Hello all, i am currently looking to purchase a mattress. I found this super helpful website and wanted get your opinions. In the area i live in (VA) local manufacturer is Kingsdown and when i go to mattress warehouse that brand is mostly suggested ( maybe they get more comission from that brand idk). Anyways, i also liked and felt comfortable on few kingsdown options but prices are 2,300k. not low. I am generally side sleeper ( tried tempurs did not feel as comfotable as hybrids. Also i tried Stearn and foster pillow top option that one also felt similar to kingsdown Hillstream model. So i can not decide which brand to pay this amount of money. All over the internert sagging problems for both brands, also extra cautions for pillow tops since they make more sagging. Or is there any other brand would you recommend, andif i should avoid pillow top, should i aslo avoid eurotop and just get basic mattress? ( somehow feel sealy and beautyrest arenot as good as in general). Thank you for your time in advance. Looking forward to your responses.
Hi tuxtux,
Welcome to TMU. You have come to a place where there are a lot of folks who can help you with your mattress dilemma.
Both mattresses seem to be a plusher type feel mattress. Hard to know what is best for you, without knowing your PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and your personal body profile.
I like to look at mattresses layer by layer and try to evaluate whether the design makes sense within the build it is constructed with.
The first thing that stands out in the Kingsdown, is their use of the micro coils. When you read about the layers it states that the micro coils are there to offer body conforming comfort and support. If the micro coils were in the comfort layer, I would believe them. I don’t really see that happening here, or why mc’s are necessary where they are positioned in the first place. Above the two spring layers, you have the latex layer, which offers contouring and comfort, and you have several memory foam layers above that. Memory foam in the comfort layer is typically used for pressure relief and contouring. I am not feeling the logic of this mattress.
To me it looks like a mattress that may have the makings of a potentially sinking proposition for sleepers with a bit of weight to them. The opticoil innerspring pocketed coil system seems well thought out with firmer coils for support to the edges and full body support for the rest of the mattress area. There is that lumbar support memory foam above the mc’s, but I am curious as to how this is going to accomplish the task other than if your body starts to depress the mattress in that region, perhaps that support may be functional.
Hey, the mattress may feel fine to you and if so, you need to decide if it is a good choice for your complete profile and needs. “The best mattress for you is the one that works and feels comfortable to you.” Likewise, a mattress is only as good as its weakest layer. If one layer fails, the rest will follow it.
You have to imagine that there is no name brand next to the diagram of the mattress build. I mean, I don’t want to say that Sealy, BR, Serta or any other “brand” is not good in general. Some of these brands offer some decent mattresses, particularly in their budget ranges vs their high-priced ranges. But what is not good in general, is not for me to say, I like to let the mattress build and quality of each layer, quality of materials used and placement of those layers tell their own story.
I am not certain which S&F you tried. What is more important is you need to look at the diagram of the layers and build of the mattress side by side. The placement of the layers and structure needs to make sense. For example, when a manufacturer adds mc’s, it is normally to replace a memory foam layer within the comfort layer. They do this to create better air flow and to keep the sleeper from feeling hot from memory foam, but still offer targeted pressure relief. Some sleepers do not like the sinking, cuddling/hugging feeling of memory foam (despite the nice pressure relieving qualities and softer side sleeper comfort). Quite frankly a quality topper can offer a nice targeted surface for side sleeping on a firmer/medium firm mattress. Pillow-tops, euro tops are fine, particularly if they are swappable in a mattress. I prefer a topper to perform that function, plus a topper will add longevity to a mattress.
Everyone has their definition of low and high prices. I have recommended to folks, don’t look at price when testing mattresses. Set it aside for a moment. Try every mattress you want or that is recommended, and let your body decide first. Select a few final choices. Go home, study the mattresses side by side. Sleep on it a day, then go back and try them again. Rank them, then look at price. Don’t let price exclude something that you may feel perfectly comfortable with.
Once you have a few narrowed down. If you were willing to speak more about your body profile and PPP’s. There are enough trusted members here that could look at their own available styles and match something that would provide a perfect match for you. Any of the trusted members are very transparent about what materials they use; about what the densities are of their foams; gauges of springs; and ILD’s of their foams. This is import as it makes success more predictable. If you chose a mattress with a talalay comfort layer with an ILD of 19, and it is too soft, you have a baseline of where to go next. If a manufacturer does not provide technical information about their mattress construction, if it doesn’t work, you don’t know which layer is causing the issue other than the mattress is too soft or too firm and you end up at square one when it doesn’t work for you.
