Another Newbie

[phoenix]

Hi cn1ght,

From your answer I am going to infer that there is not an easy way to do this and I need to either try to get a salesman to hand me a technical pamphlet of some sort or call up the manufacturer and ask about the details one question at a time

While many online manufacturers or retailers have more details about their mattress specs on their site … it’s quite rare that a mainstream manufacturer or retailer will have this information on their site and in many cases they won’t even be able to provide it if you ask. Better retailers and manufacturers that are more knowledgeable and transparent will provide it to their customers that are informed enough to know to ask for foam quality specs (which is very uncommon) but in many cases the members here that have spent more than an hour or two on this site will have more meaningful knowledge about mattress materials than most of the salespeople who sell mattresses and if you start asking these types of questions in most mainstream stores you will see a lot of “eyes rolling” or some mumbling followed either by “reasons” why you really don’t need to know the quality of the materials in a mattress or excuses that they have something else they need to do.

Aww. I think I recall that for retailers or manufacturers you charge a $200 fee, and I see you have a paypal donations thing. I feel badly that you are doing this practically for free now.

I hope you realize that my comments about the Captcha were meant as humor and I certainly wouldn’t feel too badly for me! While it took a couple of years of struggling and the support of family members who believed that it would succeed to get there … the business plan I put together when I first started the site is now supporting my family … although it’s been 16 hours a day for over 3 1/2 years without a day off yet so the next step is implementing the last part of my original 5 year plan which will help me have more “normal” hours.

Just for clarity as well … the referral fees from the business members are the main source of income for the site … not the membership fees or the donations.

Well, it is the consumer’s job to be educated on these matters

He and I share the same thoughts about this. In todays mainstream mattress industry, if a consumer isn’t well informed (or at least knows enough to find a knowledgeable and experienced retailer that already knows what they would otherwise have to learn and has their legitimate best interests at heart) then the odds are very high that they will make a relatively poor quality/value choice. Who you choose to deal with can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase.

1. If I find a mattress which I like at a brick and mortar store, how difficult is it to be able to find a comparable mattress online?

There are some online memory foam manufacturers that sell mattresses that are close equivalents to some of the major brand memory foam mattresses (mostly Tempurpedic) and there are some online latex mattresses that are reasonably close equivalents to some local latex mattresses as well. In most cases though … unless an online mattress has the same materials and components and the same design (layer firmness, thickness, equivalent cover etc) as a local mattress … then your local testing can be a useful reference point that along with the other information they would need from you (body type, sleeping positions, preferences etc) can be part of a more detailed conversation with an online manufacturer or retailer to help you make a suitable choice but outside of the few exceptions it’s unlikely that you would find something online that was the same as a local mattress. There is more about the different ways that one mattress can match another one in post #9 here.

2. How bad of an idea might it be to simply purchase a cheap, plain, and firm spring mattress and buy a latex or memory foam topper for it to act as the comfort layer?

You can see my comments about this in post #2 here. Unless you can test the specific combination in person … it certainly wouldn’t be my first choice.

Phoenix