I Screwed Up and Need Advice Badly...Please

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I read everything on this site and thought I was geared up. My wife and I narrowed our choices to Latex beds and an individually wrapped coil spring type mattress with a soft top b/c they both seemed to provide both the support layer and comfort, without the heat of memory foam. They both also seemed to provide motion isolation, which was somewhat important to my wife since I move alot. We went to a couple of places in Asheville NC while on vacation. While one of the places had a spring bed that we liked (I forgot the name of the bed and the materials), we picked a Latex Bliss Pamper, with a 3 inch natural Latex topper.

Here we go again - I don’t know how or why this keeps happening, but about 3 weeks later, we decided we do not like latex. Well - my wife hates it. I don’t hate it completely - I just don’t like a 100% latex bed (see below). We tried a different topper. We went to their sister store in Atlanta which has all of the different versions of varying softness of the beds and we don’t like the feeling of being on top of the beds. My wife can actually even tell when a cool bed has a layer of latex on top. She feels the buoyancy and doesn’t like it.

The same Atlanta store will give us a credit for the full price we paid for the Latex Bliss (which is very nice of them), but there is only one bed we found there that we “sort of” like. Its called a Naturepedic EOS Organic Mattress and is a multi layered mattress that lets you swap out layers. We tried it with every configuration. The closest we came to liking was (for me) individual coil springs on the bottom and a layer of Talaley latex on the top and (for my wife) two layers of coils. My side feels a little softer then hers, even though I weigh 270’ and she weight, weights, well, much less. She likes it more than the latex, but wishes that it was softer.

If we don’t take that bed, I don’t know if they’ll give us money back. We could be stuck.

We went to Macy’s this week-end and tried their Simmons Beautyrest Laralyn Luxury Firm 14.5" individually wrapped coils with 4 layers of memory foam. We both thought it was comfortable. If we could get a refund, it would almost be a wash. But I just read a lot of negative reviews about Simmons Black (the bed made for Macy’s goes by different named for different stores but I’m sure there’s a similar version made for others). Some say that it’s a heat trap (which if true, we cannot buy it). Some say it lasts 2 years and then becomes a canoe! I’m once again so confused and wish I could pay someone to come with me and help me make the decision.

Questions: Is the Simmons bed really prone to sleep “hot” like memory foam? Is it also prone to sagging and not lasting long?

Will an inner spring bed soften up over time (my wife feels the Naturepedic is a bit too firm but if its a much better quality bed and won’t sag, she said she’ll get used to it. I don’t necessary think that’s a good idea, but I’m not certain.

Does anyone have experience with getting a company that doesn’t have a return policy to still give you somewhat of a refund if you’re just really still unhappy after little more than a month? Thanks!

Please help.

2

Hi Jonathan,

The type of materials or mattresses that each person tends to prefer is always a personal preference that can be unique to each person so there is really no “advice” that someone can provide that can predict which types of mattresses or materials that someone else will tend to prefer. There is no better or worse here and just like with any preference choice some people prefer materials that other people don’t like at all. This is always a matter of your own personal testing and experience (and if you’re not sure how you feel about a particular material or mattress then the exchange or refund policy can become a much more important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase).

Having said that … most materials have lower quality and less durable versions and higher quality and more durable versions so it’s always important to make sure that any mattress you are considering use higher quality and more durable versions of the materials that you prefer.

If you prefer a more “in the mattress” feel then you may tend to prefer memory foam which is a much less resilient material than either polyfoam or latex and is very good at motion isolation as well but it also tends to sleep warmer than other types of foam materials.

[quote]The same Atlanta store will give us a credit for the full price we paid for the Latex Bliss (which is very nice of them), but there is only one bed we found there that we “sort of” like. Its called a Naturepedic EOS Organic Mattress and is a multi layered mattress that lets you swap out layers. We tried it with every configuration. The closest we came to liking was (for me) individual coil springs on the bottom and a layer of Talaley latex on the top and (for my wife) two layers of coils. My side feels a little softer then hers, even though I weigh 270’ and she weight, weights, well, much less. She likes it more than the latex, but wishes that it was softer.

