Please recommend me some good retailers in Orange County, CA

Hello,

I and my wife are recently having back pain issues and we think it’s time to buy a new mattress. Our old mattress is about 7 years old. I just wanted to get your help to find some good retailers in Orange County, CA. We live in Irvine so ideally I would want to visit a retailer in Irvine.

Also we’re looking for a king size bed. What do you guys think our budget should be for a good mattress? Also do you guys think that we should go with a memory foam mattress? I heard that they get really hot. Another question, do you usually get the foundation/box spring free with the mattress?

Thanks a lot.

Yenal

If you are interested in latex, Foam Sweet Foam in Anaheim has a good selection to test. Latex is expensive but it might work for you. Regarding foundations, nothing is free, although sometimes it is included in the price. Hope this helps.

Hi Yenal,

Post #2 here includes some of the better calue choices in your area (including Foam Sweet Foam which I also believe is one of your better options).

As far as the choices between memory foam and other materials, this is strictly a matter of personal preference and whether you prefer slow or fast response materials. Regardless of which you prefer though … every type of material has lower and higher quality choices and knowing the quality of the material (the density of any memory foam or polyfoam in your mattress is the most important way to know the quality and durability of these types of foam) is important.

Budget is also a matter of personal preference. There is good and poor “value” in every budget range and connecting with manufacturers and retail outlets that are able and willing to tell you the difference is just as important as choosing a mattress that is “comfortable” in a showroom but may not be as comfortable when you sleep on it or a year down the road if it contains lower quality materials that will lose their comfort and support much more quickly (and loss of comfort and support is not covered by warranty).

As TexMac also mentioned … nothing is “free” when you buy a mattress whether this is a foundation, delivery, exchange policies, or any other “benefit” that comes with a mattress purchase. It is simply added to (or included in) the cost of the mattress and/or whatever else you are buying. The only thing that is really “free” is the knowledge and experience of the people you are working with and their ability to help you make your best choices … and this is much more valuable than a “free foundation” which really isn’t free at all.

There is more information here about the pros and cons of memory foam but keep in mind that there are hundreds of different types of memory foam which will perform and feel differently. Some of these are much “hotter” than others although it is true that memory foam in general tends to sleep hotter than other materials such as latex, polyfoam, or some of the other materials that are used in the comfort layers of a mattress. Scanning the overviews in the mattresses section of the site can help give you enough basic information to ask better questions when you are mattress shopping. Post #9 here has more information about the many different qualities of different types of memory foam.

Don’t forget too that the better manufacturers and retailers in your area will already know this and will help you know and test the differences for yourself. While some basic information is always a good idea to help you know when you are dealing with “mattress people” instead of more typical “salespeople” … I would avoid the tendency to “become” an expert and focus more on connecting with the experts who already know (and are willing to share) what you would otherwise need to learn.

Phoenix

Thanks a lot for all this info. I have 2 more questions:
1 - These knowledgeable manufactures have prices listed in their websites. Is the buying part still a haggling process or they have set prices?
2 - I am pretty heavy guy at 235lbs. How should this affect my mattress purchase?

Thanks,
Yenal

H Yenal,

Most of the better outlets don’t “haggle” … although some of them will be open to smaller reductions on their price in certain circumstances. Retail stores or manufacturers that list prices that are artificially inflated in order to reduce them and create the impression that they are offering a better “deal” through some major sale or “haggling” are a warning sign not a “benefit”. They will win the negotiations … even though of course they have been trained to make you think that you were the “winner” and got a better deal than anyone else because of your “amazing” ability to negotiate. They well know that if a consumer believes they got a great deal (even when they didn’t) … the likelihood of any returns or “problems” will be much less … regardless of the real value of the mattress they bought.

It never hurts to ask if a discount is available but the better retail stores will already have prices that are available to anyone every day of the year … not just those who wait for fake “sales” or are somehow better at haggling. This also doesn’t mean that a better manufacturer or retail “sleep shop” won’t have a sale from time to time or that if another similar mattress is available for less (based on real information) that you shouldn’t bring it to their attention … but the “sales” won’t be part of their “everyday” sales practices, the discounts will be smaller, and the reason for the sale will be legitimate.

