HELP! I need to buy a Memory Foam mattress w/ a store credit from WalMart

Okay, I guess the title of this post is misleading, I don’t have to do anything :wink: BUT I do have a $1,000 store credit from WalMart (returned a damaged car item and was only offered store credit) I can either keep holding on to the store credit or go ahead and get a new bed. I need a new mattress anyway so I would like to get something very soon.

Alright information about me

Weight: 168 lbs (have lost 30 lbs in the past year and will most likely lose an additional 40 lbs in the next 2 years)
Height: 5’3
Age: 29
Aches/Pains: currently I am stuck sleeping on a horrible futton that sinks on all sides in the middle. it’s just horrible. I have a lot of lower back pain, when I slept on a spring mattress my arms used to fall asleep
Sleeping Pattern: Mainly on my side, partially on my back, rarely if ever on my stomach. What can I do to make this the most comfortable mattress? do I need a topper in addition to the mattress?

My back seriously hurts so bad and so do my hips when I wake up

While I prefer a more firm fit, I do not want the mattress to be too hard, I like something that I can sink into a little bit but not too much.

Is there anything that you all can see on the WalMart website that’s worth buying? I will also need a foundation and I know Walmart sells a few of those. On another note, I plan on purchasing a Legett & Platt adjustable bed (Shipshape) or something similar in a few years. Would this memory foam mattress be able to be placed on that? I do not wan tto spend more than $1,200 total (including my store credit) for everything.

here’s a link to their products: Home - Walmart.com

do any of you have suggestions? this website is sooo informative. Thanks!

Hi kimmie,

It’s not really possible to suggest specific mattresses without a frame of reference (how you felt on a particular mattress where the layering was known) and knowing more about your preferences such as between different types of foam (various types of latex, memory foams, or polyfoam) or styles of mattress (such as innersprings, latex base, polyfoam base etc).

There are some general guidelines about different body types here and about various sleeping styles here which should give you some good more generic guidelines about what may work well for you in terms of layering.

A mattress is only as good as the materials that are in it and of course even the best materials may be put together in a way that is not suitable for a particular person and doesn’t provide them with the pressure relief and alignment they need. Part of the difficulty with WalMart is that many of their mattresses don’t have the information that you would need to know the quality of the mattress or sometimes even guess at how it would perform. They also don’t have the “experts” that have the experience of “fitting” their customers to the mattresses they offer. This is why their money back guarantee is so important because it’s easier to guess wrong in the absense of complete information about their mattresses or the guidance and experience with specific mattresses that can help their customers make the best choices.

Having said all that … they do have some reasonable options in both memory foam and latex and once you know the general type of mattress you would prefer then I would look for mattresses there that use either good quality latex or higher density memory foam in the comfort layers and then a good polyfoam (most common) or innerspring in the support core. Just make sure it doesn’t have more than about an inch or so of lower density polyfoam in the upper layers of the mattress. I would avoid the ones that don’t have a description that includes the “specs” you need unless you can find the details their descriptions are missing. I would avoid the “mainstream” and major brand mattresses that they sell.

It seems to me too that your “needs” have already changed and will likely be changing more as your weight goes down and this can also affect your choices. Generally heavier body types will feel foams as being softer than those who are lighter weight and don’t sink in as much (making the foam feel firmer). At least you weight is going in the direction that if your mattress starts to feel firmer than you would prefer that it would be easy to add a fairly thin topper if you need to.

As you can see from the guidelines … you would need a comfort layer that is soft and thick enough to “allow” your pressure points to sink in enough to relieve pressure (which usually causes the tingling, numbness, falling asleep symptoms) and firm enough in the base layers to “stop” your heavier parts from sinking down too far and keep you in good alignment in all your sleeping positions (which is usually the cause of back issues). In other words a mattress is always a combination of upper softness for pressure relief and deeper firmness for support and alignment and how well they interact with each person’s unique body type, sleeping styles, sensitivities, and preferences is part of the “challenge” of choosing a mattress.

I would probably do some local testing on various mattresses to see if you can get a general sense of the material and mattress types you prefer and seem to work well for you and then make a “Walmart” choice based on your testing. If you can “narrow down” the type of mattress you want a little more specifically, I’d be happy to take a quick look at what I can see on the Walmart site in that particular material or style.

Phoenix

Hi Phoneix, thank you so much for reply. I knew that I would get a lot of great information from you.

Alright, so I have only tried to sleep on a few temperature mattresses and liked both of the Cloud’s. They feel pretty good. But obviously I do not how it feels like to sleep on it long term. I am going to go check out some other ones and get back to you.

I would like to stick with a memory foam and eventually place that on a Leggett & Platt ShipShape adjustable bed.

BTW I totally appreciate the time that you’re taking on this, I kept clicking “refresh” all morning to hear back from you and wont be buying a new mattress without your advice.

