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Discussions General Mattresses Questions
21

Hi zebo42,

Most good retailers will facilitate and act as the intermediary with warranty claims so that their customers don’t need to deal directly with the manufacturer and this would be part of the service they provide.

I would also take any warranties longer than 10 years or so with a grain of salt because longer warranties are more about marketing than they are about the durability or useful life of a mattress or when you will need to buy a new mattress. There is more about mattress warranties in post #174 here. It’s also true that many smaller manufacturers would be much more likely to replace a mattress that is in the grey areas of their warranty coverage because they are more focused on building and maintaining their word of mouth reputation for quality and durability and the ones that make higher quality mattresses will also tend to have less warranty claims.

While there is no way to quantify how long any mattress will last for any particular person … if a mattress is well inside the comfort/support range that is suitable for someone and isn’t close to the edge of the range that is too soft for them when it is new and meets the minimum quality specs that are suggested in the guidelines here then it would be reasonable to expect a useful lifetime in the range of 7 - 10 years and with higher quality and more durable materials like latex or higher density memory foam or polyfoam (in the comfort layers especially) it would likely be in the higher end of the range or even longer.

It’s always more realistic to think of about 10 years as a maximum reasonable expectation for any mattress no matter what the quality or durability of the materials and then treat any additional time after that as “bonus time” because after about 10 years the limiting factor in the useful life of a mattress will often be the changing needs and preferences of the person sleeping on the mattress and even if a mattress is still in good condition after a decade … a mattress that was suitable for someone 10 years earlier may not be the best “match” any longer.

Having said that … with higher quality materials throughout a mattress and/or for people whose needs and preferences or physical condition or body type hasn’t changed much over 10 years then “bonus time” or even “extended bonus time” with higher quality/density and more durable materials like latex or higher density memory foam or polyfoam or natural fibers is much more likely than with less durable materials.

Phoenix

22

Hi zebo42,

Just to let you know I talked with Bruce today at Dreamland and he thought there must have been some misunderstanding in the conversation because Spinal Care Bedding in Gardena which they carry isn’t owned by Serta.

Phoenix

23

Update

went to more places around our area
ELectorpedic - very knowledgeable also, with more all latex beds. these are all synthetic Talalay, no Dunlap at all, and no natural Talalay. since no Dunlap, and who knows what else, more expensive than Flexus. THeir latex from Latex International, which he says provides most latex in this country. (But not to Flexus)

Nest Bedding - also would recomend visiting this place. one of few, if only , place to check out Bed in a Box in Los Angeles.

NOthing we found seemed to be as nice as the Flexus we had seen (other than the Electropedic latex) so we ended up going back there and getting a King size 13". As latex goes, reasonably priced if not low end on price, tho a lot of money. But for those who are looking at Temperapedic or Icomfort or similarly priced beds , I would certainly recommend looking at FLexus - it is less expensive than Temperapdic by far. For us, this bed was most comfortable, and has advantage of diferent firmness on each side, and ability to switch firmness later. My side is firm, firm, medium and then Talalay soft, while hers is firm, medium, medium Talalay soft top. Since the talaly level on top is a single sheet, you don’t feel the split in the lower levels (other than the softness difference)… IF you decide you want mor firmness, you can move the firm layer up and the medium down - we both felt the difference. For that matter my wife felt the difference between fmms and mmms, tho not a lot - we were surprised to feel a difference with 9 inches of the same materials above them. But it seemed better to have to option to change firmness down the road. They do allow you to change a layer within 90 days for free (or a modest fee, I forget which) but with the different lower layers we have that option throughout the life of the bed.

Won’t get it til this weekend, will report back after a month or so to see how we like it.

For those looking for a less expensive bed, you can get a double sided one at Flexus, or a 10 inch or 7 icndh at Flexus also. I am not in a position to comment if the double sided one really provides longer life as they say - it sounds reasonable IF you actually flip the bed regularly. For those looking to spend 1000-1500, I would check out Dreamland in Covina and NestBedding.

NestBedding (about 12400 Ventura Bvd) is next to about 4 -5 others retailers, so a great place to check out alternatives. We liked the owner at DreamEz, who sells Temperapedic, I comfort Stearns and Foster and a few more. He also has some “'House brands” that were more reasonably priced that we liked. SleepEZ is accross the street and they probably have 80 on the floor and a diagnostic machine of some type that suggests your recomended firmness. If you are looking for a name brand, I suspect they have it - they had Iseries, I comfort, Temperapedic Kingdown, Dormio and others

Lastly, I will comment on this site. I really like, as should be obvious, Phoenix is great. My only suggestion to you Phoenix might be simplify some things for some. When I first got here, it was a bit overwhelming - so much information etc and the fact that everyting is so individual makes it a bit daunting. A cliff notes version might be a good thing. In my former profession, I found that necessary - yes, if you want to do it really right, you need to do A -X, but recognize most or many aern’t willing to do that so here is A-D, with the caveat that you are taking shortcuts.

