What's the best mattress out there?
 

I am a terrible sleeper and am overjoyed when I can get 6 hrs. of light sleep a night. The other day I heard some commercial that claimed a typical mattress will double its weight over 10 yrs. from dust mite infestation. Ewwwwww!!!!

Anyway, a friend has a killer bed in his guest room that I've crashed on a few times and it was always the best sleep I had. He said it's some cheap, $200 job from Mattress Discounters, brand is Symbol. The reviews I've read on Symbol online are not too flattering though. What kind of mattress will put me to sleep?

Select comfort....period. Worth every damn cent!

The best approach is to buy locally and try it out. Many places offer a 30+ day try-before-you-buy program. Very worth it.

I kind of doubt the double the weight claim but most mattresses are pretty much shot after 10 years any way.

NASTY

Beds are a prime habitat (where 1/3 of life occurs). A typical used mattress may have anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. (Ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings.) Mites prefer warm, moist surroundings such as the inside of a mattress when someone is on it. A favorite food is dander (both human and animal skin flakes). Humans shed about 1/5 ounce of dander (dead skin) each week. About 80 percent of the material seen floating in a sunbeam is actually skin flakes. Also, bedroom carpeting and household upholstery support high mite populations.

Shifman

The "memory" foam bed makers are stating the mite problem is a non issue with their product.

I know of people who either love or hate foam. A common remark is that one sweats excessively due to the foam conformng so closely to the body.

Now I want to puke and also stuff my next mattress with moth balls.

Better mattresses use a thick top layer of natural latex, which does conform and breathe like memory foam. Having a traditional spring structure underneath is very important IMO. I never could get used to the all-foam feel.

http://ccmattress.leads.com/MainFrame2.htm

RL, scroll down around 1/2 - 2/3 down the page. Sealy Spring Free Latex. Love it!

A tall, curvy, natural blond.

4 words

"spray on bed liner"

:D

My bed is a slat bed, BTW. I've flipped the slats and mattress every few mos., but no dice. A friend whose bed I crashed on in CA told me the trick was replacing the slats with plywood. So I was thinking of doing that. But this mattress is going on 8 yrs., so it's probably time to toss it.

so is mine, though the slats are metal. :)

I got a mattress from Original Mattress Factory when I lived in GA. (They have them in OH and somewhere else as well). They "make them right in their own factory!" Anyway, it's a nice one and was cheaper than comparable brands. When my girlfriend (now wife) needed one, we called and they shipped it via freight. Still cheaper than a "name brand" at the store. The old one we tossed on the side of the rail road tracks lik everyone else does. :D

My cousin worked for a company called, Kingsdown. They have a bed there made with fibers coated in nylon or something. Supposedly you can dump a bucket of water on it and it will fall right out the bottom. The idea at Kingsdown is that a soft matress is ideal for sleeping as it will comform to your shape and keep you linear. I slept on one once, personally I thought it was too soft. I think a big part of what kind of matress is right for which individual is how you sleep. Do you sleep on your side, on your back, or on your stomach, ect. ect. I primarily sleep on my stomach so a soft matress bends my back in the wrong direction, and is painful to me. If you sleep on your back or your side a kingsdown soft matress may be ideal for you?

Rich

the more you sleep on your side, the softer (pilllowtop or plush) the mattress has to be. If you're mostly on your back or especially your stomach then you need something with less padding (firm)


Underneath, they all have good support, just a matter of paddiing. Try to spring for something that has natural fabrics under the cover, stays cooler at night since it breathes.

rjp

(was mattress store MGR back in the day0

you like your friends , quit while your ahead.
I can sleep anywhere, she has issues (2 shoulder surgeries)
early days 'normal matt'
got a waterbed 'old style'
got a $$ 'old style'
then with the help of a friend got a $$$$$ old style
now she thinking about the 'air balloons'
buy your friends style, just replace every 2 to 3 years.
You can buy alot of gun /s ..or 5K for a mattress
Rika

I got my Tempur-Pedic from the The Back Store, owned by a PCA member;

http://www.thebackstore.net/

I sleep much better on that that I ever did on anything else.

+1

LOL. Do you ever stay in a hotel?

Cute little buggers, though.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1169764754.jpg

If they were hairless, I'd really be grossed out.

We like our Simmons Westin Heavenly bed.

I think it's your politics, Rick. I wouldn't sleep well either, if I tried to be a conservative.

And....I hope folks understand that I'm giggling when I post remarks like this.

Supe, if it were because of my politics, it'd only be because I don't do more every day before I go to bed to defeat socialists like yourself. And I'm giggling too.

water bed

In the last four years I've been through a Sterns & Foster pillowtop, a firm Serta, a Select Comfort, and the top of the line Sealy cashmere lined memory foam pillowtop. They were all great for about a year and then turned to crap. Next up is either the Marriott bed or a Simmons

I tried the memory foam bed, custom made at that, but didn't like it as I do not move much when I sleep. Foam takes a set after a while, and then when you roll over there are dents in it that put my back into some painful shapes. Went back to my original Pullman Orient.

I'd love to replace the Pullman, but I am having problems finding any mattress in European size (90cm x 200cm) in North America...anyone have any leads?

Dennis

clinton knew about the mites but he didn't do anything ;)

Try James at The Backstore

http://www.thebackstore.net/

He got more more affection from them than Hillary :)

Resurrecting this thread for posterity and to give a big PLUS 1 on the Sealy Spring Free (ours is the firm).

