How does one go about picking the right mattress?
 

I ran into a guy who owns a local 'sleep shop' and asked him and he said "Go lay on it and you'll know."

There has to be more to it than that, doesn't there?

He also said "You aren't going to get a decent mattress for $400." (implying that it will cost upwards to $800.)

Said the cheaper mattresses have lower quality springs.

Seems like there should be some kind of science involved in the purchase process.

What say the PP brain trust? SmileWavy

Avoid anything with a pillow top IMO. They end up breaking down and looking lumpy fairly quickly. I have a Tempurpedic and don't think I'd go back to a spring mattress again.

I know someone who has one of those pocket spring mattresses and they really seem to like it for what that's worth.

I have used the same Cali King waterbed for 30 years now (changed $100 full flotation mattress twice). I still love getting into a warm bed in cooler weather. Fully adjustable for firmness, and temperature.

Most of my freinds are spending $1000 every 5-8 years on new springs/matresses....just saying !

Thanks, Cab.

I just ran across this website which has a lot of technical info which may help with the decision....I knew there had to be some kind of science involved....;)

https://sleepopolis.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-mattress/

We considered a latex mattress but my wife being a nurse worried about developing latex allergies. I don't know if that's a possibility or not but it quickly ruled out the latex mattresses for us.

I bought my last mattress at Sit And Sleep (the most annoying radio commercials after Kars4Kids) and spent between $7-800. They usually have sales around holidays.

I asked the sales guy which was the most expensive mattress they sell. He had one for $12k! I asked him what was the difference between that one and the one I bought. He said higher quality, longer lasting materials but essentially the construction techniques were the same. Also people who are looking to buy $12k mattresses have high stress lifestyles and they sleep better knowing how much they paid for their mattress. Sounded logical to me.

Subscribed. I am moving into a place for about one year, I need something cheap and disposable, or easy to move.

I paid about $4k a couple of years ago, absolutely fantastic mattress, but I'm not paying that for a short term move.

I am leaning towards a foam bed-in-a-box. Leesa, Purple, etc. They are not super-cheap.

This is cheap, with good reviews... https://www.amazon.com/Zinus-Memory-Green-Mattress-Queen/dp/B00Q7EPSHI/ref=sr_1_4?s=furniture&ie=UTF8&qid=1508357179&sr=1-4&keywords=queen+mattress

We have a Leesa - best mattress we have ever had.

No way. These things suck.

I say shop around and drop $1,500-$2,500 after you have beaten multiple merchants to death on price.

Conventional mattress and springs.

I have Zinus and it is great

I bought a "Purple" after reading the review on that same site above. I don't think I am sleeping any better or any worse. Admittedly I didn't measure a baseline scientifically. I just didn't want to bother going around visiting mattress stores.

Man, I agree. Furniture retail is so much different than car parts retail.

I paid $2,200 for a king set at a higher end retail store. Higher end means there was not a guy in a blue gorilla suit waving a sign out front.

I did not beat him down on price as I suggested above.

It was divine.

Hey Bob...thanks for chiming in!

When you say it was divine...are you saying it helped you get a better night's rest....or did it make your body feel better....or both?

My Moho came with a sleep number air bed, Baz

I had allways gone for firm mattresses. But when able to adjust and try different firmness settings I ended up using a much softer setting as time went along. Sometimes I'll try it firmer for a change, but end up back at a pretty soft setting pretty quickly.

It's realy a comfortable bed that allowed me to tune into the setting that I like.

Cheers Richard

I usually sleep really well at hotels. This suggests to me that my mattress at home sucks. Next time I sleep well in a hotel, I will look closely at the mattress and get the make & model.

Yes and yes.

I can find the specific type for your research. If you shop around you probably can get it for less. I just gotta call the ex.

I will text her and get the data.

Second that.

We have one now. Never again. The extra height means you need special sheets if using fitted sheets. Otherwise the sheet starts to pull up during the night and catches in the seam that separates the pillow top from the rest then the fitted sheet squeezes in on that causing the pillow top to lose whatever support it has and you wake up in a mattress trench.

Ask me how I know.

How to pick a good one, I don't think it's as simple as "go lay on one"

I think you need to live with it for a few days.

Mattresses are notoriously difficult to shop for. This is exacerbated by the fact that manufacturers only sell specific models to specific retailers.

