Youāve probably read this but just in case you havenāt post #1 in this thread is always the place to start.
There are certainly many great options that are at least as good quality and much better value than the $4000 you would spend for the Tempurpedic Cloud Breeze ā¦ with lots of room to spare.
If you have questions along the way ā¦ feel free to post them here ā¦ and of course if you let me know the city or zip Iād be happy to let you know of any of the better options or possibilities I know of in your area once you get to step 3
As you know I think very highly of Buis (which is why they were invited to be a member here) and Iām looking forward to your feedback on your experience there.
My wife and I have about settled on buying a 100% all-natural 9" latex Arizona Premium Mattress. Since we are both big (fatāIām 315 and my wife is 240), we are thinking of a firm 6" dunlop core. The problem comes with the top layer. I spoke with Greg at APM. They offer a 3" upgrade from the normal 2" top layer. My wife and I have historically prefered Very Firm innerspring mattresses. Greg can do a 28 ILD 3" top layer of talalay or a 3" dunlop that would seem firmer. Iām having a hard time choosing. Any thoughts, comments, or warnings? We are both in our 60ās. We are both side sleepers. I have had a below-the-knee amputation of my right leg.
There are so many variables involved in how each person will interact with a mattress that the most accurate way to know how a mattress may feel or perform for you is through testing a very similar mattress locally in person.
If this is not possible (and I would make this a priority if possible) ā¦ then the next best way is with a more detailed conversation with the retailer or manufacturer who can give you good information that will help you understand the pros and cons of the options they provide.
Dunlop has a higher āsupport factorā and will feel firmer and more supportive than a similar ILD of Talalay. It is also a little less lively. Itās difficult to describe the difference to someone that hasnāt tested both in person but post #7 here may help you āimagineā the difference.
Because there are too many variable involved to make any specific design suggestions for the members here (I leave that to your own local testing, research, and more detailed conversations with each manufacturer) ā¦ the āPutting the layers togetherā and the āSleeping style, preferences, and statisticsā sections of the site and the 'tips and tricks" page may give you some helpful insights. Bear in mind that heavier or larger people may need thicker/firmer comfort layers (as well as firmer support layers) than average depending on their sleeping style and positions and side sleepers will usually do better with thicker comfort layers as well. Because of your weight ā¦ a firm Dunlop core sounds like a reasonable choice to me. For the comfort layer which provides much of the āfeelā of a mattress ā¦ I would rely on any local testing you have done along with the insights provided by APM and your research on this site to make the choice that has the best odds of providing you with the PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) that is best for you.
I am new to the search for a new, comfortable and affordable mattress.The information on this forum is invaluable.I have learned a great deal and have only just started to explore the subject.Thanks for all the useful information
Can you recommend some mattress places in the St. Louis area? I almost impulse purchased from Bed in a Box, but then I started wondering if the reviews were fake. I am glad I found this website so that I can make a more informed mattress choice!!
Actually, you can disregard my above post because I found a list you made from 2011ā¦ So my husband and I have tested mattresses a few times in the last couple weeks, and the biggest problem is that we pretty much like everything and canāt really decide what we like the best. We made this mistake before when we purchased our Sealy mattress in 2009, because it was reasonably priced compared to some of the others. We liked everything we tried then too. But the middle-of-the-bed sinking it does now is terrible. It gives me horrible back pain, and I can usually sleep ANYWHERE without waking up in pain. My husband is a little bit more high maintenance. He had a C-spine fusion five years ago and has really bad neck and back pain from it. We are both now sleeping on the couch until we can find a new bed.
I have no idea where to even start on which type of mattress to buy. I read through all of your introductory information, and it makes me even more confused as to where to start. Iām guessing we donāt want an innerspring since we have that now and hate it. We donāt want an air or water bed. So I guess that leaves the various foams or latex. When we went mattress testing before, it was before I found this website. So I wasnāt really paying attention to what the mattress layers were made out of at the time. I guess my main concern though is just being able to narrow mattresses down since right now pretty much anything out there is better than what we have right now! Maybe you can just make a couple recommendations for me to start with evaluating? Iām a back or side sleeper, and my husband is a back sleeper with neck/back problems. We are both average weight. My favorite sleep experience was in a Marriott hotel bed. I have no idea what it was made out of, but it was heavenly.
