Feeling Overwhelmed - phoenix, anyone, help request

[phoenix]

Hi mjgh06,

As it is risky for me to physically try out mattresses, and after I read your response Post #2 I was hoping for a similar recommendation from you as you seem to be well-informed and have experience with such a vast array of different persons via this site. Or at least you could narrow it down from your response Post #12 .

Unfortunately it’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for someone else either for a mattress, a manufacturer/retailer, or a combination of materials or type of mattress because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or if you can’t test a mattress in person then your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

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 or combination of materials is the best match for you based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you. Unfortunately there is nothing that can replace your own personal testing or experience with any certainty in terms of finding out which mattress is the best “match” for you in terms of PPP and I would be very skeptical of anyone who claims that they have some kind of crystal ball that can tell you which specific mattress will work best for you.

As I mentioned in my previous reply if you can’t test a mattress in person then your best source of guidance and your highest odds of success will always be a more detailed conversation with a knowledgeable retailer or manufacturer who is more familiar with matching the different mattresses they have available with different body types, sleeping styles, and individual circumstances and preferences than anyone else.

My second option was that maybe someone had slept on this brand/type mattress and could recommend a similar mattress based upon their experience.

While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be helpful … I would be very cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (see post #13 here).

There are also no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness as well and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.

My second option was that maybe someone had slept on this brand/type mattress and could recommend a similar mattress based upon their experience. If you’ve slept on it, you know how it feels and what I am looking for in comparison. This would alleviate the need for my individual PPP as what someone else feels with this particular mattress would be what I would need regardless. Therefore because I do know the feel of what I need, if someone else has slept on that same brand/model what they feel could be used to determine the same feel for another brand/model. This way others can refer other brands/models without needing that person to go test for themselves. If I love Burger King whoppers and you have eaten one regardless of whether you liked it or not, you could then say if the Mcdonald’s Big Mac was similar or not.

Mattresses are not the same as hamburgers and I would also avoid brand shopping because you are buying a specific mattress not the brand and all manufacturers have access to the same or similar components and materials. Most of the more heavily advertised and most commonly available brands that you would probably recognize are the ones I would tend to avoid anyway and many of the better manufacturers are smaller and are only available locally or regionally (or online). The name of the manufacturer on the label also won’t tell you anything about whether a specific mattress would be a suitable choice for you in terms of PPP or whether there are any lower quality materials or weak links in the design that would affect the durability and useful life of the mattress. There is more about the risks of brand shopping in post #5 here and post #12 here. Outside of making sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP (or that you have good options after a purchase if it isn’t or if you aren’t sure) … in terms of assessing the quality and durability of a mattress I would focus much more on the type and quality/durability of the materials inside a mattress than I would on the name of the manufacturer on the label (see the quality/durability guidelines in post #4 here).

Edit - Thanks Phoenix for your additional response. Out of your list I will contact www.phillipsfurnitureinc.com/ as I have not heard of them. The rest have very poor customer service from my previous mattress hunt(at least the locations I visited) and were geared towards sales of $$ versus quality or need of customer.

I hope that Englander still has the same mattress available after 7 years and that they can order it for you. Unfortunately your experience with poor customer service and lack of knowledge is very common in the industry and most of the members here that have spent more than a couple of hours on this site will know more meaningful information about mattresses and mattress materials than most of the salespeople in the mainstream industry.

When it comes to something as personal as a mattress … outside of purchasing the same mattress again that you already know works well for you there really are no shortcuts.

Phoenix