Thank you for the wealth of information on this site. I am looking for a new mattress, and was becoming confused and frustrated until I found The Mattress Underground. After doing research on the Internet, I came to the conclusion that reading or listening to reviews, even on supposedly independent mattress review sites, is an exercise in futility, because there are so many conflicting opinions. Fortunately, one of the manufacturers on your membership list is located less than 40 miles from me, and has a factory-direct outlet only eight miles away, so I am confident that I will be able to get an excellent product for a fair price, as well as helpful and knowledgeable customer service. Even though that company has been in business for a very long time, and I had driven by one of their stores many thousands of times, I never would have thought to go there for a mattress if I had not seen it on your membership list.
I am a little surprised that your recommendations are at odds with some of the conclusions of Consumer Reports, which does extensive testing on mattresses to arrive at their ratings. For example, some of the very highest-rated mattresses in CR are air beds, but I noticed that you rank the manufacturer of those beds as “Avoid” due to their lack of transparency, and state that air beds in general do not fare well in comparison with other types. Also, some of the big 15 manufacturers that you say are a “good possibility” because of their transparency and quality have had some models tested by CR, and they did not rate very highly - from 61 to 69 out of 100 - whereas many of the “S” brand mattresses had significantly higher ratings. I suppose that demonstrates the reason that you advise evaluating the individual mattress, not the brand.
Thank you for visiting The Mattress Underground™. We hope the holiday season is bringing you good health and peace.
I much appreciate you recognizing the uniqueness of TMU.
Your observation is accurate as most Mattress Review sites are biased as they receive commissions for recommending specific companies. This is the very reason why there is so much conflicting information. A recent article published by Fast Company brings to light much of what a consumer would need to know about how mattress review sites work and what has been taking place under the guise of “helping the consumer”.
Most of review sites are simply just revenue sites that will promote any mattress that they are given for free or that they can make money promoting (or are given to use as a giveaway promotion to increase rankings) … regardless of the quality or value of the mattress. In many cases they have very little experience in the industry or knowledge about mattresses or materials and say little about the quality of the materials inside them. They are basically a new version of a very old problem in the industry where people who know little about mattresses or mattress materials will repeat the marketing information that is provided to them for the sake of earning a commission just like most of the commissioned salespeople in the major chain stores (see post #11 here and the posts it links to). The matter is further complicated as these sites employ SEO and other marketing techniques to become a “product” in themselves and to gain high traffic and visibility. Most of them offer “feel good” stories that pray on an uninformed consumer offering little meaningful and factual information.
Many consumers regard Consumer Reports(CR) as a very reputable resource. When it comes to mattress reviews, CR has an established process that has worked well for them and their members and it is based on the review of specific products. You can also see some of my comments about the Consumer Reports mattress ratings and recommendations in post #2 here and in [https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/new-mattress-article-in-consumer-reports]this topic[/url]. While they may be a good source of information about more “objective” purchases … as you can see I would consider them to be an unreliable source of information or guidance about purchasing a mattress and their “ratings” are somewhat nonsensical and meaningless. My thoughts are also shared by most of the more knowledgeable people in the industry (see post #5 here for an example).
The challenge here is that there are many thousands of different mattress products, and each one needs to be assessed on its own merits, the merits of the company that manufactures it and most importantly taking into account that the specific needs and preferences are unique to each individual and cannot be “rated”. This is one of the biggest mistakes that consumers make – relying on the experiences of others and assuming that these would somehow be an accurate indicator of the applicability for a mattress to themselves. There are simply too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for someone else to make specific suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance that can possible be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which is always the most reliable way to predict which mattress will be the best match for you in terms of PPP (see post #2 here).
One of the most important goals of the site has always been to be fact based and to promote full disclosure so that anyone can validate the information for themselves and not have to “just believe” anyone (including me).TMU does not endorse. We are a resource for consumers who are looking for unbiased information and for the tools they need to make an informed and educated mattress purchase. TMU does have Trusted Members, which are companies we have very deliberately screened based on a set of rigorous criteria.
You can read more about Our Values, Ideals, & Goals, about the Quality & Durability Guidelines:, about the Personal Value Equation:
We treat our members equally and do not recommend any one member over another, or one product over another but list them for consumers to consider, and to visit/chat/speak with when they have specific questions.
You can see some of my general comments about air mattresses here and in this article. While any mattress can be a good match for a specific person because each person’s needs and preferences or the criteria that are most important to them can be very different … in general terms I would tend to avoid them unless there is a very compelling reason that an airbed would be a better choice in “real life” (outside of the many “marketing stories” that you will hear about them) than the many other options or types of mattresses that are available to you.
Thank you for bringing this subject up as food for thought those who may be considering making a purchase based on reviews.