This site will help:

Sleep Like The Dead Is #1 In Sleep Product Research : Independent and Unbiased Mattress Reviews, Pillow Ratings and Much More

The right size sheets are available online and Walmart, buy the right sheets and they fit great.

I built a slim 'platform' for my bed, so it's not too tall. Super easy and solves the extra height issue. With power outlets.




http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508362607.jpg


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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508362673.jpg

The satisfaction numbers don't bear that out...a $300 foam mattress is very close (I would argue statistically equivalent) to a high end coil mattress.

Our king mattress was getting uncomfortable after 10 years. I don't know that brand off hand but we paid $2K for it. We added a 2" memory foam topper for ~ $200. It has it's own 'duvet' cover and is under the mattress pad and fitted sheet. Awesome. Hopefully we will get a couple more years out of it.

I don't know what brand of mattress Hilton Garden Inn uses but I sleep very well on those. They have a firmness adjustment that I set just a click or two softer from middle.

We bought a mattress last week. Spend $2k. Overwhelmed by options, we walked into the first store, which had some sleep computer which calculated pressure points and made firmness suggestions. Using that "propietary" technology, we jumped on 5 mattresses ranging from 800-4000 dollars.

Jumping on these mattresses, I was surprised in the differences you could feel right off the bat (much like test driving different cars on a dealer lot).
Three stood out in my mind as good. Two as bad.
My wife felt three were bad.

Surprisingly, we both agreed the $2k was nice, and the $4k was nicer, but the $4 wasn't 2k nicer than the $2k one. I also liked the 800 dollar one, but my wife hated it, so that was out, but it was relatively easy to choose.

We pulled out a credit card, made the purchase and have been sleeping okay ever since. We did NO comparison shopping. We looked for NO bargains. We did NO research. We spend less than 30 minutes in the store.

...It has worked out well. To put things in perspective, I had spent the last 2 months sleeping on our couch as the previous bed was so bad I was taking 800 mg advil every am when I tried to sleep on it.

We also happen to live in a "mattress friendly" town- a recent post on FB addressing the issue (by an independent source- not me):

WAYNESBORO - To address the city's mattress shortage, Waynesboro is set to open sixteen more mattress stores over the course of 2017, joining Mattress Warehouse​, Sleep On It, and The Mattress Outlet Fishersville-Staunton-Waynesboro​. City Planner Michael Barnes praised the direction, saying that Waynesboro "needs as many mattress options as possible to alleviate our crisis." New stores include Mattress King, Mattress Queen, Mattress Metropolis, Valley Mattress, The Pull Out King, Mattress Valley, McMattress, Rage Against the Mattress, Matt Riss Mattress Emporium, and more.

My story exactly.

Yep, that looks good.

Ex says it is getting tired but still a good night's sleep. 2002. Stearns and Foster.

I asked how many men have been on it. Awaiting replay....:D

FWIW we bought a name brand mattress at Sam's Club, I presume Costco has them too, we are pretty happy with it.

I would love to try the sleep number but but I'm afraid of the thing developing a leak.

And yes I don't believe you can choose a bed by just going to stores and laying on them, it usually takes a week or two.

I also would like to try a sit and sleep bed (agreed on the annoying commercials) I have been told they build all their beds in house out of the best materials, I also heard you can specify exactly what materials you want your bed made out of, which is pretty cool (I know this because I dated a girl that was a total everything must be organic freak).

We looked and looked. Then tried one of the internet foam mattress places. They ship it, you try it for a minimum of 30 days. If you don't like it, call them and they will pick it up free of charge and send you a full refund. You have nothing at all to lose. You would have to be crazy not to try it.
We liked it a year or so ago, kept it, and we still like it.

https://www.tuftandneedle.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw95vPBRDVARIsAKvPd3JKe71Ed4aZr2yH6FI z5GHTD5D76NwAXyUbrd4ziXCW8Evu4cN9Y9IaApHhEALw_wcB

Going into a store and trying out mattresses didn't work out so well for me....they threw our nekkid azzes out and told us to never come back :)!

We also thought about the costco option, but were scared by the inability to order them blindly without testing them.

I wouldn't go for a sleep member/number thingee either unless one person wanted "super soft" and the other person was a "firm" person. I also heard some product support stories from people who had ordered it and weren't impressed.

