Cheaper but just as good alternative to Sealy Elation

So I was hoping to get this:

http://www.sears.com/sealy-posturepedic-optimum-2.0-elation-gold-ii-ultra/p-08213480000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

But the price is just so damned high, I’m really just looking for a plush feeling (or very very soft) memory foam bed that would last a while and the 10 year (I wish I can buy it in Canada with the 25 year warranty, but the higher price and shipping to SF in cali where i will be going is kind of steep and not to mention I am not sure if I can use it if I buy it in canada but is in the US).

Are there any local / regional mattress companies near SF (Sunnyvale specifically) that have similar quality mattress that has as long, if not longer warranties that covers sagging or wear?

If there isn’t anything like that for cheaper, do the extra stuff (the cooling aspect, given it is Cali and I’m from Canada…) worth the extra price or my personal feeling is that a lot of that price has to do with the brand and the advertisement that is given it.

While I do not mind spending the money if it was good, I would rather not spend the money because it is the “Beats by Dr Dre brand” of the mattress world when things like Sennheiser or Audio Technica do things better for less (or for the same price do more).

Thanks for the help.

Hi TheholyLancer,

The first place I would start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice no matter which type of mattress you tend to prefer … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones including the major brands or any mattress where you can’t find out the type and quality/durability of the materials inside it (see this article).

There is more about the different ways that one mattress can approximate or “match” another one in post #9 here but I certainly wouldn’t consider any mattress that used comparable quality materials to most of the Sealy mattresses because the major brands tend to use lower quality materials in their comfort layers than I would be comfortable with considering and I would look for a mattress that uses higher quality materials that is better value than any of the major brands.

Quality and durability aside though … “feel” is the most subjective part of comparing mattresses and a mattress that “feels” the same for one person may feel very different to someone else. I also don’t know of any other manufacturer that makes a mattress that is specifically designed to feel the same as the mattress you are considering so the only way to know whether another mattress feels the same to you (regardless of whether it would feel the same for someone else) would be based on your own personal testing either in “real time” or with very little elapsed time in between testing both of them (our memory of subjective comparisons such as “feel” don’t last very long).

I would avoid using another mattress as a “target” (which may not even be the best match for you in the first place) and rate every mattress you consider against a common set of criteria based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

I would also pay much more attention to the quality of the materials in a mattress than the length of a warranty. Warranties have little to do with the useful life of a mattress because they only cover manufacturing defects and not the gradual (or more rapid) loss of comfort and support which is the main reason that people need to replace their mattress. Longer warranties are often more about marketing than they are about the durability or useful life of a mattress. There is more about mattress warranties in post #174 here.

I’m assuming that you live in Canada and are visiting the US for a while? I’m not clear why you are concerned about not being able to use a mattress that you purchase in another country but if you purchase a US made mattress in the US and then either ship it or bring it across the border into Canada you would need to pay taxes (or brokerage if you are shipping it) but there is no duty (see post #2 here). It would also qualify for any exemptions that you are entitled to if you bring it back with you based on the length of your stay.

The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the areas around San Francisco area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.

If you let me know your city or postal code in Canada I’d also be happy to let you know about any of the better options I’m aware of that are reasonably close to you if you wish to purchase your mattress in Canada instead.

There is also a list of the better online retailers and manufacturers I’m aware of that ship across Canada in post #21 here that may also be helpful if you are open to considering an online purchase.

Phoenix

Hello, thanks for your information! It is appreciated.

Namely, I’m currently in Canada but is relocating (long term) to the SF area. I’m hoping to buy a good mattress that will last me hopefully 5-10 years (at least 2) of non-sagged sleep (if that is possible at all).

The issue for me is that I will need a bed asap, I will bring over / buy at walmart an inflatable air mattress but I want to find a bed soon. Which I why I went with the check out what is at sears US, then head over to sleep country canada to try out exact models (from national brands).

My personal preference is soft, TBH I like sleeping on the soft sofa (which is just foam cushions) over my current spring bed that have been sagging. Hence I would love to have a softer feeling bed, be it memory foam or otherwise (that don’t produce pains as the sofa is not exactly ideal). The little amount of time I’ve tried a memory foam in stores (the sealy in a Canadian store), I’ve found it to be nice and the feeling of being enclosed in memory foam to be acceptable (for the short 1 minute or so I was on it).

Given that been said, I will try and read up on the materials and the different layers that is in one of these.

My budget is around 2k, lower preferable but that is kind of the upper limit of where my budget lies.

Remote / Online shopping of phones or electrics is fine, given specs is all you need but I think brick and mortar shopping is needed for things like mattress, shoes, cloths and what nots.

If the national brands are as bad as this (and kind of suspected), I would need to look at some of the local shops listed in that thread and get a feel for their price then. Do generally they offer similar or higher price for a mattress? I know that in the computer industry (where I work in and is knowledgeable about), specialty and higher quality items generally cost more. But I’m not entire sure the different between say a custom bed made by someone with specified materials and softness to something from sealy and etc.

Hi TheholyLancer,

Softness and firmness is very subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual sensitivities and different people can have very different ideas about what a “soft” mattress feels like. A mattress that is too soft for one person can be too firm for the next so if you like softer mattresses then it’s important to make sure that it feels soft for you even if someone else has a different perception. I would also keep in mind that sofas are meant to hold up the more concentrated weight of sitting and are generally firmer than mattresses. Like any type of mattress … memory foam mattresses come in a wide range of firmness levels from soft to firm. I would also make sure that you test mattresses for much longer than a minute or so (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) and this would be especially important with memory foam which is temperature sensitive and will change how it feels as it warms up with your body heat as you spend more time on it.

