Need help finding local sources for new mattress

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

I’m really glad to have found this site. We’re getting ready to move into a new house and we’re planning to put our existing bedroom set into the guest room and get a new bed. I’ve never really shopped for a mattress before, and I’m finding now that it’s somewhat overwhelming. There are just more options that I ever imagined.

That said, we began on a whim while we were furniture shopping and ended up trying some mattresses at one of the stores. We ended up liking the Simmons ComforPedic Seabrooke and Mykonos mattresses. We’re still a little up in the air on which one was better, but leaning towards the Seabrooke. The king versions were going for over $3000 (can’t remember the exact price, but they said they would probably be cheaper during President’s day sale).

I’m now trying to find other options in the San Antonio, TX area for mattresses that are comparable to or better than the Seabrooke. Whether they’re memory foam or latex or some combination, we’d like to try some more before we buy (but we really need to find something within a couple weeks).

So far I’ve found four places that I’m planning to look into, but I don’t know much of anything about them aside from what’s on their websites. Does anyone know if are better (or at least other) options nearby?

San Antonio Mattress Wholesale
Sleep Experience
Cantwell Mattress Co.
B&M Mattress Co.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

2

Hi BaggerX,

The best way to get past the “overwhelm” is to first read post #1 here and the information it links to. This will help you eliminate most of the worst choices and save you many wasted hours and the confusion that is part of dealing with chain stores and major brands which won’t provide you with any of the information you need to make good choices.

All of these are poor value and unfortunately you won’t be able to find any real information about them which will give you a meaningful way to compare them with other mattresses (unless you are willing to spend many days and weeks tracking down information that isn’t generally available). “Presidents day sales” and all the other “so called” major sales are just marketing gimmicks. Nobody ever pays the price the discounts are calculated on and even the best sale prices … plus a further “negotiated” discount (so you feel like you got a good deal when you didn’t) will typically end up as a poor value purchase … and you still won’t have any idea about the real quality of what you just purchased.

Two of these are in the San Antonio list in post #2 here.

Of the ones you mentioned that aren’t on the list …

http://www.mattresssanantoniotx.com/ I would focus on the Kingdom mattresses here which are a local manufacturer based in Houston. they also carry Sleepinc which is a sister company to Corsicana and is a licensee for Therapedic, Spring Air, and Englander which may also have some better value mattresses.

http://www.experiencethesleep.com/ I would focus here on the Restonic and the Bartlett & Moore (made by B&M).

No matter where you buy a mattress … the most important part is to never spend any time with a mattress where you can’t find out the quality of every layer in the mattress so you can make meaningful comparisons and identify any potential weak links in the mattress. This includes the actual density of any memory foam or polyfoam and the type and blend of any latex. The manufacturers or retailers that can and will provide this to you are the ones where I would put my focus.

Phoenix

3

Thanks for the information Phoenix! It did help me quite a bit in narrowing down our choices. Having visited most of the places mentioned in the post you linked, we’ve found a couple of mattresses that we like, but I’m not entirely sure which will work out better for us.

We’ve got one memory foam model that we’re interested in, and one latex as well. We’re both side-sleepers and average weight (on the low side of average if anything), so we’re looking for a comfort layer that will let our shoulders and hips sink in a bit and give us that alignment we want. My wife initially didn’t like any of the latex mattresses we tried, since she didn’t like the springiness of the latex and usually found them too firm as well.

After trying the Latex Bliss Entice, with a 3" latex topper, she was surprised that she liked it a lot.

We’re also interested in the Latex Bliss Progression model as a somewhat firmer base along with the same topper, but didn’t get to try that one since they didn’t have one in the showroom. We did try the topper on a firmer memory foam mattress, and found it to be too firm for us.

Since we’re looking at getting an adjustable base as well, I’m somewhat concerned about the topper moving around or bunching up. Is that generally an issue? Do they play nice with adjustable bases?

The memory foam mattress we’re considering is from Cantwell. Their 12" Air Cloud mattress was comfortable for both of us as well. It consists of 1 inch of 5.3 lb open cell memory foam, 4 inches of the same foam, then 7" of 2.3 lb poly HR foam.

