Buying a New Mattress

Hi all -

Last year, my fiance and I bought and moved into a new home. We each had our own beds previously that we enjoyed sleeping in, but were given a queen frame/mattress/boxspring by a friend who said it was never used in their guest room. We decided it had to be better than the 5+ year-old mattresses we were already sleeping on, so we made the switch.

Terrible idea. It’s been a year and I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve had a truly great sleep on that bed.

A few weeks ago, we found out that we have a baby on the way and I decided that, since sleep is going to be limited once it gets here, I’d really like to get the best possible sleep we can, in the amount of time we have. I’d rather not be fighting fatigue because of less sleep from the baby waking us up AND the terrible mattress.

Some info about us: Both of us are generally side-sleepers. I occasionally sleep on my back, mostly when it’s hurting from the sleep the night before. To me, our current mattress feels way too firm. Generally, I don’t mind a firmer mattress, but this mattress is like sleeping on a rock sometimes. She seems to prefer a firmer mattress, but we both have limited experience sleeping on or using many different mattresses.

I’ve done a lot of research and I think I’m mostly leaning toward a foam mattress. Budget would hopefully be around $800 or less. Right now, the front-runner is the Tuft and Needle 10" mattress, as not only are they local (I’m in Mesa, AZ), but they offer a great trial period and I’ve been quite impressed with their customer support and response time thus-far (as apposed to a few others I’ve contacted…). I know there are some others listed in the membership section that are local, but they’re all quite a bit more expensive and I’m not sure that they’d be worth the extra cash for us?

What else should I be looking at?

Thanks!!

Hi MatrixClaw,

The first place I would start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

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 or some of the more knowledgeable or experienced 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 or combination of materials is the best match for you or which mattresses you are most interested in testing based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

Tuft & Needle is one of the members here which means that I think highly of them and I believe they compete well with the best in the industry in terms or their quality, value, service, and transparency. You can read more about “simplified choice” mattresses in post #1 of this topic and there is more information about Tuft & Needle and some of the other simplified choice mattresses in post #2 of the same topic.

In addition to the list of simplified choice mattresses … some of the better online options I’m aware of that are in lower budget ranges are listed in post #4 here.

You also have some very good local options available to you (including 4 of the members of this site) and the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Phoenix area which would also include Mesa, AZ (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #4 here.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix,

After a lot of research, reading all the posts you linked and other reviews, I decided to give the Tuft and Needle a shot because it seemed to fit our needs, their customer support was phenomenal when I had to contact them and their trial period is great.

So, i ordered the mattress last week and it arrived on Friday, we set it up to inflate for 24 hours (though it was nearly fully inflated after a minute or so) and slept on it Saturday night. First impressions:

It’s really firm.

Now, I do generally tend to gravitate toward a firmer mattress, as it gives me support as a mostly side-sleeper, but this thing is like sleeping on the carpet in our room. A little bit of padding with a super dense support under it. I’d heard that this was an issue with the first generation of these mattresses, but that it’s been improved significantly recently when they moved to a 2-layer system. Honestly, I can’t imagine how firm it must’ve been before, because it’s almost like I’m sleeping on concrete. Not only that, but the Tuft and Needle website (and reviews) claim their mattress to be a cooler sleep than most other foam mattresses… but I’ve woken up several times during the past few nights drenched in sweat, which I didn’t use to encounter before with our inner-spring.

Maybe it’s just the setup we’re using now? I’ve never owned a foam mattress before, but the ones I’ve laid in at stores have allowed me to sink in a bit more and give a more enveloping support than the completely rigid support we’re experiencing. After one night, my fiance has already determined she doesn’t like it and, as much as I want to love it, I keep waking up terribly stiff with a sore neck and shoulders.

We have it set up as follows:

Bottom: Metal bed frame
Middle: Boxspring from old mattress set
Top: Tuft & Needle mattress
Topper: Mattress Pad

Am I doing something wrong? I don’t really want to have to buy another memory foam topper just to make the mattress more comfortable - if that’s the case, I’ll just go back to the old mattress and save myself the $600 I spent on the T&N :frowning:

Thanks!

Hi MatrixClaw,

You certainly made a high quality/value choice … and congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

[quote]We have it set up as follows:

Bottom: Metal bed frame
Middle: Boxspring from old mattress set
Top: Tuft & Needle mattress
Topper: Mattress Pad

Am I doing something wrong? I don’t really want to have to buy another memory foam topper just to make the mattress more comfortable - if that’s the case, I’ll just go back to the old mattress and save myself the $600 I spent on the T&N :([/quote]

No you certainly aren’t doing anything “wrong” but any particular mattress won’t be good match for everyone that purchases it and this is the reason that a trial period can be important with an online purchase.

Having said that … there are a few suggestions that may be helpful.

First of all … there will be an initial break in and adjustment period with any new mattress over the course of the first few weeks and your sleeping experience will change as the mattress softens up a bit and you also get used to a sleeping surface that is different from what you are used to (see post #3 here).

There are also some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful. I don’t know what type of mattress pad you have but it’s very possible that it could be interfering with the ability of the foam layers to contour to the shape of your body which could be firming up your mattress. It could also be contributing to your sleeping temperature as well. You can see an example of the difference that removing a mattress pad can make in post #231 here and in this topic.

Of course each person has their own definition of firm and soft and what feels too firm for one person can feel too soft for someone else (or vice versa) so if the mattress is still too firm for you after a few weeks then at least you had the foresight to purchase a mattress with a great return policy so you could try it in your bedroom instead of a showroom without any risk.

Phoenix