Hi Phoenix and all,
Thanks for the advice on visiting SleepWorld in Austin, TX; my parents and I visited with Mr. Guerin and he was a terrific guy to chat with. It was a very pleasant, informative, no-pressure-to=buy experience! I also appreciated his direct approach with us too, which he smilingly said comes from his upbringing in New York (Bronx). You can tell he really knows his products and takes pride in his work. I think Mr. Guerin found it amusing that, thanks to all the research I’ve gathered over here, I started quickly spouting facts about the adjustable bed foudations and latex grades trying to convince my father about the benefits of adjustable beds. Mr. Guerin laughed a bit and chided me, saying “hey, let me be the salesperson here, will ya?” We all had a good laugh about that and of course I let him do the selling.
Mr. G was straight up about everything, including what we initially thought were rather high costs. I kinda knew that was going to be the case, and so when my mom and dad’s jaws dropped at the prices, I nodded my head to them, reassuringly. I think my parents are still remembering previous days of getting cheap coil mattresses from the local Sears store, hehe.
Anyways, let’s get right to the products and testing…
The first bed my dad tried was a twin XL latex mattress consisting of 9-inches of dunlap on an L&P S-cape, which Mr. G described as being organic/organic. It was firm, comfortable for dad, and you could see the care taken in its manufacture. You could also see it in it’s price: $2,000! The S-cape base/foundation itself was $900 (which is, IMO, very competitive with olejostore prices), but the mattress, wow. That comes to $2,900 as a set. Mr. G did mention that, since my dad needs an adjustable bed for his dialysis treatments, a prescription from his nephrologist would make the purchase tax-free (at least in TX), so that helps a bit. But still, $2,000 for a twin XL (not incl. base) seems a bit much.
Mr. G then showed us a second choice – another twin XL latex mattress with 6-inches of latex, this time a bit softer than the first one. I’m not sure what kind of latex was in it, except that it was not organic but also seemed quite good. It came to $1,000 , which was more reasonable, although still a bit of a surprise to my folks. Mr. G stated that a softer mattress like this second one did in fact provide better blood circulation and might avert bed sores more effectively than the harder, stiffer first one. However, my father loves lying on hard surfaces (even though he’s a side-sleeper) and he still liked the first 9-inch latex mattress. He kept insisting that the feel for him was best on mattress #1.
We looked at a few other mattresses but the first two were the ones that stuck in our minds. I was also thinking that, should I decide to get a mattress here, I might also consider going with the L&P S-cape base that he sells, considering it’s price is the same as most online prices. I found out I can acquire a Reverie Deluxe foundation second-hand from a friend now, but getting the new S-cape from Mr. G for a bit more money might be a better idea. Also, my own bias favouring the Reverie falls flat since my dad hates any massage function on these beds and finds the 58-60 degree head tilt angle sufficient on the S-cape. Augh, decisions, decisions… And I haven’t even taken the folks to nearby Urban Mattress yet!
Urban Mattress has the Tempurpedic electric beds (which I’m assuming are equivalent to Reverie models), so I was hoping to have Dad test out those models too. But he was exhausted after leaving SleepWorld, so we’ll have to save that for another day.
So I know the golden rule is NOT to make a purchase until visiting at least a few local mattress/foundation stores first, and I don’t plan to impuse buy anything right now. But for the moment, let’s assume that the only mattress with which my father will be satisfied is a resilient, firm mattress. What other equivalent, cheaper alternatives are there to the 9-inch dunlap organic/organic latex mattress that we saw? Or perhaps we should start considering foam equivalents that offer the same firmness (thanks mattresstx), even if they don’t last as long as latex? I figure as long as they’ll last 10-15 years for my folks, they’ll be happy. I always buy local to support businesses whenever I can, but most importantly so that dad is happy and comfortable with whatever we get. Thanks!