Intimated by the task of finding a new mattress in Hamilton, Ontario Canada...

:dry:

I am in the market for a new King size mattress and am slightly intimidated by the thought of spending so much on a high quality mattress. I’ve read the “How to buy” article and want to follow the five steps to ensure I make an informed, educated, personal decision for myself and my hubby.

Since we have three small children, our time is extremely limited (i.e.: the thought of lying on a mattress for 10 minutes during open store hours seems like a heavenly dream…), so I was hoping to get a head start on the search by getting tips on where to buy or start looking.

Stores that I know of in the area include:

  • Ikea
  • Parks Furniture
  • Sears
  • Leon’s
  • the Brick

For some reason, I’m pretty sure I am not heading in the right direction by heading to these stores first…

Help!! and Thanks in Advance.
:wink:

Hi ellemas,

It’s great to see that you’ve already read the tutorial post (a large number of people who post on the forum haven’t read it first :)) so you already have a good idea of the steps involved in making the best possible choice … and have some idea of what to avoid and why.

The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Hamilton area are included in post #8 here.

I would also do as much of the preliminary work and research as possible on the phone before you visit them so that you have a good idea of what they have on their floor and the types of mattresses that you may wish to spend time testing before you take the time to visit them.

Phoenix

Thanks Phoenix.

You are proving to be a great help… I don’t know why I didn’t think of calling the stores first!! LOL…

So, I read your post #8 about southwestern Ontario, and I really appreciate it. I will be looking into the local stores and it’s great to know that Parks Furniture is a store you ‘endorse’. My sister in law raves about it.

I also read your post about which major mfgs to avoid, due to their lack of transparency. It’s a shame that the only names I recognize in the mattress industry are on your “avoid” list. I didn’t see Spring wall Mattress on the list and am curious about them. I noticed on their website that they have a line of mattresses called Chiropractic and the claim is that these are the only ones endorsed by the Canadian Chiropractic Association. This is interesting to me and I was wondering if you have heard anything worth while about them.

I’ve got a lot more reading to do, so I’ll be off for now, but if you have nay feedback on the Springwall Chiropractic line, that would be great.

Thanks again and talk soon.

Ellemas

Hi ellemas,

They aren’t an endorsement but are a “possibility” because they carry Galaxy and Springwall which means that the odds are higher that you will be able to find out what is inside the mattress. You would still need to do some careful testing for PPP and make sure that the store is willing and able to provide you with the specifics of what is inside a mattress you are interested in (see this article) and then confirm that there are no weak links in the mattress (see post #4 here).

They aren’t on the list because they are a smaller manufacturer and aren’t one of the largest 15/16 manufacturers. A mattress “endorsement” means nothing to me because your own careful testing or personal experience will tell you much more about how well you are likely to sleep on a mattress than an endorsement from someone or an organization that has no knowledge of you and has never seen you sleeping on a mattress. This is just marketing.

Having said that … I have talked with Springwall and they have told me that they are completely transparent about the materials inside their mattresses and will disclose them to any consumer (see post #4 here). They are also more likely to use higher quality materials than most larger manufacturers as well but this would depend on the specific mattress.

The name of a mattress or the manufacturer (outside of how transparent they are) also means very little to me because the value of a mattress purchase always depends on the suitability of the mattress in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences), the durability of the mattress (based on the materials inside it), and on how it compares to your other finalists based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you. There is more about the most important parts of the value of a mattress purchase that can also help you compare mattresses in post #13 here.

Dealing with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that can give you good guidance, has your best interests at heart, and will provide you with the information you need about their mattresses to make an informed decision is one of the most important parts of a successful purchase.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix,

So… I have been doing some shopping at Ikea for a mattress and I found that I liked the initial feel of the Sultan Hultsvik.

I think I prefer the support of a pocket coil, and the comfort of a pillowtop. I’ve always used what I believed to be a “firm” mattress, but was never educated properly on the actual meaning of this term, until reading your posts about what it really means.

The Hultsvik offers a pocket coil core, and a 2 3/8" thick memory foam cushion. Their website says that the bed frame is polyurethane foam. Taken straight from their site, here is the description they provide:

Incased Pocket spring coil: Steel
Frame: Polyurethane foam 1.5 lb/cu.ft., Polyurethane foam 1.5 lb/cu.ft., 100 % polyethylene
Filling: 100 % polyester, Polyurethane foam., Polyurethane memory foam.
Ticking: 100 % cotton, 40 % lyocell, 60 % polyester
Ticking: 60 % polyester, 40 % lyocell

Can you please shed some insight on whether you think this is a decent mattress for a price of $650 (Queen)? I am going to visit Parks Furniture in the next few days and want to use the Hultsvik as a basis for comparison.

Thanks in advance!

Hi ellemas,

[quote]Incased Pocket spring coil: Steel
Frame: Polyurethane foam 1.5 lb/cu.ft., Polyurethane foam 1.5 lb/cu.ft., 100 % polyethylene
Filling: 100 % polyester, Polyurethane foam., Polyurethane memory foam.
Ticking: 100 % cotton, 40 % lyocell, 60 % polyester
Ticking: 60 % polyester, 40 % lyocell

Can you please shed some insight on whether you think this is a decent mattress for a price of $650 (Queen)? I am going to visit Parks Furniture in the next few days and want to use the Hultsvik as a basis for comparison.[/quote]

There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here.

Outside of how well match a mattress matches your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal prefercenes) which is always the most important part of “value” … a mattress is only as good as the quality of the materials inside it (regardless of who makes it) so before I could make any meaningful comments about the Sultan Hultsvik I would need to know the specifics of what was inside it which they don’t list on the Ikea site (see this article).

Having said that … unless you can confirm that the materials in the Hultsvik are higher quality that I would think they are … Ikea typically uses 3 lb memory foam in their mattresses and this along with 1.5 lb polyfoam are both lower quality materials than I would be comfortable with in a one sided mattress (see the guidelines here) and I would tend to avoid a mattress like this (or any mattress where you can’t confirm the quality of the materials) unless it was in a much lower budget range where durability and the useful life of a mattress wasn’t a significant issue.

Phoenix