Our membership list

I’ve released our initial membership list … which makes today a GREAT DAY :slight_smile:

There is a link on the main menu here which will always have the current list as it continues to grow.

I’d like to also say Thank You to every one of these initial members. You are a wonderful group and I certainly appreciate the help, ideas and support you have given in these earliest stages of The Mattress Underground.

While the discount or bonus you make available to our consumer members is a real bonus, the greatest benefits of buying a mattress from any one of you is that that together you represent some of the best mattress manufacturing value in North America. Now we just need to help more and more people find you!

Phoenix

Arizona Premium Mattress Company: Phoenix, AZ. https://www.mattresses.net/
Beloit Mattress Company: Beloit, WI. http://www.beloitmattress.com/
Buis Mattress: Holland, MI.
(no longer a member)
My Green Mattress: La Grange, IL. www.mygreenmattress.com/
Sleep EZ Factory: Tempe, AZ. https://www.sleepez.com/
The Mattress Factory: Fort Worth, TX. http://www.themattressfactory.com/

I’d like to welcome Fox Mattress in Volusia County, FL as our newest Manufacturing member. I had a great conversation with Rick the owner and as you can see from his website, he is another high value local mattress manufacturer who believes in the same principles that is the reason for The Mattress Underground.

We now have 9 of the highest value mattress manufacturers as part of our membership and as our efforts move towards increasing consumer awareness of our website, we will continue to do our part in increasing the visibility of these manufacturers and others like them who manufacture the “off brands” which represent real mattress value in North America.

Thanks again Rick for your support!

Fox Mattress: Volusia County, FL. https://www.foxmattress.com/

I’d like to welcome 2 new manufacturing members to our growing list of high-value mattress manufacturers.

The first of these is Oklahoma Mattress Company in Oklahoma City, OK. I have had many great conversations with Jim the owner there and he like the other members of our group is a “mattress person” through and through. It’s great to have them as a founding member.

http://www.okmattress.com/

Second is Parklane Mattress in Tualatin, OR. While I hadn’t had the chance to talk with Scott there until recently, I did take the time several months ago to drive a few hours from Seattle to Tualatin to try out their mattresses and was truly impressed. They have several outlets in Oregon and Washington states.

http://www.parklanemattresses.com/

These new founding members are all producing high value mattresses and are open and transparent about the materials they use and their methods of construction. They can all be trusted to provide accurate and truthful information and I am grateful and proud to have them as members of The Mattress Underground.

Every one of our members produces the kind of value that you just will not find in the chain store mattresses produced by the major manufacturers.

Thank you to each of you.

Phoenix

I’d like to welcome Bay Bed & Mattress in Santa Cruz, CA to our growing membership list. I have had several conversations with Dan, the owner there and in addition to great value in mattresses, including quality modular mattresses using innersprings and latex, he has also made some valuable suggestions to this site which I certainly plan to implement as time allows.

http://www.baybed.com/

Thank you Dan for your support of this project … and of course for being part of a growing group of manufacturers who are changing the direction of the industry.

I’d like to welcome our newest member … and our second Canadian member … Restmore Bedding in Winnipeg Manitoba. Their primary business is wholesale manufacturing but we are fortunate that they also have a factory direct outlet available in Winnipeg. They make a full range of mattresses including innersprings, memory foam, and latex.

At the moment they do not have a website but they can be reached at (204) 942-4701 and those of you that are near Winnipeg can visit them at 527 Waterfront Dr, Winnipeg, MB.

Thank you Harry for your support of our goals … and welcome :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Any recommendations in Atlanta, Ga?

Hi Celicook,

Some of the better possibilities in the Atlanta, GA area are in post #2 here.

Keep in mind that no matter where you go or where you buy from that a mattress is only as good as the quality of the construction and materials that are in it so make sure that the retailer or manufacturer you are working with can provide you with the details of every layer in any mattress you are seriously considering. You can test for comfort/pressure relief and support/alignment and many other preferences (such as motion transfer or overall “feel”) in a showroom but you can’t feel the quality or durability of materials in your testing (which determines how long the comfort and support will last) so the only way to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses and to know the quality and durability of any mattress is to know the details of all the materials inside it.

Phoenix

Phoenix,
Where would you recommend that I shop in Atlanta, GA?

Hi celicook,

In the post right before yours (#16) I included a link to the better Atlanta options I’m aware of.

Phoenix

Hi! Just found your website today, after days of frustration trying to buy an new mattress. Do you know of any reliable retailers in the Northern California area? I visited two smaller chains, Sleep Train and Sleep City, and got conflicting information to say the least. Surely there is a better way!

Hi SueS,

If you could let me know your zip or the city you live in it would be helpful and I’d be happy to let you know of any better options I’m aware of in your area. Regions are too big of an area for me to search (or link you to lists that are in the forum that are centered on various cities).

Phoenix

Thanks for the quick reply! I live in Santa Rosa, California. It is about 60 miles north of San Francisco. The stores I visited were in Santa Rosa. The zip code here is 95404.

