Thanks again for your response. Much appreciated. So today I headed out, planning to visit both Dormio and Soma, but spent all the time I had set aside at Dormio. It was very useful and I think I narrowed things down to two mattresses, even though I tried about 7 or 8 of them, ranging from $2000 to over $5000. Interestingly, the ones I liked most were the ones I noted in my last post, namely, their Euro at $2000 (dormio.ca/product/dormio-euro-mattress/) and their Dolce Vita at $2700 (dormio.ca/product/dormio-dolce-vita-mattress/).
I will go to Soma tomorrow or Saturday and likely make my decision by the weekend. They thing is that I wasn’t sure which to pick, and I really need some input, if that’s possible, even though how I feel on it can’t be conveyed or repeated by anyone else. The difference really is the 2" of soft latex on the Dolce Vita. It felt more comfortable, but the salesman said that he saw my hips sink a little. Whereas on the Euro he said my alignment was perfect. I felt that too. The Euro was firmer and more supportive, but perhaps not as ‘lush’ or comfortable, not that the Euro wasn’t comfortable too. I don’t know whether to go with the firmer or the softer one. I can purchase the Euro and then get the pillow top for the DV for another $1000 or so later, if I need it, but that’s another $300+. Feeling and comfort are important, but given my back issues, perhaps it’s more important to have the best spinal alignment? I am thinking of having some pictures take of me/of my spine to show my physiotherapist on Wednesday, to see what she things.
I’m also curious what you think of the prices, given the materials in them, since there’s some objective metrics there. I found out both these beds are manufactured by Snug Sleep in BC. Finally, I should mention that I did try one more bed that also stuck with me, but it may be too soft, even though when I first got on it, it was like heaven, like lying on clouds. It was the Melrose (Shop | Dormio Organic Beds). It was on sale for $3400 down from something over $5000. But I think that just might be above my price range and not the most suitable bed.
I’m also worried after reading some of the things you linked to that I’m just choosing a firm mattress because I just think that firm is better. Then again, the Eruro at 4" firm and 4" medium was quite supportive and even the salesman said my spine looked perfect on that. Not an easy decision!
Oh, one final thing, now really, I mentioned in passing how I had come to this site and how you had been so helpful, and in addition to singing your praises, he also told me I’d get a 5% discount. Now bad!
I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you may be considering, act as a fact check, answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that don’t involve what you will “feel” on a mattress, and help with “how” to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress, manufacturer, or combination of materials is “best for you” regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or whether anyone else has the same criteria or circumstances or would make the same choice.
Again you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and with careful testing … your own body will provide the best guidance about which mattress is the best “match” for you in terms of PPP. Unfortunately nobody has a crystal ball that can predict which specific mattress you will sleep best on with any certainty based on specs or “theory at a distance” … it just doesn’t exist.
Careful and objective testing using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post will usually result in a mattress choice that is well inside the comfort/support range that is suitable for you (see post #10 here and post #4 here) but if you are testing two mattresses that both appear to be very suitable choices in terms of PPP … I would generally prioritize alignment over pressure relief and “comfort”.
“Support” is often misunderstood and many people believe incorrectly that “firmer is better” or “more supportive” when the real goal is to keep the spine in good alignment and this requires the type of contouring support that allows some parts of the body to sink in more and some parts of the body to sink in less and this will vary on an individual basis. There is more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support/alignment” and “comfort/pressure relief” and “feel” and how they interact together.
The Dormio mattresses also have exchangeable layers so if in spite of “best efforts” on your and their parts you end up choosing a layering combination that isn’t quite right for you either in terms of comfort/pressure relief or support/alignment then you can also fine tune the mattress after a purchase by rearranging or exchanging layers so the risk of making an unsuitable choice is much lower.
While taking a picture of your alignment on each mattress and showing it to your Chiropractor would certainly be a good idea … especially if you are prone to lower back issues (which can often be aggravated by a mattress that is too soft) … I would also keep in mind that the ultimate test is whether you sleep well and “symptom free” on a mattress.
