Right now I’ve got a very old (maybe 20 years or more) BeautyRest King mattress on even older box springs and a plain mattress frame. I want to move to a split king memory foam or latex adjustable bed. My wife says I move around a lot so the split is essential. Unfortunately money is a big issue in this so I’m looking at doing just a Twin XL first and adding a second in a few months to a year. Other options I’m considering is getting the split king adjustable foundation first and trying to use it with my existing mattress or getting just the memory foam/latex mattress first with maybe a cheap flat foundation. I’m beginning to have significant back and knee problems so it is somewhat urgent. By the way I’m also about 35 miles north of Santa Fe, NM and 90 miles North of Albuquerque so delivery cost might be significant. I want to keep the cost under $2,000 and if at all possible under $1,500.
What is my best option and do you have any suggestions for a good retailer in our area?
You are the only one who can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone to able to predict which specific mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) but the mattress shopping tutorial includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you with “how” to choose and would be the best place to start your research.
Memory foam and latex are very different materials but the choice of materials is always a preference choice rather than a “better/worse” choice so I would also make sure that you have the chance to test both types of mattresses in a range of firmness levels so that you have a better sense of which material or type of mattress you tend to prefer. There is more about memory foam vs latex in post #2 here.
There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here.
Post #2 here also has more about the different ways to choose a mattress and how to lessen the risks involved with each of them.
I would also tend to choose your mattress(es) first since for most people that don’t have specific health or medical reasons to choose an adjustable bed they would be a much more important part of your sleeping system than an adjustable bed. Post #3 here and the adjustable bed thread it links to has more information about choosing an adjustable bed but they are much more of a commodity purchase based on price/features comparisons than a mattress because they all have the same basic functions and most of the differences are the additional features that may be important to you.
The better local options or possibilities I’m aware of in the Santa Fe/Albuqurque areas (subject to the “value” guidelines I linked) are listed in post #5 here.