Hi SueS,

I spent some time today updating the San Francisco list in post #2 here to include all the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Santa Rosa area as well.

Hope that helps…

Phoenix

Thanks so much for your thorough post! I feel better knowing I have more options to choose from. I appreciate the work/research you put into this. I’ll explore some of the listings, and get back to you with my findings. Bless you for having this great website!

Hi!
Checking in after my mattress purchase. I actually purchased it from one of the retailers in your San Francisco area postings. I used Sleep City Mattresses in Santa Rosa. I worked with a guy named Scott, and he was incredibly helpful. He really listened to my needs, and suggested a Spring Air back supporter mattress. It was a softer mattress, better for me being a moderate sized female and a side sleeper with sore hips and shoulders. Went back 3 times to be sure it was “the one”. It was a “Destiny Plush”. I thought about driving around the bay area to check other retailers, buy did not have the time or energy to do that. Plus, was not interested in a memory foam or latex bed.

Scott was very knowledgeable, and seemed to know his stuff. No pressure to buy other products. Came away with a queen bed for $850, tax included. The posted retail price was $1699.

I was happy with all that until the delivery today. They gave me a delivery window of 10:30am - 12:30pm. I spoke with the warehouse to confirm. At 12:45, I called the store who connected me to the warehouse. They said they would get to me in 20 minutes. Finally arrived 45 minutes later. They nearly destroyed my bed and apartment getting old mattress out, new one in. Have not slept in the bed yet to see how it is. Will post that later. I am also pursuing a Yelp posting, Facebook posting and call to the owners to discuss the delivery debacle.

So far, I can recommend this store, and the assessment about the bed is pending. Beware the delivery though!

Hi SueS,

I’m glad you were able to find a mattress you liked although the delivery doesn’t sound like it went too well at all :ohmy: .

I hope you made sure too that you were given the details of every layer of your mattress (including all the foam densities) so that you know the quality of all the materials that are in it and could make sure it didn’t have any “weak links”. This is one of the most important parts of any mattress purchase because it can give you a much better sense of the potential durability of the mattress and you can’t feel the quality of the materials when you test the mattress.

Phoenix

Hello, my name is Jerry and my wife and I have been trying to read as much info as possible on your wonderful site. She was all set to purchase a split king Tempurpedic but now after reading through your site I have convinced her that we may be able to purchase a similar type mattress for far less. Wondering if you could answer these questions.

  1. We live on the California Central Coast (Nipomo, CA 93444) between Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo - just wondering if you have a recommendation for visiting a store in this area (if not, we can get down to Santa Barbara which is about 70 minutes away - should there be a store down there). There are a few large Mattress stores in the area - just wondering what your recommendation would be.

  2. How do you find a mattress when you are dealing over the internet? Do you go into a mattress store - try out the 25 or so mattresses and then tell a store on your list that this is the type of mattress you like?

  3. It appears that natural latex is at the top of everyone’s list these days. We are interested in a firm mattress (if 10 is the firmest out there and 5 is medium firm - then we’re probably looking at an 8) - based on that - are there various mattresses we should concentrate on?

Thank you

Hi palermo22,

The better possibilities I’m aware of in your area are listed in post #2 here. These are possibilities because like all the lists on the forum you need to make sure that any retailer or manufacturer you are dealing with can provide you with the details of all the layers of any mattress you are looking at so you can know the quality of the mattress, identify any weak links, and make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses. The Santa Barbara list is in post #2 here but there are no factory direct manufacturers there except one that would not be one of my first choices.

As you mention … the first step is always to test mattresses locally because this is the “safest” choice because you can test the mattresses in person. If there are better online options available in terms of quality or value than any of your"finalists" locally … then I would talk with some of the better online retailers or manufacturers you are considering and if they have good knowledge and experience you can use your testing as a guideline to help them help you make the best choice. Again though … this depends on knowing the details of the layers in the local mattresses that are your “finalists”.

I would follow the steps in post #1 here and the information it links to (this is the most important post on the forum) because it’s probably a little too early early in the process to begin concentrating on any specific mattresses until you have read some of the basic information and done some testing to clearly identify your preferences. If latex is your preference then I would call each retailer or manufacturer before you visit them and make sure they have latex mattress on their floor that you want to test. I would also test some other types of mattress initially as well just to make sure that latex really is your preference because it’s very different from memory foam.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix

Phoenix - thank you for the information. Today (actually the past few hours) we went looking at mattresses at a couple of local stores near us - the biggest being “Get-a-Mattress”. We first looked at the Tempurpedic - if we were to get that (which I don’t believe we will - because we liked the latex mattresses better) - we liked the Rhapsody the best. We then looked at about ten different Latex Mattresses and we liked Pure Latex Bliss the best. Within PLB - my wife liked the Nature 10" and I liked the Nutrition 11" - but it was so close that I don’t believe it would matter. I read a couple of other posts where some people also liked the PLB a lot but wound up with different mattresses from some of the sites on your site.

