I spent months reading hundreds of reviews about the different foam and gel foam mattresses that are offered on Amazon. I knew that I liked the medium firm feel when I was testing out mattresses. I kept in mind that every mattress may have a different feel, but one reviewer made a great point that you can make a harder mattress softer, but you cannot make a softer mattress harder. I steered clear of the plush, soft, medium soft descriptions. I also researched the difference between a foam vs gel form mattress. According to what I read, I can't remember the source, there was more customer satisfaction with all memory foam mattresses than with the gel foam. As far as the mattress feeling hot, I have a waterproof Sealy Posturepedic mattress cover on it and it's just as hot as our old mattress. The mattress is hard. It is described as medium firm. We like a firmer mattresses, but this mattress so far is reeeeally firm. I put an egg crate mattress pad (we already had it) on it under the mattress cover and it has made it more comfortable. We are a co sleeping family so there is plenty of room for the us and our 4 year old. We've only slept on it for 2 nights, but it can feel the difference in my back and hips. I had less pain waking up this morning. My bones didn't crack. Thus, so far so good. The delivery was amazing! We live on the 3rd floor of a walk up. I feel sorry for the delivery guy who had to get it up the stairs, but it was super convenient for me. It came a day early. I'm sooooo thankful that I worked from home that day so I could set it up before anyone got home. I'm about 5'2" with shoes, 125lbs, little upper body strength ... But I was able to push the beast of the mattress inside and to the bedroom. I ordered the base that is suggested to go with this mattress and it fit perfectly. I placed a remanent rug on it to support the mattress from "falling" through the spaces to protect the bottom. In total, I had an hour to set up bed frame and mattress before I had to pick up my son from school. I was able to vacuum, set up frame, unroll hella heavy mattress and dress the bed in under an hour. The mattress has a padded bumpy side indicating the bottom. I had to flip it over after it started to expand super quickly. Let me say this again, it is HEAVY! But, I did it. Once flipped over, it expanded to 9 inches within 5 minutes. I checked to make sure the mattress cover was on the right way to ensure we would be sleeping on the memory foam side and not the support side. The mattress cover has a crushed velvet feel. There was a smell, but to my super sensitive nose it was not strong. None the less, I opened the sliding door, turned bathroom fan on and faced oscillating fan to blow the smell out of the room. I also sprinkled baking soda on it and vacuumed it before putting on the mattress pad. When we returned home 6 hours later, the smell was minimal and pretty much gone this morning ( 2 days to air out). My review is kind of backwards, but I will update it as time goes on. I'm hoping this mattress will last us and more importantly that I won't wake up with body ache anymore. As of day 2, I recommend this mattress. I gave it 4 stars and not 5 because it is really firm and not medium firm as described. But maybe it will soften up as time goes by.