Comments on mattress comparison, please

Beyond Mattresses
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Hi,

I live in New Mexico, which has become a complete mattress desert since the pandemic (at least for good-quality king mattresses under $2500), so I think I’m going to have to order from out-of-state. It’s a bit nerve-wracking to order something for thousands of dollars knowing returns will cost hundreds of dollars, so I wondered if any of you might have thoughts about the companies and models I’m considering.

Right now, I’m trying to decide between Urban Mattress in Colorado and Mattress Makers in San Diego. I’d like to find a firm innerspring mattress that feels like my beloved old Sherwood Lumina which has finally started to sink in a few places after 13 years of heavy use. I absolutely don’t want a foam latex mattress. I like the traditional innerspring mattress feel, and if I can find one that’s affordable, I’d prefer to get a nontoxic mattress. The Sherwood mattress I have has a bit of a hotel mattress feeling to it (some cushion and springiness), but with much firmer support, no sinking anywhere. I also need great edge support, as my 110 lb dog often pushes me into the margins of the bed by morning.

The Mattress Makers staff had no experience with Sherwood, but suggested that their two-sided/flippable Kensington Cushion Firm (King=$1399) might be closest. No specs available beyond descriptions:
“Made the old-fashioned way, double-sided, but built with the newer advanced individually wrapped edge-to-edge coils guaranteed to give you longer lasting comfort than those built single-sided.”

The MM salesman said he would recommend going with their hybrid line for cooler sleep than the double-sided. The firmest option among those appears to be the Delmar Firm (King= $2099), described this way: “…we use an edge-to-edge QuadCoil system, giving you a firmer long-lasting edge support and more sleeping surface than a foam encased mattress. The 3″ Organic Dunlop Latex combined with the zippered Organic Cotton cover gives you the firm mattress feel with a little extra “springy” support from the QuadCoil system.”

I really like the fact that the Delmar is a zippered mattress with changeable components. It seems like a well-made mattress with 3" of latex and a zippered cover for around $2k is a good deal these days (sigh).

The Urban Mattress manager was very familiar with Sherwood and said their closest model would probably be the Ravenswood Firm (King =$1999) in their Essentials line. It’s described as having, top to bottom:
• Stretch-knit cover
• 1.5" Certipur 3-lb high resilience foam
• 14.5 gauge Texas-made pocketed support coils (13.5 gauge coils around the edges)

I was thinking of going with a slightly higher grade model in the same line, the Highland (King = $2499) which has all the same components except that it has two layers of 1.5" foam, described in this model as “high resiliency cold foam.” Would that just make it very squishy-feeling? What is cold foam?

I also liked the look of the Cedar mattresses in their Purity line (King=$1999), top to bottom:
• 100% certified organic cotton cover
• 1/2" certified organic latex
• 2" certified organic firm latex
• 6" pocketed coils, 884, 14.5 gauge (no firmer coils at edges for support)

(Is the Cedar basically the Delmar with 1/2" less foam?)

UM’s zippered model is The Pine (King=$2799).
Same components except with 8" pocketed coils (same gauge no difference in gauge for edge support), and a zippable cover.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated. Are hybrids appreciably different in feel from traditional innerspring? Are there any other companies I should look into that can ship for free or at low cost to NM? Is it just a huge mistake to buy one of these without trying it first?

Thank you!

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I used to live in Clayton, Ruidoso and Albuquerque New Mexico.

Im in Los Angeles now. The absolute best inner spring in my experience was Aireloom Preferred Luxetop M1/M2 in firm or plush(4 mattresses). M1 means 1 layer of micro coils. M2 is 2 layers. Firm or plush refers to coil. I like M1 Firm. Soft with a firm support core. Feels like you are sleeping on a cloud. Real pricy at 4-7k……worth every penny. Another option is their Streamline Luxury Firm.

2nd place would be Saatva Classic Luxury Firm. I went to their store out in West Hollywood. Feels pretty good. Much cheaper, but Id take Aireloom every day of the week and 2 times on Sunday.

John

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Look on youtube for “Aireloom reviews”. Richard is a good guy. He ships nationwide. Tell him John Y sent you. I get zero commission.

John

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I appreciate the suggestion, but I just can’t spend $4k on a mattress.

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Go with Saatva because it is quite cheap
John

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I’ve been going back and forth about whether to try Saatva because their return policy is pretty great, but recently I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews by longer-term Saatva users talking about how the mattresses started sagging right outside the return window, and commenting that there’s zero edge support. A salesman at Dallas Natural Mattress told me a lot of mattress companies are compromising on edge support because that makes the mattresses easier to ship. l think Saatva is kind of like Denver mattress. I’ve had two Denver mattresses now, and it’s like there’s a timer in the springs to make sure they give way right after the date to return passes. I think I’d rather buy from a smaller company with a longer, better record and more personal service.

