I am in the process of buying my first mattress in 14 years and am a bit overwhelmed. I am looking at the Sealy Optimum line, but there is very little information available on them. I realize they are new, but I am wondering if anyone has input on the quality, foam density, or comfort. Thanks in advance
Hi Bruteye,
I understand the “overwhelm” and hopefully these guidelines will help you overcome it. This article will also give you a good sense of how to find a good mattress outlet which can be just as important as finding a good mattress.
The best direction is always to keep it simple, have a clear sense of what you are looking for (PPP), and work with people who have the knowledge and are committed to helping you make your best choice. The more they know … the less you need to know.
There’s lots of information as well in the mattresses section of the site (scanning the overviews would be a good place to start) about the different materials that are used in mattresses, how they are put together, and some guidelines on how to fit a mattress to your needs and preferences.
The Sealy Optimum is a new mattress that represents one more “gel memory foam story” that almost every manufacturer is working on. Because Sealy is not known for providing meaningful information about the materials in their mattresses, you would be making a “blind” purchase with no way of knowing about the durability or long term performance of the materials or have any way to compare it to other mattresses in terms of value other than subjective impressions. I would avoid any mattress that the outlet or manufacturer can’t or even worse won’t provide you with the most important information about the materials that are in it.
If you let me know the city you live in I’d be happy to let you know about any of the better outlets that are near you that I’m aware of.
Phoenix
First off, thank you for all your help. This site is an amazing resource. I live about 20 miles west of Canton, OH.
My challenge, which I am sure is fairly common, is finding a comfortable mattress that provides very good support to hopefully help ease some of the pain I have, caused by a L4L5 ruptured disk. The chiropractor I have been seeing recommended a firm innerspring with a pillowtop, but said a well supporting memoryfoam would work too. I laid on the Sealy Optimum Destiny and it seemed like it was supportive and had a comfortable top layer, so something similar in feel but better in quality would work for me. Also, I would like to keep this purchase under $2000 if possible (king bed). Thanks again.
On a related, but side note: The warranty on the Sealy covered 3/4" of sag. I checked The Original Mattress Factory and the warranty on their memory foam model covered 1.5" of sag. I have noticed from other threads that the Original Mattress Factory is considered a decent value. Why is the warranty that much different, or isn’t this a big deal?
I also just wanted to add that I live in a very large Amish community and there is an Amish bed manufacturer a few miles from my house called Country Bedding MFG. My initial thought was to stay away from there due to their lack of technology and ability to research and test their product on a large scale. After coming to this site I am starting to reconsider this thought. I may stop there tomorrow, but my concern as I am looking at their price sheet is they have listed a mattress as a 10" memory foam and it says “6/0 King Memory Foam - Two sided”. Two things confuse me on this. First, what is the “6/0”? Iis that the density? Second, I have not heard of a two sided memory foam mattress. Thanks
Hi Bruteye,
Your questions about warranties is a good one and very “discerning”. Serta, Tempurpedic, Sealy and many other have a .75" warranty exclusion on their better memory foam mattresses instead of the more “standard” 1.5".
Part of the problem with warranties though is that they only tell part of the story. The biggest issue with foam, and particularly memory foam and polyfoam, is that they soften long before they develop impressions. They will typically go through three phases of softeniing. The first is a more rapid softening over the first few weeks (about 90 days) and this is followed by a more gradual softening over a much longer period of time and finally the foam breakdown leads to actual impressions.
Most mattresses become “unsleepable” because of foam softening and loss of either pressure relief or support but because the impression is measured with no weight on the mattress … it will usually have enough resiliency left to fall inside of the exclusion.
Having said that … the warranty exclusion will often but not always say more than the warranty itself. While Original Mattress Factory does have a 1.5" exclusion, their foam is high quality and impressions are not likely to be an issue. Its quite probable that since the Serenity is their first venture into memory foam mattresses and that many manufacturers don’t “trust” memory foam completely because of the softening issues, that they chose a higher exclusion to play it safe and give them time to gather more experience in the real world to see how their mattresses performed and the type of customer feedback they received.
