Hi,
This is a great site – very helpful. I’m trying to absorb all the information. I wondered if you could help with a specific question. I tested several mattresses at Urban Mattress and liked the Sherwood Stafford Luxury Firm the best. I’ll go back next weekend armed with your specific steps for testing it more thoroughly. But your information about durability sent me to Sherwood’s site for details about the layers. What they have isn’t very helpful – while they do show the layers, they have vague names like “A Layer of Super-Soft Soy–Based Quilt Foam” that don’t seem to line up with anything you mention. They also don’t show the thickness of each layer. From top to bottom, the layers are: ticking, chemical-free fire barrier, two layers of “Super-Soft Soy–Based Quilt Foam,” one layer of “H.D. Super-Soft Soy-Based Comfort Foam,” one layer of “Gel-Infused Memory Foam,” then the innersprings.
What I’m looking for is a mattress I can sink into, as you describe, without sinking down. (The gold standard for me is the Westin Heavenly Bed, but I felt pretty nicely cradled in the Stafford.) I sleep on my side and back but usually wake up in the morning on my back. I definitely want an innerspring mattress with non-chemical fire protection, and I don’t want to spend more than $1,000. I hate hate hate memory foam – way too hot, and it prevents me from rolling over during the night. I like the spring of an innerspring and probably latex, though I’m not sure if I’ve ever slept on a latex surface.
I was concerned about the memory foam in the Stafford, but it’s pretty far down in the layers, and the guy at Urban Mattress assured me that the cooling gel prevented heat build-up. He said I should get 7-8 years out of the mattress before the foam compressed too much. One reason I hesitated, somewhat counterintuitively, is that the mattress seemed too inexpensive. It’s a couple hundred dollars less than comparable conventional mattresses I’ve looked at. I’ve been looking for a chemical-free mattress for a while now, and all the ones I’ve seen are much more expensive. I’m just not sure why this one is so affordable.
My specific questions are:
–Do you think the memory foam layer, given that it has cooling gel and it’s a couple layers away from the surface, will avoid being hot and constraining?
–Is there any way for me to tell if the foam Sherwood is using is high quality and will hold up for a reasonable amount of time? Is their soy-based foam the same thing as the polyfoam you talk about?
–I know you say that price isn’t necessarily a determinant of quality, but should the low price be a red flag? From what I’ve seen on your mattress forum, Sherwood seems to be a good company, but I can’t help being concerned. I would love to spend less money but not if I have to buy a new mattress in a couple years.
–I also thought about buying the firmer version of the Stafford and then buying a plush topper. I thought this might be a better option because I could easily switch out the topper if it gets compressed in a few years, and I wouldn’t have to buy a whole new mattress. Any opinion/advice on this option? Would that help me get more life out of my mattress, as opposed to a plusher mattress where I might have to get rid of the entire mattress earlier because the foam compresses? If I buy the plusher mattress, and the foam compresses, would a topper do me any good?
I appreciate any help you can give. Thanks again for all the information on this site!