Bed suggestion

Hi im new to this forum. Im deciding whether to get tuft and needle or brooklyn bedding. Im a stomach sleeper about 240lbs while my wife is a side sleeper and likes softer beds. thanks

Hi mvx11mus,

I’m assuming that you’ve read the mattress shopping tutorial here but two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists (based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you).

I would always keep in mind that the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you may be considering, act as a fact check, answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that don’t involve what you will “feel” on a mattress, and help with “how” to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress, manufacturer, or combination of materials is “best for you” regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or whether anyone else has the same criteria or circumstances or would make the same choice.

I would also keep in mind that as long as the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the guidelines here … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses (see this article) are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice.

There is also more about choosing one of the online “simplified choice” mattresses in post #1 here and there are some comments about Tuft & Needle and the BestMattressEver and many of the other simplified choice mattresses in post #2 here of the same topic.

While your own careful testing or personal experience is the only reliable way to know whether a mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of comfort and PPP … when you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.

Phoenix

Hey MV, I usually try to stay out of threads like this but I’m going to throw in my two cents and you can take it or leave it. Obviously, read the document that Phoenix has recommented because there is some great information that will help you on your journey.

Now, with that said, here is what I’m going to say. T&N wanted to enter the market with an affordable and comfortable mattress and I applaud them for that. However, this is where T&N, and companies like BB or Kiss Mattress will separate themselves. T&N uses a lower quality foam in their product. They also only have one product. That means their mattress is one size fits all like Casper. BB uses higher quality foam in their mattress and they offer three softnesses including soft, medium and hard.

Now if you have a sleeping style different from your wife you really may wish to consider a helix mattress. This is a high quality mattress that is completely customized for you. And, in fact, they can customize each side separately. So, if you wife is a back sleeper you would enter her information for the left or right side and then enter your information for the other.

I have been weighing my choices for the past few months and I can tell ou that BB is one of them. So, if you go with them, you might want to get a medium. However, if you want a mattress that you and your wife can customize individually then you owe it to yourself to check them out and see if they might meet your needs.

Hi mdgail,

It may not be the best idea to offer advice to others that are looking for a mattress when you are still trying to decide which one to purchase yourself.

I would also keep in mind that a mattress that you like “in theory” (but haven’t even tried in person) may not work as well as you hope even for yourself and also may not meet someone else’s criteria.

There are also other mattresses available that can be customized in different ways or that have side to side splits available. I would also keep in mind that while I realize that your intentions are good … your comments may also be somewhat misleading because Helix uses a layer of 1.8 lb polyfoam in the comfort layers which is a lower quality/density and less durable material than the 3 lb polyfoam that Tuft & Needle uses (or than latex as well) and they also use 1.5 lb polyfoam in their base layer which is lower density than most of the other simplified choice mattresses so while they would be OK for more average weight ranges … they wouldn’t be the best choice for higher weight ranges.

Every mattress has some pros and cons and in the case of Helix they have more options available to customize the mattress (which may or may not be important depending on the person) but they also use some lower quality and less durable materials so they deserve some caution as well. I don’t think that anyone “owes it to themselves” to check out any specific mattress based on a suggestion made by someone else that may not fully understand all the pros and cons involved with a mattress choice for someone other than themselves.

Phoenix

Phoenix, I think you and the poster know exactly how my comments were intended. Second, T&N uses mostly inferior foam in their mattress and, in fact, it’s probably the worst of the mattreses available to purchase online. I found this out pretty early in my research. People are attracted to this mattress because of it’s great price. However, amazon has a comparable mattress that probably uses a similar build. Their entire mattress is synthetic and is simply a lower priced version of Casper. Although Casper does use slightly higher quality foam.

With this said, I’'ll state my point.

Don’t put all of your marbles in one drawer. Two partners who sleep in the same bed but have different sleeping positions are not going to be happy with a BB or T&N because neither mattress will accommodate both styles of sleeping. Now, I’m not telling this user to go buy a Helix. I simply encouraged him to investigate. I think you know I don’t get any money from Helix. I will say that they are one of two mattresses on my final list. I’m sure there may be other mattresses out there that can accommodate the user. Perhaps if he’s sleeling on a split king then each side could be customized by a manufacturer?

