Hi! We are looking for a new bed after 12 years, and don’t really live near a direct mattress maker. We are trying to really buy a king mattress that will last. We see brands like paramount, shifmann ,and King koil that appear to be high quality. Does anyone know anything about these, and whether their tufting, padding and coils make these good mattresses? I’ve read some on all 3, but wondering if it’s all just marketing. Don’t want to buy a big s brand!
Shifman is one of the best premium luxury brands on the market
1 Like
Thanks! Do you know anything about how their build quality stacks up? Does the tufting make them good? I know they are double sided, and I think they use offset coils. Sometimes luxury is just marketing. Also, does Macy’s get the same shiftman quality as their regular retailers? (For example, Kohler makes plumbing products for Lowe’s, but it definitely a different quality than what a professional plumber gets.)
Shifman designs these mattresses specifically for Macy’s, using the highest quality materials in the industry.
The main drawback I see with the Macy’s version is Macy’s requirement that they be perimeter foam-encased. Other than that, the mattresses are essentially the same. The Macy’s versions also tend to be more heavily discounted compared to those sold at independent stores.
They are made in the same factory, using the same materials and components—aside from the perimeter edge support foam encasement.
Shifman has been around for over 100 years and the make a superior luxury mattress. They still hand tie their boxsprings, which is necessary to complement their mattresses. With Shifman, nothing is marketing, soild quality all the way around.
They do require specific maintenance, timely rotation and flipping is a must to get your 20+ years a of service from their mattresses. Shifman mattress care
Hope this helps,
Maverick
Thanks! Any other good brands for the money in general? Is original mattress factory any good?
There are a lot of “good” brands out there. It really depends on what genre or type of mattress you’re looking for.
For example, there’s the traditional BiB category, mattresses that don’t use memory foam, or no foam at all, but still ship in a box to your front door.
Then there are BiBs that use latex or memory foam, with or without spring coils, also compressed and boxed for shipping.
There are also mattresses that ship fully expanded. Some can’t be boxed due to their construction, while others could be boxed but aren’t, because the manufacturer wants to maintain the image of a traditional mattress. These can have all natural construction, utilize latex, memoryfoam, polyfoam or a combination of a variety of foams and fibers.
What we do accept is that the denser the foam, the more durable and longer lasting it is likely to be. Then there are natural fibers, like horsehair, which can last a century. The most important thing is not the use of a specific component, it is how it is logically thought out and built within the mattress. This is why some of these legacy brands have disappointed in recent years. They throw a microcoil layer randomly in a mattress, or a thin layer of latex, and market it as a premium or superior mattress, when folks report they have been failing within the first couple of years.
I’ve mentioned this a lot lately, and I’m not sure what other experts, here or outside of TMU, might say, but I believe this:
There’s always going to be more than one mattress that will work comfortably and successfully for any sleeper.
I personally sleep on a Brooklyn Bedding Plank Luxe, a super firm mattress. My final two or three choices at the time included a Shifman (which I tested in-store) and the Plank Luxe, which I chose based on specs and an educated guess about firmness and feel. I took a chance on the Plank Luxe. Quite frankly, it was $1,300, and I felt there wasn’t much risk.
Since then, I’ve tried dozens of mattresses, set up a mini testing room in my finished basement, and I visit both luxury and non-luxury showrooms whenever I travel (it’s kind of my thing… drives the wife crazy). What I’ve realized is that even when you think you know the firmness level you want or need, someone out there has a design that delivers comfort through a completely different construction approach.
Sometimes it’s not about firmness in the conventional sense, it’s about support.
Support from the construction layers of the mattress.
Support from the foundation beneath it.
Support from the pillow for your head, neck, and overall alignment.
Some companies, like Hastens, focus on how each layer of the mattress supports the one above it. Then, the topper adds the final level of comfort, depending on the specific model the sleeper chooses.
I know this did not answer the specific question of good brands for the money, but when you get to know what to look for, in the genre material build you want, you will begin to recognize builds and construction that make sense.
Hope this helps,
Maverick
Thank you! So, I have seen some of these mattresses with natural materials like cotton, wool, and even horsehair. So it looks like these are high quality. There are different construction methods too, so it looks like I would lean toward tufting too.
I have a feeling I don’t go by coil counts either, but rather by type of coil in concert with construction methods and materials. Is there a big difference between high quality offset vs the encased coil?
Sorry for all the questions, but I got interested in this stuff because I felt the salesman at the local big retail store I went to seemed to beat at around the bush or talked glowingly about things that seemed inferior.
