This web site is a breath of fresh air in terms of presenting what seems like rational information. We are seeking a new mattress. Have tried, and really liked, the PranaSleep Pranayama, sold only at Jordan’s Furniture in New England. I’ve read the forum posts on this brand and the articles on finding retailers. We’re wondering if we should just purchase this one, or if we should be looking further. The Jordan’s salesperson we met was very friendly and informative, and they take the position of offering no sales, which I like, as long as that doesn’t mean I’m overpaying radically either. Their price for the mattress is about 30% less than the Pranayama web site price, for whatever that’s worth.
My question really is: Would you qualify Jordan’s Furniture as a quality retailer based on this site’s criteria, and also, are there other retailers you would identify as quality in or near NH? Happy to keep doing research if we should, but don’t want to waste time visiting retailers bent on pressuring and confusing us. Thank you.
As you’ve probably read, the newest version 5 of the Prana mattresses (unlike the previous versions) uses good quality materials and there are no potential weak links in the mattress in terms of the quality/durability of the materials but I would still make some very careful “value” comparisons because they are in a much higher budget range than many other mattresses that use similar amounts of the same type of latex (see post #19 here).
There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses. When you are looking at a mattress like this that is in a much higher budget range I would need a compelling reason to choose it compared to some of the similar options that are available to you in lower budget ranges that would justify the significantly higher cost.
Jordans is much more transparent about disclosing the type and quality of the materials inside the mattresses they carry than most retailers so from this perspective they would certainly be worth including in your research (I wouldn’t deal with retailers that can’t provide the information you need to make an informed choice) but again I would make some careful “value” comparisons between some of their mattresses and some of the other options that are available to you.
Post #2 here includes links to the forum lists in the New England area that include the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the area (again subject to the “value” guidelines I linked earlier).
Really helpful information, Phoenix. I read the posts you recommended. Price question: the price for the Pranayama we saw at Jordan’s is $2,000 including the foundation ($1,700 mattress alone). That seems well under many of the prices in the posts about PranaSleep relatively high cost (and thus lower value). I understand there is price variation by model, but in your experience would this price make the mattress compete well in terms of price/ value? Or perhaps I need to get a better sense of how the Pranayama is built and then hold its prices against more comparable models.
It’s always a good idea as much as possible to make “apples to apples” comparisons to other similar mattresses.
The Pranayama firm only has 1" of latex which isn’t really enough to call it even a latex hybrid mattress much less a latex mattress so it wouldn’t really be comparable to a latex mattress or a latex hybrid that had a thicker layer of latex in the comfort layer. The quilting layers use 1.5" of 1.5 lb polyfoam which are thin enough that I wouldn’t consider them to be a weak link in the mattress. The Everlast support core is a very high quality polyfoam that would have some “latex like” properties but it’s a less costly material than latex. The bottom 1" layer of firm polyfoam on the bottom is also lower density but this would be fine in a 1" layer on the bottom of a mattress and wouldn’t affect durability. Overall this would be a very costly mattress compared to other “mostly polyfoam” mattresses and even compared to many latex/polyfoam hybrids that use thicker layers of latex and I would make sure you make some very careful value comparisons with other similar mattresses.
The Pranayama plush uses a little thicker 2" layer of latex so the latex layer is a little more meaningful and this could legitimately be called a latex/polyfoam hybrid (although 2" is still not much latex) but it also uses 2.5" of lower quality polyfoam (1.45 - 1.5 lb) in the quilting layers which I would consider to be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability.
All the Pranasleep mattresses tend to be in a significantly higher budget range than other similar mattresses.