I bought this mattress topper because it had both down alternative and memory foam. I wanted a down alternative topper because I felt it would give my mattress a pillow effect and hopefully allow more airflow between myself and my new gel memory foam mattress since I sleep hot. When I realized my mattress only had two inches of memory foam in it I bought this instead figuring that I would have just a little more to sink into (mostly a side sleeper) and some pillow-y protection from the heat. This mattress pad was also the same brand as my mattress which had really great reviews so I thought I couldn't go wrong. I also bought my roommate a 4in. memory foam topper to go on top of her futon mattress since her mattress was not memory foam. I opened the package (arrived in good condition) and used the cutting tool and let it expand. My memory foam mattress took only a few hours to expand to it's full 8in., this pad didn't even reach 4in. after a whole night went by. The 2in. of memory foam could be felt as a nice squishy layer but didn't seem like 2in, looked more like 1 (maybe because of the egg carton shape?) I could feel the bumps through the down alternative side, it felt both weird and like a massage for sore points, flipping it over so the flat side was up felt comfier and flat to me. The down alternative side also was a let down. It seemed to only be about half an inch thick and managed to make my mattress feel firm on top and I didn't sink down into the memory foam as much. It came with a cover which was nice but I was willing to sleep on it but was a little disappointed. It wasn't bad and would definitely add some softness to a different bed but wasn't what I was hoping for. My roommate's 4in. memory foam topper came in the next day and it turns out that it was too soft and sink-y for her so we traded and we are both happy with what we got. Her old futon has lost most of it's padding and you can feel the metal bars underneath. She said that this was better than the mattress pad she had before. So does add softness but wasn't as thick and luxurious as I would have liked. If you like a pillow-y feel choose a 4in. memory foam topper or a different down alternative topper. If you prefer a firmer bed with a little softness then this is a good topper. I still wished that this pad had expanded more. My roommate has not reported any smell from the memory foam.
