First of all, thanks for creating an amazingly educational resource. It has only recently occurred to me (after several hours on your site) that I will spend 1/3 of my life in a mattress and yet I never really gave much thought to how the mattress works and how to get the best possible fit.
my wife and I are looking to replace a 10 year old innerspring/pillowtop because we both wake up tired with back pain every morning. We went to a local chain store to try out some memory foam beds and really liked the feel of the tempur cloud supreme. I am leaning towards the select foam version of this bed since it is half the price and most reviews seem to indicate it is a good match to the tempur.
One thing the store salesman mentioned was that getting the right pillow can be just as important as the mattress. Any truth to this or is it just salesperson talk? Do you have any nuggets of wisdom on pillow types or sources for quality and reasonably priced items? Any help is appreciated. I did try and really like the tempurpedic symphony pillow because I alternate between back, side and stomach sleeping but $129 for a pillow seems a bit crazy to me.
I have the Select Foam Cirrus Luxe and love the bed. I’m primary a side sleeper and made the mistake of purchasing a latex pillow from Sears that got great reviews, it was very soft and springy, but very thin and did not support me well when sleeping on my side. It’s a great pillow for back and stomach sleepers. That pillow cost me around $40. I happen to stumble across a shredded latex at a local store. It was a high loft and very springy and comforming. This answered my side sleeping issue. That pillow coat me only $25. So it really depends on you and your sleep position. I personally prefer latex pillow over a memory foam pillow, cause they alow you to sink in but they spring back a bit, instead of sinking down into the pillow witn memory foam. Usually it’s trial and error cause eveyone is different.
A pillow is an important part of your sleeping system to make sure your head and neck and upper body are in good alignment. This is iust as important as good alignment of the rest of your spine so they were telling you the truth. The cost isn’t as important as making sure it keeps you in good alignment in all your sleeping positions and that you like the “feel” of the pillow as well. There are common “needs” with pillows but personal preference plays an even bigger role than with mattresses because our face is much more sensitive to different textures, temperatures, and responses.
The pillow thread here has more information and discussion about pillows.
Thanks for the info. There is a lot to learn here.
Out of curiosity, ignoring the price differences and just looking at the mattresses, is there a quality/durability difference between the select comfort cirrus supreme and tempur cloud supreme as far as you know given tempur’s lack of transparency on their materials?
I’m assuming you mean Select Foam Cirrus Supreme? (not Select Comfort).
The Tempur Cloud Supreme has the following layers …
2.0" TEMPUR-ES™ Comfort Layer (4.1 lbs./ft density)
2.0" TEMPUR Support Layer (5.3 lbs./ft density)
7" of polyfoam (which is likely 1.5 lbs since they have lowered the specs of their base foam)
The Select Foam Cirrus Supreme has the following layers …
2" 4lb soy SELECT-ES™ Gel Memory Foam
2" 5.3lb soy SELECT™ GelFoam Support Layer
7" of polyfoam which is over 2 lbs (they can tell you the specific density)
So in terms of the the density of the comfort layers which is the biggest factor in durability they are virtually identical and in terms of the base layers which are a lesser factor in durability Select Foam would have the advantage.
They also use gel in their memory foam which can add to the cost of a material.
I have been sleeping on a Select Foam Cirrus Supreme for 5 nights. I will provide my thoughts on this in another post.
To go along with the bed we got new pillows. In the store I liked the latex pillows but wanted the option to return them if they did not work for me. I have been through a number of pillows and kept going back to an ancient poly filled pillow.
I am generally a side sleeper and it sounded like this pillow would be plush enough for me. Pillows arrived with the typical great Costco service. I washed the covers deployed the pillows. I was very happy with the pillow while on my back for reading. It seems to be a winner at a great price point. Now when I tried sleeping on the pillow for several nights I found it a bit thick for me. However I am not a good indicator as I like a very thin pillow. The wife is happy with the latex pillows. She likes them much better than the various memory foam pillows we have tried over the years.
I went with a down pillow also from Costco and have been very happy with it. I can push the stuffing away from the edge to make it as thin as I want.
Thanks to both of you for the thoughtful responses.
Phoenix,
yes I did mean Select Foam not comfort - thanks. I am pretty much sold on this mattress but the wife is still a bit leery of buying sight unseen from an online company so I am trying to gather as much info as possible to make the case to her. The cost savings over Tempurpedic is definitely big enough to justify any perceived “risk” but with equal or better materials plus a 90 day return policy I don’t see much risk with Select Foam.
AMG_roadster,
how was the delivery experience with select foam? Do they setup anything or just drop the boxes at the door? Is it FedEx delivery or inside delivery via truck? Obviously they won’t be taking away the old mattress and box springs so I will need to figure out what to do with those… Small inconvenience in my opinion to save over a thousand dollars.
Select Foam uses Fedex for their standard delivery so if you are not home they just drop it on your “door step”. They may offer a white glove delivery where they will bring the mattress in and set it up. I was able to move the king sized mattress around by myself but it is awkward. Two people should be able to move it anyplace needed. I had a friend help me carry it up the stairs but I could have worked it out myself if needed.
I know what you mean about needing to get rid of the old mattress and box spring. We are moving the old mattress to another bedroom but I need to get a hand to do so. I also need to see if anyone will accept the box spring as a donation.
They are certainly good quality and value and their return policy lowers the risk of an online purchase considerably (although I would tend to make comparisons between “good value and good value” which would exclude Tempurpedic as a comparison).
Tempur does provide a valuable service in that they put good quality (not value) mattresses in every big box mattress store that can be used for comparison purposes. My wife and I were both extremely confident that we wanted another firm mattress until we sat on the Cloud Supreme in the local store. I would also be much more hesitant to buy a mattress online sight unseen if i hadn’t tried a comparable Tempur one in person. I agree 100% that it is not a reasonable option though once you become an informed consumer.
As for the old mattress and box spring i was just going to drag them to the curb (my city collects them as part of regular trash service), But now you’ve got me thinking of better options. There is a Salvation Army down the street. Maybe I’ll start there.
