Hi MattS,
When you are looking at a memory foam mattress there are a few things I would want to confirm before I consider it that are listed in post #10 here.
In the case of novosbed … they are not CertiPur certified and their memory foam comes from China. (NOTE ADDED: this has since changed … see post #513 here and post #8 here)
Without CetiPur certification … you have no way of knowing if the memory foam they use is the polymer density (which indicates the quality) or a filled density (which uses fillers to increase the density of the memory foam and which can be common with Chinese memory foam).
In addition to this … I would want to know who the people are who are selling the mattress. Do they just have an online presence or are they accountable to the “real world” with a brick and mortar presence or with verifiable information about who they are. In the case of Novosbed … they are just a marketing company which is buying cheap memory foam products from China and with the help of an Alberta voucher program is re-selling them in Canada. They are not what I would call “mattress people”.
What is their level of knowledge about mattresses and their ability to “fit” a mattress to the needs and preferences of each customer? If an outlet is trying to say that a particular mattress is “one size fits all” … then they clearly don’t know how mattresses need to fit individual people based on your body type, sleeping style, and individual preferences. I wonder if they would actually tell a customer “I’m sorry … this mattress probably wouldn’t work for you” or if they would put their efforts into convincing you that “anyone would do well with this mattress”. Are they marketing people or are they “mattress people”?
My conversations with them have indicated that they aren’t very transparent about the source of their mattresses.
On the plus side … the reviews are good and they appear to pay for the shipping on a return so like Costco and the other big box stores … you get a free roll of the dice if you are comfortable with the source of the mattresses and that they aren’t CertiPur (or otherwise) certified.
Personally … with something as important as a mattress and with the importance of making sure that it fits your needs and preferences … I would tend to first look locally if there are better options near you that provide both the knowledge and experience to help you make better choices and also have the quality, service and value that is just as important (and is the reason many people look online in the first place believing that they can find better “value”).
Some of the better local options in the Winnipeg area are listed in post #2 here including one of the members of this site.
Hope this helps.
Phoenix