So, I made it up to DC and tried a bunch of mattresses. Here are my favorites in order of best first:
Hastens Eala
Kluft Beyond Luxury (very hard to know whether this or the one above it is better)
CozyPure (Norfolk) Latex mattress. We’d need to do half soft on one side and half medium on the other
Chatham and Wells FontaineBlue (more expensive than cozypure above so probably no point)
Duxiana (more expensive than cozypure above so no point)
Sferra Bieno (more expensive than cozypure above so no point)
We also tried some other one that may be useful as record to people here but didnt make it to our favorites list:
Millbrook (tried 2 of these at a furniture place and they were nowhere close to as good as our top favorites on the list)
Vispring (the place we went to only had 1 and it wasnt impressive)
We weren’t able to try Hypnos in DC so we’ll try that one and maybe a different vispring sometime when we go to Norfolk.
I’m curious if there are any commonalities among these choices that someone could help us find equivalent beds to our top pics that arent quite so expensive (such as a winstons or some other cheaper but high quality equivalent manufacturer)?
The two that I tried that were closest in feeling to the Eala/2000T was the Vispring Tiara with their Opulence topper and the McRoskey Cole Valley. The McRoskey will be hard to find but hopefully another ViSpring store will have the Tiara/Opulence combo. Still pricey but less than the Hästens and at the time I was looking that topper came free with the Tiara. Not sure how much Kluft goes for.
We do have both the Vispring and the Opulence topper @ski23, although I am not sure the Opulence would be free now. We do have a promo where the Heaven topper is free with select mattresses. We are a ways from you, but are glad to speak with you via phone - we do that a lot as there are not very many Vispring dealers in the US. Or feel free to road trip to NYC or Mount Kisco in NY.
The 2000T feels quite different to the Eala. The 2000T was too firm for us and didn’t feel great. The Eala was much better for us as were side sleepers. It was quite springy from the horsehair which I liked but I think personally I might have preferred something a bit softer and fluffier like the kluft or the winston’s mattress we ended up going with. (haven’t tried the winston’s yet though so it’s a gamble)
Huh that’s interesting to hear. I tried the Eala and 2000T at two different stores with the BJX luxury topper and I would say they were fairly similar with their main characteristic being you sink into the mattress and it gives you a weightless feeling. I tried the medium in both. The 2000T I thought was plusher than the Eala.
I hope the Winstons works out! Out of curiosity, what led you to that one?
That could potentially be the topper making a difference or it could be a weight difference. I weigh 155lbs and my wife weighs 215lbs, and we are both side sleepers, and for both of us the Eala was significantly softer than the 2000T (and the sales rep said that as well).
In terms of the choice of the Winstons, from looking into it, honestly it just looks like a higher quality mattress than either the Hastens or the Kluft while being nearly half the price of a King from either of those brands and we’re getting a split Wyoming King with Winstons so it just seems to be a much better value to me. I’ll know of course when I get it but that was my impression. Also their user reviews on unbiased sites are incredibly high (higher than hastens or any other brand I saw). I know user reviews alone arent an indicator of too much but I went through over a hundred reviews and the lowest I found was like 4 star and those were basically “I had an issue with the shipping courier” or 1 person “the mattress you listed as being very soft was softer than I expected”.
Also one other thing I’d point out about Winstons is their sales rep Reese is very knowledgeable. I was not an easy customer for them. He initially recommended a mattress for us based on my initial info and I basically grilled him on many many details of all the other mattresses they sell to figure out why he recommended the mattress that he did over the others and after getting many details about all the mattresses, I ended up with the conclusion that his original recommendation was spot on. We also wanted a topper for that mattress and it doesn’t come with one by default so they’re custom-making one specifically for that mattress and the price for it in my opinion doesn’t even really reflect that it’s custom made (as compared to their other toppers listed for sale). Also the layers are very high quality of the mattress and the topper:
Mattress:
Comfort Layers:
Bamboo
Shropshire Wool
Peruvian White Alpaca Wool
Lambswool
Topper layers (not exactly sure the order):
English Lambswool
Cashmere
Silk
Merino Wool
Peruvian White Baby Alpaca Wool
Mohair
Horsetail
British Highland Wool
At least on paper, the amount of layers and quality of them to me appears better than the Hastens or Kluft. For example the Kluft has some of the similar layer materials and we really liked the feel but upon digging into it, it also has some cheaper materials such as latex and foam. (not that there is necessarily anything wrong with those materials but for a 23k mattress that in the store they advertise as all natural fibers it appears to be a cost saving measure).
