First, thanks so much for this awesome site. I’ve learned a lot in a short period of time.
I’ve been shopping around and found that I like soft, plush, pillow top style mattresses, and I also prefer the bounce of an innerspring or hybrid. I tried out a couple of Nest Bedding’s options and liked the softness of their Alexander Soft, but more of the feel of their Alexander Hybrid or Latex Hybrid. Also really liked the Simmons Beautyrest Black Clermont PPT.
My budget is around $900-$1500 for a King sized mattress. Background info: I change sleeping positions throughout the night but tend to sleep mostly on my side, as does my partner. Both of us weigh ~150 pounds and no particular sleep problems.
Taking this into account, I had narrowed my choices to Saatva, Helix, Nest Alexander, and Voila, and have been leaning towards Saatva as it seems to meet most of my needs. I noticed that Saatva doesn’t use the highest quality materials and that some people have complained about their Saatvas. I’m not sure if this should be an issue of concern for me or not. I don’t intend to keep my mattress longer than 5-10 years, and if I had to replace it after 5 years I would not be disappointed. I am more concerned with comfort and support.
You’re welcome. I’m glad the information here has been helpful.
One thing to note is that “pillowtop” is not a designation of comfort, but an assembly style, and the foams contained within will determine the level of softness. You can find plush mattresses being tailored as pillowtops or “traditional” styles.
Simmons, like many of the major "S’ brands, tends to use lower quality and less durable materials in their mattresses than most of their smaller competitors that will tend to soften or break down prematurely relative to the price you pay which is why I would generally suggest avoiding all of them completely (along with the major retailers that focus on them as well) regardless of how they may feel in a showroom along with any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the type and quality/durability of the materials inside it (see the guidelines here along with post #3 here and post #12 here and post #404 here).
You can perform a forum search here if you’d like to find more information about the brands that you mentioned, and there’s a bit more information about the Saatva line and the Helix in the simplified choice thread here. A search on Voila will show some of the information I’ve been able to find out about them (which is incomplete) and based upon the information I’ve been able to acquire I’d list them as a “risky” purchase and would not recommend them for consideration. As you may already be aware, Nest Bedding is a member here of the site, which means that I think highly of them and their products, and that they compete well with the best in the industry.
While I can certainly help with “how” to choose, it’s not possible for me to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
I’m not sure if you’ve read this already, but the first place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
Two of the most important links in the tutorial are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for, and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
While the materials Saatva uses are certainly better than the “typical” “S” brand fare, there are other options available that as part of your careful “value comparison” you may wish to explore. And while reviewers are certainly well-meaning, other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Durability is certainly part of anyone’s personal value equation, and I recommend that 10 years would be a reasonable comfort life for a mattress using good quality premium materials. Anything beyond that I would consider “bonus” time. While you may only be considering a short time-frame for your mattress, you’ll still want to make sure that the quality of comfort provided during that timeframe is adequate, so the guidelines I linked to previously should still be worth your consideration.
You can read my thoughts about buying a mattress/topper combination that you can’t test in person in post #2 here. As you can see it’s not something I would generally suggest either in terms of risk or quality/value unless there were no better options available to you. If you do decide to go ahead with the additional uncertainty of buying a mattress and a topper separately then I would suggest buying the mattress first and then adding a topper that you think would work well for you after you’ve tried it and based on the information in post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to that can help you use your actual sleeping experience as a reference point and guideline for choosing the type, thickness, and firmness for a topper that would have the least possible risk and best chance of success.
I know this is a lot of information over a wide range of topics, but I hope it is helpful to you.
