Hello,
I have recently begun looking for a new mattress due to extreme back and neck pain from my current mattress. I am 5’2’', 125 lbs and I move into various positions when sleeping. I am extremely sensitive to heat, and would really need my mattress to stay cool, which is why I fear the Tempur-pedic. To this end, I was looking at:
Simmons - Comforpedic (Seabrooke), and Comforpedic Loft (Brilliant Dreams)
Serta - iComfort (Savant) and (Insight)
BluTek - Kingsdown (Glacier) and (Polar)
Sealy - Optimum Posturpedic (Inspiration) and (Radiance)
I had begun to shy away from the Blu Tek, as it is latex and I found it somewhat bouncy, but based on reviews I have read here, it seems that the rest have the polyfoam, which is less durable, and would create great problems for my back.
Given this information, does anyone have any insight or suggestions?
Thank you very much for your time.
Hi iktillotson,
The first thing I would suggest is to read this article which will help you avoid most of your worse choices including the major brands and mass market outlets and chain stores completely. Unless you are able to find out the “quality specs” of the layers in your mattress there is no way to identify the real quality of your mattress, make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses, or be able to identify any “weak link” in your mattress (the part that is most likely to soften and degrade the fastest). All lower density polyfoam and memory foam will soften much faster than higher quality materials and the loss of comfort and support that this leads to is not covered by any warranty. This is not considered a “manufacturing defect” even though it can make your mattress unfit for you to sleep on in terms of pressure relief or support/alignment.
The brands you are considering don’t disclose most of the meaningful information about the materials in their mattresses that you would need to make a better buying decision. In the unusual cases that they do … it will usually be clear that the “value” of the mattress is low compared to other better choices.
In general I encourage people to put their initial research into the better outlets in their area rather than into finding a mattress. The choices that you exclude can help you much more than spending hours of time and research trying to find the “needle in a haystack” with the the larger brands and outlets. Even with extensive research you are still unlikely to find the information that you really need to make a good choice with the larger brand and mainstream outlets and what most often happens is that frustration takes over and many people just end up buying something just to get the process over with and have no real idea about the quality or value of what they just purchased … although they are quite familiar with all the marketing stories that they’ve heard along the way which has been presented as “important” information.
The better outlets are generally either factory direct manufacturers or smaller sleep shops that carry smaller independent or local brands. They tend to be much more open about materials, focus more on educating their customers than selling them, and tend to use higher quality materials and sell for lower prices than the major brands. Once you have found these … then your odds improve dramatically of buying a mattress with better quality/value and also being able to have the guidance of someone who “knows their stuff” and can help you make a choice that fits your needs and preferences better instead of selling you something for the sake of a commission or the profit margin of the store. The “customers” of the major manufacturers are not consumers but larger outlets and the product they are selling is “profit margin” more than mattresses. The mattress is just the “package” that makes this possible. For example you can see here how the major selling “benefit” of the blu-tek collection is the profit margins that it provides to retailers.
As you can see at the end of post #2 here … Step # 1 is always to find the better outlets where your odds of finding higher quality and value is much higher. If you let me know your city or zip … I’d be happy to let you know about any factory direct manufacturers or better retail outlets I’m aware of in your area…
Phoenix
Thank you so much Phoenix. My zip code is 92866.
Hi lktillotson,
You are very fortunate to live where you do because the Greater Los Angeles area has some of the best quality, value, and selection in the country available within reasonable driving distance. Post #2 here has a list of the better options that I’m aware of and if you can make the drive … one of our members, Flexus Comfort, is only 31 miles away and is highly recommended.
Hope this helps.
Phoenix