The hastens is all natural fibers but it is a different feel because of the choice of them:
As you can see from the image its basically the springs (of which there are 1380 compared to 3000 in the Winstons btw), a layer of flax, and some cotton and wool. Because of the sheer amount of horsehair gives it that really springy feel but to be honest I think I might have slightly prefer the soft cloudlike feel of the Kluft from the more layers of different materials and wool and whatnot which is what I think the Winstons should feel more like.
Here is the layers on the Winstons:
And finally for full transparency, here are the layer details on the kluft mattress:
Support layers:
1310 springs (again compared to 3000 on the Winstons)
To me at least the Winstons mattress looks the best of these 3 (Though I’m not a mattress expert). But regardless, it was definitely the most cost effective of the 3. I’ll report my thoughts when I receive it and then I can discuss how it feels compared to the other options I mentioned.
It makes you wonder, with all those layers, is someone testing the mattress and saying, hmmm, you know what might feel nice, a layer of alpaca wool 7 inches down in the mattress. LOL
Thats a fair point! I imagine it won’t make it feel worse or anything but yea definitely a good point. To be fair you could probably make that same argument for a lot of the high end mattresses. The sales rep at the hastens store was telling me about how the flax layer in their mattress discharges pent up electricity in your body and “grounds you” LOL. Yea its definitely arguable how many layers are “good enough” and at what point any returns are diminishing or non-existant. At least the Winstons is a lot cheaper than those other options though.
You can’t whether you’re in the US or in britain. They are online only which is part of how they can have such good prices. Yes it is a bit of a gamble but I laid on similar mattresses that I liked (as mentioned above) with similar layers which gave me enough confidence to go with one even without laying on it beforehand. They do also have a return policy (albeit the shipping costs to activate it would kinda suck if needed) but I suspect I won’t need it.
There is some level of risk yea. But at the same time, just because you lay on a mattress doesn’t mean you’ll sleep on it well. Our current mattress we liked at the store and now we hate it. Likewise, there are plenty of dissatisfied hastens customers who regret their purchase. The Winston’s mattresses have a very high customer satisfaction rate (100% on the mattress I’m getting) and I looked pretty in depth at reviews from unbiased sites. To be fair you definitely can’t rely on reviews alone to make a purchase. I have spent the last month learning as much as I could and tried mattresses at around a dozen different places before making this decision and looked pretty in depth at the mattresses I liked and why I liked them based on their composition so because of that I feel confident enough in my decision.
Shipping will probably depend a lot on time of year, size of the mattress, etc. I believe it was about 1500$ for our mattress and topper. Granted even though that’s kind of high, I was looking at the price including shipping all along when comparing with other mattresses. (of which it’s still significantly cheaper at the same ingredient level)
Every decision involves an element of risk. By meticulously narrowing down options, comparing materials, considering each layer, and trusting gut instincts, one attempts to navigate uncertainties. Determining the perfect mattress fit remains elusive, with Trusted Members standing out for their transparency, commitment to higher quality products, and exceptional customer service. These trusted members collaborate with clients to ensure a positive and successful experience.
Winston’s, while lacking the same level of personal collaboration found with some of our Trusted Members, demonstrates a strong grasp of quality materials. Although the likelihood of a home run may not be as assured as with the Trusted Members, opting for Winston’s still presents a potentially positive and successful proposition. Lower the chance of a poor choice.
I say go for it if you feel confident enough and you can find individual reviews to support your decision.
Yea. I did give them a deposit to go ahead and make the mattress and I’ll give the rest when I’m ready to receive it (to lock in the price and shipping as I’m building a house and wouldn’t really be able to use the mattress until that’s complete). But yes totally agree with everything you said. Theres always a risk and it eventually got to the point where I thought this risk was low enough. I’ll report back in sept/oct when I get the mattress to see if I was right!
