Online purchasing to remote Northern Canada

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hello,

First off, I have to say a big thanks for this tremendous resource. I am astounded at the time and care that has gone into your mattress shopping guides, and your tailored advice to specific cases.

I’m in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. Realistically, any mattress I buy probably comes from Calgary or Edmonton. Initially I was sure I would end up buying from Sears, strictly because Sears has very affordable and reliable delivery fees for us here. I was relieved to find your advice, because my shopping on the Sears website was starting to give me a headache.

We are a couple on a very very tight budget. I understand that this may put is into the ‘throwaway’ category, but I had hoped we could do a little better. Realistically we can’t afford to spend more than $600 on a mattress now. We’ve decided to spring for a queen, most likely in a spring mattress because of the price. We’ve slept on two different memory foam mattresses, neither of which we were crazy about. I am sure they were rather low quality because I don’t even know where they came from. My searching here led me to the Mattress and Sleep Company in Edmonton, who have a Springwall pocket coil mattress that is in our price range. I have a pretty good feeling it would be acceptable.

http://www.tmasc.ca/pocket-coil-mattresses/springwall-ginger-pocket-coil-rv-mattress.html

I’m tall and almost 200 pounds, my wife is maybe 125. I’m a ‘hot’ sleeper so I’m happy to stay away from foam that may make me feel warmer anyway.

We don’t need the mattress to last many many years - honestly in our situation what we need is a reliable mattress that we can get shipped here for a reasonable price. It may cost me a couple of hundred dollars to have the mattress shipped to me, but somehow I still think the Springwall ‘Ginger’ may be less of a gamble coming from a member of this site, than buying one from Sears that I can’t get any useful information on. With Sears, I just don’t know where to begin.

In any case, I’ll post back when we finally buy one and with our impressions of it. Until then, I’ll keep reading your various guides and advice. It’s all much appreciated.

Best Regards from the Canadian North.

2

Hi Delta2,

I live in Calgary, and I thought it was cold here! I’m amazed you can sleep hot in the great white north! :wink: I’m very familiar with The Mattress and Sleep Company (tmasc) having bought my own beds there… They are a wonderful company to work with (which is all I can really say since I know nothing about the mattress you’re considering). You’re best off to call them, or sometimes Daniel from tmasc comments in the forums here too so he might comment here.

I often try to help Phoenix out, and make the ‘standard’ first recommendations for new posters, which is to recommend you read the post on host to find the best mattress for yourself. I appreciate some sections might not apply to you, with limited retail supply, narrow budget, and shipping logistics- but at least it might give you some basic principals.

https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/how-to-look-for-and-find-the-best-mattress-for-you-read-first

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions.

3

Thank you very much for the early feedback.

I have read in a couple of places that in the sub $1000 range, basically all the mattresses that represent decent value have the same basic qualities. It seems to me that even in our price range, we should be able to get a foam encased pocket coil mattress of decent quality - certainly not intending to leave it in our will!

Thank you for the howto link. I’m slowly absorbing it all but have to look at more mattresses and keep coming back to figure out more.

The advertising mumbo-jumbo on the Sears site is enough to drive one bonkers. They could make a sheet of rusty sheet metal sound like a luxury ‘sleep product.’

Again, I’m almost baffled at what a great mattress resource this site is. Thanks for the help!

[edit] I think I’m just going to get the Springwall mattress from TMASC in Edmonton. I have just re-read Phoenix’s No. 1 rule in finding value in a mattress, and of course you all know it is to avoid the big ‘S’ manufacturers if you’re looking for value. Maybe Springwall is a ‘major’ manufacturer, but they’re certainly not on the top 15 list.

4

Hi Delta2,

I have talked with Springwall and I was impressed with their transparency (see post #4 here).

It’s somewhat rare to see a good pocket coil in that price range and while I don’t know the density of the foams they use it appears to be good value. Of course I also think very highly of TMASC and their knowledge of the mattresses and bedding they sell which is one of the reasons (along with their great service) they are a member here.

The pocket coil is zoned with 13.5 gauge in the center and 14.5 gauge on the upper and lower parts of the mattress. The pocket coils would be doing much of the contouring to your body and with only a relatively small amount of foam above the coils there isn’t a lot of foam to soften and impress over time so there is no obvious weak link in the mattress and it would be a good choice in your budget range for those who prefer a mattress with a firmer feel.

