Feedback on budget Mattresses in the Greater Toronto Area

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
1

Hello everyone,

I just found this website a few days ago and have been going on a deep dive through all the information available. I have been trying to find a quality mattress in the $700 - $1000 CAD range in and around the Toronto area or shipped in if shipping and taxes are not going to push me over my max budget of $1000 (some slight wiggle room to that number, maybe around $100).

I’m 6’ 2" (188cm) and my weight is usually around 180 lbs (81.6 kg) but has gone up to around 200 lbs and as low as 170 lbs in the past. I have only ever consistently slept on an innerspring or hybrid mattress that was on a box spring. My preference is a firm mattress due to sleeping primarily on my back with some occasional side sleeping (if I had to guess 70% back and 30% side).

In the past and currently I can get back pain (usually more upper back pain so maybe it’s because I sleep on firmer mattress that don’t have enough pressure relief?) if I sleep on my mattress for more than 8 hours so I don’t typically sleep longer than that, but this is pretty rare.

So far I have taken a look at:
GhostBed
Luma Sleep
MFC
Dormio
NestBedding
Arizona Premium Mattress
Arizona Sleep EZ Factory
CBH Wood Furniture

But all of those are outside of my price range once tax or shipping was included with the exception of Luma Sleep which I am considering but am not sure on if there is duty fees, GST/HST, broker fees, and other import fees since it would ship from the USA to CAN.

Currently from this forumI have found two other mattresses that I am considering along with the luma sleep original mattress:
DreamStar Chiro Firm - $799
Silk & Snow Hybrid - $900
Luma Sleep Original - 1171.69

I’m suppose to go see the DreamStar Chiro tomorrow to see how it feels but am just worried about the quality of these two mattresses. From a quick skim of the forum it seems both are decent but the DreamStar has no trial period so if I end up disliking it I have 10 days to exchange it whereas the Silk & Snow has a 100 night trial period. The Luma sleep seems good and are a trusted member of this site which is reassuring but I am not familiar with buying anything of this worth from the USA and shipping it to CAN. I have read on this forum that I may have to pay duty fees, broker fees, GDT/HST which would blow the price up.

If anyone has any other recommendations or has experience with these three mattresses or manufacturers I would really appreciate any feedback. I will put the specifications of the DreamStar and Silk & Snow mattresses below.

Silk and Snow Hybrid 12 inch mattress
med. firm

Comfort Layer

  • 1" Luxury quilted cooling gel foam and hollow fiber
  • 2" Gel memory foam
  • density of the cooling gel unknown currently
  • density of the gel memory foam unknown
  • foams made by Vitafoam in Toronto
  • fabric made by Fine Cotton in Toronto

Support Layer
1000 pocket coils for queen

  • wire gauge size unknown currently
  • Coils made by Salwan Family in Toronto

Construction

  • zoned construction
  • Firmer middle zone for lumbar support

DreamStar Chiro Firm 13 inch mattress
Firm

Quilt

  • 1.5" - Imported soft stretchable bamboo fabric
  • Premium ultra foam + 30 oz high grade wool blend fiber

Comfort Layer

  • 3/4" insulator pact lumbar + center support
  • 2" high density bio foam (polyfoam)
  • density of the bio foam (polyfoam) unknown currently

Support Layer

  • 884 3 zone individually wrapped pocket coils, 13.5 gauge
  • 360 degree foam encasement (firm edge)

Construction

  • zoned construction
  • Firmer middle zone for lumbar support

Big thanks to everyone on this website for providing all this information to help educate myself on the manufacturing and distribution of mattresses. Really opened my eyes to an industry I never thought much about.

2

Hi Olek_Bolek_Lolek.

Welcome to our Mattress Forum. :slight_smile:

I’m glad you’ve found the resources here educational and useful. That’s what we are here for! Empowering consumers to make educated and informed purchases is what we do and we’re so glad when that mission is accomplished.

Time and again, I am astonished at the sort of difficulties that Canadian consumers face! The Luma mattresses are wonderful, but I can’t speak to their fees with regards to tax, etc. You may want to reach out directly to ask them how that would impact the price.