We looked for years for the right mattress and tried all of the conventional coilspring premium "S"' brands - spent a fortune! Finally decided to go for it and get, what we perceived to be, the best - Tempurpedic. Dropped $6k on an adjustable that felt right. Thank God it has a return policy. The smell would not go away even after 60 days. It was really bad! My wife didn't sleep in it once. I tried, but woke up in the middle of the night with heavy chest congestion and coughing which was kinda scary. I will say that it was probably the most comfortable and supportive bed I had ever been on so I was very dissappointed to have to send it back.

We replaced it with a Comfor-Pedic which was a lot less $$ and (supposedly) has a few "improvements" over the Tempurpedic including Latex core. It was okay, but not great. Sent it back. Fortunately, I remembered this thread and Jim's recommendation. In doing searches online about Tempurpedic, Comfor-pedic, Selec-Comfort, among others, the Springfree kept coming up with rave reviews. I figured with all the good press I would give it a try. It's perfect. It's all Latex so no smell and it's hypo-allergenic. Latex is a little more "springy" than man made memory foam so it feels somewhere between a Tempurpedic and a good coilspring mattress. Because it's "natural", it doesn't have that toxic smell of plastic, if any odor at all. The other bonus - we got the whole she-bang on sale for $2400 (it's a lot less if you skip the adjustable base) - Less than half of the original Tempurpedic purchase.

I know comfort is very much up to the individual so my ppoint is not so much that the Sealy Springfree is a great bed (it is), as much as be sure to buy from a place that will allow you to return the mattress if you don't like it. Also, research online the mattress you are considering before buying. It turns out that Tempurpedic has many reports of "outgassing". I can say that mine had it and it was definitely toxic. The Select-Comfort beds have a potential mold factory inside their airbladder, which they may, or may not, have cured. Aside from that they have numerous complaints of leaking and bad pumps with poor warranty and customer service among other things. The Springfree had no negative reviews at all.

I've had back surgeries and suffer from arthritis and myofasical syndrome, in other words always in pain and discomfort.

After much research and questioning I decided on a Bella Sonna Bed by Tempur-Pedic.

It did have a slight smell for the first week and disappeared entirely in 2 weeks.

I have never had as good a night's sleep as on this matteress. Both myself and my wife love it.

If either one of us gets up during the night the other is not disturbed, you don't feel any movement that might be transmitted to the other person.

I now, after 30 years of a bad back and lousy sleep, finally get up in the morning refreshed and feeling better than I had in the past.

Not cheap but I would highly recommend a Tepur-Pedic.

I loved the Tepur-Pedic in the store... price tag not so much.

Decided to cheap out and get a 3" generic memory foam pad from Target.

Felt great but man did it stink!

I tossed it in the spare bedroom with an open window to out gas for two weeks. After that it was acceptable however the smell didn't completely go away for a month or two.

I'm amazed they can sell stuff that needs to out gas like that.

Tempurpedic is a name brand, Like crescent wrench.
There are many companies that make adjustable wrenches and also many companies that make memory foam mattresses.

You may want to look at memory foam mattresses, but by different manufactures. We tried the tempurpedic but I thought it was too soft. That problem was described by Dennis.

The way these mattresses differ, is in density. The denser, the firmer.
If I remember correctly there is a lbs per square foot ratio used.
I don't remember the specifics, but as an example, a tempurpedic is 3.4 lbs per square foot. That is pretty soft.
I like a firmer mattress so we went with another manufacture at 5.4 lbs per square foot.

Just estimates on the weight per sq ' but I am sure you get the point.

Somebody has to quote this, Rick has me on ignore.

Temper-Pedic worth every pennie!!!!

I'm agreeing with Byron a lot lately. Not sure what to attribute this to. Must be Obama.

But Tempurpedic is the way to go.

You spend a third of your life in bed. No sense sparing money on a mattress. Tempurpedic completely changed the quality of my sleep.

Downside: I hate sleeping in strange beds now.

Thanks, and I look forward to the Martinis;)

Contact James at The Backstore, he can help you, he also carries some of the less $$$ foam ones. One of my cats has taken over one of my Tempurpedic ones:eek:

http://www.thebackstore.net/

I'd also take a good look at the amount of padding on your pal's bed and try to match that. Minimal padding= firm, moderate padding= plush, big foam top of pillow top=soft.

All 3 have the same guts, it's the amount of padding on top determines firm or soft.

On a good bed you won't toss and turn.

PS- dust mites - vacuum the mattress, and throw your pillows in the tumble dryer on high for about 10 minutes a week to cut down on that crap.

Mine too - I woke up coughing and lungs filled with fluid. Easy to dismiss as a fluke or just me, but I have no lung issues except for the occassions (not concurrent) spent on the Tempurpedic. Do a Google search and you'll see I'm far from the only one.

On the other hand, there are many, many people such as yourselves that swear by Tempurpedic. Again I say it was the most comfortable bed I've been - maybe bested only by the SpringFree (subjective). My guess is certain batches are worse for outgassing than others

Dipso - Tempurpedic makes at least 7 different mattresses of varying densities. Ours was quite firm. Some were very plush. Lots of choices.

What I didn't mention also is that we like pillow top beds. Unfortunately, they (all) tend to memorize body shape, which is bad. Our solution was to get a very firm mattress and then a good visco/egg crate topper (yes-it stunk too, but went away). That way we have the support of the very firm Latex mattress with the comfort of the pillowtop. When it wears out, we'll replace it. It really has been excellent.