My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Japan and Korea. We stayed in a number of airBnBs and universally found mattresses that were spring only without any comfort layer. When we arrived at our first apartment we were very fearful that we would be unable to sleep on even after the long flight. These mattresses turned out to be the most comfortable beds we have ever sleep on. We used to have traditional US beds, but a decade ago we transitioned to a cotton futon with a natural latex topper.
We were shock at how comfortable these Asian mattresses were. The springs seem to move independently and we felt no motion from each other, With my hand I could feel the spring through the cover, but they effect was firm, soft and giving. Where do I find such a mattress in the US? I’ve called around to local stores and had no luck. As these are used in rental units I suspect these are not overly expensive. Any idea what these are called in the US and where I can find them? How durable are they?
Hi Greenest,
I don’t know of any mattresses sold in the US or Canada that only contain steel springs that don’t have any foam or fiber padding in the comfort layers or the quilting in the cover.
There are some mattresses that use microcoils on top of an innerspring so there are two layers of steel springs in the mattress but they also have some type of padding above the microcoils. They are typically called “coil on coil” mattresses (see this article).
There is more about microcoils that are used in comfort layers in this article and in post #8 here and post #2 here
In terms of durability it would depend on the specific materials and components in the mattress but steel springs are durable components and aren’t normally a weak link in terms of the durability and useful life of a mattress.
Phoenix