Hi there,
I am in need of your help with my current mattress situation. About 45 days ago, I got rid of an 8 year old, too soft pillowtop and bought a doctor’s choice plush mattress set from Denver Mattress. The reason i chose this set is because I slept on one at a family members house for 3 nights and had the best sleep ever, however that has not been the case for me at home. I am 5’5" and 165 lbs currently and typically sleep on my back. With this mattress, I am tossing and turning for an hour, then waking up on my side when i finally fall asleep. This morning I woke up with my feet on the bed and my leg over my knee so i know it’s causing back issues as well. My options are to exchange the mattress, return the set for a full refund, or keep the mattress and get a topper. I have done more mattress shopping than most and am starting to get burnt out because I cant seem to find anything that works for me in my 1500 budget range. If I go the topper route, or the upgrade to Eurotop route, my concern would be the sinking in feeling which i do not like. Is there a firm topper out there that does not swallow you whole but still adds an extra layer of softness? Should I just get rid of the set and start over? I am in the Denver Colorado area if that helps.
Regards,
Teresa
Hi Tdona,
My name is Gabe. I own a mattress manufacturing company in MASS. We make mattresses the old fashioned way. All cotton inner spring mattress that is tufted with a 20 year warranty. I do believe our mattress is more than you want to spend but maybe I can still be of some help.
It sounds like your mattress is to soft. Here are the things to look for when it comes to a mattress.
-Look for a mattress that has a inner spring and is two sided (can be flipped over) The idea of a one sided mattress is just ridicules. Whoever invented that was just a scam artist.
-Try to stay away from foam. Foam feels okay at first but after the first week or two they will start to sag. Foam also breaks down and drys out. Foam is also very hot to sleep on. Its like sleeping on plastic, because you are! Look for mattresses that have cotton. If you can’t afford cotton look for latex.
-Stay away from pillow tops!
-Don’t get something to soft because its only going to get softer quicker.
If you want to checkout our website its www.donsmattress.com feel free to contact me with any questions. I hate to see people waste there money on junk.
Hi Tdona825,
Welcome to the Mattress Forum! 
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose … It’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found the site but just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you 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”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) 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 (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next 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 see or “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and 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 find out the information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
In its simplest form … choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …
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Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.
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Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight/BMI range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.
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Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
If you think the mattress you chose is too soft, you could choose to go with something a bit less plush on top. I would not recommend buying a new mattress right away with the expectation that you’d need to modify the comfort with a topper unless you had no other reasonable options, as you’re now mixing two different variables.
If you have the specifications of any mattress you’re considering, feel free to post them here and I’ll be happy to comment on them.
Phoenix
I appreciate when people follow up on their purchases so here is my experience:
It has now been over a year since I bought my new mattress set from Sleep Nation. Sleep Nation was my last ditch effort at finding a mattress and I think I chose this store at the perfect time. They had just opened a new store in my area so the family and I stopped by and told the manager, Sean Sutton, our concerns. He directed us to 4 different beds that were a step above the mattress most similar to the doctors choice mattress I just returned. I tried all 4 out and was trying to decide between a plush and a firm and Sean talked me into the firmer of the 2 based on my issues ,University Blvd Plush firm: https://mysleepnation.com/products/5741/University-Blvd-Plush-Firm
I have been very happy with my purchase and am sleeping comfortably again. Sean could have easily tried to convince me to buy the more expensive sets in the store but was really knowledgeable on the mattresses and was more concerned about finding the best set for me. I would recommend them over and over again.
Hi Tdona825,
I haven’t spoken with Sean in a while but I am happy that you continue to sleep well on your one year old mattress … thanks for taking the time to share your comments about your experience with Sleep Nation along with another update. I appreciate it!
Phoenix
Hope I’m not hijacking this thread but I also need mattress help. I went to a mattress store today and the salesman didn’t seem to know much about mattresses (warning sign I know). I was looking at a Therapedic Ashby mattress and I couldn’t determine if the mattress is made with quality material. Can anyone help? Attached is a photo I took of the spec sheet. Thanks.
@BackPain100 - The resident expert on Therapedic and TMU forum member is Jeff Scheuer, owner of Mattress To Go. He would be best qualified to answer your question and is extremely knowledgeable, however there seems to currently be an issue with his Expert Member Section of the forum. It isn’t allowing any posts, neither new posts nor adding to an existing thread. He may see your post and respond even though it’s not in his forum, but if not I’d suggest contacting him directly and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to assist you and address your concerns. He’s a very friendly and accommodating guy. His phone number and email address are in his contact page linked to above.