I use another consumer advocacy/education site but that one is mainly for jewelery etc. and It’s good to know that so many different sectors of the consumer market have similar sites. An educated shopper is the best! Thanks again

Hi kimmie,

Thanks for the comments and I’m looking forward to hearing about your “testing”. I’m sure the credit can be put to good use :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Alright, so today I went and tried out various Tempurpedic mattresses and these are the ones that I liked, in the following order

  1. Rhapsody - amazing, perfect, the support and firmness were JUST RIGHT - although if it was slightly softer when I am laying on my side, I would like it a lot more. This out of all four that I slept on seemed to offer me the best lumbar support. Of course it was the most expensive, I doubt that I can find something close to it at WalMart… but hopefully I can get somewhere close to it. Density of this was 7.3

  2. Contour Signature - REALLY good, again I liked it. Density = 4.3 - I also tried the other Contour and it was TOO firm. When I was laying on my side I felt my ribcage kind of squished.

  3. Cloud supreme - Pretty good, but I felt like it was a tiny bit too soft. Density = 4.3

  4. Cloud Luxe - nice, but a bit TOO soft. Can’t see myself sleeping on this and feeling comfortable after a while. Density = 4.3

so ultimately I feel like I need MEDIUM support, it felt just right. I feel like I could be happiest with either of the first three. If I have to, I would prefer to get a more firm mattress and just buy some sort of soft topper to place on it, instead of getting a soft mattress that I just sink into. I would rather get the lumbar support.

Let me know what you think, hopefully I can find SOMETHING decent at WalMart. their online stuff has a lot more to offer than anything in their stores, I just don’t know which one is decent quality

Thanks again for your help

hi kimmie,

The Temurpedic site lists some of the “quality” specs of their mattress and in many cases these involve multiple layers of different density memory foams. for example the Rhapsody uses both 7 lb memory foam and 5.3 lb memory foam. The cloud series uses 4 lb memory foam in combination with 5.3 and 7 lb memory foam and there are even different versions of the same foam density (softer and firmer formulations of the 5.3 lb foam for example).

In addition to this … they don’t list the “comfort” specs of their materials and there are hundreds or even thousands of different types of memory foam with different performance characteristics and feels … even in the same density. Some of the variables in memory foam are listed in post #9 here. Every layer and component in a mattress affects every other layer and each individual person can interact with a mattress differently from someone else so unless two different mattresses have the same materials and components … it can be surprising how different some seemingly minor differences can make. While foam density can be a “quality and value” comparison … it has little to do with how a mattress feels and performs for any individual person. This is made more difficult by the fact that many of the descriptions on the WalMart site are incomplete.

What this means is that there is no way to “match” one memory foam mattress to another unless a manufacturer has done extensive testing or has a lot of experience in comparing the Tempurpedic line to the mattresses they make. For example … Select Foam makes a line of mattresses that are designed and tested (real world testing) to come very close to the Tempurpedic line but in most cases outlets that compare themselves to Tempurpedic are comparing apples to oranges.

The Rhapsody (which you like) has 1.2" of 7 lb memory foam over 2.8" of 5.3 lb memory foam over a base layer which is in the range of 2.2 lbs but has an unknown ILD (which is a comfort spec and has nothing to do with quality). This means that you would probably increase your odds of finding something similar if you found a mattress which had similar memory foam densities and layer thickness but even then the different memory foams may have completely different response rates, breathability, temperature sensitivity, and softness/firmness levels.

Your second choice the Contour Signature uses two different layers of 5.3 lb memory foam (1.6" and 2.4") over the same polyfoam so the memory foam thickness is similar but the memory foams used are different. both of these are listed as “medium-firm” but this is really a subjective rating and only really applies relative to other Tempurpedic mattresses because each manufacturer can use these “words” differently and there is no specific definition of these words.

The Cloud line uses various combinations of 4 lb memory foam with 5.3 lb or 7 lb memory foam (thicker layers as you move up the line).

With the guidance of someone who had compared a specific mattress to a similar Tempurpedic mattress then you would have better odds of “matching” the two but this level of expertise doesn’t exist at Walmart. instead … they have a money back guarantee which means you can “roll the dice” and get a refund if you’re wrong.

