My wife and I, both on the thin side, have tried myriad mattresses over the last few weeks: Tempurpedic, Sterns & Foster, iComfort, Sleep Number, Casper, Keetsa, Sealy Masterpiece, etc. By far, our favorite to date is the Next Bedding Honest Bed Cool Sleeper. As a matter of fact, both of its incarnations, Firm & Plush, would probably sit atop our rankings.
My wife is a side sleeper while I’m both back and belly. We like this bed because it seems very firm and supportive while also staying soft and comfortable. It just feels like good quality to us.
Only problem is… we’re not in a hurry to shell out $1,600 on a mattress.
Are there any mattresses that anyone thinks we should consider? Any that actually have showrooms and aren’t just online (we’re in LA)? Are there any similar in feel? We like that this one is memory foam, but you don’t sink into it like you do with Tempurpedic.
Also, I can’t find many reviews on the Cool Sleeper. Even their website has only 3.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated by anyone.
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” 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.
Again nobody can speak to how any specific mattress will “feel” for someone else or whether it will be a good “match” in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances and you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress but 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 in a hotel) or when it is relatively new so again I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/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.
The major brands such as Sealy/Stearns & Foster, Simmons, and Serta all tend to use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses than most of their smaller competitors that will tend to soften or break down prematurely relative to the price you pay which is why I would generally suggest avoiding all of them completely (along with the major retailers that focus on them as well) regardless of how they may feel in a showroom along with any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the type and quality/durability of the materials inside it (see the guidelines here along with post #3 here and post #12 here and post #404 here).
Unlike the other major brands … for the most part Tempurpedic uses good quality materials in their mattresses but there are certainly other options that would be better quality/value choices than Tempurpedic which tend to be significantly overpriced compared to other memory foam mattresses that use similar quality/density materials that may be just as suitable, just as durable, and better “value” choices (see post #2 here).
You can see my thoughts about airbeds in general this article. While any mattress can be a good match for a specific person because each person’s needs and preferences or the criteria that are most important to them can be very different … in general terms I would tend to avoid them unless there is a very compelling reason that an airbed would be a better choice in “real life” (outside of the many “marketing stories” that you will hear about them) than the many other options or types of mattresses that are available to you. For those that are committed to an airbed and are convinced that there are no other types of mattresses that will meet your criteria then there are some other airbed options that are listed in post #3 here that may be much better quality/value choices than Sleep Number/Select Comfort.
You can see my comments about the type and quality of the materials in the Casper mattress and many of the other “simplified choice” mattresses in post #2 here in the simplified choice mattress topic and the first post in the same topic would be well worth reading as well. A forum search on Casper (you can just click the link) will bring up more comments and feedback about it as well.
You can see some comments about Keetsa in post #2 here and the posts it links to but I would be very cautious here because outside of some of the additional uncertainty that can be involved with any mattress that is shipped compressed from China … many of their mattresses use lower quality/density materials than I would consider.
Most of the Nest Bedding mattresses have the specs of the mattress listed on their website but this one doesn’t and I don’t know what they are so I can’t make any meaningful comments about it. If you can find out the information in this article about all the materials and components in The Honest Beds Cool Sleeper (listed from top to bottom) and post it on the forum I’d be happy to let you know if there are any lower quality materials or weak links that would be a reason for concern relative to the durability and useful life of the mattress.
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This is much too broad a question for anyone to be able to answer because there are probably hundreds of mattresses that may be worth considering either in your area or online.
I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site can help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress, act as a fact check, answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that don’t involve what you will “feel” on a mattress, and help with “how” to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress, manufacturer, or combination of materials is “best for you” regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or whether anyone else has the same needs and preferences, criteria, or circumstances or would make the same choice.
Subject to confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list is completely transparent about the materials and components in their mattresses and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your specific criteria and the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Greater Los Angeles area are listed in post #2 here.
There is more information in post #9 here about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one. Every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting materials) will affect the feel and performance of every other layer and component and the mattress “as a whole” so unless you are able to find another mattress that uses exactly the same type of materials, components, cover and quilting, layer thicknesses, layer firmnesses, and overall design (which would be very unlikely) then there really isn’t a reliable way to match one mattress to another one in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP based on the specifications of the mattresses (even assuming that you can find out all the specifications you would need for both mattresses you are comparing in the first place).
Mattress manufacturers generally try to differentiate their mattress from the mattresses made by other manufacturers and don’t normally try to “match” another mattress that is made by a different manufacturer so unless a manufacturer specifically says in their description of a mattress that one of their mattresses in the same general category is specifically designed to “match” or “approximate” another one in terms of firmness or “feel” and PPP and/or they are very familiar with both mattresses and can provide reliable guidance about how they compare based on the “averages” of a larger group of people that have compared them (different people may have very different opinions about how two mattresses compare) … the only reliable way to know for certain how two mattresses would compare for you in terms of how they “feel” or in terms of firmness or PPP (regardless of anyone else’s opinions of how they compare which may be different from your own) would be based on your own careful testing or actual sleeping experience on both of them.
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would always keep in mind that once again you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you. In many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
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 …
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.
Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.
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.
Sorry if it isn’t clear on the webpage, the specs are toward the bottom of the page, but there are 4 layers of lightly convoluted 4 lb memory foam over a 2.0 foam base, joma wool quilted into the top. Hope that helps.
Thanks for letting us know the specs of the mattress (and for adding the density of the base foam on the website) … I appreciate it
The only thing that was missing that I confirmed today was the thickness of the 3 convoluted memory foam layers which you confirmed are 2" each.
@ mikesnewmattress:
Based on the information that nestbedding provided … there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress relative to more “average” weight ranges.
Convoluted memory foam would be a little less durable than a solid layer of the same material (see post #2 here about convoluted foam layers) but there is also a thick layer of wool on top of the memory foam layers which would improve airflow and temperature regulation of the mattress and which would improve the durability of the memory foam layers below it as well so overall I would only add a caution relative to the durability and useful life of the mattress if you are in higher weight ranges (more than the lower 200’s or so)
