Hi Darren,

The I-gel Athena uses Benson's new 'i-gel foam' but that is as much detail as they release on it. We know they state it reduces heat which is something that our Hybrid foams aim to address as well, but they don't say how. As you may know, memory foam does retain heat and many customers complain they get too hot. Obviously, this depends on whether you are a warm sleeper or not. Hybrid foam has a lower viscoelastic limit, meaning it doesn't require as much heat to mould or react to your body. Our Coolblue is an advanced hybrid foam that is cooler than memory foam as it has a lower Visco-elastic threshold, ie doesn't need as much heat to start to mould. In terms of the Athena I-gel, our John Ryan Contemporary Hybrid 4 and 5-bed range is significantly deeper with more progressive comfort. We have a 7.5cm Coolblue removable turnable topper which the Athena doesn't. Also, the Athena doesn't give you the density of their foam, ours is 70kg Coolblue foam.

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The Athena has a higher spring count but this doesn't necessarily mean its better. To fit that many springs in you would either use far smaller springs or two layers, it's not clear from the description which method they use. Again they don't state the gauge or type of spring. Our springs are medium gauge barrel springs. The FEPS method we use is also the box method, rather than the tray. This means the springs are entirely encased and never come into contact with the hybrid foam layer. Complaints with cheaper tray methods where the top of the springs rests against the memory foam have been they can pierce/degrade the foam. The box method is the more robust manufacture technique that we recommend. In terms of tension, the Hybrid 5 uses Laygel for the topper which is softer and more responsive, for a soft-medium tension. The John Ryan Contemporary Hybrid 4 uses Coolblue which is a firmer denser foam, it has the memory foam feel with a reduction in heat retention.

I hope that helps. Lee.