Best King Mattress under $1500

I’m looking for a new mattress and am pretty overwhelmed with all of the information on the internet. I was pretty much focused on getting the Sleep Science 11" Black Diamond Memory Foam King Mattress from Costco or the Serta iComfort, but know I’m not so sure. Reading this site, I’ve started to wonder whether I wouldn’t be better off with a latex mattress like this one from mattresses.net: King All Natural Talalay w/Free Bamboo Cover Upgrade,.

So, to make a long story short, what is the king best mattress you would recommend for about $1500? I am 5’ 10" and 200 lbs and a side/stomach sleeper. My wife is 5’ 3" and about 115 lbs and mostly a side sleeper. I’d really prefer to buy from somewhere that I can make an easy return (like Sams/Costco), but I don’t want to settle for something that is low quality or not durable.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi choosey,

Your question is really not possible to answer because each person may have different needs (Pressure relief and alignment and support) and preferences (all the objective and subjective choices about how a mattress performs that may not be “essential” for each person but are still immportant) and there is no such thing as a mattress that is the “best” except for a particular individual.

This article will help in terms of avoiding most of the lower value choices that are available and that most people end up buying.

There are really two approaches to buying a mattress. The first involves lots of research into finding out all the information and “specs” you need and in effect becoming an “expert”. This can be frustrating and difficult because the specs that are necessary to know the quality of a mattress are difficult to obtain from more mainstream outlets and major brands and most people don’t have the knowledge and experience to really know what they mean or how they may “translate” into real life terms anyway.

The second is to find the outlets that already have experts that work there and carry higher quality and value mattresses. These are generally smaller sleep shops that carry smaller alternative or local brands or factory direct outlets that make and sell their mattresses directly to the public. This way you can just scan the overviews here to have enough basic information to ask better questions and better understand the information you are given.

In general … I recommend that most people spend their time and efforts initially on finding the better outlets in their area before they begin to focus on finding the best mattress for their needs and preferences. This way you will have the guidance and help available to make your best choices. What they already know you won’t need to learn :slight_smile:

Post #2 here has lots more detail on the different approaches to buying a mattress and post #2 here (particularly the 5 steps at the end) should also be helpful

So step one in your journey of answering your question about which is the best mattress for you is to find the better outlets in your area where you can test the different materials and mattress types that are available and see which you prefer. Of course if you are more comfortable ordering online then local testing can still give you a good seense of how different materials and types of mattress feel. If you let me know the zip or city that you live, I’d be happy to take a look and let you know of any better sleep shops or factory direct outlets in your area.

Mattresses.net is one of the manufacturing members of this site which means that I think very highly of them and they are among the best quality and value choices in the country. If you are comfortable ordering online and like the feel of latex then they would certainly make a great choice.

Phoenix

Thanks for the reply. My zip code is 77494. I’d be interested to see if there are any local shops you’re recommend.

Also, can you comment on the Sleep Science mattress from Costco I mentioned in my original post? It seems to get really good reviews. Also, what is your recommendation of Latex vs. Memory Foam?

Thanks again!

Hi choosey,

Post #2 here lists the better options in and around the Houston area which would be closest to Katy, TX. There are some good options on the list.

The Sleep Science black Diamond mattress is made by Southbay International which is a Chinese manufacturer that sells primarily memory foam mattresses. While on the surface it appears to use high quality materials (5 lb memory foam and a 2" layer of latex over the polyfoam support base) … sometimes the “devil is in the details”.

As you can see they use bamboo charcoal in the memory foam which is a filler (which can reduce the durability of the memory foam) so this would be the “filled density” of the foam rather than the polymer density (which is what determines the quality and longevity of the foam). In other words “filled memory foam” could actually be the equivalent of a lower density memory foam in terms of durability than the 5 lb spec that is listed but I would guess this is a good quality material. The 5 lb layer of memory foam underneath this would also be good quality. When I talked with them they wouldn’t provide any details of any testing for VOC’s and harmful substances that had been done on their foams and just said “it’s the same as everyone else” but no specifics. They are not listed on the CertiPur site or on any other certification site so they are not the “same as everyone else” and there is no way to know for sure about any harmful chemicals in the mattress or any offgassing issues. I would tend to be cautious when purchasing mattresses made in Asia if there is no certification for harmful substances or VOC’s that are publicly available.

