Narrowing down mattress choices and looking for advice! Paramount, OMF, Anatomic Global, PLB

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi Phoenix,
Thanks for posting such great information…my husband and I are in the market for a new mattress and your site has helped tremendously. We purchased a Beautyrest Black from Macy’s (based solely on showroom feel, yikes) before I found this site, and are having some problems with it (already divoting, and we are waking with back pain). We are within our return window, so I have been visiting some of the smaller retailers around Columbus (again, thanks to you for the recommendations in the area that I found on this site!) and are leaning towards memory foam or latex at this point. I love the initial feel of the innerspring/pillowtop combos but have concerns about durability and support long-term. I like a softer mattress and husband leans towards more firm, but we are trying to compromise and both just want to wake up not feeling sore or misaligned!

So the reason I write is that I have managed to narrow down our choices, however, I am still confused/overwhelmed regarding the value/quality of mattress materials, specifically all the various foams. Looking at the choices below that we have narrowed to, do any stand out as better or worse in terms of quality and value? My biggest concern in all of this is buying a mattress and having it “divot” where we sleep, as that seems to be the most common complaint for many mattresses and I have seen in the Beautyrest that it can cause back pain on waking or during the night. I know that you typically don’t recommend Serta, but I am keeping them in here just in case we have to stay with Macys (although fairly sure we do not).

I have researched the companies below and searched for reviews online, but I hesitate to put too much stock in the reviews in general for several reasons: there is almost always a mix of good and bad reviews, the consumers are usually reviewing shortly after the purchase OR coming back unhappy versus taking time to write a happy review a year+ later, and finally because you can’t ever know for sure who is writing the reviews or what their agenda is. So I usually end up more confused after reading the reviews.

Any help you can provide is much appreciated! I am so impressed with how much you know about mattresses overall, and how helpful you take the time to be.

Serta icomfort Savant
Serta icomfort Directions Epic - apparently this is newer and has a “pods gel activated support layer”
Paramount “The Breakers” from the Nature’s Spa Pure gel collection
Anatomic Global Ascent 6
Anatomic Global Rejuvigel 3
Pure Latex Bliss Beautiful - this one is pretty pricey in my opinion so ideally will find something cheaper but most important to find best match at this point!
OMF latex mattresses (either of the 2 felt fine to me)

Ideally it would be great to have a mattress with low-VOC emission/lower chemical levels…however, the information I find on this online is also very confusing and I see mixed messages.

Thanks so much for reading! If anyone else has insights, please let me know! If I can narrow this list, I plan to go back with my husband and test for PPP!
Erin

2

Hi CbusErin]

The first place I would start is post #1 here which has all the basic information, steps and guidelines you will need to make the best possible choices … and eliminate the worst ones including any mattress where you can’t find out the specifics of the type or quality of the materials that are inside it. This would probably eliminate the Serta and any of the others where you aren’t able to find out the type and quality of the materials inside them (possibly the Paramount).

The most important part of making a good choice and the “value” of a mattress is careful and objective testing for PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) using the testing guidelines and suggestions in the “read first post”.

The next most important part of the “value” of a mattress is making sure you know the specifics of all the components and layers in any mattress you are interested in and that is suitable for you in terms of PPP. Without this … you would have no way to identify any weak links in the mattress or make any meaningful assessments of the useful life of the mattress or make meaningful quality or value comparisons with other similar mattresses. You can’t feel the “quality” of the materials when you are testing in a showroom because this has to do with the durability of a mattress … not its comfort and support … and if you choose a mattress that uses lower quality materials then no matter how it feels or performs in a showroom the lower quality materials will soften or break down much more quickly and you will lose the comfort and support that is the reason you purchased the mattress in the first place. There is little “value” in buying a mattress that feels great initially but quickly becomes unsleepable or develops soft spots or impressions and the loss of comfort and support isn’t covered by any warranty. Keep in mind that price will often have little to do with the quality of a mattress or it’s suitability for any specific person and a warranty has nothing to do with the useful life of a mattress.

