Bought a Beautyrest from Sears and the off gassing is too much. The bed was $3500. We have to wait 30 days to return, can do that 9/6/14. I have been researching healthy and organic mattresses for a couple weeks but I want to lay on some. Does anyone have information about local dealers?
Thanks,
Noxious at Night 
Hi Arionlne,
Arionlne 's Avatar
Just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place I would start is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choice … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Columbia, SC area (subject to following all the steps in the tutorial post of course) are listed in post #2 here.
Phoenix
Thanks Phoenix! I’m going to Best Mattress, and perhaps Southern Bedding of Columbia, this weekend. Best Mattress was very helpful on the phone. I already scheduled the pick up of my current mattress as well. I’ll report back and let you know about my experience.
Thank you for your prompt response, and for maintaining such a stellar site.
Ari
Hi Arionine,
I’m looking forward to your feedback after your visit.
I should also have mentioned that post #2 here has more information about organic, natural, safe, and green materials that may also be helpful so you can decide on “how safe is safe enough for me?” and decide on the types of materials that you are comfortable having in your mattress.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
We received our new mattress today from Best Mattress in Columbia, SC. We chose their handcrafted bed, though they do sell Tempurpedics as well. The shopping experience was exceptional and we are much happier with this purchase vs our Simmons from Sears. I recommend Best Mattress to anyone local. Also, I praised your website when I visited their showroom.
Thanks again,
Arianne
P.S. If we have any issues I will add to this thread, but hopefully it stops here!
Hi Arionine,
Thanks for the update and feedback and letting us know what you ended up deciding.
While I don’t know the specifics of the mattress you decided on … I know they make good quality/value mattresses and are knowledgeable and helpful as well so I think you made a good choice.
Congratulations on your new mattress 
Phoenix
Hello!
First time poster. My husband and I live in Columbia and are currently in the market for a mattress. We visited Best Mattress and liked a couple of their hybrid models, the Quantum and the Renaissance. I saw where ArionIne bought one a few years ago and I was wondering if they still felt that was a good choice four years into the buy?
I was also interested to know if there was a significant durability difference between the double-sided and single sided mattresses.
Harpergigs
Hi Harpergigs.
Welcome to our Mattress Forum!
Hopefully, ArionIne is still subscribed to this topic and will see your question and give you a four years account of her experience with the mattress.
Having comfort layers on both sides of a mattress can certainly extend the useful life of a mattress (assuming you rotate and flip it on a regular basis) compared to the same mattress with the same comfort layers on only one side of the mattress. Having said that … if you are comparing two different mattresses that have different designs and use different materials and components in the support and comfort layers then someone sided mattresses may also last longer than some two-sided mattresses depending on the quality and durability of the materials and components in each of the two mattresses you are comparing so this would only apply to two mattresses where the only difference between them was that one of them had an additional comfort layer on the bottom of the mattress. There is more about the pros and cons of a two-sided mattress in post #3 here.
I am not very sure what you’ve read since finding us, but just in case you haven’t read it yet the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here(there is a condensed version of it at the end of that post) which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones. Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well he will sleep), durability (how long he will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
When assessing any product, also be sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
I look forward to hearing about your decision or about any of the insights that your testing experience with Best Mattress products might bring you.
Phoenix
My husband and I had a twenty-five year old mattress and decided it was finally time to replace it. My husband is very much a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of guy, so it took a while for him to even get to this point. If you ask him, he’ll tell you he is not too picky about mattresses. It’s a mattress. “As long as it doesn’t have nails sticking into him, he can sleep on it” or so he will tell you. I started writing down the little things he would say to me here and there, so I could get a better idea of what he actually DID think/feel about it. He got the “Mattress Underground” website from a friend/co-worker of his, and I read through a few of the articles and forums to get an idea of how to go about this smartly. I will say that there is a mind-boggling amount of great information on this website, but if you are not really good at sifting through material to get to stuff pertinent to you, you can easily be overwhelmed and shut down. Luckily I’m a pretty good researcher. Also when they say “new folks on the site start here”……do it.
We started at a chain store (Mattress Firm) because we were coming into this pretty raw and felt they would have a good selection for comparison sake to at least find out what our preferences were. I will say that the salesperson there (Ashley) was very helpful and knowledgeable about her products. We told her right off the bat we were just doing research that day to see what our preferences might be. She had a set up of three mattresses (plush, medium, firm) there to get us started. Both my husband and I agreed on the medium –plush mattresses worked best for us. From there she showed us different innerspring, gel foam hybrids, and memory foam mattresses in her store and had us try out each of them (I noted they were also probably the most expensive in the store). She would recite all the components of each mattress and when she noted I had neck problems, added a pillow for me to try. I will say that her customer service was spot on. She very helpful, cheerful, and knowledgeable. I wouldn’t say she was really pushy, but there was definitely some trained salesmanship going on there. The downside was within 30 minutes she had us on a $4000 mattress, plus special sheets and mattress pad that work with the gel foam, and a special pillow. All told, probably about a $6000 package. (yeah, right) Let me be fair to her though, we didn’t tell her our median budget was more like $1500, basically because WE didn’t know at the time. We discussed and figured that one out later.
