First of all I want to thank Phoenix for all the detailed information provided on this site, it’s been extremely helpful. I have only registered here minutes ago but I’ve been digging the forum for quite some time and my decision was largely based on the data, and recommendation I could easily find here.
A bit about my self: I am a 300 lbs fat ass who just recently moved to states as a college student. So I am broke and have destroyed almost all the mattress (and some bed frames as well), and you can imagine how difficult it is to find something I could sleep comfortably within my budget. Things got worse when I had a minor injury back in September and getting a good night sleep had become rarer and rarer ever since.
Some mattress I’ve tried before this purchase: generic brand off Amazon, Sealy gel glen, ikea MORGEDAL, ikea MATRAND and ikea SULAN HOLMSTA. The first one cost me $10 dollars off craigslist, and was arguably one of the best among all these: it’s stiff as a rock and it smells funny (not necessarily the mattress’ fault), but at least it does not sink in the middle and the top actually feels quite nice. Sealy I got from a friend who moved away, it was thin (about 5 inches) and firm but it does a decent job until it falls apart after around three months. MORGEDAL and MATRAND are very similar memory foam mattresses with the firm option. They feel ok at first but after a while my sleep just got worse and worse, gradually, because as I found out my ass started to sink more and more in the middle as it gets softer under weight, yet other parts does not do the same so one sleeps more and more like and shrimp. As for SULAN HOLMSTA, latex on top of spring, it felt quite nice in the show room (maybe because it was a King size), but in reality it’s just too… bouncy, and soft with very little support.
That’s when I found this forum with some google searches. I had Leesa and Tuft and Needles in my mind because their sale and marketing team, but then I dug around. Leesa soon was out of the picture as Phoenix suggested their heavy marketing oriented and little “mattress people” direction, while Tuft and Needles gets pretty good reviews from the members. I called them up and talked only realizing their sales team probably know not much more than me at this point. So I researched a bit more, and finally found a post which is focused on high weight range, in which Phoenix compared many low-cost brands by their ability to support heavy weight group judging from the materials they use. In the end I went for Brooklyn Bedding because it had a sale going on and it’s under the “recommended” category
The purchase experience was decent. .Their web support team is quite responsive and informative and their new website is very straight forward, although clearly it had some major recent change because you can still see things like pillows and linens popping up in the check-out but no where to be found on the website. It took them around 2 days to process the order and payments, and they do keep updates on your order, which is reassuring as an e-commerce site.
The shipment however was pretty messed up, tough its mostly the delivery company to blame. Fedex ground they used was an utter disaster. It was scheduled for Friday last week, and without any explanation they just changed it to Monday. After a long wait with more than 10 phone calls, it finally arrived today. The package itself is very beat up, and the way they seal the package is very amateurish, like when you do return your amazon order with the same box they sent. Luckily the content (mattress) was, at least for now, not affected. So I will strongly suggest anyone who does not have the patience and time to deal with the extra drama coming with internet shopping, local retailer maybe more suitable for you.
The one I ordered was a single bed with firm option, it came with a beat-up box almost 4ft tall. It’s quite heavy and without any handle part on the box so moving it will be a challenge especially if you have to move it up stairs or anything bigger than full size. They wrap the vacuumed mattress with layers of thin plastic films to keep in place, and once you peel them off it rolls back to the intended shape. I’m still letting it sit to bounce back, which might take up to 48 hours, but it usually takes much less than that based on my experience. I do not smell much odor and they’re gone as soon as I opened the window, which is quite nice.
The mattress looks quite traditional, comparing to these newer “one size fits all” trendy brands. The top layer feels comfortable and sinks in quite well, actually softer than all the mattresses I owned that I listed above, but the first impression is it gives a decent support. Stomach sleep feels better than the back position, but it might change after I get used to it. right now it does feel that even the firm option they have is not on the “very firm” end of the scale, but I could be wrong.
Overall I’m happy with my purchase, at this stage. It will take quite a while to give it a proper assessment, but with the 120 days return policy I think I should be able to determine whether I like it or not in time.
