Casper v Cheap Sleep Innovations v Costo v Naturesleep for someone who might move(across country.)

[phoenix]

Hi plasticpitchfork,

I am finding it hard to reconcile your guidelines on weak links and your suggesting I am too fixed on specs. I am really just trying to identify weak links and decide whether or not certain aspects are an acceptable trade-off.

There is more about the most important parts of a mattress purchase in post #13 here. PPP is always the first priority and quality specs won’t tell you anything about whether a mattress is a good match for you and there is little value in purchasing a mattress with great specs if it’s not a good match for you in terms of PPP.

The tutorial post also includes this comment …

There is a great deal of information in this post and the posts and information it links to and I would encourage you to read it like you would a good book rather than “study” it like you would a textbook. Too much technical information that you “study” in too much detail can quickly lead to “information overwhelm” and “paralysis by analysis” and too little information can lead to a blind purchase and buying a mattress that is either low quality for your budget range or poor value. Both can lead to poor choices.

I would start with reading the complete tutorial itself to get a general sense of the steps involved and then going back and reading the linked pages that it also includes. The goal is not to turn you into an “expert” but to provide you with enough basic information that you can recognize when you are dealing with an expert who already knows what you would otherwise need to learn and can provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision and has your long term best interests at heart. There is little point in learning what they have taken years to learn and already know and are happy to share with you.

Mattresses are not like speakers where specs about the low end response can be “translated” into a meaningful indication of how it may sound for someone that has a trained ear and is knowledgeable about what all the specs of a good speaker can mean in “real life”. I also wouldn’t buy a speaker based on the low end response alone because many other specs such as the crossover points and the balance of the sound across the entire frequency range (and many other speaker specs) will also have a significant effect on how the speaker sounds and a speaker with a great low end response may also sound poorly. In effect you are trying to simplify something and find a “formula” that is much more complex than you may realize and IMO you are overemphasizing specs at the expense of what you will feel on a mattress and how well you may sleep on it (which you can’t tell from specs). At the end of the day what you can hear from a speaker will be more important than the specs as well and you can’t “feel” the quality specs of a mattress because they are an indication of durability … not PPP.

There are also too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to use specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance to choose a mattress that is the best “match” for you (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

More specific to this process; would you consider, in your experience the 1.5lb foam in some of the cheaper(and some not so cheaper) support layers in Dreamfoam beds to be a weak link? Or a decent durability/price trade off? IDK what they are using yet, since I have not called, but if it was(1.5), under 2.5" 3lb or 3" of 4lb.? 8" thickness, maybe 6".

You can see the quality guidelines I would suggest in post #4 here and there is much more detail yet about all the variables that can affect durability and the useful life of a mattress in post #4 here. The “best” place to use lower quality and cost materials that will have the least effect on durability are in the deeper layers of a mattress that are less subject to the mechanical stresses of compression and will have the least effect on the durability of the mattress. If you are in a higher weight range then a 1.5 lb support layer would have more effect on durability than it would if you have a lighter body type and don’t compress the support layer as much so whether a 1.5 lb support layer would be a weak link would depend on the type and thickness of the materials above it and on the body type and sleeping style of the person on the mattress. If you are in a lower budget range that doesn’t allow for the use of the highest quality of materials from top to bottom then the deeper layers are the best place to compromise for the sake of cost and for most people, 1.5 lb polyfoam would be fine. The upper layers are the place where I would avoid compromising the quality of the materials because they will be the weakest link of the mattress.

I would suggest making your first priority PPP, your second priority making sure there are no obvious weak links in the mattress, and your final priority making good comparisons between your finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you … in that order.

My thing with Quality Sleep was that of the designs they have listed, with exception of “MiComfort - Best?” which I assume is a custom mattress, most of them were very unfamiliar compared to what most others’ offer, such as “Memory foam blended latex.” Most/all of them were non-encased coils, and very little memory foam offered, and only in higher priced beds. They also don’t list mattress only prices. I am sure they are mattress makers that just need to hire a web designer Also the time and commitment and probably cost of a custom bed is probably not in the cards. I did like the lumbar zoned coils. Zoned beds in general are very attractive to me, kind of rare though.

Most of their mattresses aren’t “custom” mattresses and can be tested “as is” on their showroom floor just like any other store. Their mattresses would also be better value for most people than most other similar mattresses. None of their mattresses (custom or otherwise) have any weak links relative to their budget range.

If I am missing a great online retailer with free returns in the 7-900$ range for Memory/latex hybrid please let me know!

The tutorial post includes several links to some of the better online choices I’m aware of and posts #3 and #4 here and post #4 here also include links to some of the better lower budget online options I’m aware of as well.

Phoenix