@SD ~ Jeff (Mattress To Go) does not carry Ashby in his shop nor does he list it anywhere on his site for the same reasons as the ones mentioned to BackPain100 below.
Hi BackPain100.
• Therapedic is a mattress brand licensing group sold through independent regional mattress manufacturing companies.
• Each licensee can design, make and sell models of mattresses that are unique to their company under the Therapedic trade brand name.
• Ashby is likely one of these models, made by the Therapedic licensee in Tampa, FL and sold at Famous Tate.
Queen mattress in the price range of $499.98; $599.98 with wood foundation using pocketed coils such as this are typically promotional mattress. While they advertise Ashby as having a layer of HD polyfoam, they don’t list the layer thickness and the ILD which would allow you to make meaningful value/quality comparisons. If the layer is 1.5lbs, which is the minimum density of a foam with an HD claim, then this most likely will soften in a short period of time and will compress after a few years. (HD density foams range between 1.5 to 2.4 lbs/ft[sup]3[/sup]) The minimum I’d recommend for a one side mattress for normal BMI ranges for layers thicker than 1.5" would be 1.8 lbs foam that would be a better guideline and generally would be considered to be the bottom end of high-quality polyfoam.) As usual, for any mattress that you are considering you’d want to find out the information listed here[url] so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the [url=https://mattressunderground.com/our-articles/mattress-durability-guidelines-how-long-will-a-mattress-last.html]durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
When a lower budget is a limiting factor as part of one’s personal value equation it usually comes with some tradeoffs in terms of quality. A promotional mattress is made with components that are less expensive, therefore lower quality. If the mattress meets the customer’s PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) I’d expect to have 1 to 5 years of useful life out of it depending on the BMI of the consumer. People with higher BMIs can expect less life cycle as they generally require higher quality and more durable materials and components. Typically body impressions under 1.5" are not usually covered by a warranty claim. A 1.5" depression is considered a “standard” within the innerspring industry for a warrantable defect, but there is no measurement for loss of comfort. If you decide to purchase the mattress I’d make sure to keep the receipt and not remove the law tag labels.
Hopefully, the information in this reply will help with your decision and I’d make sure to run everything by all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Let us know if you have further questions … and I or any of the Expert members of the site would be happy to help.
Phoenix
Thank you for the replies. I’ve decided to go with a higher end mattress because I want something that will last 5-10 years. I’m looking at some of the mattress companies that are members of this forum.
Hi BackPain100.
Avoiding the lower end mattresses that use lower quality and less durable materials is a great start …I applaud your decision.
While I’ve seen that you already reached out to Luma Sleep one of our Expert members I’m not sure what you’ve read since you found our site …and just in case you haven’t read it yet … the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and of course 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”, firmness, 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 (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Support/alignment and comfort/pressure relief are the two most important functions of a mattress for everyone so you’d need to determine with each mattress that you are considering whether it will be a suitable choice that provides you with both based either on your own careful testing and personal experience when you sleep on it (and some local testing may give you a great deal of information and help you narrow down your choices … or/and…as you are already doing … seeking the guidance from an /knowledgeable and experienced expert retailer/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 (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.
Good luck with your search. You are on good hands with Luma
Phoenix
Thank you Phoenix. That’s a lot of information. I don’t trust my judgement so hopefully figuring out how to objectively test pressure relief and alignment will help. Almost all mattresses I lay on in stores seem good and I just end up leaving more confused.
Phoenix Thank you! For Helpful information!
Hi BackPain100.
I understand why you’d have misgivings … “good judgment” needs to be exercised as it usually comes in different “data packets” consisting of non-equivocal facts and knowing how to interpret them which, of course, is where some research and some good information comes handy… and with consulting your body to understand its needs and preferences all of which need some processing time. Our bodies are very intelligent and if we “listen” to them we can quickly learn their language. … if however, you’re used to overriding its signals it may take a little longer.
To learn about pressure relief and support and how to test for each …there is more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here post #2 herethat may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel” also and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel” and post #6 here has some good information as well. The good news is that if you are still unsure after your local testing ,… many companies are offering their guidance in the selection process and also allow for mattress in-home testing for long enough to help you determine if it is a good match. The challenge here is to determine which of the companies you’re considering have your best interest at heart and which are just profit making machines.
