Narrowing down so we're both happy

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi everyone!

Just purchased my first home and my girlfriend is moving in in a few weeks - and she wants us to get a new mattress, unfortunately our mattress shopping experience has been educational, but difficult. Today we spent probably 4-5 hours mattress shopping and really only 2 models come to mind that we liked, but we have some discrepancies I wanted to address here.

Stats

  • I’m 6’1’', 200, back/side sleeper (fall asleep on my side, end up on my back while sleeping)
  • she’s 5’7’', 130, mostly side sleeper (but she does everything, including stomach on occasion)

I grew up with only Gardner Mattresses and own one now - this is a retailer that Phoenix recommends here in the MA area that my family has used for 30 years, and I love them. Unfortunately my girlfriend does not because they are so firm (great for back sleepers like myself). Inevitably our arguments have always been that I find her choices to be too soft, she finds mine to be too firm. She humored me and went to Gardner today, but she just felt they were all way too firm.

We also went to Jordan’s Furniture and did their sleep lab testing and found that we have similar pressure points and would benefit from a mattress of relatively the same firmness (med-firm), and honestly, the beds we saw we figured on a scale of 1 (softest) - 10 (firmest), we need something in the 7-7.5 range. We like the Natura Ultima bed they have there (http://www.jordans.com/natura-world-ultima-natu-50007?set-mattresses=s85500070) but my concern is that it’s not the best value after having carefully combed over this site.

Finally, we stopped at Sleepy’s and found the only mattress the entire day we seemed to both enjoy (Pillow Collection - Kingsdown). We were able to negotiate Sleepy’s down from $5000 for the king to $2500 all-inclusive (box spring, protector, frame, everything), but after some abysmal ratings from this manufacturer and complaints of sagging after a few months, plus poor ratings on here, I just wouldn’t allow us to pull the trigger.

So now after laying on over 50 mattresses, we’re both frustrated because we want both of us to be happy, but we don’t want to screw up a big purchase. Here’s where we stand:

  • I’m basically a huge proponent of the tenants on this site - a high quality, high density latex foam mattress from a local, direct manufacturer to provide the best value for the dollar, all while maximizing the health and support we should get. I’m really hoping to get a bed all in for under $2000, and I think this site can take us there, but after reading this post (https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/have-settled-on-a-latex-but-now-need-recommendations) about the number of great sellers in MA, we’re both stressed that we have to visit another 5+ stores before we find something we like. Gardner was too firm, and I feel like I’m putting all of my marbles on Spindle, and if Spindle doesn’t work out (which by the way, is a pain in the butt because they are only open 9-5 Monday through Thursday…people have jobs!) I don’t know how much more patience we will have to keep going.
  • My girlfriend thinks I’m hellbent on my ways because I just want something cheap. She thinks I’m immediately dismissing Jordan’s (which you do recommend on here) because it has big name brands, and I’m too hellbent on latex simply because I feel like that’s what I need to have, even if other materials feel better in store. She just wants to make sure she finds something that is quality without having to curtail to Gardner-level firmness in order to appeal to my need for factory-direct, local retailers that won’t rip us off.

So at this point, we were wondering if anyone had any experience with the sellers mentioned in this post (https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/have-settled-on-a-latex-but-now-need-recommendations) and if any of them offer a firmness level similar to the Kingsdown and Natura models I’ve included, but without the inflated prices or poor durability/customer satisfaction ratings from these larger retailers. I feel like we’re so close to finding something good, but with so many choices in materials, and so much variety, it seems like we’re going to be shopping for forever until we find a mattress we like, and having something narrowed down would help us a lot in finding the right places to look next so we don’t find a place that makes something too soft/firm, and certainly well below our $2000 budget.

2

Hi acconrad,

I would be very cautious with pressure testing systems and mattress firmness ratings which are very subjective and can vary widely between manufacturers. I would put more trust in careful and objective testing than pressure testing or firmness “numbers” that aren’t consistent between manufacturers. Lighter weights also tend to need softer mattresses because they don’t sink into the comfort layers as easily so what feels soft for you may feel firmer for her. There is more about choosing a mattress for couples that may have different needs and preferences in the first part of post #2 here. I would also agree that the Natura mattresses aren’t in the best value range compared to other similar mattresses but the “value” of a mattress purchase will also depend on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

I think you were probably wise to pass and I wouldn’t consider any mattress where you can’t find out exactly what is in the mattress (see this article) so you can identify any weak links in the mattress (see post #4 here) and make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.

There are also some very good online latex options that are listed in the tutorial post that may also be worth considering.

Just for clarity … I don’t “recommend” Jordans and I think there are better options in the area … they are just one of the “possibilities” in the area but they wouldn’t be my first choice unless there was a compelling reason to buy there. For most people they wouldn’t be in the same value range as some of the others in the Boston list.

I would keep in mind that firmness levels are very subjective and not consistent between manufacturers. There are also different types of firmness that can affect how different people “rate” a mattress (see post #15 here). There is more about “matching” one mattress to another one in post #9 here but when you are comparing mattresses that have a different design or use different materials then your own testing is the only reliable way to know how closely one mattress may match another one for you in terms of PPP.

A forum search on each of the sellers will bring up more information about most of them and there are also some links to posts and threads with feedback about some of them in post #2 here.

They can meet you outside of their normal business hours if you make an appointment (see their contact page here) and I think it would be well worth your time to pay them a visit :slight_smile:

Phoenix