We currently have a Tempurpedic Rhapsody which is a warranty exchange and only one year old. I just thought it was old age, but after sleeping in a recliner for two weeks, due to an illness, I realize this bed is causing the aches and pains that I have. I mean, if I can sleep in a recliner for two weeks and get up without the aches, move freely, and feel rested, then this Tempurpedic is the cause of my daily pains.
My wife and are both large, 300 pounds and would like to find something that is comfortable, but doesn’t break the bank :S
After much research, internet shopping, and driving 2.5 hours (we live in zip code 25526 where there is NO reputable mattress retailers!!) I believe we have it narrowed down to two mattresses, but we are also open to suggestions! I do realize because of our limited availability we will be making a lengthy drive or purchasing a new product online and therefore would like some assurance and expertise knowledge about our selection.
The below information is strictly mattress pricing as we plan on using our Tempurpedic foundation (if that’s suitable?)
Bed number one: King Koil Extended Life 3200 $2200 (we drive 2.5 hours to get)
1" Superior High Density Foam
1" Conform Latex
1" Conform Latex
1" Superior High Density Foam
2.5" High Resilience Foam
7" Contour Flex Pro
Excellent Edge Foam Encasement
1.5" Balanced Base Foam
Pocketed Coil Springs (1080 coil density, tempered)
Bed number two: Therapedic Exceptional Touch Preston $1600 (delivered to door)
2" Superior High Density 2# polyurethane foam
2" 24 ILD 5.5# enhanced Talalay Latex foam
2" Exceptional Life 2.5# Polyurethane foam
Extra Firm insulated pad
12.5 gauge double offset knotted hinge-flex innerspring unit, twice tempered (575 count)
solidly glued perimeter encasement system
I bought a Therapedic extra firm mattress three years ago. The salesman gave me a detailed presentation on mattresses and told me how the Therapedic had extra strong 12 gauge springs and that a lot of pro football players buy them because it supports their weight. I am 6-5" and weigh 300 pounds. I bought his spiel and took the mattress home. First off, my mattress is so heavy too guys could barely carry it in the house. The wife can move it to rotate it…takes two people. Secondly, it’s the worst mattress I’ve ever owned. Like sleeping on a hard wood floor. I’ve owned Sealy, Simmons and a couple of others. I have not had a decent nights sleep on this piece of junk. Wake up ever morning with lower back pain. The wife wakes up with hip pain. She put a thick feather bed topper on it…no help. We put a memory foam topper on it and it has helped a little. We are now in the market again, after only three years and are considering a Select Number air bed or a Simmons Beauty Rest. I was told that King Koil is now owned by Art Van Furniture Co by one of their salesmen. Personally I would not take a Therapedic mattress if it were free.
This mattress uses all high quality materials and there are no weak links in its construction so if you have done some careful and objective testing for PPP then it would certainly be worth considering as one of your “finalists” that you could compare based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Unfortunately the specs you listed don’t include all the information you would need to assess this mattress or identify any potential weak links. You can see the information you would need in post #4 here and I would want to know the density of the polyfoam layers (the ones that are described as Superior high density foam and High Resilience Foam). and I would want to know the type and blend of the latex. If you can find this out and post the information here I’d be happy to make some comments about it.
While I appreciate your comments … you are falling into a trap that is one of the most common mistakes made by most consumers … mistaking the comfort and support of a mattress with the quality of the mattress.
Your experience on your mattress has nothing to do with the quality of the materials and indicates that you chose a mattress that wasn’t suitable for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) … not that the mattress is poor quality. Making a good choice in terms of comfort and support is part of testing a mattress and has nothing to do with quality. Every manufacturer makes a wide range of mattresses that will be suitable for some people and not others and it’s a common consumer misconception that the comfort or support of a mattress is related to its quality when it’s not and it only means that the specific model you chose wasn’t a good match for you in terms of PPP. This is a very different issue from buying a low quality mattress and you can’t “feel” the quality of the materials or components in a mattress.
The brand of a mattress is also not particularly important because all manufacturers have access to the same type of materials and a mattress is only as good as its construction and the quality of materials inside it regardless of the name of the brand on a label. Brand comparisons without knowing what is inside a specific mattress you are considering is one of the worst ways to choose a mattress.
Your experience with a mattress will also have little to do with whether a mattress is a suitable choice for someone else because each person is unique and a mattress that is “perfect” for you may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (or vice versa). Other people’s experiences and reviews are also among the worst ways to choose a mattress and there is more about this in post #13 here.
Generally mattresses that are heavier are an indication that it uses higher quality and more durable materials and components (which are heavier than lower quality materials) but no matter what the quality of a mattress it also needs to be a good match for you in terms of PPP (which is the reason for more accurate and objective testing using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) and unfortunately your mattress wasn’t.