This is why you would need to test the different types of mattresses and materials. If you follow the steps and guidelines one by one you will be fine. You have some good options in the St Louis area that are experienced and knowledgeable that can give you some good guidance. Many of these will already know what you otherwise would need to learn.
You have done some initial reading (step 1) ā¦ know what to eliminate and what to look for (step 2) ā¦ you have identified some good local manufacturers and retailers (step 3) ā¦ and you know how to test mattresses more accurately and objectively to increase your odds of making a good choice (linked in the post). Now itās a matter of connecting with some of the better sources in your area so you can test different types of mattresses and choosing the one that is ābest for youā at each manufacturer or retailers you visit (step 4). These will be your final choices (step 5). Only you can know this because nobody else can feel what you feel on a mattress and there is no ātheory at a distanceā that can predict which mattress is best for you more accurately than your own testing ā¦ especially with the help of knowledgeable and experienced āmattress professionalsā.
I am happy to help with HOW to make the best choices but only you can decide WHAT to buy based on your own personal value equation. Again ā¦ there is no specific formula or ātheoryā that someone else can decide which mattress may work best for you that can possibly be more accurate than your own experience with the help and guidance of knowledgeable people. The best recommendation I would have is to phone the options on the list and then visit the manufacturers and retailers in your area that you connect with on the phone. With their help you can test the mattresses they make or sell for PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) and make the best possible final choices.
Hi Amanda. Have you purchased anything online before? You can always try some mattresses out in the St. Louis area, and then search online to see if you can get a better deal for the same mattress.
Let us know if you also need help looking for a reputable online store to order a mattress?
Iām enjoying your website and really glad I found it. I was beginning to fear that there was no way I could find a suitable, quality mattress.
In your siteās section on comfort layers, you state that low quality memory foam smells bad. In another section of the site, you say never to buy a name brand mattress.
Iām just getting started in my mattress search and spent the last two weekends at three of the heavily advertised local stores, checking out their national brand mattresses.
Every mattress, in all three stores, had at least a little memory foam - even the very firm inner spring models.
And every one of those mattresses smelled of the foam. I canāt take much of that smell, and would be sick after a night on any of those national brand mattresses.
Odd thing is, on the mattresses that had the least memory foam, it was sometimes hard to smell the foam while in the store, maybe because the whole store stunk of that smell worse than that the particular mattress. But, I put my coat and scarf on one of those really low content memory foam mattresses while I looked around the store. When I got out side, my coat and scarf had a strong memory foam smell from being on that mattress.
Conclusion, most national brand mattresses are made with cheap memory foam.
Not all memory foam smells bad and any density (quality) of memory foam can have some smell at first (or sometimes longer) regardless of its quality or density. Even memory foam that is CertiPur certified and is very high quality/density can have some initial odor and some VOCās donāt have any smell at all.
Some initial smell or offgassing can be part of any memory foam (and other foams as well) depending on how long it has aired or its formulation but smell itself is not an indicator of the quality of the foam.
I just thought I should clarify your comments so that other members didnāt think that smell was connected to the quality or density of memory foam.
Itās true though that much (but not necessarily all) of the foam in national brand mattresses are lower quality and value than most of their smaller independent competitors.
Thanks for the kind comments and Iām looking forward to hearing about the mattress you end up choosing.
I seem to have developed a bad attitude about memory foam in general. Itās as if memory foam is teasing me.
I really like the feel of a little memory foam in the top layer of a mattress. People who arenāt sensitive to the odor get to benefit from the unique functionality of memory foam. But not me.
Iām very sensitive to chemical odors. And every memory foam mattresses I ātestedā in the last two weeks had āthatā smell. If it was recently added to the display room, or if it had a great deal of memory foam, the smell was stronger. But even mattresses that had been on the floor for many months, with fairly limited memory foam content, still bothered me.
On a positive note, one of your posts about local and regional mattress manufacturers with dealers in our area (Huntsville, AL) led me to one or two ānewā mattress dealers that we are going to explore tomorrow. Iām looking forward to my first experience of mattresses made partially or completely of latex.