If we don’t take that bed, I don’t know if they’ll give us money back. We could be stuck.[/quote]

While there is no way for me to know whether any mattress will be a good “match” for you in terms of PPP or whether you will like how it “feels” … at least the Naturepedic mattresses use good quality materials in their design and there are no “weak links” in any of their mattresses in terms of the quality and durability of their materials. There is also an advantage to being able to swap out layers because you have more options to fine tune the pressure relief and support of a mattress after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out to be as suitable as you hoped for. The EOS mattresses generally use latex in the comfort layers but they also have microcoil comfort layers available as well although these are also a more resilient component so you would need to make sure you do some careful testing (with both of you on the mattress and hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) to make sure that you like the “feel” of microcoils.

If their softest configuration they have is still too firm for your wife then you would still have the option of adding a softer topper on top of your mattress.

According to their site … they also carry memory foam mattresses which may be worth testing to see if they are a better “match” for your specific needs and preferences than more resilient materials like latex or springs. A memory foam topper that replaces your latex topper may also be worth considering.

I didn’t see an exchange/return policy listed on their site so you would need to ask them about this but in many cases a retailer will only allow one exchange and then outside of any component exchanges that are available to you if you purchase a component mattress like the EOS … if they don’t have a return policy then your next choice would probably be your final one so it would be even more important to make sure you do some very careful testing on any mattress you decide on.

This may be a moot point if there isn’t a refund option available to you but if you do have the chance to start again I would avoid all the major brands such as Simmons or any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the quality and durability of the materials inside it. You can see some examples of the quality/density of the materials inside some of the Beautyrest Black line here and if you compare them to the foam quality/density guidelines here you will see that they use some low quality materials and there are obvious weak links in all of them that would have a very high chance of softening and breaking down or sagging prematurely even for more average weights much less your higher weight range.

There would be little “value” in buying a mattress … even if it’s a good match for you in terms of PPP when it’s new … if it loses the comfort and support that was the reason you purchased it much too quickly relative to the price you paid and foam softening and the loss of comfort and support that goes with it isn’t considered to be a defect that is covered by a warranty even though it’s the reason that most people will need to replace their mattress (see post #174 here)

Phoenix

3

Thanks a million. We cancelled the order for the Simmons and are going back to spend more time on the EOS. My wife said she tried 3 variations of spring on spring and liked the softest one best. While I thought the one with the latex comfort layer and coil support layer felt softer, she just doesn’t like the feel. It’s exactly as you say. It’s just a feel thing. What’s crazy is how we we’re almost convinced on the Simmons. The salesman said that is the coolest sleeping bed in the industry, but with 4 layers of memory foam as the comfort layers, we were skeptical. Then when I read reviews, people were calling it a radioactive sleeping nuclear hotbed. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but it cannot be the coolest sleeping bed. I can tell you after sleeping on 2 different memory foam beds, latex certainly sleeps cooler than memory foam!

Phoenix, if my my wife finds the EOS a bit too hard and we expend all layer swap out options, what non-memory foam, non-latex topper options are there? Is there a pillow top made of foam, down or some other materials that we can either try to put inside her zippered side or on top but under the the sheet that you know of? Just planning for contingencies? Thanks!!

4

Hi Jonathan,

If and when the time comes then post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to has more information about choosing a topper that can help you use your sleeping experience on a mattress as a reference point to help you choose the type, thickness, and firmness for a topper that would have the best chance of success.

There are many many topper options available to “fine tune” a mattress that is too firm including polyfoam, memory foam, latex, buckling column gel, along with natural or synthetic fibers such as wool, cotton, down, or down alternative mattress pads or toppers depending on the specific effect and feel you are looking for and your own individual preferences but I would cross that bridge if and when you get to it.

Phoenix