Mattress Shopping experience

[illousion]

First of all, thank you for this wonderful source of Information regarding mattresses. With the information here I was able to be confident in my visits to three mattress stores (is this the right phrase? non-native english speaker here) near me. I am male, 180cm of height and weigh 65 Kilograms. My bed has 120cm of width (this has impact on the pricing). I mostly sleep on my side and sometimes on my back. Currently I frequently am waking up with shoulder pain in the morning (im light and do not sink in enough in my mattress). Furthermore, I radiate alot of heat. As I am from Germany the links will direct you to mostly German websites, if there are any understanding issues I am glad to translate.

1. Natural and Latex focussed 1-man store. This was the first one I found. I was happy to find it and thought ‘nice, this will be it’. Then I noticed some esoterical stuff on their website and was disappointed. Experience was mediocore, the guy did not try to sell me his crystals or anything and did not try to get me to buy on some marketing bs. Also, I did not feel like he took me seriously (probably he thought I was shopping out of my price range due to my young age). There were a https://www.schlafberatung-scholz.de/bielefeld/naturlatex-matratze-silencio/Dunlop Latex Mattress (1679 Euros) we identified for me and a slatted frame (502 Euros). I was not totally satisfied with my the feeling of my shoulders after laying a longer time.

2. Swiss bedding-system Chain called ‘Hüsler Nest’. They have an amazing system that separates the Core functions of the Mattress in different components. They have their patented Springwood-Frame which is responsible for the support, somewhat thinner Latex mattresses which are responsible for the comfort and a top layer that is for clima regulation and sweat wicking. I was super impressed with it and love the system and the focus on natural materials. For the Frame, a 14cm Tallalay Mattress and a swiss-wool toplayer I would pay 3300 Euros. There was only one person working at the store and I had his full attention for 45 minutes and he confidently answered to all my questions. The talking was mostly about the materials and the durability though, after we identified that I need a softer Mattress.

3. Local bedding store that works together with an University and a Mattress Company. Also I spotted that they are hiring a physiotherapist for more professional service. The mattress company, Dormabell, uses a mesuring-system to figure out initial settings for their slotted base and a pillow recommendation. After setting the base, a polyfoam mattress was selected for me based on my weight/size and I layed down. In the following hour I had full service by the saleswoman and she checked my spine alignment up to the neck and my hip posture on both sides and on my back. She was thorough, we tested different mattresses and pillows and adjusted the measured settings to our empirical findings. I was super impressed with the service. After I asked for Latex mattresses we checked one of those but I did not lay as good as on the polyfoam-fiberglass one. Overall I would pay 800 Euros for the amazing slatted frame, 1449 Euros for the polyfoam/fiberglass Mattress and 130 euros for the pillow.

That for the experience. And now my struggle: I really love the system of the Hüsler Nest and the quality of the used materials. I layed quite comfortable on it and there is a lot of adjustability. Longevity is king.
I feel like i had the highest comfort/support on the polyfoam mattress due to the superb adjustability and service.But 1449 Euros for a polyfoam mattress is quite the high price for mediocre materials. I would love to combine the best of these approaches (quality vs. science), but sadly i have to choose one.

I am slightly leaning towards the polyfoam mattress as I probably will have changed enough in 10 years so that I need a new mattress anyway. The foam also is not the cheapest - RG45 converts to 2.8 pound per cubic foot if i calculated correctly.

Do you have any Tipps that may help me with my decision? I Appreciate your help!

[Basilio]

Hi Illousian, Wilkommen to The Mattress Underground
Glad to have you here!

First of all, thank you for this wonderful source of Information regarding mattresses. With the information here I was able to be confident in my visits to three mattress stores (is this the right phrase? non-native english speaker here) near me. I am male, 180cm of height and weigh 65 Kilograms. My bed has 120cm of width (this has impact on the pricing). I mostly sleep on my side and sometimes on my back. Currently I frequently am waking up with shoulder pain in the morning (im light and do not sink in enough in my mattress). Furthermore, I radiate alot of heat. As I am from Germany the links will direct you to mostly German websites, if there are any understanding issues I am glad to translate.

