Hi Gabodi,
I can completely understand this and there are many who share your thoughts. Mattress shopping can be a maze inside a jungle of confusing and sometimes misleading information where it is difficult to know who and what to trust.
The most effective approach is generally to gather some basic information about mattress materials and construction and then to do some initial research into the better manufacturers and outlets in your area. This way you can “find the experts” that will lead you in the best direction rather than having to become one yourself.
The most important part of finding the best quality and value mattresses is to work with factory direct manufacturers or local “sleep shops” that are happy to tell you the quality specs of every layer in the mattresses they sell. Without this information … there is no way to know the real quality of a mattress and you are making a “blind” purchase. This would be similar to buying furniture that was made of particle board but had a beautiful veneer so it looked great and was charging “real wood” prices. It may look great and perform well in a showroom but if the outlet either couldn’t or wouldn’t tell you what it was really made of, there would be no way to know how long the look and performance would last and you would be in for some surprises once you discovered that it wasn’t as durable as you hoped.
Even very low cost and quality materials can feel great in a showroom but the “showroom feel” won’t last for nearly as long as higher quality materials. The better outlets also have the experience and knowledge to help you “fit” a mattress to your needs and preferences and your budget so that you end up with a mattress that not only works well at first … but will work just as well for a long time. They understand the importance of providing you with meaningful information that can help you make educated choices and real comparisons between mattresses besides just how they “feel”. Without this … most consumers end up buying the best marketing story rather than the best mattress. This article will give you some guidelines about how to “interview” an outlet before you visit them to make sure they are open and transparent about what they sell (and these are the exception) and that they are more focused on quality, value and service rather than sales and marketing.
There are a couple of factory direct outlets that are fairly close to you in the Columbus list in post #2 here.
Original mattress factory has an outlet in Heath. They are fully transparent about the materials they use in their mattresses, make latex, memory foam and innerspring mattresses, and have very good quality and value.
mattressmartohio.com - This website is for sale! - mattressmartohio Resources and Information. has an outlet in Reynoldsburg which is the closest one to you.UPDATE: They used to make their own mattresses but unfortunately they no longer do and the they now only carry major brands (which I would avoid) along with Restonic and Solstice which are the only two manufacturers I would consider here but make sure that they can provide you with the foam specs before you make a purchase here.
Things have changed a lot since you last bought a mattress and the “fake sales” that just change their name but never end are one of the more common tactics used by the mainstream industry. Prices have also changed significantly and your budget will put some limits on your selection but the goal is still to buy the best quality and value no matter what the budget. The better outlets sell mattresses with high quality and value in every budget range every day of the year and don’t use fake sales to create a false sense of urgency and “fear of loss” to sell mattresses. As you can read in the guidelines here … these types of sales are usually a reason to run rather than a reason to buy.
If you find the better outlets … then finding a mattress that “fits” your needs and preferences and has the quality and value that you want and will “match” your budget is a fairly simple process. At the more common mass market outlets and chain stores … almost anything you buy will be based on a “story” rather than meaningful information and will be lower quality and value.
Hope this helps … and feel free to post any questions you may have along the way,
Phoenix