So looking at the WalMart website … almost all of the mattresses use lower density memory foam (usuallyin the 3-4 lb range) and the ones that are higher quality use different layer thicknesses (usually 3"). The one’s I would probably be most tempted to consider if I was in your shoes though because they are higher quality (but unknown in terms of how they may feel to you) include …

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nature-s-Sleep-The-Aruba-12-Visco-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Set/15807203 This uses 3" of 5.6 lb memory foam and also uses 2.2 lb base form. It is supposed to be “next generation” which usually means it is more breathable and cooler than other memory foam. Foam is CertiPur certified.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nature-s-Sleep-The-Bermuda-11-Visco-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Set/15807146 Similar to the Aruba except it uses 4.6 lb memory foam and has an inch less in the base foam.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Boyd-Eco-Lux-Gel-12-Memory-Foam-Mattress/21388843 They don’t ist the density of their memory foam but it uses 3" of it and another inch of convoluted memory foam under this. Also CertiPur certified. You can see more information about it here.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Renew-10-Inch-Luxury-Memory-Foam-Mattress/17431684 This has 5" of 5.25 lb memory foam over a 5" HD base foam (don’t say the density). They are also good quality and CertiPur Certified

http://www.walmart.com/ip/SPALDIN-Memory-Plus-Foam-Mattress/21066279 these are somewhat unusual because Spaldin is an interesting manufacturer with some good information on their site that does several things differently from other memory foam manufacturers. The first of these is that they use MDI instead of TDI to make their foam (which is considered by many to be a higher performance memory foam that is also safer and less toxic method of making memory foam). The second is that they replace a much higher percentage of their petrochemical polyols with plant based polyols (about 50%) than most manufacturers and finally they aree Oeko-Tex certified rather than just CertiPur certified which is a more stringent standard oftesting for VOC’s and harmful ingredients in their mattress. They are the only one in North America that I know of whose memory foam is Oeko-Tex certified. the “down side” is that their memory foam is only 3.75 lbs.

So this will give you an idea of what I believe are the higher quality memory foam mattresses on the WalMart site. While it’s impossible to know how they will feel except perhaps from reading various online reviews which say how different people felt on the mattresses (and taking these with a grain of salt because each person has their own unique perceptions) … at least these have better odds of throwing the dice and coming up with a winning number :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Hello again, I am leaning towards the Spaldin - mainly due to the issue of offgasses and VOC’s - but I am worried about it being 3.75 lbs density. Do you think that I can add some sort of firm topper to the top or bottom to help with this issue or is that a non-factor.

I am also hoping to buy an adjustable bed for the foundation. Leaning towards this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/ShipShape-Adjustable-Bed-Frame-Queen/20701054

do you think that this mattress will do well on that or do you recommend another foundation from the Walmart website. In fact, I may actually purchase a foundation first and the adjustable bed in a year or two. Do you have any foundation recommendations from the Walmart site?

Thanks again! you’re amazing.

Hi Kimmie,

The density of memory foam (or polyurethane foam) is not related to firmness because any density of foam can be made in a wide range of firmness levels from ultra soft to much firmer. For example … the 7 lb tempurpedic memory foam is generally regarded as “softer” than their regular 5.3 lb memory foam (once they both warm up) even though it is denser. Density is the biggest factor in the durability of a material though so all other things being equal … a 3.75 lb memory foam will not be as durable as a higher density memory foam.

Softening is also not the same thing as body impressions. Body impressions are the last stage of foam degradation and softening will happen before actual impressions form (failure to come back to the original level surface with no weight on the mattress ). How much of an effect any softening had on you would depend on how you interacted with all the mattress layers (not just the memory foam) and where in your “ideal range” of tolerance you were in terms of pressure relief and alignment. For example if there was a soft layer on top of a mattress that was say a couple of inches thick and this was over a much firmer layer … if the softer foam softened and allowed you to “go through” it more … you could feel more of the firmer layer below it and the mattress would feel firmer. If on the other hand there was a thicker layer of softer foam on top (say 3 or 4 inches) then the softening of this layer may still be enough to isolate you from the firmness of the firmer lower support layers but could compromise alignment (let your heavier parts sink in too far relative to other areas of your body). Which way softening would affect you would depend on the layers in the mattress and on your own body type and sleeping style.

Putting a firmer layer on top of this would lessen the regular mechanical compression of the softer memory foam and it would last longer but it would also affect the performance of the memory foam (it would lessen the heat reaching it and while it may last longer … it would also not soften and perform the way it was meant to perform or provide the pressure relief of the mattress without a firm topper). Adding another softer layer on top of softer memory foam would also result in the lower layer lasting longer so that the “feel” may be similar but would add to to the risk of the heavier parts of the body sinking in too deeply and could lead to the misalignment of your spine.

All of this is part of the many “tradeoffs” that are part of choosing a mattress … in this case the tradeoff between a lower density foam and the other advantages of the mattress. If you do go in this direction I would first buy the mattress before deciding on any topper to add to it. Because it is 3" thick (not really thick or really thin) … it may also be inside your “range” enough that either the initial softening of the memory foam (memory foam will soften more rapidly while it is breaking in over the first few weeks or so and then the softening will slow down to a more gradual process) or the ongoing softening will still be in your range over time. If you were “on the edge” of your range in terms of pressure relief or alignment then the softening of the memory foam would put you over the edge more quickly. This is also why personal testing can be more accurate than buying online.