Your English is fine, and I understand your dilemma in finding a new mattress. First, I would suggest, if you have not already done so, that you take a look at our
Mattress Shopping Tutorialto get a feel for what to expect while mattress shopping, as well as the Mattress Specifications You Need To Know to get a better overview of what to look for.

Any mattress is unique to the sleepers using it, based on their stats(height, BMI, sleeping position(s) and any underlying health conditions, and their PPP( Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences); thanks for providing your stats! You don’t say what type of mattress you are using now, but it sounds like it may be too firm, as you are having shoulder pains on awakening. As far as the issue of you sleeping hot, a mattress topper or cover made of breathable materials like cotton, wool, or coconut coir could relieve this, allowing air circulation between your body and the mattress material; also an elevated base and/or innerspring coil layer would allow air circulation as well.

You may also wish to review this post that addresses the many contributing factors to the microclimate of a mattress.

1. Natural and Latex focussed 1-man store. This was the first one I found. I was happy to find it and thought ‘nice, this will be it’. Then I noticed some esoterical stuff on their website and was disappointed. Experience was mediocore, the guy did not try to sell me his crystals or anything and did not try to get me to buy on some marketing bs. Also, I did not feel like he took me seriously (probably he thought I was shopping out of my price range due to my young age). There were a www.schlafberatung-scholz.de/bielefeld/naturlatex-matratze-silencio/Dunlop Latex Mattress (1679 Euros) we identified for me and a slatted frame (502 Euros) . I was not totally satisfied with my the feeling of my shoulders after laying a longer time.

There are 2 types of latex normally used in mattresses: Dunlop, which is ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ has a more supportive ‘cradling’ feel which you may like as you say you don’t ‘sink in’ to your current mattress. Talalay is considered ‘bouncier’ or ‘springier’. The Wilfried Scholz Silencio is a zoned 7" Dunlop mattress with a zippered quilted Lyocell fleece cover. This is a durable mattress and has both H2 and H3(plush and medium) firmness options. Sorry to hear you had a poor experience in the store…if you tried out the medium comfort level you might prefer the plush, or vise versa. A slatted frame would allow for good air circulation as well

2. Swiss bedding-system Chain called ‘Hüsler Nest’. They have an amazing system that separates the Core functions of the Mattress in different components . They have their patented Springwood-Frame which is responsible for the support, somewhat thinner Latex mattresses which are responsible for the comfort and a top layer that is for clima regulation and sweat wicking. I was super impressed with it and love the system and the focus on natural materials. For the Frame, a 14cm Tallalay Mattress and a swiss-wool toplayer I would pay 3300 Euros. There was only one person working at the store and I had his full attention for 45 minutes and he confidently answered to all my questions. The talking was mostly about the materials and the durability though, after we identified that I need a softer Mattress.

I looked at this bed, and it does appear to be an innovative design, with the wooden slats made with more ‘elasticity’. The Talalay mattress is of a lesser thickness than the Silencio, but the wool cover would again provide good air circulation between the latex and your body so should allow you to sleep ‘cooler’. It is a more expensive bed system, but seems quite durable from its construction.

3. Local bedding store that works together with an University and a Mattress Company. Also I spotted that they are hiring a physiotherapist for more professional service. The mattress company, Dormabell, uses a mesuring-system to figure out initial settings for their slotted base and a pillow recommendation. After setting the base, a polyfoam mattress was selected for me based on my weight/size and I layed down. In the following hour I had full service by the saleswoman and she checked my spine alignment up to the neck and my hip posture on both sides and on my back. She was thorough, we tested different mattresses and pillows and adjusted the measured settings to our empirical findings. I was super impressed with the service. After I asked for Latex mattresses we checked one of those but I did not lay as good as on the polyfoam-fiberglass one . Overall I would pay 800 Euros for the amazing slatted frame , 1449 Euros for the polyfoam/fiberglass Mattress and 130 euros for the pillow .

