My wife and I are looking for a new mattress to replace an innerspring one that isn’t working for us anymore. It’s noticeably sagging on both sides and not providing the comfort and support we need. We both toss and turn a good bit. We’ve also had it about 7 years.
We’ve been to a few different local stores to start trying to hone our preferences. I suspect that we’ll try one of the online “simplified choice” options in the hopes of obtaining a better value than we might find in a retail store (we’d like to keep the purchase under 1000, ideally closer to 800 for a queen). So, I thought I’d mention what we’ve experience in those hopes that someone might make some suggestions to enable us to make a better educated guess for an online purchase.
So far, we liked the Ikea Myrbacka Firm, which is a memory foam version. One that was a bit more comfortable and seemed to offer a bit better pressure relief was from The Original Mattress Factory - their “firm” serenity memory foam. We also tried a few latex versions at both places (Ikea Myrbacka medium-firm latex, Ikea Morgongava, Ikea Matrand med-firm latex, and the Original Mattress Factory Serenity Latex) and didn’t care for the “bounce” to them, especially as we felt a bit wobbly laying on our sides. We’re leaning towards memory foam for the pressure relief. We definitely prefer firmer support with enough give in the comfort layer for the pressure relief. The only pause with the memory foam was that we weren’t really sure we liked the feel of the mattress catching up as we’d switch sleeping positions and we were concerned about the reputation of memory foam sleeping on the warmer side.
Any suggestions for us? I’d wondered about Tuft and Needle, but had a hard time figuring out how their proprietary blend might compare to what we’ve experienced.
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … It’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components 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”, firmness, or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here relative to your weight range … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article). The best way to know which type of materials or mattresses you tend to prefer at least in very general terms (regardless of anyone else’s preferences) will be based on your own careful testing or your own personal experience.
I’m not sure where you live but there may be some good quality/value options available in your area that you can test in person before a purchase so you don’t have to “guess” what they feel like to you and if you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.
Once you have decided on which types of materials or mattresses you tend to prefer … at least in general terms … then you can focus your online research on mattresses that use similar materials or are in the same general category even though they may be different in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP.
Each category can include hundreds or sometimes thousands of different mattresses with different designs, different “feels”, different characteristics, and different firmness levels. Every individual layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting material) will affect the feel and response of every other layer and component both above and below it and the mattress “as a whole” so each mattress category will generally include some mattresses that will be a good “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP and others that use the same type of materials and components and are in the same category may but have a different design or firmness level that may be completely unsuitable for you to sleep on … even if it uses the same general type of materials and components that would be just as durable.
There are some comments about the materials and design of many of the “simplified choice” mattresses in post #2 here and the first post in the same topic would be worth reading as well.
While most of the online simplified choice mattresses have a great trial period so you can test them in your bedroom instead of a showroom with little risk outside of the time you spend trying it (or returning/donating it if it doesn’t work out as well as you hoped) … this will only tell you whether a mattress is “good enough” in terms of PPP and not specifically how it compares to other mattresses that you could have purchased that may have been even better or that you may have preferred. When you test mattresses at a local store you can test many different mattresses in a shorter period of time and there may be more than one that would make a suitable choice but your testing can give you a good idea of which of them you would prefer and was more likely to be the “best choice”. You would need to purchase quite a number of online mattresses (and then return the ones you didn’t like as much as your “final choice”) if you wanted to find out which of them was the “best choice” relative to the other options that are available to you.
Outside of the simplified choice list … if you are looking at online options then the mattress shopping tutorial also includes several other links to lists of many of the better online options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) that include many different types and categories of mattresses in a wide range of budgets, firmness levels, and with a range of different return/exchange policies that may also be worth considering.
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would always keep in mind that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general 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. 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 in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (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 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.
In other words … the “bottom line” is that the only reliable way to know for certain whether any specific mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP is based on your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) or your own personal experience when you sleep on it, regardless of how anyone else may “rate” the same mattress.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
I would avoid the Ikea memory foam mattresses because they use 3 lb memory foam which is a lower quality and less durable material than I would consider.
This mattress uses high quality materials (see post #14 here) and there are no lower quality materials or weak links that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress relative to any weight range.
You can see some comments about the quality and durability of the materials in the Myrbacka and the Matrand and the Morgongava mattresses in post #2 here and in post #2 here. Forum searches on Myrbacka and on Matrand and on Morgongava (you can just click the links) will bring up more comments and feedback about each of them as well.
There is more about the OMF Serenity Latex in post #4 here and post #8 here and the posts they link to. These are all high quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress. There is also more about the pros and cons of a two sided mattress in post #3 here.
There is more about the materials they use in the simplified choice topic I linked but the top layer is a high performance polyfoam which would be more resilient (springy) than memory foam but less resilient than latex.
Latex and memory foam are completely different materials with very different properties but the choice between them is a preference and budget choice rather than a “better/worse” choice. Some people prefer the “feel” and performance of latex and some people prefer memory foam. There is more about some of the general differences between them in post #2 here but once again the most reliable way to know which types of materials or mattresses you tend to prefer will be based on your own careful testing or your own personal experience.
In its simplest form choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …
Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.
Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.
Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Thanks so much for the guidance. I’ve been doing as much reading here in the tutorials and threads that I can. Lot’s of helpful information, almost information overload, but I like to research purchases and find it helpful. Thanks!
I’m in Atlanta, GA. If it’s possible to buy locally and get a good value, I definitely prefer that route to purchasing online. We weren’t seriously considering the Ikea ones. We’d just gone to flop around on a bunch of mattresses to see what sorts of materials felt good. If the OMF is a good local option, we’d definitely consider it. It was just a bit higher in price than we’d hoped.
We’ll keep doing some testing to better hone our preferences, but I think we’re feeling a definite leaning towards a memory foam mattresses. The latex ones we tried were too wobbly/jiggly feeling and we didn’t like that.
Subject to confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list is completely transparent (see this article) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your specific criteria thequality/value guidelines I linked in the previous paragraph … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Atlanta, GA area are listed in post #2 here.
OMF is a factory direct manufacturer that is generally among the better quality/value options in the areas where they have a retail store.
Different people can certainly have different preferences so it’s good to see that you are taking the time to find out the types of materials and mattresses that you prefer. You may also find that firmer latex mattresses or Dunlop latex is a little bit less “wobbly/jiggly”.
Thanks! The one latex one we were able to confirm the material was Talalay. I’ll try to find a dunlop one. I’m looking into some other options for us to check out locally and I’m glad to hear that OMF is among the better quality/value options. Thanks, again.