If you were to provide some of your own specs and preferences it makes it easier for folks here to point you in a successful direction.
Hi Batmannorm,
I reallpy appreciate your details explanation. I tried to do my study for the mattresses and as i remember on this website innersprings, or some other material i saw in kingsdown mattresses are listed for short term durability. So at this point i am more confudes event what to look for?
As per PPP I fall under normal categorty less than <30 if i do not remember wrong that was the lowest barometer. I would like to get in touch with trusted members, but not sure if any of them are located in Northern Virgina. At this point i am fully open to the trusted member, store /retailer advise etc. So i can get this sorted out.
Hi tuxtux,
It can get a little confusing when selecting a mattress. I am not sure if someone was referring to a specific layer of the kingsdown when questioning durability. I perused the kingsdown site and they do make a variety of mattresses and mattress designs. Edge to edge coils, foam encased perimeter around coils, some have memory foam, a couple are all foam.
Here is what I would say from my perspective. I was not able to find on the kingsdown site a lot of information about the specific materials that they use. This makes it a bit more difficult to analyze or predict how the mattress will perform over the long haul. There are a couple of mattresses on their site that seem to use excellent materials, although, I could not verify coil gauge, latex ILD or any of the memory foam densities.
By contrast, as I have mentioned many times before on this sub, I ended up with a 1300 BB Plank Luxe. If we set aside the fact that it is a BinB that I narrowed down using my own metrics against other mattresses costing up to 14k, the one thing I can say is they use a coil gauge of 13.5, a 2" layer of HD foam of 1.8lbs, a cover/panel with a .75" foam of 50ILD. So, we could debate whether my flippable mattress is this or that, but I know what I was purchasing and BB was not hiding that information. I asked them and they produced the information without hesitation.
The trusted members on this site, all provide information about the mattresses they manufacture, as a matter of being a trusted member, I believe they are obligated to do so. Probably due to the fact they have nothing to hide, and it allows the consumer to make a better educated decision on their purchase. That doesn’t mean that someone is going to love a mattress that they purchase via a trusted member, it means you have the opportunity to make valid comparisons and have a benchmark of where you stand when you do purchase a mattress from one of the members, so you can more easily resolve whatever it was that you did not feel comfortable with.
To me that is a big deal. I do exactly that at my “day” job. When I have a patient that is having an issue with their prescription or prescription eyewear, I can break it down to verifiable components or issues and eliminate them one at a time to get them on the right path. Mattresses, in my view are the same. If we know a particular layer is too soft or firm, not supportive enough, or simply not performing for the user, knowing what that layer is made of, makes it a hell of a lot easier to fix it. If that 44ILD Dunlop Latex firm comfort layer or mattress topper is not working, we now know we have the option to cut down to a 36 or 28 ILD and more easily predict the alternate results.
I know it is a long explanation but if you tried the Kingsdown xyz or the S&F abc and didn’t like it, say, because you were sinking in the mattress. Without knowing if it is a poor support layer or too soft of a comfort layer, it is hard to quantify that. Most of the trusted members have worked with a lot of these mattresses over the years, if not did an anatomy of them when they have replaced a customer’s mattress with one of theirs. Trusted member mattress makers do YouTube videos on this all the time. They know what’s in there and what went wrong, and have been around the block enough to offer something that they can predict will likely fix the problems experienced with the previous mattress. Trusted member Custom Sleep Technology has a body profile selector to customize a design based on a specific set of body profile factors that match up with specific combinations of materials and densities.
Most members ship nationally and can come very close to nailing what will work for many folks based on a select amount of information. There are some that offer systems that allow for interchangeable layers. We all know selecting a mattress is very subjective. But I selected mine, never having seen a BB mattress in person. Solely based on what I thought I was looking for and how that matched up against their mattress material stats.
Hopefully, once identifying what your preferences are, either you out there on your own, like I did, or you with the help of a trusted member you will get your ideal choice.