The Dormabell Innova is a custom system where your shoulder width, waist width, pelvic width, lumbar position and depth, knee position and depth, the preferred sleeping position, weight and height are used to design a bed system specified to you. I agree with you that though this is highly customized as this is made of polyfoam, the mattress could wear prematurely, depending on the chemical composition and density of the foam used. Their promotional materials do appeal due to the ‘science’ – but keep in mind, only you can tell which mattress is ultimately comfortable for you. I would recommend trying out various firmness levels of talalay to see if you can find one that suits you, and not pay too much attention to the ‘marketing’.

As for the polyfoam, you have a lower BMI, and 2.8lb/cuft should not present any issues for you…you can take a look at theMattress Durability Guidelines to see how various materials hold up over time. Ultimately it comes down to what feels best for you; A mattress is an important purchase so its always good to take the time to try out as many as you need to ‘zero in’ on what suits you.

I hope this helps; possibly some of our other German forum members can chime in with their thoughts as well.

-Basilio

[illousion]

Thank you for your detailed answer.

The Dormabell system did not impress me due to their marketing material tho. The Salesperson (having the german job title “Schlafberater”, roughly translated to sleep-consultor) and her attention to detail and checking of my sleeping posture was what impressed me most. She used the results from the measuring as an initial starting point to improve on, which resulted in a very good intial setting on which she could improve and test various mattresses and frame settings for the next hour.

And I have got to say, I felt extremely well supported by the mattress-frame combination. Due to my slim statue I have low weight but still a lot of shoulder that needs to sink in. Also, i have somewhat of a waist which the frame was adjusted to. I wish i could combine the frame with a latex mattress - but the ones i was able to try at the mattress store resulted in much worse sleeping positions. When I buy a latex mattress somewhere else, I will not be able to test it in conjunction with the frame. As the frame is quite specialized, I think i would not get a good representation of the final feeling.

Since the foam seems to be fine for my weight class, I will probably go for it. I have tried Dunlop and Tallalay latex mattresses at three different stores but finally, they did not provide the same comfort as the foam mattress I tried last. I would love to have the durability and low ecological impact of the latex mattresses, but finally I think my sleep comes first here. I hope i will not regret this decision. I have talked to the salesperson of the second store and will buy their wool topper as the third store only provides molton toppers which may be good for the mattress longevity but not for my warm sleep.

Thank you for your time.

[Basilio]

Hi illousion

And I have got to say, I felt extremely well supported by the mattress-frame combination. Due to my slim statue I have low weight but still a lot of shoulder that needs to sink in. Also, i have somewhat of a waist which the frame was adjusted to. I wish i could combine the frame with a latex mattress - but the ones i was able to try at the mattress store resulted in much worse sleeping positions. When I buy a latex mattress somewhere else, I will not be able to test it in conjunction with the frame. As the frame is quite specialized, I think i would not get a good representation of the final feeling.

I’m happy to hear you have found something that works for you. You have discovered an important rule in mattress shopping – ignore the hype and marketing, and go with what feels comfortable. The only thing I would add is that if you will be buying components from different sores, make sure you check with the matress manufacturer as you may break the terms of the warranty if you use frames that are not ‘approved’ for their products which you want to avoid in case you need to return or exchange the mattress in the future.

Since the foam seems to be fine for my weight class, I will probably go for it. I have tried Dunlop and Tallalay latex mattresses at three different stores but finally, they did not provide the same comfort as the foam mattress I tried last. I would love to have the durability and low ecological impact of the latex mattresses, but finally I think my sleep comes first here. I hope i will not regret this decision. I have talked to the salesperson of the second store and will buy their wool topper as the third store only provides molton toppers which may be good for the mattress longevity but not for my warm sleep.

Again, only you can tell which mattress/materials feel comfortable for you. Though I caution against, primarily, excess amounts of low density foams in general, many consumers enjoy the feel of memory foam and I am glad you feel comfortable on it. You have a lower BMI, and depending on the exact density of the foams in the mattress you purchase, just be mindful if it starts to wear – but premature wear is by no means a given. Its’ great you are mindful of the ecological impact of the products you buy, but hopefully your new nattress will hold up and provide you many years of comfortable sleep.

Feel free to update us on how the mattress is working for you once you have spent some time with it.

~ Basilio