Heavier weights need higher quality and more durable materials or at least an “expectation” that the more typical materials that would work for someone smaller won’t last as long for them. This means higher density/quality memory foam, higher density/quality polyfoam, or higher quality materials such as latex. It means too that it is more important to identify the “weak link” in a mattress which will soften and degrade faster than the other materials in your mattress. It would also be helpful to have a mattress where a layer can be exchanged (either with a zip cover or through a manufacturer who can do this) rather than having to replace the whole mattress. There is more in post #2 here about the many factors that contribute to the durability of a mattress but because like so many other things it can be complex … and it is more effective to find someone who already understands this than to know all the various factors yourself … besides the basics.

Phoenix

Hello Phoenix,

Thank you for building this site, and your commitment to transparency and truth in mattress construction and the industry as a whole.

I’ve been reading your site off and on for the last week or so, and just joined as a member. I’m in Orange County as well, and have been “flopping” around on mattresses in a few stores lately (with my wife), to get a feel for what we like in comfort and support.

We’ve burned through 4 mattresses over the last 12 years, and we’re quite sore and tired every day (read - no pressure relief, little support). My goal is to purchase a high quality mattress, that provides ample comfort (pressure relief) and support (spinal alignment) within the next couple of weeks. Although there are a ton of “50% Off” Labor Day sales going right now, we’re not going to bite on any of those. We’re determined to get it right this time.

Here in SoCal, it looks like Foam Sweet Foam (actually in Anaheim, not Irvine) and Flexus (Covina) have excellent products and helpful people, just based on what I’ve read on your site, forum postings, etc. Although I think it’s interesting to note on the Foam Sweet Foam website that you have to pick only one type of latex (100% NR Talalay or Organic Dunlop), which will then be used for ALL layers of the mattress - you pick the firmness of each layer (Soft, Medium, Firm X Firm), with no ILD numbers provided. I think it’s also interesting that they state on their site that the Organic Dunlop they use is more resilient and “springy” than the 100% Talalay. I thought it was usually the other way around, right?

In any case, I’m going to visit both showrooms over the next few days or so. It should be interesting!

Thank you again for your time, and providing this valuable resource.

Mike

Hi Mike949,

You are wise not to fall for this and the outlets that do this (on an ongoing basis) usually don’t have the best value mattresses anyway … even at their steepest discounts. While there are some legitimate sales … they are for lesser discounts, legitimate reasons and not based on artificially inflated prices designed to “entice” the unwary.

In terms of the differences between Talalay and dunlop … it can sometimes be confusing because people will often use the same words with different meanings. For example … Dunlop to some people may feel more “bouncy” (which is what they call it here) while Talalay can feel more “springy”. This can also vary between different people with different weights, amount of movement, and perceptions. Both are highly resilient (resilience is a measure of how much energy a material stores and returns rather than it’s feel).

In general though … Talalay would be considered by most people as more “springy” and responsive. As an analogy … if you imagine a thicker spring (Dunlop) and a thinner spring (Talalay) … the thicker spring may not “travel” as far when a ball bounces on it but it can feel very “bouncy”. The thinner spring may “travel” or compress further with the same ball and then return the same (or similar) amount of energy to the ball which will rebound to approximately the same height (similar resilience). The thinner spring may feel more responsive and “springy” to many people because there is more vertical movement but it would also be fair to say that the thicker spring may feel more “bouncy” to others. Most people can feel a difference though between the two materials although what they also say on their site about the differences becoming narrower over the years is also true.

The organic Dunlop and 100% natural Talalay they sell are both in the “upper tier” of latex in terms of cost with blended Talalay and 100% natural Dunlop in the next cost tier down and blended Dunlop in the lowest tier. While there is no doubt that all of these are high quality materials … the upper tier may also not be the best “value” for some in terms of performance, feel, or durability for those where either 100% natural or the “certified organic” label are not as important. There’s more about the differences between blended, natural, 100% natural, organic, and certified organic Talalay and Dunlop (and most people will encounter all of these “confusing” terms) in post #6 here.

Foam Sweet Foam recently changed their address and their site (and the current one is much better than the old) and I didn’t change the listing to reflect this. Thanks for the heads up (it’s changed now :))

There are quite a few very good choices on the list that may be worth a call … although some of them may not have the same range of choices … but you have certainly picked two of the better ones IMO.

