I’m new to this mattress loving land and to purchasing a mattress in general.
The past year and a half, I’ve slept on a simple futon pad on the floor (yes, it is as painful as it sounds) and need a change. In the past, I had a fairly cheap all foam mattress my mother purchased when we moved states. After a few years, I did notice, due to the cheap cost, that the mattress sagged in and was no longer as comfortable. Since getting rid of that mattress, I slept on a spring mattress for a short period of time and hated it. So ultimately, I would prefer a supportive yet soft, cozy and comfortable foam mattress.
That being said, I was in a bad car accident three years ago and have never been able to sleep the same. With on going hip and neck issues, I also have a bulging disc in my lower back which causes quite a bit of pain while sleeping (the futon does not help with this, of course) .
I was able to go out and test a few mattresses at a few different locations. I still can’t make up my mind as I feel I don’t have enough information in order to make such a huge decision. I did find out however, while in one mattress store, the sales rep had me lay down on a bed that was to test where I needed the most support (neck and lower back). I scored between a two and a three in mattress firm-soft scale, but much preferred the two, which was the softer of the two options, but still had some support. Now, I’m not sure if this is a store by store sales technique, or if this would really help me in my “find my prefect comfort level” search.
So, here is what I do know:
I know I don’t want to have to pay for something I won’t love and sleep in for years to come (I’m sure, given a choice, no one does!). I don’t want to have to pay more than necessary for a mattress, as the top of my budget is $2,000. I want all foam, and I want comfort while sleeping without being too firm. Although this is not very descriptive, I felt I’d leave it to the basics for the overview.
In doing research, I selected three lowest to highest price rage beds I’ve heard great things about. Any and all information anyone has, would be incredibly helpful!
The second one I found is a Loom & Leaf mattress. I like that they are more so on the green side of things and somewhat earth conscious. It seems like a fairly moderate price still, but also has quite a few rave reviews. I’m looking towards the “Relaxed Firm” bed.
And the third and final (and a bit over my price rage, but I’m willing to budge a bit if it is indeed worth it) mattress. The Tempurpedic Supreme Breeze. When I first lay down on this bed, I thought it was heavenly. I could feel every hurt in my body start to fade away just laying there a few moments, and I really did enjoy this mattress. However, I have always been truly skeptical of Tempurpedic mattresses. Are they honestly worth it? I read worse reviews here than anywhere else (I’m thinking that’s maybe because they are a larger company), and the price is really what gets me. Again, I am willing to pay a little more for long lasting comfort, and know I may need to. But, is there any other mattress that compares for less? Is Tempurpedic worth the hype and money? Is there a bed that feels like the Supreme breeze for less? tempurpedic.com/TEMPUR-Cloud-Collection/Tempur-Pedic-TEMPUR-Cloud-Supreme-Breeze.asp ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: tempurpedic.com/TEMPUR-Cloud-Collection/Tempur-Pedic-TEMPUR-Cloud-Supreme-Breeze.asp
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I have honestly waited too long to make a decision regarding a nice mattress, and I don’t want to end up making the wrong or misguided decision for my health and wallet’s sake!
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … I don’t make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always 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 (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, 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).
The first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choice … and perhaps 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’ve 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 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 keep in mind that there are no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.
“Foam” is just a generic word (like “fruit”) that only means “a material with air bubbles inside it” and there are three main types of foam (memory foam, polyfoam, and latex foam) that are all very different from each other and all of them come in a very wide range of firmness levels that are used in many different mattress designs. Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article).
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would be very cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general 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 any 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 (even if they are in a similar weight range) and reviews in general certainly won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Outside of PPP … the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the type and quality of all the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label so I would always make sure that you are able to find out the information listed here so you can compare the materials and components in a mattress to the quality/durability guidelines here so you can confirm that there are no lower quality materials or obvious weak links in a mattress that would compromise the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
The Shiloh mattress doesn’t include any information about the quality/density of the memory foam or polyfoam layers in the description but I do know that the top 2.5" of memory foam is only 3 lb density which is a low quality material that would be a weak link in this mattress in terms of durability and I would avoid it.
There is more general information about what I call “simplified choice mattresses” that are sold online in post #1 here and there are some comments about Loom & Leaf and many of the other simplified choice mattresses in post #2 here in the same topic. A forum search on Loom Leaf (you can just click the link) will also bring up more comments and feedback about it as well.
I would be cautious here (particularly if you are in higher weight ranges) because of the convoluted 4 lb memory foam in combination with the polyfoam in the quilting and the lower density base layers which could be a weak link in this mattress as well.
I don’t know how you came to believe that they are either “green” or “earth conscious” because they certainly aren’t. The memory foam, polyfoam, gel, fire barrier, and 60% of their cover are all synthetic materials and the only thing that could remotely be called “green” or “natural” in their mattress is a percentage of organic cotton in their cover (which I believe is only 40% and the rest is synthetic polyester fiber).
While most of the Tempurpedic mattresses use good quality materials … they certainly aren’t good value compared to many other memory foam mattress that use similar or even better quality materials and are in much lower budget ranges (see post #2 here). Their prices certainly aren’t an indication of their quality or value.
If you are researching online memory foam mattresses … the mattress shopping tutorial includes a link to a list of some of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) and several of them make good quality mattresses that are designed to be reasonable approximations of many of the Tempurpedic mattresses which would be well worth talking to and considering.
If you let me know your city or zip code I’d also be happy to let you know about any of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of that are in your area as well.
Needless to say I wouldn’t consider any of the mattresses you listed to be particularly good quality/value choices compared to many of the other options that are available to you.