As for as bed in a box, I have no interest at all. I’m sure it’s ok, but I am very skeptical of a machine applying a high amount of pressure to a bed and squishing it down in a box. I want things that are made well, and prefer to have it shipped full size.
1 Like
If you feel uncomfortable with a BiB its ok, but you may be missing out on a potentially great mattress for your needs. For example @EngineeredSleep Duo Lift or DLX latexlux. If someone were to set a few of these, up in your home while you were out shopping, i guarantee you, now and in some cases 10 years from now, you would never have known it came in a box.
Look at Ostermoor Mattress, you would never have guessed it comes in a box.
Then there are others like Millbrook who are made in the US with materials imported from England to exacting specifications, hand nested honeycomb style coils that offer better support and cover more surface area, like @EuropeanSleep Nordic II.
There are mattresses out there that will surprise you.
There are quality coils in different designs. But quality coils without proper supporting foundation, and mattress construction is meaningless.
Maverick
Awesome! Yeah, I’d love to literally try all of these styles out. However, I will have to deal with the showrooms that are close to me where I can lay on the bed first. So the one that fits would be Macy’s, and I am relatively close to an original mattress factory showroom that has double sided stuff. So will make the best of those. There are some small shops that basically have all of the bib stuff out on the floor, but I don’t trust the shipping.
I really do want to make a good decision here, and have something that could go 15-20 years as opposed to the 7-10 year stuff which seems to be the new normal.
2 Likes
Hi,
Chiming in… Even the best quality materials will last 8-12 years at most (performance life) without a repair or refurbishment, except for the firmest feels, which can go longer. Just remember that something has to give, and if you select a firmer feel than you should be on for durability, you wear out instead… Also, the foundation wears out as well. As do bed frame supports (even steel). If you drive a car 2 hours a day for 10 years, you’ve been in the car for a total of around 10 months. You’ve been in your mattress for over 3 years. Also, I agree about the BiB—the issue is the weight limit for UPS/FEDEX and the fact that higher density foams and better springs can’t be compressed as easily and are too heavy to ship with a standard shipper (which breaks the model). Maybe an over simplified thought; if a queen size mattress weighs less than 10 pounds per inch of height, the quality is questionable. Ok, that was all over the place lol. 
1 Like
Ha thanks. I will tell you this though, we had a neighbor with a bed that was 27 years old, handbuilt by a local factory with an Amish box spring. The factory did take the top apart once and redid the top stuff, bed feels like it’s newer.
We just don’t live up north near that factory to go check one out. And my inlaws in talking about this, they replaced a bed they had for 20 plus. They flipped an rotated etc-dont know where they got it.
I think stuff can last close to 15 years still if it’s made well, and the owner can take care of it.
Our serta icomfort genius lasted 12, so not that bad, but I know there’s better.
1 Like
No doubt there are mattresses out there today that can last 15 to 25 years with proper maintenance. My Serta Ultra Firm Perfect Sleeper was purchased in 1986 and was still going strong in 2011, but those days are gone. I bought an equivalent Sealy Posturepedic UltraFirm in 2011 and it was shot by 2022. Both Serta and Sealy just aren’t made like they used to be. My friends bought a Stearns & Foster in 2019 and already had to replace it in under five years. That kind of lifespan would’ve been unheard of a few decades ago.
Two-sided mattresses are still fairly common, even some bed-in-a-box models come flippable. My Plank Luxe is one of them. The DLX Classic Hybrid is another. Engineered Sleep’s Duos aren’t flippable in the traditional sense, but they have some unique features worth checking out.
The Millbrook line is an affordable alternative to Shifman and comes with a solid trial and warranty. Millbrook is one of my favorite mattress lines for that reason.
The true test of a mattress doesn’t always show itself in a showroom. A showroom gives you an introduction, but if it’s a quality mattress with good components, it might end up being that long-lasting, comfortable unit you were hoping for. Sometimes though, what feels great in the store ends up being a flop at home. That’s why it’s important to weigh the risk of a questionable showroom trial against the possibility of a well-built, delivered surprise.
Ultimately, you need to take the course that makes you most comfortable, but sometimes, moving out of that comfort zone can yield some welcomed surprises, with little risk.
Maverick
Good info! I know there’s a lot of awesome beds out there as you have described, but we just don’t want to deal with the steps in an online return.
I really really am interested in the shiftman or paramount HD, and actually there are mom and pop factories in various places that make a super mattress-we just have had good luck with in person tests, and my wife usually has the better feedback. So the mattress has to be local for us at least. Don’t really want to deal with an online return.
Sounds like I’m behind the times! No bib, and show up live at the store for me!
1 Like