There isn’t a “formula” that can be used to assess or “calculate” value because there are so many different variables and criteria involved that are more or less important to different people that may be very different from someone else and because the “value” of a mattress purchase is always relative to how they compare to the other finalists you are considering or to the other mattresses that are available to you in the area or online based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
The quality/value guidelines I linked in my earlier replies can help you make more meaningful comparisons between the relative “value” of each mattress you are considering. While it’s not really possible to be specific about value relative to mattress materials and construction because there are so many combinations and variables involved (and a mattress that would be good value for one person may not have good value at all for someone else that has different needs and preferences, lives in a different area, or that is considering different mattresses) … this article may give you some sense of the potential benefits of different budget ranges.
As far as what you “should” be spending there’s really no definitive answer to this but I would suggest as much as you can comfortably afford … within reason and within limits of course. You will find better quality and higher performance materials and components and more sophisticated and complex designs in higher budget ranges but once you reach about $3000 or so (in US dollars and in queen size mattress only or the equivalent in a king size which are generally about 15% to 25% more) then any realistic or meaningful performance benefits that go with higher prices than this may be minimal and there would need to be a compelling reason and obvious benefits for me to spend more than that (again in queen size). Even then I would make some very careful value comparisons with other mattresses that are available to you based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you because it’s quite likely that you will be able to find a high quality mattress in a lower budget range than this that will work very well for you. While it’s not really possible to be too specific about value relative to mattress materials and construction because there are so many combinations and variables involved … this article may give you some sense of the budget ranges that may be worth considering.
Once you are down to a list of finalists and you are confident that they would all be a good match for you in terms of PPP (or you have good options after a purchase if you aren’t) and that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in any of them in terms of durability (which there aren’t) then you would be down to finalists that are comparing “good to good”. If there are no clear winners between them at this point (which is usually a good indication that you have done some very good research) then you are in the fortunate position that any of them would likely make a good quality/value choice and (post #2 here) can help you make a final choice based on your local testing or mattresses you have slept well on, your more detailed conversations with each of them, your confidence about PPP and the suitability of each one, their prices, your preferences, the options you have after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or exchange or return the mattress or individual layers, any additional “value” extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you. Sometimes a final choice may even come down to very minor differences or can sometimes just be a matter of “gut feel” or “educated best judgement”.
One of the benefits of dealing with the manufacturers or retailers that have been invited to become members of this site is that they all provide a bonus or discount on their mattresses to the forum members that purchase a mattress from them (see here). Of course they can only do this if you let them know you are a forum member here. While 5% certainly isn’t “make or break” in terms of value … everything helps
Thank you. I understand and appreciate that I can be the only one who is able to determine what is best for me, especially in respect of feel. I guess given my broad shoulders, weight of about 195, and herniated discs in all three parts of my spine, I am not sure what will be best long term.
However, today I went to Soma and tried out some more beds. After speaking to someone there and reading the article on sleeping positions here, I realize that I can’t just get something that’s firm and the Euro from Dormio that is 4" firm and 4" medium might be too firm to allow my broad shoulders to sink. I’ll have to go try it again. Honestly, I really don’t want to spend more than that, I really shouldn’t and almost can’t. The Dolce Vita added a soft comfort layer of 2" and felt better and perhaps that’s better for me. I think perhaps best would be a zoned mattress, but I can’t afford to go into and above the $3K mark, which is where all of them seem to be, unless I’m mistaken, in which case I’d love some suggestions of mattresses that are zoned and in the $2-2.5K range.
I did try a few at Soma and I may go back, since I need more time there. This one stood out, I think (I need another chance to be sure): https://www.somasleep.ca/product/144/. I’d be curious to know what you think. It was $2300. It’s less latex overall, but perhaps more complex, etc., I’m not sure.
The difference between Dormio and Soma is that Soma allows you to exchange the mattress within 90 days or some time frame, whereas Domio allows you to switch out or change layers. That’s quite a bit different. Also, if I were to get the Euro or Dolce Vita from Dormio, as the salesman himself said, my options are limited in terms of what I can do with each 4" chunk, and I don’t think going from a medium to a soft will be an option as that would just be too soft for me. So I don’t I have as much options to change things around, especially if I don’t want to spend quite a bit more money.