With either, we’ll get the Leggett & Platt S-Cape adjustable base. I’ve talked with the owners of each company, and they are both quite knowledgeable about their products and answered all of my questions. Both seem very willing to stand behind their product and support it after purchase.

So, I’m wondering if you have any advice for me on the comparative quality of the mattresses, or any other issues or criteria I should consider in choosing between the two. The memory foam mattress is the more expensive one, but still within the range we’re willing to pay. I don’t want to pay more than we have to though. Any thoughts?

4

Hi BaggerZ,

Your own testing in the store for what I call PPP (Pressure relief, posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) is the most accurate way to know which mattress is “best” for you. Your own body … hopefully with the help of a good salesperson … will tell you much more than I could without actually seeing you lying on the mattress.

The layers in the entice are …

3" ActiveFUSION Slow Natural Talalay
2" Natural Talalay Latex
8" Bonded Foam/Latex

She probably likes this because the Active Fusion slow recovery latex is slow recovery and similar to memory foam instead of the fast response of “regular” Talalay latex. I would be very cautions about adding the 3" PLB topper to this though because it could be fairly risky for alignment with such a thick and soft comfort layer/topper combination … although I do understand that it may feel very comfortable in a showroom. I would make sure that you tested this as objectively as possible for support/alignment along the lines of the guidelines in the first post I linked.

The layering of the Progression is …

1" ActiveFUSION Slow Natural Talalay
2" ActiveFUSION Fast Natural Talalay
6" Bonded Foam/Latex

this has a muc thinner layer of the slow response latex and would be less risky although I still have very mmixed feelings about using a latex topper that is such a low ILD (softness) unless someone was very light because it will be less durable and because of potential support/alignment issues. I would also make sure you had the chance to test this (or any local mattress) in person before buying it.

It generally isn’t an issue no, especially when it is under your mattress protector and sheets. Latex toppers tend to stay in place very well and we have tested several toppers on our mattress with the adjustable base and there have been no issues at all.

These are all high quality materials and if the mattress is suitable for you in terms of PPP then I would have no issues with the quality of the materials themselves which are all good and the mattress has no obvious weak links.

yes … this is one of the advantages of dealing with better retailers or manufacturers who actually know and can talk about the quality of the materials that are in the mattresses they sell. There is also some information about several of the more common adjustable beds in the adjustable bed thread here which you can use to help you with feature and value comparisons.

Other than the cautions I’ve already mentioned I think you are doing well. You are testing mattresses that use better quality materials and working with more knowledgeable people that are in a much better position to help you make good choices. You also know the layering of every mattress you are considering so you can make meaningful quality and value comparisons with other mattresses if you wish. When you have eliminated the worst choices and you are comparing better ones … then the choices will boil down to your testing on the mattress and what I call your “personal value equation” which includes all the objective, subjective, and intangible benefits of the mattress as well as the merchant you are dealing with that are most important and most “valuable” to you.

Phoenix

5

We ended up going with the Entice along with a 2" slow response topper. We went back to the store and did the best we could to check the alignment issues as explained in the post you had linked. Looked pretty good to us, but it’s hard to be sure. We did end up agreeing that the 3" topper was probably going to be too soft though. We tried again without the topper as well, but it wasn’t soft enough then, and didn’t quite give us the support we wanted. The owner did say he’d work with us to replace the topper if we find that we need a different one, so that is some reassurance as well.

The total cost, including the adjustable base (L&P S-Cape), ended up being about $800 less than the memory foam mattress with the same base that we were considering as well. I’m fairly sure we would have been happy with either of them, but this was just a better deal overall for us I think.

Thanks for all the help Phoenix! I’m sure we made a much better purchase than we would have without all the info you provided. I really appreciate it!

6

Hi BaggerX,

You learned about mattresses, did some good research, made meaningful comparisons, thought your choices through, tested as accurately as you could, purchased from a retailer that will continue to work with you after the purchase if that’s necessary, and made a choice that was the “best” for you based on your own value equation.

I just wish that everyone did what you have done … and if they did the “alien takeover by spineless creatures” that was dedicated to making humanity sick and tired with bad mattresses wouldn’t have a chance :slight_smile:

Congratulations on your new mattress!

Phoenix