My wife and I had a Jamison latex mattress that we really liked. So last year we began the search for a custom latex mattress thinking it would be even better and higher quality. We ended up purchasing a king latex set from Arizona Premium Mattress Company. After 5 months and exchanging and trying different firmness levels, my wife and I are ready to buy a new mattress. We both wake up with back pain every morning. Do not get me wrong - the service from Arizona has been fine. We have both tried different firmness levels and it does not seem to matter. We have even bought different pillows too.
At this point, we both want to buy locally so we can try it out and exchange local if necessary. However we really have basically no high quality mattress companies in Memphis, TN and I swore I would never buy an āSā brand again. Not sure what to do at this pointā¦
One other thingā¦We have a slatted platform bed and the slats are too far apart so we have been using 2 twin size bunkie boards. The only odd thing is that the bed makes a grinding (creaking) noise whenever we (especially me weighing 250 pounds) move around in the bed. I literally almost wake my wife up every time I turn over. Not sure what is causing the noiseā¦
Unfortunately your experience is part of a small percentage of online purchases that never quite seem to get things quite right.
I think itās always tempting to try to find similar quality but better ācommodity valueā in an online mattress purchase but in some cases it may also be too easy to minimize the risk involved in finding better value online when all the different parts of a mattress purchase are taken into accountā¦
When you are comparing a Jamison all latex mattress for example with a mattress that is available online ā¦ one may not be better quality (they may both be using the same materials) and the main difference may be in design ā¦ and of course price. In some cases ā¦ differences in design and layering (not materials) can lead to a significant difference in PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences). Sometimes even seemingly minor variations can make a big difference for some people and circumstances. The suitability of a mattress is often a part of value that is difficult to quantify or āadd inā to your value equation and is easy to overlook the extra āriskā of an online purchase.
In most cases ā¦ the ābasicā recommendation of an online manufacturer will be great for (using an arbitrary number to make a point) 75% - 80% of consumers. These are the ones where their first choice is their last one and they are happy from the beginning. Out of the 20% - 25% or so that are left ā¦ most of these will be able to make fine tuning adjustments that get them close to their ideal in terms of PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences). The more fine tuning options there are available in a design ā¦ this more likely this is to happen. Beyond this though there will always be a small percentage where for whatever reason the possibilities for adjusting or fine tuning a mattress they have purchased may not be enough to get them into their āideal rangeā of PPP. This may be because it needs a change in layers that are not available, a change in layer thickness when this isnāt possible, or other reasons that are part of lower probabilities that wouldnāt make a difference for most people but does for a smaller percentage of people. These are the cases where fine tuning can be much more difficult than simply re-arranging layers or a layer or core exchange and are often the people where ānothing seems to workā. In a rare few of these cases ā¦ starting over again with a different design or in a different direction may be the only possibility. Unfortunately nothing works for 100% of people.
Of course itās never fun when you are in this small minority but the reality is that sometimes it happens. I know there are a few people that Iāve tried to help in the past where there has been no combination of latex layering that seemed to completely satisfy their needs and preferences or come close enough and itās as frustrating to all concerned as it is to the people themselves because of course the goal of everyone is to find the ideal layering that lets them forget about mattresses for at least the next decade. It can sometimes seems that online purchases are so successful for so many people that itās easy to forget the risk involved.
So when you are starting over again ā¦ the steps involved are the same as any new mattress search and are listed in post #1 here. The difference now of course is that you have some experience behind you in terms of the āfeelā of a mattress that doesnāt seem to work for you as well as a mattress that does (the Jamison). It may also be helpful if you could find out the layering of the Jamison that you did well with to use as a guideline.
The better options and choices Iām aware of in the Memphis area are listed in post #2 here and these are the places I would begin. With some careful research and testing ā¦ you should be able to find some good quality and value available locally.
Thanks for the suggestions for the dealers in Memphis. We are just now beginning our search for a new mattress. We really want to stay local this time if at all possible. My wife wants to get memory foam this time. She really likes the feel of memory foam and honestly has been turned away from latex by the experience mentioned earlier.
King Furniture is a good local dealer who carries Jamison. I think they have a line of memory foam mattresses if I am not mistaken. Knowing Jamison, they are probably pretty good bang for the buck. I will check them out next week at some point and go from there. The Omni collection from Southerland looks like an option too but do not know much about this line.
Yes they have a line of good quality gel memory foam mattresses that you can see here.
They are an ESOP and a forum search on Southerland ESOP (you can just click this) will bring up some posts you can scan with more of my thoughts about them and some of the forum membersā experiences. A forum search on Southerland will bring up even more if you need it.
They can sometimes be ābetter than averageā value but I would make sure that you are able to find out the specs of any of these you look at because their āvalueā can vary significantly between different retailers and knowing the details of any of their models you are considering so you can make meaningful comparisons would be important IMO
BigTCM, You might remind your wife that you were both happy with a latex mattress in the past so she might want to keep an open mind on the next one. Memory foam may-or may not-help with your problems, but you did have a latex mattress that worked. Lew
A local store has the Scandanavian scandia cool comfort mattress on clearance in king including the foundation for 1400. It is shown here (The Sleep Center Mattress Stores - Products & Store Directory) but I am not sure of the quality of this one.
Since a mattress is only as good as its construction and the quality of the layers and components inside it ā¦ if you know the details of the layers and components this then itās much easier to make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.
I would guess that Campbell will provide this but it may be a little more difficult to find with the Scandinavian.
Either way ā¦ itās an important part of knowing the relative quality and value of any mattress.