I know that they are a fairly long ways away from you but if you are in the mood for a longer drive then Tom at Royal Bedding has a fairly new line line of latex and other mattresses that I like. They include some two sided ābaseā mattresses using various components (innersprings and latex) that can either be used by themselves (firmer) or with various toppers that are custom designed for them to customize their feel and performance and they have great quality, value and versatility.
I talked with him today for some time and have watched him develop this line (and been one of the people he has bounced ideas off of). He is truly āmattress peopleā.
Just in case you feel like taking a longer trip to Pelham
transparency: will they tell you āwhatās really under the hoodā (density, materials, construction, etc.)?
hidden costs: how much is going to pay for commission, showroom decoration, rent, etc.
Of course you can get really good mattresses in stores, but you will generally pay a premium. There is no escaping the costs of operating a physical store which must be included in the price you pay for your bed.
I looked at the Royal Bedding website and watched Tomās YouTube videos. Too far away for us.
We did get to see/feel latex mattresses by Denver Mattress Company ( the āI Choiceā) and Jamison (the āSkipperā). Both were Queen size which is our preferred size.
The āI Choiceā has a 2" latex foam topper as a standard, but removable part. It was confusing because it felt maybe a little too firm without the topper and a little too soft with it. Pretty pricey too ($2399). Too expensive for us.
The āSkipperā felt just right, and its $1399 (after a $300 āinstant rebateā). They want another $79 for a water proof mattress cover. Free delivery.
The āSkipperā has 2" of āsoftā latex, then 1 inch of āmediumā latex, then 7" of āMarriott High Resiliency Ultra Premium Coreā. A brief look at their warranty and usage instructions gives me the impression that Jamison expects 1.5" of body impressions and, in general, they read a lot like a national brandās boiler plate for an inner spring mattress. Not too thrilled about that.
Any advice/insight you can offer about the āSkipperā and/or Jamison will be appreciated.
I donāt see an āI Choiceā on the Denver mattress website. Do you have a link or the description of all the layers that are in it? Without knowing all the layers besides just the topper thereās no way to make any meaningful assessment of the mattress or compare it to any other mattress although Iām not aware of an āI Choiceā that they make (unless its brand new but this certainly seems very pricey for a mattress with only 2" of latex if thatās what it is).
The Jamison Skipper uses all good quality materials and doesnāt have any obvious weak links in the mattress. The upper layers are all high quality Talalay latex and the base foam is high quality/density polyfoam as well. I also know tht jamison is open about the quality of the materials they use. This would certainly be better than average value compared to major brands (and you would also have the assurance of knowing that all the layers in the mattress are good quality with no lower quality of mystery materials).
Warranties have little meaning for me and I put more weight on the quality of the design and materials than the warranty (as you can see in post #174 here). I believe that the TLC collection may have an exclusion of 3/4" and a 1.5" exclusion is more typical of a mattress that has a quilted layer or fibers rather than a smooth top where you are sleeping directly on good quality specialty foam (like latex or memory foam) but I would check this to make sure (with Jamison if necessary). As you mentioned ā¦ the exclusion often says more than the warranty itself.
In any case ā¦ even though it may not be ābest in the countryā value ā¦ it is certainly better value than most of the mainstream brands which typically use lower quality materials and sell for more and you have the advantage of being able to test the mattress in person.
Is that a good price ($1,399) for the Skipper Queen? . How about the mattress cover at $79?
We arenāt ready to buy online or travel great distances to check out better alternatives. So, if the āSkipperā and the retailer check out, and there isnāt a quality latex competitor locally, we may āsettleā for the Skipper.
Any additional advice, given our situation?
Regarding the āiChoiceā by the Denver Mattress Company:
They said the āiChoiceā is new. I have some pictures showing what we saw at the store in Madison, AL, including specs, pricing and the mattress itself.
They donāt seem to talk about the removable 2" topper in the literature, but the salesman checked and said that it is definitely part of the set.
I tried adding the pictures as attachments but got a āfatal server errorā message. Is there some other way I can get the pictures to you?