Regardless of how good they feel in the shop… once you are in touch with your body some will feel better than the others and the local testing will give enough data points to move you along with your deicion. This combined with selecting durable materials, for the 5-10 years mattress useful life criteria the that you mentioned in your previous post, and with some guidance from the manufacturer/retailer themselves would have the best chance of success.
I hope your research on the site has included following the guidelines in the mattress shopping tutorial as well.
Phoenix
[color=black]So I’ve been learning a lot on the forum and have a quick question about Therapedic mattresses. I sent an e-mail to Richmond Bedding inquiring about the Rebecca mattress vs the Buckingham Therapedic mattress at Wyatt Ogg Furniture in West Point VA. I received a response back from Tim Hiles the Owner of Richmond Bedding and Will a sales representative at Wyatt Ogg.
My question is Tim from Richmond Bedding states Therapedic manufacturer doesn’t release what “grade” the Poly foams are. He only talks about the cores of both mattresses. If Therapedic doesn’t release any information to the stores selling the mattresses how can we as consumers make an informed decision on whether the materials are a great quality at a good value? Thanks for any help!
Here is my original e-mail I sent to the stores.
Hello,
My wife and I are in the market for a new King size mattress set. I wanted to see if you could tell me the specifics on the TheraPedic Rebecca? What type of foam is used in each layer(Polyfoam, Memory foam, or Latex) and what lbs foam is used in each? If polyfoam is used what grade? Do you know the ILD for the comfort layer? I see the core is a coil system. What type of coil system is used (pocket coil or something different)? Any other information that you think might be helpful? Do you know how this mattress compares to the TheraPedic Buckingham sold by Wyatt-Ogg in West Point? here is the link to the specific mattress - https://www.wyattoggfurniture.com/products/therapedic/buckinghametking.html .
TheraPedic Rebecca - LAYERS
QUILT LAYER
Fire Resistant Barrier
Super Soft Comfort Foam
EUROTOP LAYER
2.4" Wrapped Coil MicroTopper, 1353* Coils
COMFORT LAYER
Plush Comfort Foam
CORE
800* Wrapped Coil Unit
High Density Support Foam
Entirely Foam Encased
Thank you very much for you help.
Matt Dabney
Here is the e-mail response I received from Wyatt Ogg:
Good afternoon Matt,
The Buckingham ET mattress from Therapedic has all poly foam that ranges from 1.2lb to 1.8lb in densities. The ILD’s range from 10 to 30 with the softest at the surface. The coil system is a Superlastic pro coil system.
Let us know if you have any questions. Have a great weekend!
Will
And Richmond Bedding:
Matt,
The Buckingham isn’t nearly the quality of the Rebecca. First, it’s only 630 Coils which is pretty low, ours is 800. And the coils in the Buckingham are continuous coils not wrapped coils. The coils in the Rebecca are described in the listing on our website and you copied them to this email. “Wrapped” coils are the same thing as “Pocketed” coils. Wrapped MicroCoils are another set of springs in the comfort layer. 1352 of them in a Queen. All coils counts from manufacturers are based on Queen size. The manufacturer doesn’t release what “grade” the Poly foams are and ILD isn’t used to measure Poly foams only Latex. If a mattress description simply says “foam” that means Poly.
If it were Memory, Gel or Latex it would say so.
Thanks for your time,
Tim Hiles - Owner
Richmond Bedding
Phone: 804.859.8000
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Hi hoovillemd,
Welcome to the mattress forum:).
Thank you for your post, you bring up some really important issues in the mattress buying process. This question you post is really at the crux of everything TMU is about.
As a general rule, many mattress companies do not want you to have the knowledge and information to make informed choices. This is part of the “racket” of the mattress industry. Now they have reasons like “our competitors will copy us” and “this will commoditize our industry” blah blah blah!! As you can see in our updated article Major Mattress Manufacturers - Top 20, Therapedic is #7 on this list, everyone of these companies is given a “POOR” rating for “Specification Transparency”.
I just want to make sure I give a positive shout out to Tim at Richmond Bedding because his answer is spot on. As you probably know Richmond Bedding is a Trusted Member of TMU, which means - TMU members compete with any of the more well-known brands in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency. All of the member companies mattresses use high-quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in any of them so they would certainly make a great quality/value choice.
Please let us know if you have any other questions, and of course, you can also talk to Richmond Bedding on the Richmond Bedding expert thread.
Thanks again for the post.
Sensei