Just research, research, and more research. I have spoken to five people, so far, who have purchased helix, kiss, bb, and a few others. These three made it to the top of my list while many others dropped off. Someone else might decide that they want a Saatva. Like you said, it’s all very personal, right? I can’t make up his mind for him but I sort of feel like you slapped my hand for suggesting he look at another vendor beyond the two he mentioned. Am I wrong?

Hi mdgail1,

Unfortunately … your recent posts are crossing the line into being overly “promotional” vs educational and I would ask you to read the rules of the forum here.

In addition to that … some of the comments you are making aren’t factual or correct and it seems that your inexperience in the industry or about mattress construction and design or about the quality of different types of materials is becoming apparent.

The only thing that is similar between the Casper mattress and the Tuft & Needle mattress is that they both use a 1.8 lb polyfoam support core. The Casper uses a combination of synthetic latex and 4 lb memory foam in the comfort layers and the Tuft & Needle uses a high performance 3 lb polyfoam in their comfort layers which are all very different materials. Both the Casper and the Tuft & Needle use synthetic foam materials and outside of the microcoil in the Helix Sleep mattress they use mostly synthetic materials as well (their latex is a blend that is mostly synthetic rubber). These are all very different mattresses and some people may prefer one and some may prefer the other.

This is also simply not correct and there are many thousands of couples that sleep on both mattresses (and many other mattresses that don’t have side to side splits) that are very happy with their choice and that both parts of the couple are sleeping very well on the same mattress design. Couples that have different sleeping positions or that have different body weights don’t necessarily need different mattresses and there are mattress designs that can accommodate different sleeping positions and weights other than a side by side split (see post #2 here).

I hope that this is true and that you aren’t connected in some way with Helix since you are “promoting” their mattress based on incorrect or incomplete information that you and any others that read your posts need to know isn’t completely factual or correct.

As you hopefully know from your reading here … while other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be helpful … I would be very cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (see post #13 here).

There are many mattresses that would certainly make great quality/value options for many people outside of the “simplified choice” mattresses but the members here will know how to find them if they read the information and links in the tutorial or include some of their local options in their research. The simplified choice group of online mattresses certainly aren’t the only good quality/value options that are available to the members here.

The issue I have with some of your more recent posts is that you are providing incorrect or misleading information that someone else may not realize isn’t accurate or that may not apply to them and they may unknowingly take your “advice” to heart not realizing that it is just an opinion that applies to only one person. You are certainly right that there are many preferences involved in choosing a mattress but there are also more objective considerations that have little to do with opinion and it’s always important to differentiate opinions from fact. Each person can also have very different criteria in choosing a mattress that is “best” for them in terms of comfort and PPP, the quality and durability of the materials, and all the other parts of their personal value equation that are most important to them so what is important or “valuable” to you may not be as important to others.

The goal of this forum has always been to help educate and inform and to help people identify the criteria that are most important to them and to help with “how” to choose not “what” to choose.

Before I developed this site I was one of the most frequent posters at another forum and one of the biggest challenges there was separating or differentiating some of the more knowledgeable members who posted informative and fact based and more “neutral” information from some of the other posters that also wrote with “seemingly” good knowledge but who were only passing on information they had “heard” somewhere and had come to believe or were just promoting their “favorite” mattress. This last group was often misinformed or held extreme positions and did as much to mislead or confuse (in spite of good intentions) as they did to help in many cases. New members can have a very difficult time separating accurate and factual information from all the conflicting information that may be more about someone’s own personal preferences or opinions than they are based on their actual knowledge about the mattresses they are “suggesting” or “promoting” and this type of conflicting or often unreliable information just leads to a mishmash of conflicting and competing suggestions or advice and is one of the things that I very much wanted to avoid when I developed this site.

Searching for a mattress is confusing enough without having many people promote their own personal preferences and opinions or “favorites” as applying to others as well and which generally leads to many different people each “suggesting” different mattresses without any more objective or individualized way to differentiate and choose between them.

Phoenix