I can certainly confirm that like the other mattresses you are considering this mattresses also uses high quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress. If you are confident that it’s a good “match” for you in terms of comfort and PPP and that you will sleep well on it and it also compares well to the other mattresses you are looking at based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you then it would certainly be well worth considering.
As I mentioned in a previous reply …
You have many other options available in the general Toronto area and many of them are in lower budget ranges than you are looking at but you will need to check their websites or talk with them on the phone to find out which ones carry mattresses that fit your criteria that you would be interested in testing.
I would keep in mind that any exchange options are built in to the cost of a mattress and a retailer that allows a mattress exchange rather than just a layer exchange will need to build the higher costs involved into the price of their mattresses because the majority of people who don’t return a mattress or exchange a layer are the ones who pay for the minority that do.
For the majority of people … with careful testing (using the guidelines in the tutorial) their choice will generally be “close enough” that if any fine tuning is necessary it would be relatively minor and involve different mattress pads, sheets, mattress protectors, or perhaps even a topper (if their mattress is too firm) or a layer exchange (see post #4 here and post #10 here).
I hope you’re well. I’m writing with an update. I ended up buying the Dolce Vita from Dormio at a discounted price that I could afford. It has yet to arrive, and won’t for another few weeks, but I think I made a good purchase. He even gave me the 5% for mentioning this forum, even though he had discounted the price a few hundred dollars already. The owner (I believe), John, was just a pleasure to deal with, and so far I’m quite happy. I can’t wait to get the mattress (and foundation and frame) and get sleeping on it. Of course, I also wanted to come back and to thank you for your help during all this. I couldn’t have done it without you and this forum. Just wonderful!
Thanks for letting us know what you ended up deciding and sharing your comments and feedback about your experience with Dormio and John (who is the owner) … I appreciate it.
I think you did some good research and ended up making a great quality/value choice and I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback once you’ve received it and have had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
Thank you for the kind words, and, again, for all your help. I thought I’d write with an update, that I at least owed that much, considering how helpful you and this site were in my making my decision.
So it took some time for the mattress to arrive, more time than I was told, as there was a mistake or mix up, or something. But John did extremely well to make this up to me with the other things I needed and a rush delivery when it did finally arrive. He was really great.
Now, I’ve been sleeping on the bed for a few weeks and I must say it’s wonderful. It’s actually perfect. The first few nights were strange and amazing, and now it has become routine. It offers such a lush and comfortable sleep that I can’t imagine sleeping on anything else. Not that I didn’t before, but I truly look forward to sleep now. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that I look forward to sleep on that particular mattress. My body pain all over has been reduced, and when I awake in the middle of the night I fall back asleep again much more quickly. I don’t know what else to say, but if people have questions, I’m happy to answer whatever I can. But it should be clear that I’m quite happy with my purchase.
Thank you immensely once again for all your help with this important and highly successful purchase.
Thanks for taking the time to share an update with your comments and feedback … I appreciate it!
It’s great to hear that your choice worked out so well for you and now that you are past the initial break in and adjustment period you can expect to be sleeping well for many more years
I just want to add Ton Furniture in the GTA has been exceptional, I’m very happy with my mattress which I bought from Andy.
I’m not going to write up a review but I’d highly recommend Ton Furniture to anyone who lives in and around the GTA looking for high quality mattresses at extremely reasonable prices, just give Andy a call and setup an appointment to look at their mattress selections at the Dreamstar Bedding warehouse.
Wow. What a wealth of knowledge this place is. I really appreciate you taking the time to compile that list. I was just gonna get a Lucid 10" but stumbled upon this site and got lost in it. I don’t really want to spend more than $500 so I’ve been looking at Lucid, Linenspa Gel and Classic Brands. Based on what I’ve learned here they all use 3lb foam with the Classic issuing 4 lb. It would appear attaining 4lb under $500 is difficult.
Yes you’re right that it’s much more difficult to find good quality mattresses that sell for under $500 (in queen size). There is more about different budget ranges in this article.
You can see some comments about this mattress in this topic and there are some red flags here that would make me cautious and I would follow the suggestions in post #6 in the topic (checking the law tag and checking with the manufacturer) before considering it for a purchase.
Thanks for the link.
