Leesa

[phewd]

@Phoenix

I’m not sure how deep the “hump” in the middle was in either of your mattresses but it certainly shouldn’t be happening that quickly to any significant degree. The three most common reasons for this would be either low quality/density foams in the upper layers of the mattress, an issue in the foundation under the mattress, or a defect in the mattress (the foam could be shifting or “bunching” in the middle of the mattress). In some cases it can be more than one reason and higher weights can make these types of issues show up more quickly.

The foundation issue would be more common with a king size which uses two twin XL foundations put together so the middle where the two foundations meet would be very firm and if your foundations have any flex then the support under each side would be softer. Your foundation could also have a dip or impression which would show up in the sleeping surface of the mattress. You can try your mattress on the floor to see if it makes any difference. Of course it’s always possible that both of your mattresses were defective as well but this is less likely if the same issue happens twice in such a short time.

The foundations we receieved were the ones that are sold in set with the iComfort mattress. So, maybe not the most high ‘quality’ foundations, they should be able to handle most mattress (I would expect). I’m inclined to think the iComfort was a quality issue (there weren’t ‘impressions’ in the iComfort, but a very noticeable difference in support between the sides and the middle, and it felt like a ‘mountain’ when we finally finished sinking into our sides and attempted to roll towards the middle) and the Restonic a possible defect (3 weeks for visible impressions is completely unacceptable, regardless of our weight - which, for the record is 250 and 195).

There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between them.

If the impressions in your Restonic are greater than the warranty exclusion then you would have a warranty issue and you could qualify for a warranty exchange rather than a comfort exchange and I would talk to the store about this.

Thanks for the link - I will take a gander and then make the wife take a look. She’s the one that got us into this mess in the first place! We will resort to a warranty inspection as a last resort if we can’t figure something else out. Considering that our mattress may very well be defective and the showroom model offering infinitely more support, it could be viable and cost-effective (though the wife is completely taken with memory foam, not so much with latex).

I would be very cautious with any of the Serta mattresses because they tend to use some lower quality/density materials which will have a much greater risk of softening or developing premature impressions over time than a mattress that uses higher quality/density materials. I would always make sure that you know the type and quality of all the materials and layers in any mattress you are considering (see this article and the guidelines it links to) so you can make sure that there aren’t any lower quality materials that would be a weak link in the mattress. I would avoid any mattress that uses too much lower quality density materials that aren’t suitable for your weight range or where you aren’t able to find out the quality/density of the materials inside it regardless of how it may feel in a showroom.

Even with the mountains of testimonials and warnings provided by this site against the purchase of the Serta mattress, we still got seduced by the showroom model and thought that there might be a chance our experience would be different. It wasn’t. It’s not that the mattress wasn’t extremely comfortable even after 60 days and the breakdown of the material on the sides (and not the middle) - it’s just that this breakdown seemed to occur so quickly, much more so than expected. So we’ll be staying away from Serta after a lesson learned.

In very general terms Tempurpedic uses higher quality/density materials than most of the Serta Mattresses and don’t have any obvious weak links in their design but I would also be cautious here because if you are in higher than average weight ranges then they do have some mattresses that use 4 lb memory foam which would be fine for someone that in a lower weight range but may not maintain comfort/support for those that are in higher weight ranges for nearly as long. I would tend to reduce or minimize the use of 4 lb memory foam in higher weight ranges so it would depend on the specifics of the mattress you are considering.

There is some information and guidelines about choosing a mattress for those in higher weight ranges in post #3 here and the posts it links to that will be helpful.

I will most certainly be looking at this link - thank you! In fact, the Tempurpedic model we’re looking at (Tempur Cloud Supreme Breeze), I believe, uses 4lb foam in the first 2" of the comfort layer (the Tempur-ES foam) followed by 2" of the 5lb foam and then the “regular” polyfoam as the base. We’re still taken with it, but leery of the possibility of the 4lb foam being ‘weak’. (However, considering 4lb is at least twice the density of the foams used in the other beds we’ve tried, it seems like something we might be able to overlook?)

Like many of the members that have come here that have been in a similar situation, you are in a somewhat difficult position where you need to exchange a mattress at a store that sells many mattresses that I would normally suggest avoiding and where there may not be any particularly good quality/value options available to you.

There are some suggestions and ideas in post #2 here about the two main strategies that you can use in your situation that can help you make the best of a difficult situation.

…and another reference that will be amazingly useful, so thank you!

This would be one of the strategies that can certainly help you make the best of a difficult situation but the goal is more to minimize the use of lower quality materials as much as possible (which generally means choosing a firmer mattress) rather than finding a mattress that has “more” higher quality materials because a mattress is only as durable as its weakest link no matter how much higher quality materials it may include.

So, would it make sense to look at a lower-profile, firmer foam mattress (do they make any thinner than 9"?) and then throwing a 2-3" high-density foam topper on top of that? And does ‘firm’ usually denote a quality material? Do you have some examples of what you’d consider a firmer quality mattress that would be cost effective?

The foam quality/density guidelines in the previous link will help you know whether any mattress you are considering has any weak links in the design. Of course this is also dependent on the retailer you are dealing with being willing and able to provide you with the information you need to make an informed choice. I would treat “unknown density” materials in the same way as “low quality” materials.

I tend to concur with the ‘unknown = low’ measure of quality.

Tempurpedic doesn’t normally provide the specs of the materials in their mattresses any longer but you can see the specs of the Cloud Supreme Breeze in post #2 here.

I would keep in mind (just in case you are trying to “match” one of the Tempurpedic mattresses based on foam densities) that while density is the most important factor in the durability of a foam material, it doesn’t indicate the properties of the material so other memory foams or polyfoams that are the same density may not have the same feel or firmness or other properties as the foams in the Tempurpedic. There is more about the different properties of different types of memory foam in post #9 here and post #8 here.

At this point, the option for us to ‘beat’ is just purchasing the Tempurpedic, which was intially what we wanted to avoid (because of the price) but we have inadvertantly backed ourselves into a corner in which we try to finagle a quality setup by trying to piece something together (with very limited choices) or we just suck it up and drop the extra $$ for the Tempur. Sigh Sucks to be us.

Thank you for your input/links/advice/support. I really appreciate it - it’ll help us try to make the best of a bad situation…