My questions:

  1. Since my wife is so afraid to buy a mattress sight unseen (she has a bad back) - would I be able to find this exact mattress from one of the companies on your site?

  2. Is there a reason why we shouldn’t get this mattress?

  3. Is there another similar (very similar - almost exact) mattress that you would steer us to?

Thank you

Jerry

Hi palermo22,

Just as a matter of interest … you can see the specs of the PLB line (assuming that it is the new active fusion line with the blue cover) in post #2 here. As you can see the Nutritioin is a little different from the rest because it uses what is called a dominant layer of firmer latex over softer latex while the rest use soft latex on top with increasingly firm layers as you go deeper. this means that even though it’s thicker than the Nature … it’s actually a little firmer on the surface and the “softness” is more underneath. This creates a different “feel”.

There are only 3 ways to “match” another mattress which you can read about in post #2 here.

The first of these involves side by side testing in “real time” which of course wouldn’t be possible here. It’s quite possible that two mattresses with completely different layering could feel and perform the same for some people because of the “net effect” of all the layers combined … even if they were different … but you could only know this with personal side by side testing.

The second would be two mattresses that used identical layers and components. This would include foam type, layer thickness, layer softness (ILD) and the cover. This also wouldn’t normally be possible (unless you purchases all the layers and a similar cover separately) because while many mattress manufacturers use the same type of latex … the exact same layer thicknesses and ILD (softness) of the PLB mattresses may not be available with online manufacturers in the exact same combinations with the same type of cover.

This leaves the third option which means that you would need to use a combination of materials that were available that in theory would “approximate” the net effect of the layering of the PLB mattress you were trying to match. Because the feel of a mattress can be quite subjective, and different people may be more or less sensitive to smaller changes, some people would say a different combination was an exact “match” while others may say it was quite different. Because subjective memory is not particularly accurate … and a mattress that you test one day can feel very different from the same mattress that you test the next day (or even later in the same day as many people who test mattresses have discovered) … it’s usually better to think in the more objective terms of how well a mattress relieves pressure and keeps you in alignment rather than trying to “match” one mattress to another in more subjective terms.

If for example you were to buy a mattress online that used four 3" layers and one of these was was 24 ILD (soft) and one was 32 ILD (medium firm) and two were 36 ILD (firm) then if you used a stretch knit cover and put them in the order M/S/F/F you would have a mattress that many people would think was very similar to the Nutrition even though the ILD’s were different and the layer thicknesses of one of the layers was different as well. Thicker layers will act softer than thinner layers so the extra thickness of the second layer could make up for the greater firmness. Some people would be more sensitive to the differences however based on their body type, sleeping positions, or sensitivities and which layers were most noticeable to them even though both may be fine in terms of PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences). Many online choices also allow you to re-arrange the layers and to even exchange layers so you can do some fine tuning that you can’t with the PLB and your final choice may end up being a better match than the PLB even though none of the combinations of layers would be exactly the same. You could even use less latex (three layers) that in certain combinations would feel very similar to one of the PLB mattresses. Even a two layer mattress could have a very similar feel depending on the layers and how they interacted together.

The goal is always to have the combination of PPP that is the best match for you and there are often different pathways to a similar outcome. Being “exact” is not normally necessary for the majority of people who will do well on a range of layering combinations that have similar PPP. In the end though … it would depend on your level of confidence that any mattress you buy will be suitable for your needs and preferences in the long term and this confidence can be based on your personal testing, more detailed conversations with other manufacturers or retailers you are considering (which I would encourage no matter which direction you choose to go), or exchange options you have available after your purchase.

From a quality point of view no. It uses high quality materials and there are no weak links in the mattress so from this perspective there is no reason not to. Whether or not you should buy any mattress though and its “value” to you depends on what I call your “personal value equation” and all the tradeoffs that are involved in any mattress purchase that are most important to you (including the mattress, what goes with it, your confidence that it is right for you, any options you have after the purchase, any “risk” involved, the price, and any other objective, subjective, and intangible considerations that are all part of what you are buying). Post #12 here from yesterday has more of my thoughts about online vs a local purchase and the pros and cons of each.

In terms of exact construction, not that I know of off the top of my head no (unless you were to purchase all the layers and components separately and put them together yourself which is certainly possible and would be very close). Similar to my previous comments though there are many that could be suitable in terms of PPP that have differences in layering but this may be outside of your “risk tolerance” and local purchases are “safer”, especially if you have tested the mattress specifically and objectively for PPP (and not just it’s “showroom feel” which is not a particularly accurate way to assess your needs and preferences). Everything depends on the tradeoffs that are most important to you and each of us may have a different definition of “value”. There is no right or wrong in any of this once you have eliminated your worst options and are focusing on better ones (and the PLB would be among the better ones compared to most mainstream choices).

Phoenix