I’m rather new to this wonderful community, so please bear with me.
It could very well be that I missed something, but after reading the “Mattress Shopping Tutorial”, as well as skimming through most of the other articles available on this site, I wasn’t able to find anything that supports this statement:
Here’s my quick takeaway from this: (in terms of quality, not PPP)
[ol]
[li]CertiPur-US certification > Country of manufacture[/li]
[li]Being made in the USA, Canada, or even Mexico is the next best thing to CertiPur[/li]
[li]A CertiPur made in China is more promising than a non-CeritPur from the US[/li][/ol]
Please feel free to correct any misinterpretations I may have made. I’d just really like to have some clarification on the importance of these two attributes in specific relation to the overall quality (PPP aside) of a mattress. One of my main concerns is that the CertiPur certification has lost some of its value. Reason being, there is a substantial amount of manufacturers on the list now that weren’t there a few years ago. Of course, this is to be expected (progress and all that), but I remember seeing the list just in 2013 and it was considerably shorter. Here’s a perfect example:
That quote is from May of 2014. Both, Brentwood and SilverRest are now on the list. So while I can understand that change is inevitable, I’d be foolish to brush-off a sudden influx that occurred within a year’s time. It’s probably nothing, but it sure would mean a lot to have you guys put me at ease on this matter.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be part of this community and having a place where I can voice my concerns. I look forward to your replies.
CertiPUR-US is a “safety” certification and tests to make sure that any harmful substances or VOC’s in a polyurethane material are below the testing limits of the certification. It has little to do with the quality or durability of a material. There is more about safety certifications in post #2 here and the posts it links to. ADMIN NOTE: Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: certipur.us/pages/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CertiPUR-US_TechnicalGuidelines_12.10.141.pdf
Almost all of the major foam manufacturers in North America are CertiPUR-US certified so if a mattress uses polyurethane foam that is made in North America then the odds are very high that it is CertiPUR-US certified although there are certainly people that may still prefer to make sure that the retailer or manufacturer they are purchasing from is also CertiPUR-US certified (which provides some assurance that their mattresses are using CertiPUR certified materials) just to make sure.
Having said that … “safety certifications” have little to nothing to do with the quality and durability of a material.
There is more about the 3 most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here 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 suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase to “fine tune” a mattress or the exchange/return options that are available to you).
Outside of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) … 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 see or “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) or whether it has a “safety” certification.
While there is no way to quantify how long any mattress will last for a specific person or predict exactly when you will decide to replace it because it is no longer suitable or comfortable for you (because this is the only real measure of durability or the useful life of a mattress that really matters) because there are too many unknowns and variables involved that are unique to each person … if a mattress is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and isn’t close to the edge of being too soft when it is new (see post #2 here) and you can find out the specifics of the materials and components inside it (see this article) and confirm that they meet the minimum quality/durability specs that are suggested in the guidelines here then it would be reasonable to expect a useful lifetime in the range of 7 - 10 years and with higher quality and more durable materials like latex or higher density memory foam or polyfoam (in the comfort layers especially) it would likely be in the higher end of the range or even longer.
While a material that is CertiPUR-US certified may be “safe enough” for most people (although some people may still be sensitive to materials that are CertiPUR-US certified as well) and it may also appear to meet the quality/density guidelines as well … there is more about purchasing a mattress that is made in China or other imported mattresses that may be subject to longer periods of compression during shipping and storage and some of the additional risks and uncertainty that can be involved with this type of purchase in terms of durability in post #6 here.
In other words … the relative “safety” of a material (or a mattress) is a completely different issue from the quality/durability of a material (or a mattress) which in turn are completely different issues from the suitability or the “value” of a mattress.