What we learned from that visit: We are both side sleepers, although I will also sleep on my back some and my husband will sleep on his stomach some. We both agreed we did not want to pay $6000 for a mattress, although we weren’t going for the cheapest either because I was looking for durability seeing as it might be another 25 years before we get another one. I have reflux issues as well as pressure point issues with my neck and hips, but my husband was dead set against adjustable beds and frames. Too heavy, too pricey, and within the first year of my sister owning one, the electronics on it broke. I agreed to that. My husband sleeps with a CPAP and both of us have slightly elevated BMI’s. I was concerned about sleeping “hot” with the memory foam. My husband already sleeps with a fan directly on him even through the winter. I, on the other hand, get cold easy. My husband was also mildly concerned about “bounce” in the mattress more conducive to “other” nocturnal activities so we ruled out straight memory foam. We decided a hybrid was probably more the way to go for us.
This is where I came back and started doing research on “Underground Mattress” more specific to hybrid mattresses and also found out it would be a good idea to seek out local manufacturers as they might be more knowledgeable about their products and lower prices than the chain stores. I found out that “Best Mattress” was the local manufacturer in the Columbia, SC area. They did not have gel-foam hybrids, but latex. Latex ticked off my “durability” requirement as I was a little concerned about the memory foam topper crushing down too quickly. On looking around for reviews of Best Mattress, I found they had won “Best of Columbia” business awards for several years in a row. They are a family owned business for several generations now. They custom build each mattress order right here in their West Columbia factory. So that means little overhead (environmentally friendly for the industry they are in). They also send the old mattresses they pick up to a landfill that then sends them to a recycle program where prisoners pull apart the mattresses and recycle the materials. Not real high on my personal priority list, but it was nice to note. What really impressed me with this company though is even though they had very good reviews overall, on the few reviews that were less than stellar…you could see where this company contacted the reviewer, followed up with them, asked them to call or come in and they would work with the customer to fix/resolve the issue. And the couple reviewers I personally contacted said that the company went out of their way to fix their issues, repair their mattresses when needed, and did their absolute best to make sure their customers were satisfied. And this was sometimes up to two years after the initial sale. I’m pretty sure you’re not going to get that level of customer service from a chain store.
Okay, so the two hybrids that Best Mattress offers is the “Quantum” and the “Renaissance”. The Quantum was a single-sided mattress with individual pocketed coils and either a quilted topper or the Latex topper. It also was zoned to have firmer coils at about the hip region for more support. The Renaissance was a double-sided mattress (unusual, but also ticked the durability box with me) with Lura-Flex overlapping coils. It came with either the quilted topper, natural latex topper, or a special “firm” Red-Dot version. Buddy said “Natural” latex at least twice, so I made note of it. Interestingly the initial salesman (Phillip) told me that latex actually sleeps a little more warmly than the memory foam, but he and his wife have one and he didn’t find it more heated than the straight innersprings like the one we were replacing. Both Phillip and Buddy (the owner), whom we met on our second trip to the store when we decided to buy, were both friendly, knowledgeable, and very laid back. No pushy salesmanship at all. They just answered questions, told us the components of both mattresses, and then let us do our thing. My husband actually said he thought Ashley did a little better at salesmanship, but to be fair by the time we got to Phillip, we already kind of knew what we wanted, so he didn’t have as much to do.
In the end we went with the Renaissance w/ Latex and matching box spring. The total package was $1800. It went a little over my stated budget, but for the extra durability of the double-side, I felt it was worth it. I plan on flipping/turning every 1-2 months. (I’m even putting it in my Google calendar to remind myself, I promise!) It was ordered on May 24th, and was delivered yesterday June 6, 2018. The sale was over Memorial Day weekend so it took a little longer than their normal turnaround to make and deliver. I slept really well last night and didn’t experience any off-gassing at all. (To be fair, my nose isn’t all that sensitive, so take that with a grain of salt). My husband said he didn’t sleep as good and had some back pain. (But that could be due to the moving furniture around yesterday. He could have let the delivery guys do it. They advertise that they will. He’s just that kind of guy.) Anyway, that is my experience. I’ll try to do a follow up here in a few months, but I’m planning to stay subscribed to this thread, so if you want to contact me or ask me questions about my experience, just leave a note here.
Harpergigs
Hi Harpergigs.
Congratulations on your new mattress purchase!
Thanks for such a detailed account of your mattress shopping process… it certainly looks that you did everything by the book… research, identifying a knowledgeable manufacturer in your area, local testing, as well gathering all the information needed to make an informed decision. The materials you listed for the Renaissance Latex seem to indicate that is good quality/value product which will hopefully reward you with many years of good sleep.
As an aside…I too find it interesting that Philip would say the latex sleeps warmer than memory foam… Latex, in general, is the most breathable and “temperature neutral” of all the different types of foam materials.
I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback once you’ve had the chance to sleep on it for a while longer.
Phoenix