This is the reason I would completely avoid any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the specifics of every layer in a mattress you are considering and also why I would avoid major brands where this information isn’t usually available.

I would also suggest deciding on your preference between memory foam or latex. If you decide you prefer memory foam then I would eliminate the latex and if you decide you prefer latex then I would eliminate the memory foam. Besides your own testing to decide which one you prefer … you can read more about the differences between them in post #2 here.

I would then narrow down your finalist at each store to one based on how well each of the choices there matched your needs and preferences and budget and on which ones have the best quality/value/durability based on comparing the materials inside them. Once you know the specifics of the layering of any mattress you are considering then a knowledgeable retailer or manufacturer will help “educate” you about the differences between them but if they have little knowledge about mattress materials (and I would focus on retailers and manufacturers in your area that are knowledgeable about the materials in a mattress) then you can also list the layers in the forum (top to bottom) and I’d be happy to make some comments about whether any of your choices have any “weak links” in terms of quality and durability or about any missing information you will need to make informed choices.

Once you have narrowed down your finalists to one at each store (step 4 in the guidelines) … and have eliminated all your worst options or mattresses with “unknown” materials … then all that’s left is to make final choices between “good and good” based on your personal value equation.

Again … if you list the specifics of the components and layers in any of your finalists (type of material or component, type, thickness, and density of any memory foam or polyfoam, or the thickness and type and blend of any latex) I’d be happy to make more comments.

The PLB and the OMF latex mattresses don’t have any weak links (all of these use blended Talalay latex which is a high quality material) but I don’t know the specific layers of the others so the retailer or manufacturer would need to provide these to you for me to make any meaningful comments about them.

Phoenix

3

Thank you Phoenix! Really appreciate your time and insights. I visited the Mattress Mart again this morning to discuss components with the salespeople, but unfortunately ended up feeling like I knew more than the man I spoke with, the store manager (and I know very little!). So that was disappointing. He was not able to tell me anything more about the layers of any of the mattresses than the general information I was also able to see online (i.e. for the Anatomic Global Ascent 6, all he could tell me when I asked was that there were 6 layers of foam and that they were plant-based.). I honestly think he was annoyed by the questions, which turned me off that particular store overall.

I did decide that I lean towards latex versus memory foam (and I love the Pure Latex Bliss World’s Best Bed but way too expensive at 4199), so I have been researching Sleep EZ. Although I would normally never buy a mattress without trying it in person, it is appealing that the layers can be customized and adjusted, and seems as though they have a good customer service reputation for exchanging/changing layers if needed. So we may give that a try, or I will at least call them to discuss. I am going to search around on this forum for other’s feedback on the company, but a review of their website seems promising…am hoping that we are getting closer to a mattress match!

4

Hi CbusErin,

Unfortunately that’s not so uncommon and members here that spend an hour or two on the site will often know more meaningful information about mattress materials than 90% of the salespeople that sell mattresses in the mainstream market (who are usually trained with sales and marketing information not material information).

This is also not unusual unfortunately. While it’s understandable that they may not know because so few consumers even know to ask about the quality of the materials in a mattress … the sign of a better salesperson is one who will go and find out the information you need by calling their factory rep and not leaving you to find out some of the most important information involved in making informed decisions on your own.

I would be aware that PLB has what’s called "MAP pricing which means that there is a minimum advertised price but it’s often possible to reduce their prices when you are in the store. The World’s Best Bed is also the most costly of all their mattresses and some of the other models may be suitable as well (the WBB would be on the “risky” side for many people in terms of alignment because of the amount of soft latex in the top layers).

The advantage with latex is that you don’t need the specifics of the foam to know that it’s a good quality material although it’s also a good idea to know the type and blend of the latex (in the case of the PLB “natural” line it’s blended Talalay which is a very good quality material and uses a 30% / 70% synthetic/natural blend)

As you probably know … SleepEz is one of the invited members here which means I consider them to be among the best choices in the industry and you will find them to be very helpful and provide you with good information about their mattresses when you talk with them on the phone. They also have blended talalay latex mattresses available at a lower cost and with the flexibility to re-arrange or exchange the layers.

Phoenix