the wealth of information on this site has pretty much swayed me away from innerspring mattress to the world of Latex ones. I did try a latex mattress in different comfort levels ( firm, med and soft) at my local mattress factory, the Mattress factory in Fanwood, as reccomended on this site…great people, great service and great product !!! Problem is their mattress is about $1000 more than the comprables on-line. I am now trying to decide if the local purchase is worth the price difference. Here are the details:
Latex Mattress from the mattress factory in Fanwood, NJ:
11" King size mattress
6" of talalay latex
with a omalon HD foam base
incased in a luxurious and beautiful wool top cover
Pros:
local business with guarantee
quick turnaround ( 1 week)
white glove delivery and set-up for $20
will take away old bedding
Cons:
PRICE !!! Mattress alone is $2699 !!!
Not customizable. must pick btwn firm, med and soft
box spring in addn $ 300
vs.
Online purchase at either Brooklyn bedding or Arizona Mattress
14" Aloe Alexis ( specs all over tons of post) = $1499 or King All Natural Talalay w/Free Bamboo Cover Upgrade at Arizona Mattress for $1599
Pros:
Price !!!
Saving ~ $1000 :silly:
Gives me budget for new bedroom furniture
Customizable
exchange warranty and flexibility
Cons:
Can’t feel actual mattress
Delivery in boxes and can take 2-3 weeks in case of Arizona Mattress
I have to assemble it myself and remove my old heavy huge mattress
need to figure out foundation or what to do for support of mattress
I think that just about every person who buys a mattress or is a member of the forum has wrestled with a similar scenario which is all about how to choose between “good and good” choices. At this point … it’s time for me to step out of the way and I don’t think anyone can or even should tell you what to choose at this point but some guidance in how to choose may be helpful. I know it took me several weeks to narrow down my own final choices when I last purchased a mattress as I kept changing my mind about what was most important to me
The best news is that you have eliminated all your worst choices and in terms of quality it would be difficult to make a mistake.
Every mattress purchase though includes more than just the “material value” of the mattress and all the many tradeoffs involved in the mattress itself as well as all the other options and services that are part of every mattress purchase are all part of what I call your “personal value equation”. There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here but in the end everyone will need to decide what is most important to them and attach a “value” to all the objective, subjective, and intangible factors that are part of any final decision. There is no “best and worst” any longer at this point … only best for YOU.
It may also be worth attaching a “premium” in the range of 20% or so (each person may choose more or less than this depending on their risk tolerance and on the return or exchange policies of the online retailer/manufacturer) to get to “equivalent value” if you are comparing local to online because of the extra risk involved in an online purchase compared to a mattress you can test in person. Once the local premium goes beyond this in an online vs local comparison then I would look more seriously at online options. If you are comparing online to online or local to local then of course this wouldn’t apply but some of the other parts of your personal value equation may still be important factors and increase or decrease the risk of a specific choice in terms of how well you believe it “matches” your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). In many cases, local manufacturers will also allow comfort adjustments and any exchange or return policies and how much they may increase the cost of a mattress are also part of the value of any purchase. I would also make sure you are comparing mattress only prices to mattress only prices to that your comparisons are more apples to apples.
I would also strongly suggest that you have a good conversation with each of the online choices you are considering. This can play a big role in which direction you end up choosing. Once you have looked carefully at the different options and benefits of each choice and how you feel about each … and the options you have if you make the wrong comfort choice … you will usually find that you will start “leaning” in one direction or another. I would also remember that when you look back on a mattress purchase 10 or more years from now you will remember much more about how well you slept and how long you slept well than you will about the purchase price of the mattress although I’m also not suggesting that this isn’t one of the most important parts of value and your final decision.
The bad news is that even with good or great mattresses to choose between final choices are not always easy to make … especially when it involves a combination of objective, subjective, and intangible factors that can be difficult to attach a “value” to or when the differences in “value” between them seems very small. The good news is that any of your choices are better than what the large majority of people end up purchasing and in terms of quality and value there are really no “bad choices” or “mistakes” left any more and when you are at this point and there are no clear winners between your finalists then the odds are high that any one of them would be a good choice that you would be happy with.
Phoenix, you know what’ll be interesting. I’m not just buying for me. I’m buy for me and a couple of children. So what will be interesting is to find out if we all choose the same vendor or one , two or three come out with different mattresses that they love.
I’ll tell what really impresses me. When a manufacturer is responsive to even my basic, silly questions and sends a reply back within two hours of my intial request. I’ve found three companies that have gone out of my way to reply to me on facebook, email, or even here on the mattress underground and this is a big part of the final decision. I think you know why too. Social media is a big part of sales. Those who are active win. Those who aren’t are left behind. So anyone who takes the slightest interest in winning my business go up to the top of my list. So far, four of the five have been very kind to respond to all of my questions. Sadly, this is a curse too because they all have good mattresses which means I must continue to do my homework.