You are very fortunate to live in an area that has such good choices within a reasonable distance and I’m looking forward to hearing about your experiences … along with any questions you may have along the way.

Phoenix

Actually I was in their Anaheim showroom today. It was a temporary showroom because they could not move in to their new spot yet. I guess there is still some construction going on. Anyway, I’ve tried both dunlop and talalay they have. Dunlop felt like a better product to me. I liked the 9" mattress with 3" of extra firm, 3" of firm and 3" of medium. My wife liked the 2x extra firm and 1x firm. But I was able to persuade her to get the softer set up. I am yet to place an order though because they don’t take your old mattress unless you pay $99. Also the foundations they sell are more expensive than other places. I’ll still place an order but I need to order the foundation from somewhere else and donate my old mattress to get rid of it.

As a side node, you can actually mix and match dunlop and talalay but their website does not allow this yet. Scott (believe he’s the owner) confirmed that this will be fixed in the website soon. But he also said that the prices are going up after Tuesday and the Dunlop will cost $50 more per layer.

Hope this helps.

-Yenal

I was also able to make it to the Foam Sweet Foam Anaheim showroom before closing today (9/1), and had about 40 minutes to check it out. As Yenal mentioned, they’re in a temporary suite (facing Anaheim Blvd) while their new suite (facing Center St Promenade) is being finished. I don’t know when they’re scheduled to move into the Promenade suite, since I didn’t get much time to speak with the one person there (presumably Scott, based on Yenal’s post). He was on the phone virtually the entire time, although he did offer to answer any questions at one point, in between phone calls. I declined since I was busy using my time to try out the different King latex mattress sets with the different permutations of latex types (Dunlop, Talalay) and multiple layers (Soft, Med, Firm, X Firm). However, I did mention Mattress Underground to him during that brief exchange, and he knew what I was talking about right away (he mentioned Phoenix by name).

That was the first time I had tried that type of latex bed, where there are multiple layers of latex comprised of varying levels of firmness, all in a zippered container. I was hoping that I would have a wonderful experience and be really impressed, especially since they have a 30 year warranty and allow you to swap out a layer during the first 60 days (according to the web site). Sadly, I didn’t have that wonderful experience I was hoping for. No matter which combination I tried, I felt like I wasn’t experiencing true pressure relief across my entire body, and that there were always some gaps here and there that caused uncomfortable pressure points in various places, and some strain. They also felt warm (including the ones encased in organic cotton), but there was no A/C for the store (that I could see), and the front door was open (again, it’s a temporary suite at this time). It seems to me that these types of multi-layer latex beds are of the “progressive construction” type. By the way Yenal, thank you for clarifying about the ability to mix & match Dunlop and Talalay layers - I was planning to ask that question while I was there, but never got around to it since I didn’t feel that those beds would be right for me anyway. I’m disappointed because it sounds like the materials are very high quality, and the 30 year warranty with 60 day layer exchange are great - although since it’s a pretty small operation, I don’t know how real that 30 year warranty is. What are the chances of anyone being around in 30 years, or 20 for that matter. There’s so much consolidation these days, for all types of business.

For reference, I’m about 6’1" and 200 lbs. My wife is about 5’6" and 120 lbs, although she couldn’t make it to the store with me today. When I try a mattress, I try it in three positions - on my back, and on each side - since those are the positions that I rotate between as I sleep (or attempt to fall asleep). So far the most amazing mattresses I’ve experienced (last week) were an Aireloom and a Kingsdown “My Side”. In both cases, the mattresses had a medium-firm support layer (my words for it), with a plush or pillow-top comfort layer. In each case, the comfort layers felt fantastic (great Sink in comfort with amazing pressure relief), without sinking too far down (great spinal support). The Aireloom had a very comfortable and cool quilted & tufted fabric (ticking), which really seems to fill in all the gaps just right. The Kingsdown comfort layer was filled with a gel (not sure what type of gel), and it also felt terrific, with great pressure relief. When we had tried those mattresses, I didn’t yet have all of the information from Mattress Underground available, so I wasn’t ready to ask the proper questions about how each section (comfort and support) are constructed, quality of materials, etc. However, I suspect that each of those mattresses is over-priced (they’re each $4K give or take), and the materials probably aren’t durable enough to last as long as one would expect when paying that kind of money.