The gentleman at the store had no clue. The link helped me determine who the manufacture was. Cozy
Lady that answered the phone also had no clue but called me back promptly as promised. Mattress is 8" of 2lb density base and the 3" latex layer is 4lb density. Tough to pull the trigger on with no feedback at all. And no Certipur so the materials are suspect.
The 4lb density from the Classic Brands might be the answer. The Queen Cool 8" is priced very well. As is the Cool 12" I’m 6’4 185 pounds and looking for something firm. The 12" is supposedly plusher. I think the 8" based on feedback is more up my alley for firmness. Will the 12" vs an 8" last significantly longer though?
The density of the latex is a “comfort spec” and isn’t particularly important although I would want to know the type and blend of the latex so that you can make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
I would also check the law tag to confirm that latex is a significant percentage of the materials in the mattress (based on weight percentage). If the specs are correct the latex should be somewhere in the range of 40% of the contents of the mattress. The law tag should also indicate that the mattress is using all new materials.
One of the red flags is that the manufacturer told me that this mattress would normally be selling at twice the price and if it is a new mattress with new materials and isn’t a comfort or warranty return and they are an authorized dealer then I would want to know why they are selling it at a price that would be closer to their wholesale price than the retail price that would normally be charged to consumers. Something just doesn’t add up.
The single biggest factor in the durability of a mattress is the quality and durability of the materials and components inside it … not the thickness (see post #2 here).
While there is no way to quantify how long any mattress will last for a specific person or predict exactly when you will decide to replace it because it is no longer suitable or comfortable for you (because this is the only real measure of durability or the useful life of a mattress that really matters) because there are too many unknowns and variables involved that are unique to each person … if a mattress is well inside a suitable comfort/support range and isn’t close to the edge of being too soft when it is new (see post #2 here) and meets the minimum quality/durability specs that are suggested in the guidelines here then it would be reasonable to expect a useful lifetime in the range of 7 - 10 years and with higher quality and more durable materials like latex (in the comfort layers especially) it would likely be in the higher end of the range or in the case of the mattresses you are considering the chances that you would have additional “bonus time” would be higher as well.
There is also more detailed information about the many variables that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to different people in post #4 here and the posts it links to.
Just pulled the trigger on the 8" Classic Brands Cool in Queen. 12" just sounds too plush. Plus the extra couple bucks saved got me some nice pillows.
The 10.5 might have been a nice inbetween but can’t seem to find one in Canada. Firmness ftw
Hopefully you had the chance to do some careful testing to make sure that the mattress was a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (or if you didn’t test the mattress in person that you are comfortable with the return policy and any costs that would be involved in returning it should that be necessary).
I hope that you also confirmed the density of the polyfoam base layer in the mattress.
Assuming that the base layer is a suitable density and you are comfortable with the return policy then you made a good quality/value choice … and congratulations on your new mattress :).
I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback once you’ve received it and have had the chance to try it out and sleep on it for a bit.
It’s a 4lb base with 2lb gel top with Certipur certification. I understand in my budget I wasnt going to get anything spectacular but the info here has helped me find the best value to quality ratio I think and I thank you again.
Now I’m thinking about building a memory foam sofa…
Unfortunately these specs don’t appear to be correct. The polyfoam base layer wouldn’t be 4 lb density (it would most likely be somewhere in the 1.5 - 1.8 lb density range) and if the top layer is 3 lb gel memory foam then it would be lower quality/density than I would normally consider even in your budget range and would be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability.
Having said that … if the mattress you purchased is this one then the description says that it has a 2" comfort layer of 4 lb gel memory foam which would be a more suitable and durable density (although it doesn’t mention the density of the base layer).
If you purchased it from Walmart (or somewhere else that has a good return/refund policy with a minimal cost involved) then if the mattress doesn’t turn out to be as good a match for you as you hoped for in terms of PPP and you don’t sleep well on it then you can just return it.
If you purchase a mattress from Amazon then they have a 30 day return policy but for mattresses there is generally a charge involved and any return would need to go through the large items return department because a mattress is too large to ship with a courier once it has decompressed.
Hopefully it will turn out to be a good match for you once you’ve had the chance to try it out so you won’t need to return it.
