How to look for and find the best mattress ... for YOU! ***READ FIRST***

[phoenix]

Hi Fountain333,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

I so appreciate you having this forum to gather information on mattresses!

You’re very welcome. It’s a labour of love.

I have tried to locate a sleep shop in my area (sarasota florida) that can assist me in finding something that works

Subject to first confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list that you wish to visit is completely transparent ( see this article ) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Sarasota /Brandenton area is here .

I have a problem…There is way too much information. Can you please point me in a direction?

While I can certainly help with “how” to choose a mattress, 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 for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation 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).

The one article I would have you rad would be the mattress shopping tutorial here. Drilling down to it 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 …

1. 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 (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) … 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.

2. Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight/BMI range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress (see the durability guidelines here).

3. 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.

I did some research (before reading your forum) and landed on a purple mattress… Read a ton of reviews and seemed like it would be a great fit for me as I’m a side sleeper at 230#s. Well I’ve been sleeping on it for about 3 weeks and its no better then my 15 year old mattress. I wake up with horrible back pain. Can you please point me in a direction?

I’m sorry that your Purple mattress isn’t working out well for you, but at least you had the foresight to choose something with a good return policy. Using reviews is one of the least reliable ways to predict whether a mattress will be appropriate for your own personal use. 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 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 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).

I hope that information helps to simplify things for you and also helps point you in the direction of some reliable local retailers who can be assistive to you in your process. I’ll be interested in learning about anything that end up purchasing, your experience, or any other questions you may have.

Phoenix