In any case, it appears that both my wife and I are most comfortable on a mattress of “Differential construction” (at least so far), where the comfort layer (with plenty of “poof” from quilting and tufting) is clearly separate from the support layer, with a decent amount of “sink in” for the comfort layer, along with a decent semi-firm support layer directly below the comfort layer. That being said, the only progressive construction mattresses I’ve tried (so far) are those at Foam Sweet Foam. I look forward to trying additional mattresses at Flexus (although they’re out until Tues), and any other mattress stores in the area that might have a quality product and knowledgeable, customer focused sales people. We actually did purchase a Custom Comfort mattress several years ago (one of the mattresses we burned through in the last 12 years), but it didn’t last very long (a few years), and we didn’t feel like going through the ridiculous hoops they required to claim a warranty. I’ve heard mixed reviews about Custom Comfort, and given our own experience, I don’t know if we’ll give them another shot. They’re family owned, but it’s hard to know if they truly have the right work ethic and attitude when it comes to customer satisfaction (but that’s true for just about any business these days).

I hope we can find a great mattress with that just right support layer plus pressure relieving comfort layer, sold by someone that cares about the customer and that will really stand behind their product (which is rare). We have plenty of information now, so we just need to keep investing some time, and miles on the freeway. If we can’t find just what we need, we may look into having a custom mattress built where we have a manufacturer start with a standard semi-firm support layer, and have them add a comfort layer of our liking on top (e.g. Talaly latex, quilted, tufted, breathable wool fabric, etc).

As I said in my earlier post, this should be interesting.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike:

Do you remember the Aireloom model you’ve looked at? I want to see some coil based mattresses as well besides the completely latex ones.

Thanks,
Yenal

Hi Yenal,

Yes, at Orange County Mattress, the Aireloom Bloomfield Firm and Deerfield (both last year’s models, on the way out), and the new Aquamarine Cushion Firm. There was also an Aireloom model at Sit’N’Sleep we tried and liked (same place we tried the Kingsdown My Side). I think at Sit’n’Sleep it was the Aireloom Aspen, but not 100% sure of it.

It seems like Aireloom and Kluft brand (same company) mattresses might be worth more investigation, but they are very pricey. I don’t know how long they last - I’d hate to purchase something like that and have the same old problem with degraded/compressed material after just a few years. Trying to find and purchase a quality mattress is ridiculously difficult, and frustrating!

Cheers,

Mike

I actually called that place today. He was trying to sell me an Aireloom mattress on the phone while I was asking him for a latex mattress. But the price he was talking about was under a grand. I wonder if he was talking about a lower end model. He was stating that Aireloom has a 5 star rating in Europe (whatever that means) and it’s used in the White House… You can tell this guy was a sales man you’d see in any car dealership. I’ll check out their store tomorrow. It sounds like a “sale is final” place. No return policy or anything like that.

A rep from OC Mattress tried selling you an Aireloom for under $1K over the phone? That sounds a big strange. It may have been a floor demo - it’s closeout time right now. Which location did you call? They have 11 or 12 locations in OC. I visited the Laguna Hills showroom yesterday (Friday) evening, and spoke with a guy named Brandon. He was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. He seemed to know all about the construction and layers for each mattress model. Brandon mentioned he was going to be at the San Clemente location today, so if you called Laguna Hills, you were speaking with someone else.

By the way, I asked Brandon about their return policy. He said that OC Mattress can provide a 30 day comfort guarantee (I believe he mentioned an 18% restocking fee), however, they can’t give the deepest discounts if you want the guarantee. He said that they usually try to work with their customers to make sure they’re satisfied. However, I never actually saw the guarantee in writing (since I wasn’t going to purchase anything that night), so you would need to cover that with him. If you click on “Return Policy” on their website, it just talks about their warranty, and doesn’t say anything about their actual return policy.

I sending you Brandon’s cell number via private message. If you’re interested in dealing with OC Mattress, you may want to work with him instead.