Phoenix

5

Hi Delta2,

Remember to mention you’re from the mattress underground. You get 5% off :slight_smile: If ordering online, use the info listed here:

6

I absolutely will, and thanks for the reminder. I just have to work out some shipping logistics, then I will go ahead and call to arrange things.

7

Phoenix,

Thanks for this specific feedback. I am certain what whatever the quality of this mattress, it will be a great upgrade from what we are using now. Having a well spoken of retailer like tmasc around goes a long way. When we get the mattress here I’ll update this thread with my impressions.

8

Hi Delta2,

Congratulations on your new mattress … and I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve had the chance to sleep on it for a bit … way up in the land of the midnight sun :slight_smile:

At some point in my life it’s a place I’d love to visit!

Phoenix

9

Hi Delta,

I think you must have spoken with Ruth Ann this morning :slight_smile:

I was not too surprised at the cost of shipping to your location, hopefully it will work out that it can be picked up with something else you have arranged to move up North :slight_smile:

Was kind of funny to notice this thread while working from home today.

Cheers,
Daniel

10

[quote=“[email protected]” post=27117]Hi Delta,

I think you must have spoken with Ruth Ann this morning :slight_smile:

I was not too surprised at the cost of shipping to your location, hopefully it will work out that it can be picked up with something else you have arranged to move up North :slight_smile:

[/quote]

I certainly did talk to Ruth Ann. I wasn’t too surprised about the shipping cost either - that’s the price I pay for living in the boonies! I’ll order probably late next week - still waiting to hear back from my landlord, who has an account with a major shipper and may be able to get a better freight rate for me. Finding the right product to order up here is usually the easy part - the tricky part is always the logistics.

Thanks for being there!

11

I wanted to post an update about how we feel about our new mattress. We ended up buying the ‘Ginger’ pocket coil mattress from TMASC in Edmonton, made by Springwall.

We’re happy with it. Since we’re so remote, it took a while to arrive. We’ve been sleeping on our new mattress for around 2 weeks. We’re also glad we got the matching foundation, because it is handsome enough to use without a bedskirt, even though we ended up using one anyway.

The mattress does seem well constructed, and has very good edge firmness, for those times you need to sit on the edge of the bed. With our setup on top of a standard metal bed frame, this mattress is so high off the floor that your feet don’t touch the floor when you sit on the edge. That’s how we wanted it. You could get a low profile foundation if you don’t want to be so high.

The upper layers are not extremely thick, but more than adequate to cushion the pressure points. We didn’t want a pillow top or other fluffy upper layers. We did buy a St. Dormeir wool mattress pad from the same retailer, and we are happy with it as well. The fit (12" deep, if I remember correctly) is perfect.

The mattress is a little softer than we expected. Our last mattress before we moved was an IKEA mattress - a SULTAN HAMNVIK. We enjoyed it - I can’t say how durable it would be since we only used it for a couple of years. The upper layers were lacking somewhat and I could feel the edge of a spring or two in certain areas, even with a thin mattress pad on.

The Springwall Ginger feels a little softer than the HAMNVIK at first - perhaps a little more ‘bouncy.’ However, it is firm enough that you don’t sink ‘into’ the mattress to any real extent, giving an effective compromise from being cushioned by the upper layers while still feeling ‘on top.’ It took me about three nights to get used to the feeling of being on this mattress. Initially I thought it might be too soft, but I have adjusted well to it and I am sleeping well and feel comfortable. I’m a tall guy that deals with back strain and discomfort daily, and this mattress doesn’t make things worse! Any mattress that is too soft makes me quite uncomfortable.

Perhaps the greatest change is moving from a double to a queen. Our overall sleeping comfort has improved drastically over the past two weeks - partly from not disturbing each other when we move or get up in the night, and partly from having a little more room to exist in our own space. We hope it lasts a good while for us, and we would buy another.

One thing I recommend if purchasing a mattress that will be shipped a long distance - make sure you know exactly how it will be packaged, and exactly what that packaging will cost. Next time we ship a mattress over 3000km over the road, we’ll make sure to more clearly specify our packing expectations.

Thanks again to Phoenix and other contributors for making this mattress purchase educational and successful!

12

Hi Delta2,

Thanks for the detailed update and feedback … I appreciate it :slight_smile:

Phoenix

13

Thanks for the update, it was good to hear you are happy with Springwall (headquarters just up the road from me, on the other end of the country).