While I much prefer a lower exclusion … I would still put more emphasis on the quality of the foam itself because there are many more exclusions that restrict a warranty claim when a mattress has been slept on for years (such as the tiniest spot or stain of any kind). The length of a warranty is mostly meaningless because actual factory defects tend to happen in the very early stages of a mattress’ life and wear and tear of a mattress or the useable lifespan of a mattress is not covered by a warranty. In other words they have little to do with how long a mattress will last and more to do with marketing and creating a perception that justifies a higher price.
I know of a few Amish manufacturers and they tend to make high quality products that are superior to major brands. They also have a wide range of prices and some have better value than others.
I didn’t know about Country Bedding MFG and while I found a few references to them online (and have added them to my list thank you :)) … I didn’t see a website (not unusual for an Amish business) and I don’t know anything about their mattresses. If I was in your shoes though … I would definitely give them a call though and if they carried some good possibilities I would likely also pay them a visit. ADDED: See this thread for more about them.
6/0 is a reference to size and means the mattress is 6"0" wide which is a California King size (72 x 84). 5/0 is queen (60 x 80) and 6/6 is Eastern King size (78 x 80). Of course this means that the density is unknown and I would ask them this on the phone.
Two sided memory foam mattresses are not that common and you rarely see them. They would increase the life of the mattress however because they can be flipped and are a “value bonus”. They would be more common as a memory foam/innerspring hybrid although any mattress can be made two sided and would have a higher cost because of the extra layers and the more expensive process of finishing the mattress on both sides. With a two sided mattress it’s important to make sure the comfort layers are not too thick because if they are they can affect the support of the mattress (the mattress may “bend into” the soft layers on the bottom) but it’s likely they would know this of course and the 10" total thickness seems to indicate that the memory foam layers are probably thin enough.
Phoenix
Phoenix, I just wanted to update you on the mattress I found at the Amish manufacturer I mentioned yesterday. The King sized memory foam had a 5lb density. If you remember, I mentioned that it was a two sided mattress 10" thick. The owner/bedmaker said it had a 6" polyfoam (I think that is what he said at least) core and had 2" thick comfort layers on each side. We went ahead and purchased this and got the king set for just under $900 with tax included. This was $1000 less than what we were quoted for the Sealy Optimum Destiny I originally asked about. I was a little worried that the comfort layers are too thick, but the density was right and at that price I can afford to replace it much sooner if it starts to sag early.
I want to again thank you. You provide a great service to the consumer on this website. If there is anything I can do to help you, even through a paypal donation let me know.
ADDED later: See this thread for more about Country Bedding.
Hi Bruteye,
Congratulations on your new mattress 
A 2" comfort layer is actually not too thick at all and is less than “average” for a memory foam mattress. Of course yours is two sided so the total amount of memory foam would be twice as much as an equivalent one sided mattress. I personally prefer memory foam in thinner layers as long as it provides good pressure relief relief because it will put you closer to the support layers which can provide better alignment and thinner memory foam layers are also cooler because you don’t sink into them as much. A thinner layer is also better for a two sided mattress because it doesn’t add a thick layer of softer foam on the bottom of the mattress. Firmer polyfoam is the most common support system for a memory foam mattress so this would be “normal” (similar to a tempurpedic or the Optimum which also has a 6" polyfoam core). Of course I don’t know the density of the polyfoam support core but I would suspect that it was at least 1.8 lbs which would be fine.
Do you happen to know if they use American made foam?
You have already helped by letting us know about a manufacturer I knew nothing about which can in turn help others in your area that are mattress shopping. I appreciate it and your feedback!
Overall it sounds to me like you did very well in terms of value and you have the bonus of having a mattress that you can flip and will last longer than a one sided version.
Phoenix
I am sorry, but I do not know where the foam is manufacturered
Hi Bruteye,
No problem. When I have the chance, I’ll give them a call to find out what I can and add it to my notes for future reference.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Phoenix
Anybody have a review on a Sealy Optimum Inspiraton Bed?
Or any model in this collection.
There are not any reviews currently online since it is so new. I am interested in purchasing however I would like feedback.
I am also interesed in the Sealy Optimum Pillow that was in a store i visited however they did not have a price or release date. Anybody have any inside info?