The price for the Shipshape is a good one (I generally use http://www.adjustablebeds.org/ as a pricing reference point for adjustable beds because their online prices are among the best) and the Shipshape itself is one of the better values in the L&P lineup for a basic model compared to other manufacturers (L&P is often overpriced in their higher end models compared to Ergomotion or Reverie).

In almost all cases … an all foam mattress (no innersprings) is suitable for an adjustable bed but in a few cases a manufacturer may not recommend them (usually because they are using a stiffer or lower density foam in the base layers that may not be as durable with constant bending). So while it’s probably fine … I would email Spaldin just to make sure.

The foundation thread here includes a couple or links to inexpensive foundations (actually foundation/frames) that are from WalMart.

Phoenix

Hi again, okay here’s my update. I got the L&P ship shape frame that I like a lot.

I got the Spaldin Queen, and I wanted to like it soo much… but I don’t.

Positives about the Spaldin: Almost NO smell at all, even after I opened it, I did smell something SLIGHTLY but it went away within 24 hours.

As far as support goes, honestly it’s non-existant. It feels like an old mattress already and sinks in certain areas. I don’t know if it’s because it’s on an adjustable bed, or that the material is not high quality. All I know is that it’s soft and not supportive when I am laying on my back. On another note, It does feel feel okay when I am feeling on my side.

So now I am returning it and will be purchasing either

  1. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nature-s-Sleep-The-Aruba-12-Visco-Memory-Foam-Mattress-Set/15807203

  2. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11337600&search=memory+foam&Mo=88&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=memory+foam&Ntt=memory+foam&No=2&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

  3. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11672439&search=memory+foam&Mo=88&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=memory+foam&Ntt=memory+foam&No=5&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

which one do you recommend out of the these 3 ?

Hi kimmie,

The big advantage of Walmart and some of the other big box stores is that you get to roll the dice and if it doesn’t work out … you can just start again :slight_smile:

Softness and quality are not connected and both high and low quality materials can be either soft or firm or supportive for one person and not for another. This is what I call a mattress’ “comfort specs” and is the biggest problem with buying from these same stores because unlike the better local outlets or online manufactures … they don’t know anything about mattresses so you really are just rolling the dice as far as PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) and hoping you will get it “right”.

Of the 3 choices you listed … the Aruba is the only one that uses high quality materials. The novaforms both use lower density/quality foams that will soften and degrade faster than higher quality foams.

Phoenix

HI again

alright, a little bit of drama w/ the refund. I have to pay a $99 fee to have Wayfair (producer/distributor) to pick up the item and I can only exchange the item. So before I get locked into another item, do you think you give me some additional recommendations for items that Wayfair carries?

I need to stick to a queen size memory foam and would like to get as close as to something firmer and high quality here is their link of items that they carry Wayfair | Memory Foam Mattresses You'll Love in 2023

I just need it to be a bit firmer than the Spaldin

Hi kimmie,

Unfortunately it would take me more time than I have available to analyze each one and try to track down any missing specs on phone calls (and then probably not get them anyway) and even then I would need to lay on the Spaldin and another potential mattress so I could get a sense of how they compared (you can’t really tell the "feel"of memory foam from specs) so it would be easier to give you some guidelines about what to look for so you can do more effective research or call them (or the companies that make the mattresses) to fill in any blanks that are missing in the descriptions.

I would look for either 4 or 5 lb memory foam in relatively thin layers so you will feel more of the foam under it (which hopefully will be on the firm side and not too soft or you would feel the softness under the memory foam), 1.8 lb density or better polyfoam in the support layers, and descriptions in the feedback that indicated that the mattress was on the firm side in the absence of ILD numbers (which you aren’t likely to find). You could also try calling the manufacturer of each mattress to see if they can give you some guidance about the relative firmness of each one you are considering. Without all the information that is needed to make a meaningful assessment of “feel” or trying them myself and seeing how they felt to me in a side by side comparison … then I would be guessing about how they feel as much as anyone else.

I wish I could be more helpful but WalMart (or Wayfair) usually doesn’t have the type of knowledgeable people that can give you good guidance over the phone so it really is more about rolling the dice. It’s unfortunate that the product you ordered came from Wayfair though because I think that if something is supplied by Walmart that they don’t charge for the return but I could be mistaken.

I would take lots of time reading the feedback on the Walmart site (or other sites that sell the same mattresses on a google search) which will at least tell you how other people “rated” the mattresses which may give some indication about how it may feel to you.

I wish I could help more but without the information I would need to make a reasonable assessment or personal testing … I’m as much in the dark as you are about how they would feel to any particular person.

Phoenix