The information contained in the shopping tutorial, articles as well as in the forum has been immensely helpful. That being said – it is a bit overwhelming at this point.
I need to replace a 10 year old latex mattress and considering either a memory form or latex Queen size mattress as a replacement. I need to narrow down foam firmness and density or latex variety by testing and lying on a few mattresses locally and then I can better determine what and where to purchase. I am not adverse to purchasing from an online company.
Can you suggest brands and models of both memory form and latex mattress that are commonly available in local sleep stores in Delaware – zip code 19711? The bed will be slept on by 1 female (5’'8", 150 lbs with lower back pain from spinal stenosis and spondyloloithesis) and 1 male (6’1", 210 lbs with lower back pain and shoulder pain). Both are side sleepers. Suggestions also would be welcome for online mattresses brands/models that we should consider.
Any suggestions, comments and guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … I don’t 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” or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your 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 accurate 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 would also be very cautious about brand shopping in general because you are buying a specific mattress not the brand and all manufacturers have access to the same or similar components and materials. Many manufacturers make a wide range of mattresses that can vary from lower quality and less durable materials to higher quality and more durable materials in a wide range of prices. The name of the manufacturer on the label or the price of the mattress won’t tell you anything about whether a specific mattress is suitable 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 (which are the two most important parts of a mattress purchase). There is more about the risks of brand shopping in post #5 here and post #12 here.
It’s great to see that you’ve read the tutorial but 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.
I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances but outside of PPP the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the quality/durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
Memory foam and latex are also very different materials with very different properties that are more opposite than similar (one has little to no resilience and the other is highly resilient for example). There is more about the pros and cons of memory foam vs latex in post #2 here but the best way to know which type of materials you tend to prefer is based on testing a range of mattress in different firmness levels in each category to see if you can identify any “pattern” in your preferences.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Philadelphia/Wilmington/Trenton areas (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meet the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #4 here.
I don’t keep a record of the individual mattresses or their specs that the retailers and manufacturers in the hundreds of forum lists throughout the forum carry on their floor or have available online (it would be a bigger job than anyone could keep up with in a constantly changing market) but checking their websites and making some preliminary phone calls to the retailers/manufacturers that are on the local lists is always a good idea before you decide on which retailers or manufacturers you wish to deal with anyway. This will tell you which of them carry mattresses that would meet your specific criteria, are transparent about the materials in their mattresses, and that carry the type of mattresses that you are interested in that are also in the budget range you are comfortable with. Once you have checked their websites and/or talked with the ones that interest you then you will be in a much better position to decide on the ones that you are most interested in considering or visiting based on the results of your preliminary research and conversations.
Again I don’t make specific suggestions or recommendations but If you are looking at online options then the mattress shopping tutorial includes several links to lists of the better online options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) that include many different types and categories of mattresses (including memory foam, latex, and latex hybrid mattresses) in a wide range of budgets, firmness levels, and return/exchange policies that would be well worth considering.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed 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 any firmness level options they have to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
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 that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in (either locally or online) and that you have confirmed can provide you with all the information you need to know to make an informed choice and make 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 the mattress 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 your quick reply! Again, all great info, especially pointing me to the post with dealers in my area.
I completely understand that you can’t recommend brands – I was actually looking more for suggestions of brands that had a variety of choices that we could “test out” and are also transparent about their products. For example, TempurPedic has numerous choices…and would seem to be a good way to test out various firmness and densities, yet I have been told that they don’t disclose details about their mattresses.
There is more information about the likelihood you will be able to find out the specs for each of the top 15 manufacturers in this article but your ability to find out the “quality specs” of a mattress you are considering will normally depend more on the ability and willingness of the retailer to find out all the information you need than the manufacturer of the mattress. Many smaller manufacturers and many factory direct manufacturers are more transparent than the major brands but again I would always call any store you are considering before visiting them to make sure they can and will provide you with the information here that you will need to make an informed choice and to find out about the specific models that they carry (most retailers don’t carry all the models that are made by a specific manufacturer)…
While Tempurpedic isn’t as transparent about the quality/density of their foam layers as they used to be … for the most part the specs of their mattresses are still available and a forum search on most of them will usually bring up their specs. Having said that … for most people Tempurpedic wouldn’t be a particularly good value choice because there are many other manufacturers that use similar or even better quality materials that are in lower budget ranges.
While your local testing on different materials and types of mattresses can give you a general idea of the types of mattresses or materials that you tend to prefer … there are hundreds or even thousands of mattresses in each different mattress category in a wide range of “feels” and firmness levels and with very different designs so I would keep in mind that testing a local mattress may not give you an accurate indication of what an online mattress in the same general category will feel like unless they both have exactly the same design.
There is more information in post #9 here about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one. Every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting materials) will affect the feel and performance of every other layer and component and the mattress “as a whole” so unless you are able to find another mattress that uses exactly the same type of materials, components, cover, layer thicknesses, layer firmnesses, and overall design (which would be very unlikely) then there really isn’t a way to match one mattress to another one in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) based on the specifications of the mattresses (even assuming that you can find out all the specifications you would need for both mattresses you are comparing).
Mattress manufacturers generally try to differentiate their mattress from the mattresses made by other manufacturers and don’t normally try to “match” another mattress that is made by a different manufacturer so unless a manufacturer specifically says in their description of a mattress that one of their mattresses in the same general category is specifically designed to “match” or “approximate” another one in terms of firmness or “feel” and PPP and/or they are very familiar with both mattresses and can provide reliable guidance about how they compare based on the “averages” of a larger group of people that have compared them (different people may have very different opinions about how two mattresses compare) … the only reliable way to know for certain how two mattresses would compare for you in terms of how they “feel” or in terms of firmness or PPP would be based on your own careful testing or actual sleeping experience on both of them.