I had a great shopping session at Magic Sleeper in Pottstown, PA (more to recommend them in another post), and narrowed my selections to two mattresses. I’ve listed their components below, and I’d appreciate any advice or things to consider!
Forever Firm (queen)
12 inch, double-sided mattress
Layers from top to bottom:
Cover, microfiber
2 inches of latex, Talalay blend, percentage unknown
2 inches of latex, Talalay blend, percentage unknown
Cover, microfiber
no edge support
Barcelona (queen)
15 inch, single-sided mattress
Layers from top to bottom:
Cover, microfiber
1 inch of gel foam, density is 1.5 lb, CentiPur, made in USA
1 inch of memory foam, density is 4 lb, CentiPur, made in USA
2.5 inches of individually wrapped minicoils
Texas Tri-zone individually wrapped coil innerspring, 14.5 gauge in center and 15.5 at head/foot, 960 coils
3.5 inches of polyfoam edge support, density is 1.5 R65
I’m a back-sleeper with lower back problems. My wife is a side-sleeper, above-average weight. My last purchase was a dud…exactly representing all the things talked about here to avoid…bought a $2,000 S&F because of brand, it was a piece of junk and pretty much lost all its support within about 4 years. Bad buy.
Looking for longevity! Beyond comfort (I might go back to lay on the mattresses again, both after laying on both for 20 minutes, both were comfortable)–are there any specs I don’t have that are important, or anything that stands out that I should be concerned about with the above? Thanks so much!
There is more information 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 if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
While “comfort”, firmness, and PPP and how well you are likely to sleep on a mattress is the most important part of value … this is also the part of “value” that can only be assessed based on your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience. I would be very cautious to make sure you test specifically for alignment and pressure relief and not just for “comfort” which is much more subjective and may not accurately predict your sleeping experience on the mattress.
While nobody can speak to how any specific mattress will “feel” for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances and you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress … outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next 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) so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
Strictly in terms of durability (and not suitability) … the Forever Firm uses high quality and durable materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress relative to any weight range. Outside of how you feel about edge support … this mattress may also transfer more motion than the Barcelona as well. The blended Talalay latex would be a blend of 30% natural and 70% synthetic rubber and is a very durable material. I also suspect that there may be some foam quilted into the cover as well but if it’s “about an inch or so” or less then it wouldn’t affect the durability of the mattress.
The Barcelona also uses good quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in this mattress relative to more average weight ranges (lower 200’s or less) but the materials would be slightly less durable than the materials in the Forever Firm and it’s also one sided so I would be cautious with this mattress if you are in a higher weight range.