Consumer membership in The Mattress Underground

[phoenix]

Hi johnny33426,

I’m not clear about why you are resurrecting some old topics and posting some somewhat “random” information that isn’t really relevant to the topic itself but some of the information you posted is very different from the information on the site and IMO is somewhat misleading.

FYI once you pull off all the foams and poly it is the support system that really counts.

I certainly don’t agree with this. While the type of coil system in a mattress can certainly make a difference in how it feels and performs and different types of innerspring will interact with the foams and other materials above them in different ways … in terms of durability the weakest link in a mattress will generally be the comfort materials above the coils regardless of the coil system that is used in the mattress. There is more about the many variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to each person in post #4 here. The density/quality and durability of the foams and other materials used above the innersprings is one of the biggest issues in the mainstream market … not the quality of the coil systems they use.

I saw someone mention a Sealy here…Never mentioned if they were thinking of a Sealy Posture Pedic or not. Just beware, if its a Sealy and doesn’t say Posture Pedic, you will only enjoy the same benefits of 80% of the mattresses on the market. Sealy Posture pedic, Serta Perfect Sleeper, Simmons BeautyRest all pertain to the coil systems used inside the mattress. Any other coil mattresses carrying the Simmons, Sealy, or Serta names are made of the same old Bonnell coil system.

There have been some changes over the last 25 years that you may not be aware of. While there aren’t many members here that have read the tutorial post that would even consider any of the manufacturers that you mentioned in the first place regardless of the coil system that they use … all three manufacturers (and most other manufacturers as well) use a range of coil systems in their mattresses depending on the model lineup. Simmons has always specialized in pocket coils in their Posturepedic line but Sealy is now using pocket coils in their Posturepedic line and Serta is using pocket coils in the iSeries line as well. Some lower end Simmons BeautySleep mattresses also use a pocket coil but they are a different design and the coil count is lower than the Posturepedic line. Other models in their BeautySleep line use an offset coil. Some of the lower end Sealy mattresses use their classic offset coil and lower end Serta Mattresses can use a continuous coil or an offset coil as well.

A fine support system but as you could tell from the warranty, it does not hold up well over time…Usually around 5 years tops.

The warranty of a mattress has very little to do with the useful life of a mattress and how long it may be before you need to replace it. Warranties only cover defects in a mattress and not the gradual (or often rapid) loss of comfort and support that is the main reason people will need to replace their mattress. There is more about mattress warranties in post #174 here.

Memory foam mattresses are great, but will last only as long as the Base Foam underneath. This is why a Tempurpedic weighs so much, and you could carry the Chinese imitation under your arm. If it can be rolled and compressed so it will fit in a roll box, chances are that the support will not hold up. Always find out the density of the Poly foam base.

While I certainly agree with you that an informed consumer needs to know the density of all the foam layers in a mattress including a polyfoam base layer (see this article) … your comments here are inaccurate as well. Even low quality/density memory foam is a higher density foam than the polyfoam used in the base layers of a memory foam mattress so most of the weight in a memory foam mattress comes from the memory foam. There are many other manufacturers (including some Chinese imports) that are using higher density memory foams in their mattresses similar to the density of the Tempurpedic mattresses that will have a similar weight. There are also other memory foam mattresses that compare themselves to Tempurpedic (including some Chinese imports) that do use lower density memory foams (often 3 lbs and lower) and these will tend to be the ones that weigh less than a Tempurpedic or other memory foam mattresses that use higher density memory foams. The weakest link in a memory foam mattress (just like an innerspring mattress) will also usually be the quality/density of the memory foam used in the memory foam comfort layers … not in the polyfoam support core underneath them (although this can also depend on the weight of the person on the mattress).

Hopefully some of the information here will help you provide a little more accurate information to your customers and catch up to some of the changes in the industry over the last few years.

Phoenix