Cheers,

Mike

What a difference a day makes!

In my previous post I talked about not having a wonderful experience with the pure latex mattresses I tried at the Foam Sweet Foam showroom in Anaheim.

Today (9/2) my wife and I had the opportunity to try out the Pure Latex Bliss mattresses at Comfort Gallery (San Juan Capistrano), and we were impressed. The father and son owners (Ron and Ronny) seem to know a decent amount about the construction of the mattresses, although they didn’t have every detail available (such as ILD numbers for each layer). To be fair, they stated that PLB doesn’t release the ILD info for their mattresses, since that would make it easier for others to duplicate their performance. They have a very nice showroom, and it appeared to have all of the Pure Latex Bliss models, as well as mattresses by Tempurpedic, Diamond, Serta iComfort, and a few others.

We found the Pure Latex Bliss mattresses, particularly the “Nutrition” (11" of Latex) and “World’s Best Bed” (12" of Latex), to be very comfortable (excellent pressure relief), and supportive (excellent spinal alignment). They also offer the PLB toppers (2" and 3"), which are amazing. We liked the combination of the Nutrition model with a 2" topper. They offer either a traditional box spring foundation (very firm) or PLB Latex foundation (less firm), which can even be split to make one side more firm than the other.

The mattresses we tried were the newer models that use the new “ActiveFusion” gel technology to keep things (supposedly) cooler. According to the information available at the store and in some places on the web, ActiveFusion entails infusing gel (what kind of gel is unclear) into some of theTalalay Latex (not all layers), as well as into the yarn that’s used in the ticking fabric (that part sounds a little far fetched, although it is stated in the website referenced below). We found it to be very cool and comfortable. You can read more about the Nutrition model (with ActiveFusion) at the following online site that also sells PLB matresses:

http://www.eco-mattress-store.com/pure-latex-bliss-nutrition-natural-latex-mattress

What’s interesting to note is that the site I reference above (for the Nutrition model) indicates that the core is made up of “Long-Lasting Bonded Foam & Latex”, where as the information on the Comfort Gallery website indicates it’s 100% Talalay. I wonder if that’s due to a change in construction between last year and this year? If I go back to Comfort Gallery, I’ll try to find out more about that discrepancy.

The big down side is the price. The PLB Nutrition mattress and foundation set (split traditional box and PLB latex foundation), with the 2" topper, frame, delivery & set up approaches $5K. That’s quite a bit more than we’ve budgeted to spend on a new bed.

The upshot is that we’re now convinced that an all latex mattress may be viable for us after all. The combination of comfort, support, and durability are hard to beat (at least when all of the right materials are used together properly). I’ve started researching more of the latex mattresses referenced by this site, including the Ultimate Dreams mattresses by Dreamfoam Bedding (aka Brooklyn Bedding) available via Amazon (my favorite online shopping portal), and the other online latex mattress stores referenced by Phoenix in the following post:

https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/latex-mattress

I still plan on visiting Flexus Comfort in the next few days as well.

The search continues!

Cheers,

Mike

It’s so funny how similar our mattress searches are. I actually ordered a Pure Latex Bliss Active Fusion Beautiful mattress yesterday. I and my wife really loved it in the showroom. We paid $2600 + tax ($2800 OTD) for the mattress only and 2 free pillows.

-Yenal

Congrats Yenal. Did you purchase from Comfort Gallery? Or did you find another PLB retailer closer to the Irvine area (maybe Ergo?). I’m curious about your experience, including how knowledgeable and helpful the people were.

Thanks,

Mike

Hi Mike 949,

[quote]
The mattresses we tried were the newer models that use the new “ActiveFusion” gel technology to keep things (supposedly) cooler. According to the information available at the store and in some places on the web, ActiveFusion entails infusing gel (what kind of gel is unclear) into some of theTalalay Latex (not all layers), as well as into the yarn that’s used in the ticking fabric (that part sounds a little far fetched, although it is stated in the website referenced below). We found it to be very cool and comfortable. You can read more about the Nutrition model (with ActiveFusion) at the following online site that also sells PLB matresses: www.eco-mattress-store.com/pure-latex-bl...tural-latex-mattress
[/quote]. Sealy for example also adds a phase change material into the top foam layer and the cover of their Optimum mattress.