With regards to your mentioning upper back pain… I’m going to steal some words from Phoenix: Mid and upper back issues can also come from several sources. In the case of the upper body then good horizontal alignment is important but lateral (side to side) alignment is also important. For example if you bend your head and neck forward towards your stomach and bend the upper body forward into a forward hunched position then it can bend the upper spine and create tension and pain in the mid and upper back. This can happen during the night if your pillow is too high for example and pushes your head forward when you sleep on your back. It can also happen if the upper layers are too thick and soft.

In the same way … if you push your arms and shoulders forward into a forward slouched position then it can also create tension and soreness in your mid or upper back. This can come from a mattress that has comfort layers that are too thick and/or soft and allows your torso to sink in a little too far but “holds up” the lighter shoulders (pushing them forward).

In both cases your muscles will be tense and working throughout the night to maintain alignment.

Upper back issues can also point to a pillow that is either too high or too low for your body type or sleeping position and doesn’t maintain the gap between your head and the mattress and keep your head and neck if good alignment over the course of the night which can affect the upper back as well.

Do you happen to have the foam density available to you? They don’t list specifics of the density of their foams, so unfortunately there’s little meaningful information available to offer an opinion about the product. If you do find out any more complete specifications, feel free to post back here and I’ll be happy to comment upon them.

The most recent information I have available to me suggests they use a 1.8 lb foam which is the minimum recommendation we’d make in terms of durability, so it’s right there on the cusp.

I’m hoping other Canadian consumers can also chime in here. How was your testing on the DreamStar?
NikkiTMU

3

Hey NikkiTMU,

Thanks a lot for the reply! I had my viewing the other day and it was good. I talked to Andy from Ton Furniture and he mentioned that the poly foam density is around 2 lbs but I was a little confused as to what he meant because he mentioned 2 lbs, 3 lbs, 4 lbs, and 5 lbs densities for the foam but I was under the assumption the poly foam ranges from regular polyfoam at less than 1.5 lbs/ft^3, HD at 1.5 lbs/ft^3 to 2.5 lbs/ft^3, and HR was anything over 2.5 lbs/ft^3. I did a factory tour and got to see the mattresses being made and everything looked all right for me though I doubt that I could pick up at a glance if something was wrong just because I am no expert in this area.

I ended up testing out a bunch of the DreamStar mattress there and the Chiro Firm seemed good but not as firm as the mattress I currently sleep on (not bad in any way though just mentioning I sleep on a firmer mattress for later). I really enjoyed the DreamStar Omega Latex mattress and was considering paying a little more for that one. I learned that the coils are 13 gauge for the Chiro and 5 turns per coil all individually wrapped. Everything felt good while I was there and Andy was open to discuss or show me anything I wanted to see, so that was very reassuring.

The Omega Latex is considered firm but Andy mentioned it is slightly firmer than the Chiro firm and that the polyfoam core will hold up longer over time but did not pressure me to go with either and said that both the Chiro firm and the Omega Latex were good choices. The specs on the Omega Latex were:

14" thick, euro pillow top mattress

Quilting Layer

  • Wool blended pillow top

Comfort Layer

  • 2" all natural hypo-allergenic TALALAY latex
  • 2" polyfoam called bio foam (density seems to be between 2 - 2.5lbs)

Support Layer

  • HD polyfoam (not sure how many inches, but density should be around 2-2.5 lbs)

Construction
4" thick, bio foam encasement (360’ edge support)

I really enjoy firmer mattresses and felt that the omega latex was slightly firmer and maybe it would hold up better over time compared to the springs but I am not really sure if that is sounds reasoning or if I need to request more information from Andy or DreamStar. I’ve traditionally only slept on coil or hybrid mattress with polyfoam on top and pocket coils as the support core. I mostly sleep on my back and really enjoy that firmness you get when your back is properly supported and your not sinking into the mattress. Both the Chiro Firm and Omega Latex seemed to do that well.

Stuck on my decision now but leaning towards just getting the Omega Latex. Just hoping that an all foam mattress wont be a big change for my back since I’m so used to that firmness from coil mattresses.

Tahnks again NikkiTMU! I will get back to you with a decision and update on which mattress I pick. Hopefully some other Canadians can chime in before I do but I’m in the process of moving so I will probably end up grabbing something sooner rather than later.