next steps to buying a mattress... where to buy memory foam/inner spring hybrid?

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

hello,
i have read the how to buy articles, done some preliminary research, and today i dragged my husband to try out some mattresses. not an easy task with a toddler in tow (who, in the end, enjoyed most of the pretend sleeping we asked her to do). i am more than willing to buy a mattress online but am not quite sure of what to do next.

we are in the boston area and went to Jordan’s, as it was listed on this site and we knew they would have a variety of mattresses. we found their representative there quite helpful.

my husband is about 6’3" and about 195. he sleeps mostly on his belly, but starts on his back. he runs fairly hot when he sleeps, but that may be more due to the waterproof cover we have on our bed currrently (again, toddler). i am about 5 feet tall and about 100 pounds. i am a side sleeper (i start off on my back sometimes, but always end on my side). i generally run slightly cold but have no problem with wearing socks and such, so it’s not a big deal. we both thought, before we got into this, that we preferred a firmer mattress. our current mattress needs to go because it’s old and saggy and i have some minor hip/back issues after my pregnancy.

my husband did not like any of the latex mattresses that he tried - he said it felt too bouncy. as a result, i didn’t try any, so i don’t know how i feel about them.

my husband liked a tempurpedic we tried the best. it was the Cloud Prima - described as medium soft and having some sort of cooling gel deal. my favorite was a Sealy Hybrid. i believe that it had 2" of cooling memory foam of a lighter density (2.5 lbs), then a couple more inches of 4lb foam. then innersprings. i thought it might be more durable than a regular memory foam mattress, which appealed to me as well (but perhaps is an unfounded thought). it was described as medium support, and the Jordan’s guy thought that this one was the best option for us, but he originally didn’t show us any of the tempurpedic mattresses because i thought they were way too expensive.

in retrospect we didn’t try any traditional, innerspring mattresses.

now i’m looking online to find something that might meet our needs with this new information. any thoughts on where i should look first?

thank you for putting together such a helpful website!

2

Hi hokka,

Have you read the tutorial post here?

It has the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help with “how” to choose the best mattress for you … and know how to avoid the worst ones (including the major brands or any mattress where you aren’t able to find out what’s inside it). There are too many unknowns, variables and personal preferences involved for anyone else to choose what mattress is best for you because nobody else can feel what you feel on a mattress (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

It also has a link to some of the better online retailers and manufacturers that I’m aware of once you’ve decided on the type of mattress you prefer based on your local testing and preferences.

Phoenix

3

I did, yes. Thank you. I found it very informative. I guess what I was asking was some information to narrow down some of the retailers both in my area and online. For example, before we ruled out latex, I was looking forward to visiting Spindle in Acton, MA, because of the fantastic reviews on here. I saw another post with some Boston area places that I could visit but many of the websites weren’t terribly informative and I couldn’t always tell what types of mattresses they sell.

I guess I am looking for a memory foam mattress, or a hybrid mattress. I spent some time on Brooklyn Bed and saw some options for former, but I haven’t seen (yet) any hybrid options yet. are there any that i should be looking for (besides sealy’s, of course)?

i also looked at Tuft and Needle’s website for a totally different option but I haven’t tried anything like it (I don’t think) so I didn’t know if that would work.

4

Hi hokka,

If you’ve read the basic information (and I thought you hadn’t because some of your questions or comments were answered or talked about in the tutorial) then you are on step 3 which means that the next step is to talk with some of the local retailers on the phone (in addition to checking their websites) so you find out what they have on their floor and you can do some further testing and find out what type of mattresses you tend to prefer.

This is the part that nobody else can do for you because only you can feel what you feel on a mattress.

Once you have decided on the general types of mattress you prefer then you can look at some of the manufacturers and retailers that are on the online lists in the tutorial and talk with the ones that carry the types of mattresses you are most interested in.

Only your own testing and experience (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) can tell you the type of mattresses that you prefer.

I would also keep in mind that there are many types of latex and latex mattresses and they don’t all feel the same (especially if you are comparing them to some of the mattresses at Jordans just in case you didn’t find out what is inside the mattresses you tested there).

Phoenix

5

hi again,
thank you again. i’m sorry, i am a little wordy on the internet. i did read the article, but i think in some ways it made me have even more thoughts and questions that i started with i may have been more wordy than usual!

i think i will call/chat with some of the retailers next. i think at this point we are leaning towards memory foam or a memory foam/inner spring. i haven’t seen a hybrid online yet but i will keep looking.

thank you!

6

Hi hokka,

This is what the tutorial is “supposed” to do (so you will have questions that most people don’t know or realize they should be asking).

Your personal testing and the information in the tutorial will help you answer the questions based on your actual experiences so that you can choose a mattress that is the best match for all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

You will also know to only test mattresses where you are able to find out exactly what is inside them (see this article)

Once you have decided on some local retailers and manufacturers to visit based on your phone calls … then the next step would be to visit them and narrow down your choices to one finalist at each one. This is also the time to add any online options that you are interested in based on your testing and your conversations with each one you are considering.

Once you’ve done this then you will have final choices that are between “good and good” and none of them will have any “weak links” in terms of quality and then the last step is to narrow down your finalists to one.

Phoenix