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[phoenix]

Hi palermo22,

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.

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.

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?

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”.

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?

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