It has 2" total of memory foam with 2" of latex under that but they also don’t say the type or blend of latex they are using so there is no way to know the quality of the material (unless they provide the information) although it is probably natural Dunlop made by Latex Systems in Thailand which would be a good quality material. While 2" of memory foam is not “bad” … and I actually prefer thinner layers of memory foam (it’s less risky and softening will have less of an effect) … it also means that the memory foam would be less costly than a mattress that uses thicker layers of a similar quality material. This is of course made up by the 2" latex layer which is also a more costly material but if the latex is synthetic or blended Dunlop … then it would not have the same quality and durability as 100% natural Dunlop latex. They also don’t list the density/quality of their polyfoam base layer although I would guess that it’s at least 1.8 lbs and probably higher which would certainly be suitable for a base layer in this price range.

In other words … it’s not really possible to know the specific quality of all the materials in this mattress unless they provide you with more specific information but on the surface they appear to be good. My biggest concern would be the lack of certification for the polyfoam and memory foam in the mattress. A secondary concern would be whether the mattress has been compressed for long periods of time which can lower the durability of the foams (see post #6 here). It may have a nice feel when it is new (which is when most reviews are written) because even lower quality foams can feel good at first but there is no way to know the durability of the materials for certain and foam softening and the loss of comfort and support is not covered by warranty. In essence … it’s a roll of the dice although I don’t think it’s as “risky” in terms of quality as some of the Costco mattresses that clearly use lower quality materials. If you are looking to purchase a memory foam mattress online … some of the better options I’m aware of are listed in post #12 here.

I don’t recommend one material over another because this is really a matter of personal preference and they are very different in performance and feel. My own personal preference is latex but this is a preference only based on how it feels and the other qualities of latex which I prefer. I also like combinations of the two materials in certain layers. Latex is a more instant response material and has many advantages, not the least of which is it’s greater durability, and memory foam is a slower response material but only your own personal experience can tell which you prefer. What I do recommend however is that regardless of which material you choose in a mattress that you know the quality of the material because both of them have lower quality and higher quality versions.You can read about some of pros and cons of memory foam here and the pros and cons of latex here. While there is a wide variety of different “versions” of each in both quality characteristics … they both have a distinctive feel and I generally recommend testing both in a showroom so you can know which of the two categories of foam you prefer.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix

Thanks so much for all of the detailed information. I’ve spent some more time researching, and had a couple of other questions:

  1. Is Angelbeds the same as memoryfoam.com and selectfoam.com? They seem strikingly similar
  2. Have you checked out www.restava.com? They seem to have similar products to angelbeds, but prices are so low they seem to good to be true. Any thoughts?

Hi choosey,

You can see my comments about them in this thread. They have some good potential and their value is good but they have some work to do with their customer service and it would also be nice if they confirmed that they were using certified foams (although they say they are American made which would make it more likely that the foam is CertiPur certified). When I asked them about including CertiPur on their site they said they would bring it up at a meeting. I should also say that when I have called more recently that they have improved in answering their phone and in their customer service.

Just as a point of reference for some further research information … they appear to be owned by Vincent Simmons who is a marketing and branding expert and who used to be the CEO at Bragada (he is no longer connected with them). Restava was started around the time when Bragada was sold to new owners and are a newer company (less than 2 years old). When I asked though they said that he is not connected anymore although the listing here has been updated recently and still shows him as the president.

No … AngelBeds is connected to Tranquility mattress and Dream Number Beds and the SleepBetter Store and others and are owned by Merrick Group.

Phoenix