Mattress comparison advice (Des Moines, IA)

[phoenix]

Hi Socialstatic,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

After realizing my chronic back pain and neck pain was the result of a terrible sleeping situation, me and the wife decided it was time to retire our 10 year old mattress. After asking around and talking to a few friends and family members we found the local retailer Midwest Mattress

At ten years old, that’s probably a wise decision to look for a new mattress. As you stated, Midwest Mattress is a site member here, and I think highly of them and their advice.

Me and the wife have dramatically different requirements when it comes to sleep duration, position, start and stop times and accessories (I like a pillow under my knees and she prefers a body pillow on her side)
We found that we really liked the idea of the split king style in combination with the adjustable base.
It sounds as if you sleep upon your back (pillow under your knees to assist with hip flexor flexibility), and if this is the case you may end up not using the pillow under your knees if you end up deciding upon an adjustable bed configuration, as you’ll be able to elevate your legs and create a smaller angle at the hips.

I read a bit of your tutorials here on the site to get a general idea before we went in and then later read even more about material compositions, durability and marketing tactics. I can say that I didnt feel like i was being ‘salesguyed’ when i was there and generally felt like i was getting an honest shake from the salesman, However, there wasn’t a lot of technical detail in the conversation either.

I’m glad you had a pleasant visit at the store. A good salesperson should be listening and showing you items that they think will best suit your needs, and they shouldn’t get too technical with details initially (unless you ask for them), but they certainly should be able to provide you compete specifications of any mattress you’re considering.

With that being said, I would need complete and accurate details about each model in order to make any meaningful comments on these mattresses, as you are providing specifications from a brochure that are different from what you’re linking to on their web site. Once you’re able to procure that exact information (layers of foam, type of foam, density of the polyfoam/memory foam layers, types/blend of latex…) and provide it here I can be a bit more helpful.

However, I can address a few of your other questions as they’re more general in nature.

After doing some additional reading here, I was able to discern that an excessive amount of memory foam can be counterproductive and while might feel comfortable can lead to a lack of support in critical areas.

It is true that if you have too much material in the upper comfort layers of a mattress, you can create too deep of a “comfort cradle” and this can negatively impact your alignment. Either spec you’ve provided for the M3 mattress shows it having either 6" or 7" total of memory foam, so this definitely would be something you’d want to pay attention to when evaluating the mattress in the flat position. The support core of the mattress would most likely be polyfoam.

Also had a quilted top, which I have read can actually become weak points later in life of the mattress or wear unevenly.

That would be determined by the quality of the foams used within the quilted panel, as opposed to the fact of whether or not the mattress has a quilted top.

The Springbrook specs are also different form what is listed online, but you are correct that it is an innerspring unit with some latex on top, which would be a durable material. Again, you’ll need to find out the exact specifications of this mattress.

the salesmen informed us this was a spring model and also informed us that he himself owns the m3 above and that his associate owns the springbrook II. For whatever thats worth.

It’s not really worth anything, as what is important is what componentry works best for you and is most appropriate for your needs.

Now me and the wife walked away from the experience having both really enjoyed laying on the m3 after it was adjusted for us (slight elevation for head area and moderate elevation for our legs) but I found myself enjoying the springbrook just as well. The site lists the mattress as a pockets coils design with Zoned center third. Your site has a great explanation in regards to this design but no mentioned of this 'Zoned" style so some feedback here would be great

When evaluating the mattresses, be sure to perform the majority of your testing while the mattress is flat, as this will give you the most true evaluation of the product. Adjusting a mattress up and down with a poser foundation can create different levels of comfort, but it can also mask “deficiencies” of a mattress as well when flat.

Regarding zoning, we have quite a bit of information about that on the site, but I’m guessing from the brief explanation on their website that this particular unit provides a bit more deep support in the middle third of the mattress, which is quite common. There’s a bit more basic information about zoned construction here.

Overall, your next step is to find out the 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 (as discussed in the mattress shopping tutorial). Once you have that information feel free to post it back here in this thread and I’ll be happy to comment upon it.

Phoenix