Input on Adjustable Bed and Suitable Mattress

[phoenix]

Hi amarante,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

I am in the market for an adjustable bed and a mattress to go with it. Today, I visited a mattress store which suggested an adjustable frame called Softide 8300. After some online research, it appears that this is actually a model that is made by Ergomotion and possibly distributed under their Softide brand. It seems that Ergomotion also makes adjustable bed frames for Serta and a few others. The Softide includes head tilt so appears pretty much equivalent to the Prodigy 2.0 and the Motion Custom II.

There is more information about choosing an adjustable bed in post #3 here and the main adjustable bed topic that it links to that can help you choose an adjustable bed based on price vs. features comparisons and also includes some retailers that you can use as good sources of information about the features of the adjustable beds they carry and as pricing references as well (in post #6 in the main adjustable bed topic). Of course there are many other sources as well and prices can change on a regular basis so I would also include some internet searching in your research. I would also keep in mind that online advertised prices are often price controlled so make sure you call the stores you are considering to find out their best prices rather than just looking at websites.

Softide is Ergomotion’s direct-to-retailer adjustable bed base line. I don’t take the time to track who is making what base for the major manufacturers, as that can change from year to year, and I would consider all the major adjustable bed manufacturers to be closely comparable in terms of reliability so I would use price and feature comparisons to choose between them.

Of course dealing with mattress sales people is like negotiating in the souk as the list price is never the list price but I was offered the following packages

I recommend getting the “final price” on the base separate from the mattress, as opposed to “group pricing”, so that you may make more objective value comparisons. And yes, I know what you mean about dealing with some retailers. :S

Diamond mattress for $3400.
The Diamond mattress is theoretically $2400 and it is one of the latex topped ones although I am not sure of the exact model. I couldn’t get construction specs at the store although the sales person said he would email them to me. I found this site when googling for reviews of Diamond Mattresses. The dilemma is as you you stated in several of your other responses in that their latex mattresses contain some kind of unknown quantity called Eco Based Plant Based Foam which seems to be some kind of soy foam. But other than that no information.

You don’t list the model you were considering, but if you are able to acquire the specifications of that product and post them back here I’ll be happy to be a “sounding board” for the quality of materials contained within.

I don’t recommend purchasing any mattress without knowing the materials inside, so I would always make sure that you find out the information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.

If the model was using Eco Based Plant Foam in the core, this would simply be a polyfoam core that has some of the polyols derived from soybean material. In post #2 here I describe in more detail the use plant based polyols in polyfoam (what you’re referring to as soy foam). In a nutshell, part of the polyol portion used to create polyurethane foam is replaced with a plant-based polyol. There’s a brief explanation of this from one of the polyol manufacturers here. There are still quite a few chemicals involved in the production of polyfoam, and most polyfoam pourers use some plant-based polyols these days.

I tried the Serta Blue Max 1000 Cushion Firm which seemed quite comfortable. It is made of the following:
TempActiv™ Gel Memory Foam
Deep Reaction™ Memory Foam
Ultimate Edge® Foam Support Core

Unfortunately there is no meaningful information here for me to offer you any advice, except that the major brands such as Sealy/Stearns & Foster, Simmons, and Serta all tend to use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses than most of their smaller competitors that will tend to soften or break down prematurely relative to the price you pay which is why I would generally suggest avoiding all of them completely (along with the major retailers that focus on them as well) regardless of how they may feel in a showroom along with any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the type and quality/durability of the materials inside it (see the guidelines here along with post #3 here and post #12 here and post #404 here). If you’re able to acquire the meaningful information about the foams within the mattress you’re considering (which Serta doesn’t normally provide), feel free to post them back here and I’ll be happy to provide commentary on them for you.

Any recommendations as to which way to proceed. I think my question is really whether the Diamond Mattress is a good mattress. The latex (even if just a topper) seems a bit more suitable for me than the memory foam since I liked the greater ease of moving around on a latex versus memory foam.

You need to find out the materials within any mattress you’re considering, as I linked to previously. I would also advise you to not consider “group prices” or “discounts off of retail”, which in most cases are simply “fake” discounts off of inflated “regular” prices. Just focus on the final price being paid. I’d suggest you take a read through the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

And you are correct, latex is general much easier to reposition upon than memory foam, as it has a higher resiliency.

Phoenix