I’ve been looking for a new mattress for my wife and me. After reading quite a bit, I still feel completely uneducated about this topic. However, I’ve come to the conclusion, be it right or wrong, that an inner spring mattress is just not the right way to go. I’m leaning towards a memory foam or 100% latex mattress as it seems most folks are much happier with them than with the traditional innersprings. I’m still rather worried about the heat issues with these types of mattresses and the availability/cost.
So that being said:
Am I wrong to want to go with memory foam or 100% latex? Should I be considering something else or a blend?
How do I try a latex mattress?
How big is the heat problem with these mattresses?
Given we’re both stomach and side sleepers how does this work into the decision?
Relevant info based on the style and preferences page:
Wife: 5’ tall, 120 lbs
Me: 5’9" tall 180 lbs
Both stomach and side sleepers
Zip Code: 07652
Budget: I’d like to keep to $3k give or take for an eastern king size mattress. A better deal is divine but I’m willing to pay a bit more if that’s what it takes.
I’m not much of a fan of sinking too far down but I do like to sink in. I hope my understanding of these terms makes sense here. Also I’m fairly convinced I’m a stomach and side sleeper because I can’t find a position that works 90% of the time!
Any advice? Recommendations?
PS I should mention I’m still reading the mattress information pages and I’m not quite done with all the details.
Unfortunately you are not alone in an industry that in general is more interested in selling you the latest “story” than it is in educating you about the best possible choice of a mattress that will best suit your needs and preferences. There are many in the industry that will do a great job of guiding and helping you but unfortunately thay are usually overwhelmed in the “noise” of the advertising that most people are exposed to by the major brands and mass market outlets. In general you will do better by first finding the “experts” in your area than you will by trying to choose a mattress in the absence of meaningful information that can help you make meaningful comparisons.
There are some step by step guidelines post #10 here that can greatly improve your odds of ending up with a high quality, more durable, and much better value mattress no matter what your budget may be.
There are three basic categories of foam which are memory foam, polyfoam, and latex. Of these three … memory foam tends to be the most insulating and warmest, polyfoam is in the middle, and latex is the coolest. There are cooler and warmer versions in each category but this will give you a general idea of which foams are the coolest. There is more about the many factors involved in regulating sleeping temperature (which either add to or take away from each other) in post #2 here.
As long as you know the pros and cons of each then there is no wrong or right and it’s really a matter of personal preferences. There’s more about the pros and cons of memory foam here and the pros and cons of latex here.
If you let me know your city or zip I’ll be happy to let you know of any local manufacturers or retailers that may make or sell them that I’m aware of in your area.
With latex … depending on the other cooling components in your mattress and bedding … not much. With memory foam it depends on the factors in the link about sleeping temperatures. There are also many methods of cooling down memory foam and there is more information about this in post #6 here.
The mattresses section of the site and the more detailed pages in each of the subsections includes general and some more specific guidelines for different body types, sleeping positions, and how different layering combinations can affect both of these. In general though, mattress theory and design can be very complex (and frustrating) and there are many variables that are unique to each person so it’s normally most effective to just scan the overviews so you can ask better questions and then to “find” the experts instead becoming one yourself and using specs to choose a mattress instead of personal testing in a showroom.
This is plenty to find a great mattress that uses the best quality materials
Thanks for the detailed reply. Here are the details you requested:
Relevant info based on the style and preferences page:
Wife: 5’ tall, 120 lbs
Me: 5’9" tall 180 lbs
Both stomach and side sleepers Zip Code: 07652
Budget: I’d like to keep to $3k give or take for an eastern king size mattress. A better deal is divine but I’m willing to pay a bit more if that’s what it takes.
You have some very good choices in your area and the better ones I’m aware of are listed in post #7 here.
Personal “specs” are not that important when you are making a local purchase (except as a guideline) because two people with similar body types and sleeping positions can still have very different needs and preferences. The guidelines are meant to provide some general knowledge as a “starting point” but this is the type of information that along with a more detailed phone conversation about your many other needs and preferences would be more important for an online or “on the phone” purchase than it would be for a local purchase where the person that is helping you can see how you are interacting with a mattress in “real time” and talk to you about how each mattress “feels” in terms of your preferences.
For example … the guidelines can help you with things like understanding why stomach sleepers generally do best with thinner firmer comfort layers and why heavier people generally need firmer layers than lighter people and other more general information that can help you avoid most of the more common “mistakes” and to test and compare mattresses more objectively but the specific design, materials, and layering that would be best for you is best left to local testing with the help of a knowledgeable “expert” or with phone conversations with an online provider that knows all the specific details of their mattresses and how they are designed to interact with different types of people and has a customer database that they can use for reference points about which of their mattresses may work best for your unique “stats”, needs, and preferences.
It would be unlikely that you would need to go over your budget which is plenty to purchase most high quality mattresses that have good value including more premium mattresses such as all latex. The only reason to go over this would be if there is a specific design or materials (such as a highly customized mattress that is built specifically for your needs and preferences much like a custom fitted suit) where it’s real “value” and benefits are more important than your budget but even here you wouldn’t need to go much higher than your budget which is already in the “premium” mattress range.
Thanks again for your reply. I’ve now read through the links you’ve sent and I’m fairly confident I’d like a latex mattress. However the link put above for the local retailers does not work unfortunately. It took me to a different website all together.