One aspect my wife somehow DID happen to google research was how some mattresses were better for sex than others. I suggested when we were in the store, to tell the salesman to go away and quit watching us. He never did, but at one point, when I was laying on a mattress, my wife tripped over me, leaving her straddling over me while he watched. I asked her " what did the internet tell us to do in this situation" and embarrassed, she kept rolling on over to her side.

We should have tested that option better. Time will tell.

(we do have a 30 second... ahem... I mean 30 day free return policy- but I don't think it will be needed)

I got nuttin' except daughter bought a queen for herself and then bought a twin for me.

Within a year both of us were sleeping on something else.

I don't know the brand. Just my experience.

Daughter shops on price. Amazing the "NASA" memory foam mattresses were selling in the thousands of dollars not long ago.

Yeah... but doesn't it freak you out a bit that if you don't like it, they'll take it back? I mean... how do you know yours wasn't one that they took back? :eek:

One more (and last) story, which may or may not be related to this thread, but I will share anyway.

There is a chinese place I go for wontons. They always have the fortune cookies. When I got my 997S, my fortune cookie read "A fool and his money will soon part."

I got no such fortune cookie with this mattress purchase. My wife's fortune cookie read "enjoy yourself while you still can."

The mattress we bought was a SERTA Hybrid of some sort. Reports to follow :)

Funny, our Sam's club had three or four mattresses on rollers tucked up under one of the huge wall racks you could pull out and lay on, I think we ended up with a Sealy.

My wife has a bad back and likes a firm bed, I prefer a soft. There are hotels that feature sleep number bed and I thought of trying that out, but the reviews were hit and miss and they are not cheap.

As a Pelican PSA you need to look at your wife's google history and post a link to that website. ;)

They cost $9 to manufacturer. Returns are pitched.

The $2,200 Stearns and Fosters cost $112.

We filled most of our house using "Direct Buy". Recently, we had my parents staying in our bedroom and we were using the queen in one of the bedrooms. Much firmer and much more comfortable than our usual bed. We need to get the mattress changed...

The missus and I did some research a few years back when we were buying. I found a forum that's kind of like the Pelican Parts of mattresses. There was lots of info.

What I remember as a synopsis is this.

Don't go to the big mattress chain stores and name brand type stores because the folks that work at them won't know anything about the mattresses other than what you can read on the signs. Also, the big name stores can use moderate quality parts, but dress things up and charge a bundle for their name. Go to smaller stores where they can tell you about the various parts of the mattress (ie, if it's got a layer of foam, what kind of foam is it and what is the firmness of the foam)

Memory foam and latex foam are different. Latex is generally considered superior by those in the know. Memory foam is cheaper to make and doesn't last as long as latex foam. There are also different kinds and grades of latex foams.

We found a list of companies in various cities around the country that were recommended. We found one in Houston that makes their mattresses. It wasn't cheap, but it should, hopefully, last a long time.

My personal experience with cheap mattresses is that they don't last long.

I look at it like anything else: I've got a budget to spend on a mattress, it's between $XXX and $XXXX so when you go shopping spend some time laying on those. Last time I shopped a mattress I wound up getting shown around the retail store by an absolutely smoking hot female salesperson. It didn't help when she laid down on the mattress adjacent to me on her side and started asking how things felt while I was on my back. :D

They have special process to get out pee stains and wet spots. :o

Actually.
They donate it locally, they don't take it back to the warehouse

Thanks everyone for responding to my post.......some very good input here!

So.....how does one know if their mattress is worn out, other than some sign of physical wear like tears in the fabric, etc.

I mean my mattress looks in very good condition - but it's now 11 years old. Time for a replacement - just due to age?

One obvious sign is if you can see a depression in the area where you normally sleep. Absent that, I probably wouldn't replace it unless I was not happy with how I felt after waking up in the morning. There's no sense in spending money, if you don't have to.

There is not a HUGE difference in satisfaction/rating...

My guess is a lot of people can get used to anything, and some people are never happy with a mattress.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1508420780.jpg

I don't see the foam mattresses as significantly worse than a coil type, maybe the opposite. The coil type are all the low ratings.

I need a mattress for a two year job assignment. It will be cheap, it will be foam and delivered to my house for free. Probably a Ghostbed.


YMMV.