Beautyrest Legend Firm - I know its Simmons but it feels so good to me - thoughts??

Hi jacksonjm,

In a word no. I wouldn’t buy any mattress where I wasn’t able to assess the likelihood that I would have to replace it in a very few years because of thicker layers of lower quality materials in the mattress. The warranty has little or nothing to do with the durability or useful life of a mattress (see post #174 here)

Unfortunately neither of the attachments or information you listed says anything about the quality of the materials in either mattress so there is no way to make any meaningful comments about either of them. Post #3 here may be of interest to give you a sense of the quality of the materials that Simmons uses and why I would normally avoid them both for quality and value reasons.

What you would need is the type and thickness of all the layers and components listed in order from the top down (or bottom up) to make sure they add up to the thickness of the mattress and that there are no layers “missing”, the density of any polyfoam or memory foam in the mattress (density is the most important part of durability), and the type and blend of any latex layers in the mattress. While the innerspring is less important in terms of durability and normally isn’t the “weak link” in a mattress … I would also want to know the type of innerspring (pocket coil, bonnell coil, offset coil, continuous coil), the gauge of the coils, and the number of coils so you can make better “value” comparisons even though they will have much less to do with the durability of the mattress.

Any “good” retailer or manufacturer will understand the importance of providing you with the information you need to make an informed choice and be willing and able to provide it to you (although the majority of retailers in the mainstream industry are unfortunately not very knowledgeable or informed about the mattresses they sell and most of the forum members here that have spent more than an hour on the forum would likely know more about mattress quality than the salespeople that sell them).

If I was “forced” to make a blind purchase (and I personally wouldn’t consider this) and choose between the two based on it’s quality or value (without regard to which one is a better match for you in terms of PPP) I would choose the Sherwood but not because I know it’s quality or value (because without the information you need there is no way to know this for certain) but because the odds are much higher that the quality of the materials and the “value” of the mattress is better in any comparable budget range and like any “gamble” you would be “playing the odds” without knowing what may happen for certain.

Phoenix