Dormeo Vitality - our experience and plead for help

Wife and I recently bought a Dormeo Vitality king mattress from Mattress Warehouse in the Akron, Ohio area (around Sept/Oct. 2014). I believe the Vitality is the same as what the national Dormeo site used to call 6500. After shopping around a lot and trying different types of mattresses we settled for this one. I have lower back problems and she tends to also have a sore back after a night of sleep if a mattress doesn’t provide enough support for the buttocks area. We aren’t overweight. She is 5’ 5" and 120lbs (excellent athletic condition) and I’m 5’ 11" and 169 lbs. (athletic, but still getting in the shape I want). This mattress felt better than any mattress we’ve ever tried for the first 2 months. Our prior bed was a Sterns and Foster very expensive spring mattress that felt good the first year.

The problem we’ve experienced with every mattress we’ve ever tried is that they become less supportive within the first year.I’m very sensitive to any firmness change. This Dormeo Vitality mattress had a firmness change within 2 months of purchase. I’ve now had it about 90 days. They have a 120 day exchange policy and of course a 25 year warranty, but the warranty is based on the ‘1" lower-using-the-string’ method which we all know is a rip-off the industry uses. I say rip-off because even if a foam mattress can bounce back to under the 1" difference (nullifying a warranty claim) it still takes less pressure to push the mattress down. I can even use my hand to push down where my butt lies on the mattress and it takes less pressure to push it down than when I push in the middle of the bed where no one usually lies. The initial load deflection has certainly changed in the few months we’ve owned it and it has lost it’s good support on our backs it once had. We even bought one that seemed a little too firm to begin with in hopes that it would be decent support as it aged. It didn’t take long for the break down to become apparent and we now experience lower back pain every night. We’ve consistently turned it and even turn it sideways (90 degrees instead of always turning it 180) since it’s a king in order to get more support a little longer. In 3 months it’s shot as far as we are concerned. We know others who are still happy with theirs, but we are very sensitive to firmness changes. Some would call this “conforming to your body”. I don’t want complete conformity since I want my butt supported (lifted) in order for better lower back alignment.

We aren’t sure what to do. We know we can return it for exchange, but whatever we get (even upgrading) will breakdown again in a similar manner if the top layer is made of the same material. We possibly can return it under a warranty claim if they are reasonable due to the obvious break down in ILD since they claim their firmness change will take longer than what this did.

Are we destined to change mattress layers every 3 months if we are this sensitive? Are there any materials that hold their firmness longer? It seems the top layer is the problem. I’ve never had a top layer in any bed hold up it’s firmness longer than a year.

Am I a hopeless case? Should we resort to building our own and making sure we can replace the top layer every 3 to 6 months or is there really a material that actually remains as strong as it was when new for even 6 months? I don’t care if it visually bounces back to where it was, it’s the amount of pressure it takes to depress the material that changes so quickly. We are disappointed and ready to sleep on the floor, which won’t provide a decent night sleep. We’ve tried extra firm mattresses and it was like sleeping on a rock and caused other areas of our bodies to hurt. We paid $1659 for the Dormeo Vitality king mattress and $400 for the bases. Total was $2059 + tax (included free pad). It wasn’t a bad price campared to many other alternatives, but a complete waste it seems. I hate mattresses! They are too expensive of an item to have to replace every year. HELP if anyone can!

Hi WearyMattress,

While all materials will soften to some degree over time … some are also much more durable than others and the softening and breakdown will happen much more slowly. There is more about the many variables that can affect durability and the useful life of a mattress relative to different people in post #4 here and the posts it links to. One of the links is post #2 here which talks about the effect of foam softening on people who are more sensitive.

The biggest issue with most of the mainstream mattresses today is the use of lower quality materials in the upper layers of the mattress which in almost all cases is the weakest link of a mattress because a mattress will tend to soften and break down from the top down. The loss of firmness vs the loss of height is the reason that most people need to replace a mattress and is the reason that mattress warranties are more about marketing than about the useful life of a mattress (see post #174 here).

The way to avoid this to the extent possible is to make sure you know the specifics of all the materials inside any mattress you purchase (see this article) so you can confirm that the mattress doesn’t have any lower quality materials or weak links in the design. This is also the main reason that I suggest avoiding all the major brands because almost all their mattresses use lower quality materials in the upper layers (see the guidelines here).