Your budget is easily high enough to purchase a good quality mattress.

There are many people that are very comfortable buying a mattress online if the store has a good exchange or return policy that allows them to test the mattress at home with little risk while others are only comfortable with a local purchase. This is always part of each person’s preferences and their personal value equation. There is more about the different ways to choose a mattress (either online or local) and how to minimize the risks involved with each of them in post #2 here.

Lower quality materials are much less costly than higher quality materials but if you are making apples to apples comparisons between mattresses that have a similar type and quality of materials then in general … the smaller independent manufacturers are generally significantly less costly than their major brand competitors (see the articles on the front page of the site and post #12 here). In most cases you won’t need to purchase a custom built mattress (although some of them will make one for you if you wish) because they normally make a wide range of mattresses that you can test in person in their showroom (or the showroom of a retailer that carries their mattresses) just like any other manufacturer and one of these would usually be a good choice.

Phoenix

Hmm ok

Is there a calculator of sorts for the materials that give you a rough estimate of the price (range) of what you would expect?

I think I would want either cheaper latex or more expensive memory foam (5.0 pound / cu ft support) in the comfort layer, memory foam in the quilting layer, and HR poly / Latex for the support layer. But I am not sure of the price of such a thing, maybe it is way out of my budget and I need to downgrade to springs for the core or lower quality memory foam in the comfort layer.

Also, how do you tell if a progressive layer system works? It seems that a differential layering system is more or less straight forward, but a progressive system to depend on a lot more technical know-how than reading for an hour…

Also, are there any bigger / cheaper names in the sunnyvale area that I should give a call out to? That thread has many different places and is kind of a large list. My potential residence (yeah I need to get on that…) is around CA 94089 if that makes a huge difference.

Thanks again.

Hi TheholyLancer,

This type of calculator doesn’t exist and to do this you would need to know the raw material cost of every material that is used in the industry (which is information that wouldn’t be available to you anyway) and then you would need to keep it up to date with all the new materials that are constantly being introduced and all the price changes that happen over time and then somehow incorporate it into a calculator that could also take into account the different amounts of each material in different mattresses and the cost of manufacturing that specific mattress which would all be overwhelmingly complex.

Even if someone was able to do this and keep it up to date it would only identify the “commodity value” or “raw material cost” of a mattress and wouldn’t identify the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase anyway. It would be somewhat like buying clothes based on the cost per pound or the price per yard of the fabrics rather than their function and how well they fit you, how they feel, or how well they match your “style” or preferences or like buying a computer based on the cost of the raw materials or the components used to manufacture it without taking into account the function of each component or the more meaningful specs of the computer such as the amount of memory, the type and size and speed of the hard drive, the clarity of the monitor and many others and how they all work together along with knowing whether they were appropriate for the intended use of the computer.

There are some very generic guidelines here that can give you some sense of what to expect in different budget ranges (although this can’t possibly include all the possible variables or factors involved in manufacturing a mattress so it’s not particularly useful on a more specific basis) but there is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses in “real life” terms that are much more practical and relevant to your actual experience and the reasons you are buying a new mattress in the first place.

Your answers to the three most important questions when you are buying a mattress will determine the value of a mattress purchase and will always boil down to …

  1. How well am I likely to sleep on this mattress (suitability)?
  2. How long am I likely to sleep well on this mattress compared to other mattresses I’m considering (relative durability)?
  3. How does this mattress purchase at this retailer or manufacturer compare to the other mattresses I’m considering or that are available to me at other retailers or manufacturers based on the first two criteria along with all the other parts of a mattress purchase that are important parts of my personal value equation (relative value)?

I would read the tutorial like you would a good book and avoid trying to “study” or memorize the information like you would a textbook. While there is a great deal of information available on the site that can act as a “fact check” when it’s needed or may be of interest for those that wish to go much deeper into every detail of how mattresses are made or designed … for most people getting overly involved in all the information about mattress theory and design or trying to decide on what is the “best” mattress or materials without the reference points that can only come from actual testing or personal experience that can help you “translate” the information into something that is meaningful to you will quickly become overwhelming. Too much information can quickly lead to information overload and paralysis by analysis which can lead to just as many poor choices as having too little information in the first place. As long as you have “enough” information to identify the more knowledgeable retailers or manufacturers that already know what you would otherwise need to learn and you can better recognize the difference between marketing information designed to “sell you” and relevant information designed to “educate you” then the tutorial has done its job. Researching who to deal with is the step before testing mattresses in the tutorial and the knowledge, experience, and transparency of who you choose to deal with can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase.

While there is no specific definition of progressive or differential constructions … neither one is nearly as important as whether a mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP and to know this with any certainty you would either need to test a mattress in person or sleep on it regardless of whether it was closer to a more complex progressive design with multiple layers or a differential design with only two layers (or even a mattress that used a single layer of material). Some of the comments in post #2 here and post #2 here about getting overly involved in mattress theory and design or mattress specs may also be worth reading.

The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the San Jose area (subject to the value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #2 here.

Phoenix