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If you are looking to buy a non-toxic mattress, Naturepedic has a sale going on right now. They ship nationwide. The Naturepedic Chorus is an innerspring mattress and comes in under $2500 right now during the sale. They ship nationwide. The link in this post takes you to our site, but you can order direct from Naturepedic also. Ten year warranty on the Chorus. They have hybrids which are pricier and have longer warranties. The Chorus is a good solid mattress; it uses the same quality materials, but is lower priced because it is not customizable, and contains no latex. Another option to consider.

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Hi Nii,

Sorry to hear your old Sherwood is not holding up after 13 years. It can be a bit of a conundrum looking for a replacement as not only your bed been ‘broken in’ to your body profile, but you have adapted to the mattress over time as well as your profile likely changing over the years - in other words even if you could replace the Sherwood with a new one if the exact specs, it might no longer be as comfortable or supportive as it once was. Thanks to @TheCleanBedroom for your recommendation, and @BillyIdol for your feedback!

Remember, any mattress you choose will be based on your Stats (height, BMI, sleeping position(s) and any underlying health conditions), and your PPP (Posture & alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). You can see by comparing the Mattress Specifications You Need To Know to the Mattress Durability Guidelines, how different materials may hold up over time.

Since it seems you have not decided on whether to go eith a foam or latex hybrid…keep in mind that we suggest any foam in a potential mattress has no more than an inch or so of lower grade foams (for memory foam no lower than 4 lbs/cuft for normal range weights, and 5lbs/cuft for higher range weights) and if polyfoam is used, with at least 1.8 lbs/cuft density, just to ensure you have support.

Thanks for providing all the specifications for the Urban Matttress offerings you are considering! ‘cold foam’ is just the name of the process for manufacturing certain polyfoams; a ‘high resiliency foam’ is a polyfoam which distributes pressure across the entire surface of the mattress, so it ‘bounces back’ to keep its original properties for longer. The density of the foams in these two beds are not up to recommendations, especially for larger sleepers, and unfortunately I would not expect either model to hold up over a long period of time as your Sherwood did. The Purity has an organic cotton and wool cover with .5" of plush latex over 2" of firm latex, so sleepers who want a softer surface (but don’t want to ‘sink’ and bottom out on the firmer layers below) may enjoy this mattress. A lot of your questions really come down to preference rather than any set ‘rules’.

Mattress Makers has been a Trusted Member of the site for many years, and they consistently manufacture quality sleep solutions for consumers of all types. The Delmar is a good quality made latex hybrid, with 3" of organic cotton on top of 3" of organic Dunlop Latex rubber with an 8" pocket coil unit with quad support, while the Kensington allows the option to flip the hybrid mattress to ‘even out’ wear on the foams on either side…which may be something you want to consider with your doggo hogging the bed at night!

I would consider your options as you presented them as only you can judge the best mattress for yourself. Don’t let anyone at any retailer or manufacturer ‘tell you’ which mattress you need - unless they are considering your Stats, PPP, mattress history any after a conversation with you. Present you with some choices based on this. It sounds like you are ‘doing your research’ so far, and a bit more consideration should get you onto the perfect replacement mattress!

~ Basilio

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Thank you so much, Basilio, for this detailed response. I really appreciate it. One somewhat local option for me would be Sachi Organics, and a salesman there says they’ll be having a sale soon. Are you familiar with this brand at all? Their innerspring mattress is described this way, and doesn’t seem to have any foam component:
460 offset coil innerspring unit made from RECYCLED STEEL. (caps are theirs)
65 oz per yd cotton batting from with organic cotton fibers
20 oz per yd wool batting made with a blend of organic and pure wool fibers.
10 oz per yd fabric made from organic cotton fibers.
(Innerspring Mattress — Sachi Organics)

Does this mattress meet the MU standard for a good quality mattress?

Thank you again!

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I had a Sachi mattress for 5 years. I’m pretty sure it had latex in it. Can you do latex?

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Oh, and you used to be able to try the Sachi mattresses either in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. Not sure what their policies are now post covid.

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Hi, Thank you! Yes, I can try one in Santa Fe. Just have to find some time to drive up there. Did you like your Sachi mattress? Does it feel more like a futon than a traditional innerspring because of all that batting? $2500 seems like a lot for a mattress with no foam whatsoever, but I’ll definitely go up and try it.

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Thank you! Going to go check it out. I appreciate the tip.

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I liked it. Until it developed an odd smell. It may have been me, night sweats, but I could never get the smell out and so had to find a new mattress. I loved the idea and the company. It didn’t start smelling until about year 4. I could never figure out why. Good luck and keep posted on what you think and if you get it.

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Oh, man, I don’t want a mattress that holds smells. It will be all doggy very soon.

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When I asked the store owner about it she said she’d never heard that from anyone before. So maybe it was just me!

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have you looked at the shifman mattress line.

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Hi Nii - hope you are doing well in your mattress search. I just wanted to put in a recommendation for Sachi products. We do not carry their mattresses, but have carried their pillows for many years and the pillows are quite high quality. I would guess that anything fibrous might absorb a smell, but a mattress pad would help prevent that from pets, I would think. Good luck!