Happily I’ve found this sight before putting down my money for a new mattress. I’ve read the shopping guide and so understand that Phoenix recommends avoiding the “S brands.” That said, hubby and I were in Macy’s and learned that they’re putting the Simmons Beautyrest Elite Eminence on deep discount. In King it retails for $4089 but will be on sale for about $1700. Here are the available specs: Beautyrest Elite Eminence Specs
I realize we could probably get more value for our dollar, especially if we’re willing to shop online, and we’ll definitely check out local outlets in our area (Seattle). What I want to know is whether I can count this as a decent contender in terms of its construction? From what I can tell from researching other sites, the individual pocket coil system is durable. Wondering especially if anyone here knows anything about their “gel touch foam”?
We’re both between 170 and 225 lbs so definitely want to be sure we’ve got a mattress that can handle our weight over the years
Looks like a good mattress for the price. I was looking at them, but the shipping to the East Coast is too high. As a former Simmons BR owner, that got a great “deal”, I wouldn’t buy another one, if they paid me. The prices are excessive for the materials that are used. Had to get rid of mine after a year and a half. It started off great then slowly got worse and worse. At this point the big guys (Simmons, Serta, Sealy) are just living off their names and a good marketing campaign.
My last mattress was a Simmons Beautyrest and it lasted for about 6 months. Within 6 months it developed divots and excessive foam softening in the upper comfort layers of the mattress. I would not recommend this mattress to anyone looking for a new mattress. This brand does not live up to it’s cost and it’s a poor value in my opinion.
As Phoenix recommends, look for smaller mattress manufacturers who will provide you with the following:
Each individual layer thickness
The density of all the poly-foam, soy-foam, memory foam, and specialty named (marketing BS) foam layers
There are many more things you could look for but these two will tell you a lot about how durable the mattress will be. Even inexpensive, poor durability foams can feel good on a showroom floor for 3 months. The real question is will those poor quality/inexpensive foams (that you paid much more for, even with “discounts”) last for over a year down the road.
If you can find out the density of all the foam layers in that mattress, THEN you can make some apples to apples comparisons to other mattresses.
I could just add a “ditto” to the comments and suggestions made by Coventry and jp2600
This is not as much of a “deep discount” as you would imagine. First of all … the regular retail price or MSRP is a price that nobody every pays and is usually about twice the “real” regular price (which still would not be the normal selling price but is just the starting point for further reductions). These types of “fake sales” are meant to completely mislead consumers about the real value of a mattress they are buying because the reference point for the discount is fake. They are not “deep discounts” at all and are still overpriced.
As Coventry also mentioned … I would never buy a mattress that didn’t list the details about the quality of the materials in every layer. It also isn’t worth the effort to try to track down any of the specific materials which are the same as the materials used by every other manufacturer except they have changed the name (the retailer needs to do this for you and if they can’t or won’t I would pass them by). You can spend many days and weeks with this only to reach a dead end because the information isn’t available. The gel touch foam is just memory foam that has some gel added just like is being used by most other manufacturers. There is nothing special about it.
I really would avoid the major brands completely along with the other “tricks” that are used in the industry to mislead consumers. It’s just not worth trying to find exceptions when in reality they are usually just more spin.
As both Coventry and jp2600 mentioned … smaller manufacturers that are sold either factory direct or through better sleep shops where all the layers are disclosed are almost always the best places to buy a mattress. The larger manufacturers really are just living off their name but the quality of the materials they use (when you can find out) just doesn’t stand up to meaningful comparisons with smaller manufacturers.
Parklane is a great option if you are up for the drive to the Vancouver, WA or Portland, OR area.
Closer to home … some of the better choices or possibilities in the Seattle area are listed in post #2 here.
Wow, thanks to everyone for these quick and very useful replies. I’m amazed by the content on this site, and incredibly grateful, as I can now see that it’s entirely re-routing my approach to mattress shopping. I’ve been digging deeper in the archives here all day, and that together with the specific responses here make me see how much you all are right, and that Simmons Beautyrest is basically a gimmick. Just never knew there were so many better options for buying a mattress. Have started exploring the online options and will take hubby out to start our research from scratch at some of the local Seattle area retailers Phoenix has listed. Thanks a million:) I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions as the process unfolds…
