MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS

I HAVE BEEN IN THE MARKET FOR A MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS. I HAVE GONE TO ALL THE LOCAL STORES AND CHECKED ALL THE PRICES FROM ALL DIFFERENT SPOTS AND WE HAVE FOUND A MATTRESS THAT WE LIKE,

TEMPUR-PEDIC TEMPUR CONTOUR ELITE KING MATRESS IS THE MATTRESS THAT WE HAVE PICKED HOWEVER THE PRICE IS $3600 WHICH IT QUITE EXPENSIVE FOR WHAT WE ARE WANTING TO SPEND. WE REALLY LIKE THAT FIRMNESS OF THIS MATTRESS AND THE FACT THAT IT IS MEMORY FOAM. I KNOW THE FACT THAT IT IS TEMPUR PEDIC BRAND IS REASON FOR HIGH PRICE, HOWEVER WERE TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING SIMILAR FOR LESS $$

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

THANKS IN ADVANCE

Hi BBSAMS,

I’m assuming that you’ve read the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists (based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you).

If you are researching online memory foam mattresses … the mattress shopping tutorial includes a link to a list of some of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) and several of them make good quality mattresses that are designed to be reasonable approximations of many of the Tempurpedic mattresses which would be well worth considering.

Your own careful testing and/or your actual personal experience is the most reliable way to know whether any mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP but when you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness, etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with such as the various Tempurpedic models) than anyone else.

There may also be some local options that you’ve missed and if you let me know your city or zip code I’d also be happy to let you know about any of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area as well.

Phoenix

I live in Jackson, MS zip code 39211.

One of the brands that I have started to look at is Sleep Innovations Taylor 12’ Gel Swirl Mattress. From what I have gathered from my research this si one of the best mattresses of 2016 and is relatively comparable to the Tempur-Contour Elite Mattress from tempur medic that we like so much. Any thoughts on this mattress?

The mattresses that I have researched and am trying to choose between are:

Sleep Innovations 12" Taylor Gel Memory Foam

Lucid Memory Foam Mattress

Dynasty Cool Breeze

Brooklyn Bedding Firm Mattress

We like a firm feel and all of these are pretty similar in price. Is there one that you would recommend over the other?

Hi BBSAMS,

I would make sure that you’ve read all the information in my previous reply because buying any mattress that uses lower quality or “unknown” materials can be a very risky choice.

I’m guessing that you’ve been reading Consumer Reports and you can see my comments about their mattress ratings and recommendations in post #2 here and in this topic. While they may be a good source of information about more “objective” purchases … as you can see I would consider them to be an unreliable source of information or guidance about purchasing a mattress and they are somewhat nonsensical and meaningless. My thoughts are also shared by most of the more knowledgeable people in the industry (see post #5 here for an example).

While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would also be very cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because any mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range) and reviews in general certainly won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).

While I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else in terms of firmness, “comfort”, or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your personal preferences) because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of “comfort” and PPP the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress always depends on knowing the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new so I would always make sure that you can find out the information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links that would be a cause for concern or compromise the durability and useful life of a mattress you are considering before making any purchase.

Sleep Innovations doesn’t list the quality/density of their foam layers in their Amazon description so if you can find out the information listed here and post it on the forum I’d be happy to make some comments about the quality and durability of the materials and the mattress as a whole.

Sleep Innovations tends to use some lower quality/density materials in their mattresses that can be a weak link in the mattress (less than 4 lb memory foam and less than 1.8 lb polyfoam) and they also don’t have a phone number for customer service that you can call for guidance to help you decide which of their mattress would be the most suitable for you in terms of PPP so this would be a risky choice both in terms of suitability and in terms of durability.

You can see some comments about Lucid and other Chinese mattresses that are shipped compressed from overseas in post #6 here. A forum search on Lucid (you can just click the link) will also bring up more comments and feedback about them as well. Lucid mattress tend to use low quality memory foam (3 lb density or less) which would be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability and they generally aren’t a mattress that I would consider.

You can see some comments about Dynasty in posts #3 and #4 here and a forum search on Dynasty (you can just click the link) will bring up more information about them as well. Once again I would always make sure you know the foam density of all the layers in any mattress you are considering and I would generally avoid Dynasty mattresses as well.

As you probably know … Brooklyn Bedding is one of the members of this site which means that I think very highly of them and that I believe they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency. There is more about the BestMattressEver in post #2 here of the simplified choice mattress topic and a forum search on BestMattressEver (you can just click the link) will also bring up many more comments and feedback about it as well.

While I can’t speak to how any mattress will feel for someone else or whether it will be a good match in terms of firmness, “feel”, or PPP … it certainly uses high quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in their mattress that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress relative to any weight range and it would certainly make a great quality/value choice that would be well worth considering.

I would also keep in mind that the BestMattressEver has latex comfort layers and latex is a very different material with very different properties than memory foam. There is more about the pros and cons of each of them in post #2 here but the best way to know which type of material or which type of mattresses you tend to prefer will be based on your own careful testing or personal experience.

When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart (which would certainly include Brooklyn Bedding) and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.

The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Jackson, MS area (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines I linked in my previous reply) are listed in post #2 here.

Phoenix