Outside of making sure that any mattress you purchase uses all higher quality and more durable materials (for example the top layer of the Dormeo you purchased is 3 lb memory foam which is a lower quality/density memory foam) … there are also many manufacturers that make component mattresses which use a zip cover and allow you to replace some or all of the layers or components if they soften or break down before the other layers or if your needs and preferences change over time. If you focus on mattresses that use higher quality and durable materials, have a component design with replaceable layers, and are also closer to the middle of your ideal comfort/support range (so that even the slightest amount of foam softening doesn’t put you outside your ideal range) then you will have the best possible chance of buying a mattress that will not only be suitable for you in terms of PPP when it is new but will last you for much longer and provide you with options to replace individual layers if necessary rather than replacing the complete mattress.

The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Cleveland/Akron area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.

The mattress shopping tutorial (which is the best place to start your mattress research) also includes several links to lists of the better online options I’m aware of as well.

Phoenix

Thanks for answering. We studied this site before we purchased and thought we were getting what we could for the price we could afford, but obviously failed to realize the quality of 3lbs upper layer was not good enough. So, I’ll study more. One thing we liked about Dormeo that I haven’t seen in other foam or latex mattresses is the design with foam “coils” which gave the mattress a different feel then the deadness of a typical foam mattress (we hate that dead feeling like it’s sucking you in when you try to get out). Are there high quality foam ones like that or is that only with a Dormeo as far as you know?

Of course, I may be stuck with Mattress Warehouse if the warranty claim isn’t approved and may just try to exchange and then resell it so I can get a better quality one somewhere else. I’ll be out a lot of money, but let’s hope the warranty claim will be honored. I really hate mattresses. I wish I could sleep standing up. Maybe one day when I can afford a high quality one I’ll like that new mattress. Maybe I’ll win the lotto. :lol: Is it even possible to get a better quality mattress with similar design at the price range I bought that one at?

Do any of these you list in my area have the kind I can replace top layers when I want to or is that only online options? >“The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Cleveland/Akron area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.”

Hi WearyMattress,

Post #13 here includes more information about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which will give you a brief outline of the most important criteria to look for when you purchase a mattress.

There is also more information in post #2 here about the different ways to choose a mattress (online or local) that can help you reduce the risk involved in each of them.

These two posts can help you eliminate most of the risk involved in buying a mattress.

The Reverie mattresses (also see this topic and this topic) also have a similar type of design with “cylinders” and use very high quality materials that have no weak links in the design but they are latex cylinders rather than memory foam or polyfoam cylinders so they will have a completely different “feel” and response compared to the Dormeo mattresses.

If you follow all the steps in the tutorial post one at a time (and especially the information in the posts I linked in this reply) … then absolutely yes (and in lower budget ranges as well) :slight_smile:

The only one that I can see with a quick scan through the list would be the “mostly latex” mattress that is sold by Denver Mattress which has a separate topper which could be replaced.

The closest store to you that I know of that sells component mattresses would be the Natural Sleep Shop in Cranberry Twp.

Phoenix

Thanks! Great information and a lot more to study. It’s too bad Reverie seems to be the only other one that has that cylinder tech like Dormeo. I was hoping to find that type bed, but better quality at reasonable price, but will keep searching. Reverie wants $4600 for their king that is like the Dormeo we got (except the quality is better in the Reverie of course). Can’t afford that. We may have to either settle for the kind that just has layers (no rubber or foam ‘coils’) or stick with Dormeo unless we can try the layered kind you mentioned at Natural Sleep Shop in our neighboring state of PA.

I hope other high quality mattress companies will seriously look into placing rubber/foam ‘coils’ or cylinders within the mattresses. It really does give a different feel to foam or latex type mattresses. But, I’ll look into the normal latex layered type mattresses to see if I can find one that doesn’t have that dead feel when trying to get out of bed. So much to study and certainly no clear cut answers due to so many variables.

Hi WearyMattress,

I’m not so sure I would lump all “foam” mattresses together and if you have the chance to test it you may be surprised at how different and more resilient or “springy” any latex will feel compared to polyfoam (which in turn will feel very different from memory foam) either with or without “cylinders”.

Phoenix