paris). In any case, I come home tired and sore, and the Perfect Cloud revives me in just a night or two!1.5 year update: Still SUPER happy with this mattress. The feel is the same as it was when it first arrived, with maybe a little more of that MF sinking feeling, making it even more of a dead ringer for the TEMPER-Cloud Supreme Medium. We recently had a cat sitter staying in our apartment for a week, and she mentioned how incredibly comfy and cozy our bed was, and how well she slept. Yeah, it's still pretty sweet to come home to.