Hi asudixon,
I merged your post to another thread with the same title and some of my thoughts about the Optimum are in the earlier posts in this thread. There are more comments at the end of post #4 here.
The only way to know the quality and durability of a mattress is to know the specifics of the materials that are in it. Other than that … you are at the mercy of marketing stories rather than the type of accurate information that can be used to make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.
Sealy (along with most of the other major brands or what are often called “S” brands along with Tempurpedic and Comfort Solutions among others) is not a brand that I would consider. The only exception to this … and this would be very rare … is if I had tested a specific mattress that for some reason was different from any other and I knew the materials and layering of that specific mattress and they compared favorably in terms of quality and value with local manufacturers or other smaller independent brands sold at smaller “sleep shop” outlets that tend to have much better quality and value.
The first of the guidelines that I list in this article is …
1. Avoid buying a mattress made by any of the major national brands such as Sealy, Simmons, Serta, Tempurpedic. While they are not all “bad” mattresses and some may even be good quality, … none of them have good value when compared to similar mattresses made by smaller independent manufacturers. NONE
If you let me know the city you live in … I’d be happy to let you know about any local manufacturers or better outlets I may know about that have higher levels of knowledge and service and offer better quality and value.
Hope this helps
Phoenix
Gastonia NC 28056
Thanks
Hi asudixon,
Post #2 here (centered on Charlotte) along with post #2 here (centered on Hickory) include the better options in your area. You are fortunate to have a range of good options close to you :).
These are the types of manufacturers and outlets that are highly responsive to consumers, are much more open and transparent about the materials they use in their mattresses, and will help to educate you about how to make better choices that better fit your short and long term needs and preferences.
It also doesn’t hurt that the quality and value of their products is generally much better than anything you will find from major manufacturers or chain stores.
Hope this helps
Phoenix
I live in Louisville, KY. Is there a location locally you can direct me to?
Country bedding sounds like they make a great product. The only problem is that you have to go visit them locally as they don’t have phones or Internet support. I tried to call them to see if they would ship to Virginia without success. No chamber of commerce exists as well. Looks like I’m out of luck… Sleepless in Virginia
Hi Mbower,
I also tried to find a phone number for them so I could find out more information about their mattresses but it seems that they don’t have one.
Typically though, local manufacturers like this are not set up and usually don’t even want to ship their mattresses outside of their local area.
There are a lot of good online choices that do though that would have similar value and there also may be some local choices available to you with similar quality/value depending on where you are in Virginia.
Phoenix
Hi,
Last year we purchased a latex foam bed and initally loved the way it slept. Because we like to cuddle, we found that it soon developed a “hole” in the middle where we felt like we were pulling outselves out of constantly. What is funny is that it sleeps great for one person, but the added weight of both of us just is too much (we are not heavy people either). We just got tired of it and moved it to the spare room about 7 months ago. We like the reduced movement this type of bed offers and are hoping we can find a good quality one that will last many for many years.
We are in Carrollton Texas, can you recommend a good mattress manufacturer or outlet here?
Thanks so much!
Hi Tddybear71,
I’d be interested to know the brand and model of your mattress. It’s unusual for latex to do this and it would be interesting to see if there are any other materials in the mix.
There are some very good options in the Dallas/Ft Worth general area and the better ones are in post #2 here.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
We bought the bed at Sleep Experts and were told that it’s manufactured by Sleep Designs, but the tag is showing the manufacture as Sanitary Mattress Company at 5808 Berry Brook Drive - mfg. date of 2/9/10. The model number on the tag is Starlight 624M315 with 85% Synthetic Foam, 10% Latex Foam Rubber, 5% Synthetic Fiber. (The tag is also showing a prototype number, which seems a little strange - I’m from the electronics industry and we never note a pro-totype number unless it’s still under prototype, but that may be normal for the mattress industry.)
Since I’m not very familiar with the different foams (reason for my visit to your web site) it could be that this is just not very good material for support.
Thanks for the information on good options in our area!
Amanda
(ps - love your web site and the help it gives to all of us who are unfamiliar!)