The gel they use is a phase change material which is one of the 3 main technologies uses to regulate the sleeping temperature of a mattress (There’s more about this at the end of post #4 here). It can be added to either a foam or a fabric and can be an effective piece of the temperature regulation puzzle in a mattress.

Pure Latex Bliss has 3 different model lineups. This includes the “Natural” line (which confusingly uses all blended talalay latex from top to bottom), the “All Natural” line (which uses 100% natural Talalay latex from top to bottom), and the Hybrid 3.0 line (which uses various combinations of slow and fast response “active fusion” Talalay in the top layers over a bonded latex/polyfoam core). When they first came out, the “natural” and “all natural” line used “regular” talalay rather than the new Talalay GL material (which is latex International’s name for the material that PLB calls active fusion). Since the introduction of the Hybrid 3.0 line though (which uses combinations of slow and fast reaaponse Talalay GL) … they have changed the top layer of the natural line so that it now used fast response Talalay GL (active fusion) latex in the top layer of all the models. So the have “all talalay latex” models and also various slow and fast response talalay latex over polyfoam depending on which line you are looking at. If the model name is Pamper, Nature, Nutrition, Beautiful, or Worlds Best Bed, then you are looking at a mattress that is latex from top to bottom.

So to recap …

What latex international used to call Celsion latex is now fast response Talalay GL fast response latex and PLB calls this Active Fusion fast response.

What latex International used to call NuForm has not been changed to add phase change materials in it and is now called Talalay GL slow response latex and PLB calls Active Fusion slow response.

Hope this helps and thanks for all your feedback :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Hi Yenal,

Congratulations on your new mattress!

The Beautiful really is a “beautiful” mattress and is certainly miles ahead in terms of quality and value of the mattresses that most people end up buying from the chain stores or major brands.

You did well :slight_smile:

Phoenix

I bought my mattress from a retailer called America’s Mattress in Orange, CA. They are close to Irvine. I really did not like my experience with the Ergo Custom Comfort. They tried to sell me a $7000 mattress and they did not even have the Pure Latex Bliss in their showroom. When I told them that that’s way over my budget he told me that they have financing options. That’s when I walked out the door.

Hi Phoenix,

Thank you for clarifying the types of latex used by PLB in their various mattress lines, as well as the info you provided on the phase change gel used by PLB (and some others) to regulate temperature. Your level of knowledge is truly amazing.

Since I read your response, I’ve been reading up on Blended Latex (30% NR + 70% SBR), Talalay GL, and more via the Latex Intl website (latexfoam.com for anyone else that may read this posting), and various other places on the web (including here in TMU).

It sounds like Talalay GL (latex infused with phase change gel) is a fantastic material to use within the comfort layer, to help regulate temperature. The use of the phase change gel in the fabric is very interesting to me, since as you point out in the post #4 link, the gel material (apparently also part of the ticking fabric for the “ActiveFusion” based PLB models) fluctuates between semi-solid and semi-liquid states. It’s hard to imagine any part of the fabric becoming semi-liquid being a good thing (even if only at a molecular level). It seems to me that would introduce humidity, and even if there’s a mattress pad and sheets between our skin and the mattress fabric containing the phase change gel, I don’t see how that extra humidity would be a good thing. Of course, the PLB mattresses felt wonderfully cool as we tried them out in the air conditioned showroom, but that’s not the same thing as sleeping on them for many hours (and we don’t run our A/C all night either).

You also talk about ventilation, “breathability”, the wicking away of moisture, temperature, and microclimates in that above referenced posting. Can you be more specific about what you’ve seen & heard that works well for the full package including padding/protector, and other bedding components? I know wool is a great material for breathability, but if you have any specific info on what you’ve seen work well for the various bedding components, that would be helpful.

I’m going to continue looking at various latex mattresses, but right now anything that uses Talalay GL is way ahead of the game in my book. Please let me know if you’re aware of other manufacturers/retailers selling mattresses that use T-GL. I’m already researching it a bit using the Latex Intl website, but I’m guessing you may have some inside information on it.

Thank you again for all of your fantastic information and willingness to help!

Mike