24

Hi zebo24,

Thanks for the additional comments and feedback … I appreciate them once again!

You were certainly doing some great research and looking some very good quality options and I think you made a great final choice … and congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback once you’ve received it and have had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.

I agree with your comments here and over the course of the coming months there will be a number of changes to the site that I’ve been working on for well over a year but the site is always a work in progress and with 12 - 16 hour days 7 days a week the changes are always ongoing, incremental and gradual.

There is already a shorter version of the tutorial at the end of the tutorial post that I added several months ago for those that want the “short version”. Some of the other changes that will be happening include a research center that will make it easier to find the answers to the most common questions without having to search the forum or me replying with a link to a forum post that has the information that someone needs. Once the structural changes to the site and template that will support some of the other changes I’m working on are complete (which I expect to happen in a few more weeks) then I will be able to start gradually adding some of the other features to the site that I’ve planned since the start or have been working on in the background. Some of them will be sooner and some may not be available for another year or two because they will take considerable time and effort.

At this point (the new site going live) I also plan to start simplifying some of the reference information here or rewriting and amalgamating some of the articles that currently are “somewhat” redundant as I’ve added new information and reference links that come from more detailed forum replies to existing information in various posts and articles. I currently have a list of about 300 reference posts that I use to reply to the more common questions which along with some of the information in the main menu and in many forum posts will be amalgamated and/or rewritten and simplified and become part of the research center.

There are some other changes that will be coming as well as I gradually implement some of the other ideas that I hoped to accomplish in my original 5 year plan (which is a little less than 4 years old now) and based on my experience and interactions with the forum members that have posted here over the last almost 4 years.

Thanks for the suggestions and I think that most of the members that come here will be quite happy with some of the changes and ease of use and greater clarity that will be apparent by the time the site reaches its 5th year anniversary :slight_smile:

Phoenix

25

I will add my final 2 cents on a short version, at least what I would have liked. Obviously everyone is different and you have tons more experience with what your readers like. My sense is that very few of us, me included, reaally are able or willing to get into the tquality of materials if we don’t have to. To be honest, I don’t know the quality of Flexus - basically relied on this site to tell me it had quality materials. To me, that is perhaps best thing here - rahter than spend more time wandering around LA aimlessly looking at retailers, you pointed us to a couple places that we could feel comfortable with. Obviously, you cant tell me if I like firm, or hot or cold, or foam or springs, and I need to decide myself. But youcan tell me about Flexus etc, so i don’t have to become an expert on materials. .

Anyway, here is my 2 cents

"Shopping for mattresses is incredibly hard for tons of reasons> this site is designed to make your life a bit easier. There are lots of ways to approach that task, depending upon how much time you want to invest. For those of you that want to seriously get into the project, we have all sorts of imformation to help you out. But, if you aren’t into doing a lot of reasearch, here are some suggestions that might help - of course, you need to decide for yourself if taking these shortcuts works for you.

  1. Read this quick overview for the types of mattresses - spings, memory coil, latex etc.
  2. Here are some recomended places that IMHO sell quality mattresses for the price. It is by no means exhaustive.
    3 Quick overview of PPP and difference with support and comfort layers.

best. zebo

26

Greetings Phoenix,

Thank you for the wealth of consumer-oriented information presented here. After careful consideration, I will most likely be ordering an Ultimate Dreams Freedom, and look forward to perhaps contributing to the knowledge base of user feedback amassed here, particularly regarding a budget oriented, online only, synthetic continuous pour dunlop latex customizable mattress. Dang that’s a mouthful that’ll be a hit at the next dinner party! :wink: :lol: :silly: B)

GreenDean

27

Hi GreenDean,

I think that anyone that can say “synthetic continuous pour dunlop latex customizable mattress” and know what it means has clearly been doing their homework even though the people at your dinner party may only be able to reply with “HUH?”!

As you know the Freedom is a great quality/value choice and assuming that you decide to pull the trigger … congratulations on your new mattress :slight_smile:

I’m looking forward to any comments and feedback you have the chance to share once you’ve had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.

Phoenix

28

Hi zebo42,

The overviews already contain the information in #1 and #3 and are part of the suggested reading in the tutorial although they will be simplified and to some degree rewritten and reorganized as I make some of the changes that I’m working on over time.

Outside of that … your suggestions about making specific recommendations or about “defining value” would be very risky and could cause much more harm than good. While I certainly understand consumer’s desire for “shortcuts” or to be told where to go and what to buy … in the mattress industry these types of shortcuts can be one of the biggest reasons for buyers remorse much too quickly after a purchase and leave them very vulnerable to the type of “marketing stories” and techniques that are already a significant issue in the mainstream industry.

The site will always be focused on “how” to choose rather than “what” to choose which I believe lead to much better choices even though it takes a little more time to get there.

Thanks again for the suggestions … they are always appreciated :slight_smile:

Phoenix