Innerspring mattress feel vs. all foam (T&N)

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
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I’ve decided to give up on my 6 year old innerspring/latex mattress from European Sleepworks. Too firm, hurts my whole body, even with 4" of toppers on it and a soft mattress pad. Also a dip in springs on my husbands side (we put the mattress on the floor to verify).

Been casually looking at new mattresses the past 3 years (I’m sleeping in the guest room, not the ESW (European Sleep Works) mattress, for the past couple of years)- my gut instinct is to get latex for durability, however, whenever I lay on a latex mattress, I’m not really happy with the feel. I was recently able to visit the Natural Mattress store in San Rafael, CA, Steve was very helpful there. I spent over an hour trying varying mattresses he directed me to- I need firm support for my scoliosis, but soft comfort layer for my fibromyalgia. And came away not in love with anything, either all latex, or latex/innerspring. I’ve tried all the Latex beds at Ikea, didn’t like any of them. Didn’t like any of the mattresses at European sleepworks, but got the firm Nordic thinking I could add toppers, but even with 4" of toppers, it’s not comfortable, it hurts my spine too much. Latex has a weird pushback that I don’t like, no matter the softness of the comfort layer. I have two 1" 14 ILD Taladay latex toppers (each on a different bed), and can’t sleep on them directly, too much pushback on my muscles. So I think latex is out. Not so sure I want to get another bed that costs $2,500 that is a mistake like the European Sleepworks Bed.

My friend has a new Casper- it feels too firm to me, great on my lower back, but pressure points on my shoulders, but also weird latex pushback on my leg, arm and back muscles which bother my fibromyalgia.

I don’t care for memory foam. Slept on it several times.

What my body seems to really like is poly foam with innerspring mattresses. I really enjoyed the 3 polyfoam/innerspring mattresses before my ESW, as far as comfort, but did not like that the comfort layer sagged in each one in under a year. Most hotel mattress are comfortable to me (except for the Sleep Number bed at a Hilton). In any showroom, the polyfoam/quilted top/innerspring versions are the ones I like the best. In Ikea recently, I liked the Sultan Hoggla the most (although I would not buy this one as I think it will sag too soon). In any topper I’ve ever owned, polyfoam is what I prefer. But I know a lot of the polyfoam used in comfort layers for mattresses is not of high quality, and would be a weak point in the design (as evidenced from 3 poly/innerspring mattresses prior to the ESW mattress that developed dips after less than a year)

What I’m curious about is the Tuft and Needle mattress, which is made from polyfoam, not memory foam or latex. I saw a post here at the end of November, that they have redesigned their mattress a bit to be softer on the top layer.

My body seems to like polyfoam the best for comfort layers. How would sleeping on an all poly foam mattress compare with a polyfoam/innerspring mattress? I haven’t had a chance to sleep or test an all polyfoam mattress before. And it looks like the Tuft and Needle has upped the density of their upper layer, hopefully it would last awhile. Can’t beat their return policy.

And like mentioned previously, I don’t want to spend over $2,000 again and not have a comfortable bed again. Tuft and Needle is in a good price range for us right now, as my husband is retiring next year.

2

Hi sheep123,

It sounds like the toppers you are using aren’t the most suitable combination for you (and your mattress pad may be interfering with the response of the latex as well).

If your mattress is sagging when you have it on the floor though then I would contact European Sleepworks because you may have a warranty issue.

It sounds like you are certainly sensitive to some very soft materials but as you know that’s not unusual for those with fibromyalgia.

Each person is also unique when it comes to the type of material that they tend to do best with or the type of mattresses or materials they tend to prefer and not everyone likes the higher resilience or “feel” of latex or the slow response of “feel” or memory foam.

Since you have eliminated two of the three types of foam then it would make sense to me that a polyfoam comfort layer would be well worth trying.

Most of the “feel” of a mattress when you first lie on it comes from the upper layers but the deeper layers will also contribute to how a mattress feels as well. There are hundreds of different types of innersprings with different firmness levels that are used in combination with hundreds of different combinations of materials on top of them so there isn’t a single “feel” for innerspring mattresses that you can use to compare them to other mattresses. The same is true for mattresses that use polyfoam support cores so the only way to know how two mattresses compare and the differences you would feel between them would be based on your own personal experience but in very general terms an innerspring support core will have more “bounce” and “springiness” than polyfoam which will be less “lively” and responsive.

It seems that you’ve already read my comments about the new Tuft & Needle design in this topic so you have some basic information to go by. I would also suggest a conversation with them on the phone so you can describe your circumstances and experiences with other mattresses you have slept on so they can let you know whether they believe their mattress would be a good choice for you.

Your own personal experience will be the only reliable way to know whether an online purchase that you can’t test in person will work well for you but if based on your conversation you believe that it would be a reasonable choice then there would be very little risk in trying it because if for any reason it doesn’t work out as well as you hope then they have a great return policy.

The previous version of their mattress also used good quality and durable polyfoam and the biggest difference in their new material would be in it’s contouring, feel, and response although with its higher density it would also be a little more durable as well.

Phoenix