I’ve read through the FAQ and getting started guide and am still feeling pretty overwhelmed, so I figured I’d just post and try to get some help.
Sleeping profile thoughts: side or back. She’s 120 lbs; I’m 165 lbs. We like softer mattresses and want a temperature on the cooler side. Don’t care about being able to adjust one side compared to the other, nor about changing head/foot elevation.
My wife and I started at a big retail store - a Haverty’s - and lay on all the mattresses there. The Stearns & Foster Lux Estate Lange Point EuroTop (king size) was our favorite of what we lay on there. We really don’t like the feel of the pure memory foam mattresses they had on display there.
I was all set to order the S&F Lange Point and then came across this forum… which made we question getting a mattress from one of the ‘big name’ retailers. Does anyone have thoughts on this mattress? If you’d recommend looking elsewhere, where should I go in the Atlanta, GA area?
Price is not a concern for me; although I don’t want to waste money needlessly and don’t get any particular pleasure from having spent more, I’m willing to pay up to $6000 for quality and longevity. (Also able to be convinced to shift that price threshold if there’s a strong reason to do so).
I live in East Cobb and have been everywhere. I’ve also purchased every single mattress and spent far too much money until I found this site and finally (for me) got it right. Many thanks to Pheonix for his incredible advice. I really need to get onto PayPal and contribute to this site. I’ve now owned memory foam with adjustable bases, kings down coils, and a firm Talalay latex mattress with a 3" topper. None worked well, but I spent a lot of money figuring that out. Anyway, I’d be glad to share specific advice on mattress types if you’d like.
If I were you, I’d make a bee-line to Natural Sleep & Home in Buckhead. They’re address is 3129 Piedmont Road near Bones in a little house. I’ve been working with Chip and Diane there for a few weeks and finally decided on a mattress. I bought a Naturepedic EOS that you can look up on this site. Pheonix knows it well and I think he thinks highly of it. It’s very high quality and all natural. Most importantly, it has interchangeable layers. And each side in a queen or King can have it own separate layers so if you and your wife/partner like different firmnesses or different materials but one bed, you can have that too. And within 90 days, yiu can swap out a layer for the cost of shipping. For example, my wife and I just ordered a king bed. My side is medium coil bottom, soft latex middle and soft spring layer top. I found latex along far too buoyant and do not like sleeping totally on top of the mattress. The latex gave me good support but didn’t give me any pressure relief. I feel like the soft coil top layer gives me pressure relief and the next layer latex and then medium coil base gives me good support. My wife does not like the feeling of latex and seems to be able to tell if latex is anywhere in the bed. She likes medium coil base, soft middle and soft top. We tried various different combinations. We could make the bed very firm to very soft. By moving layers up or down within the bed, you can also create a different feel as well. And after the 90 day period, you can still buy layers if you either decide later that you want it to be firmer, softer, you want to feel more on top of the bed (like more latex feeling) or more in the bed (more springs). And if over time you feel like somethign is getting too soft, you can replace a layer.
Anyway, for me this is the best solution after several bad choices. This site really made me understand the purposes of a mattress, how different materials work and how science is largely irrelevant without personal comfort and feel. On the latex bed I’m returning, I wake up without back pain because it gives me great support, but because it give me no pressure relief, I cannot sleep hardly at all. The memory foam gave me great pressure relief and I seemed to sleep well, but I was so hot and my back hurt a lot every morning. It sounds so clear to me now, but it took me a long time to figure out what was happening. I also didn’t know that there were beds that had interchangeable layers that could be moved and swapped out for firmer, softer and different types of layers. I stuck to the big mattress chain stores and the brand name mattress. The farthest afield I went from typical stores was the mattress factory which isn’t that much different IMO. Anyway, that’s my $0.02. Hope that helps
Outside of PPP (posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) … a mattress is only as good as its construction and the quality/durability of the materials inside it. Unfortunately the major brands such as Stearns & Foster tend to use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses than I would consider and I would avoid them completely (see the guidelines here).
There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.
I would keep in mind that price is not a good indication of the quality and durability and a higher priced mattress can often be a lower quality and worse choice than a mattress that is in a significantly lower budget range. Your maximum budget is certainly much higher than you need to be able to purchase a very high quality and durable mattress that uses premium materials.
Outside of Jonathan’s suggestions (and the Naturepedic mattresses are certainly high quality mattresses and don’t have any weak links in their designs) … some of the better options and possibilities that I’m aware of in the Atlanta area (always subject to the “value” guidelines I linked earlier) are listed in post #2 here.
We went to Natural Sleep & Home this afternoon. Diane was incredibly helpful and we played with a ton of variations on the Nautrepedic as well as checking out the other offerings. We both ended up falling in love with your exact mattress, Jonathan - specifically your side of the bed. So glad you made that referral. I’m looking forward to getting the bed!
