First off… incredible, Houston-local thread for the mattress purchaser. My brief story: I moved to San Antonio to go to law school for three years and picked up a Serta Eurotop Firm from Sams. (when I first tried to return it, I thought Costco, which has an amazing, just drop it off return policy). I am still working on getting the paperwork together to return the mattress to Sam’s. The mattress had a noticeable sag in the middle. If I were sleeping there with another, we’d wind up in a cute or not-so-cute sluice in the middle of the mattress. I picked up a quilt topper off Woot and that seemed to fix the problem, but I still want to step it up from Reebok cross trainers to a nice jogging shoe, so to speak. I know that VALUE is very important in the mattress world, but there is also a lot of “you get what you pay for.” That being said, I think I could find something very good in the $1,000-1,3000 range. Speaking to a buddy at work he told me he and his fiancee just lucked into a Temperpedic for free from a relative. He said he loves it, but it sleeps a little too hot. (still trying to figure out what that means: I sleep with fans pumped on me all night, so I guess that’s an indication that I’m a hot sleeper).
I moved from San Antonio to Houston on a Sunday to start work that next Monday. This was at the beginning of November. I have been sleeping on my old bed in Houston at my parents house and just was able to move into my apartment. The buddy told me about Texas Mattress Makers, and I did a google search. This Assistance Requested in Houston came up. So me and a friend went to check out first Houston Mattress Factory, then we went to Texas Mattress Makers, were my trusted co-worker told me he had a friend who had an excellent experience.
- Houston Mattress Factory:
At that point, I’d only skimmed this extensive, and amazingly helpful website, I was out of my element. And yeah, when you go in, there are just a bunch of mattresses all piled up. I tried out a few, and she told me all about them. The woman who showed me around was extremely knowledgable, but I had no idea what I wanted or what she was talking about and I couldn’t give her any feedback. I felt as if I were a NASCAR driver that just ran a few laps and the crew chief asked what needed tweaking. I’m thinking, “well the car ran. And it ran fast. Where’s the next one?” I couldn’t explain what I was looking for or why one mattress was better or what material was good, I just basically wanted to get the best bang for my buck. Hey, the same materials used in a mattress for half the price and twice the attention to detail, I’ll take that one! But she was very thorough and I left my first mattress store ready to try the second.
- Texas Mattress Makers
Now that I’d laid on a few mattresses, we headed over to the place my buddy at work recommended his friend had a very good experience with (that goes a long way with me). At this point, I’m wondering why these stores don’t just have one mattress so you can walk out knowing you got the best one! The showroom was very clean and enticing. I was helped out by Lax, who was also very knowledgable, patient and courteous. First I told him what I know about mattresses. Then half a minute later, he had me going all throughout the room trying out different mattresses. I assume this was so I could develop a palate to refine my tastes. I checked out the (1) Spring mattress first. This was just your average guest bedroom mattress. Good enough to get the night done, about as comfortable as soft carpet. After a few more mattresses and a little more conversation about sleeping and mattresses, he suggested that I would prefer a softer mattress. I then tried out the London Eurotop Deluxe. I stopped for a few moments on it to figure things out. And really liked it. It was soft. He was explaining about the microcoils and the thin layer of cooling gel in the topper and I was listening. He actually said he had this model in his house for two years and his kids and everyone love it. Sounds good.
I’m thinking, where’s the foam? The good stuff I was supposed to get cheaper for a higher quality? So I checked out a couple foam mattresses and my body didn’t sink in. It contoured. It wasn’t all that soft at all. I don’t know what I was expecting. After reading this forum, I realize now that I didn’t lay on it long enough to give it a shot to warm up and work its “magic” (a word nobody would ever use with unsexy coils). He showed me a sidecut (along with the actual materials to squeeze), one that emulates the best “S” brand foam, and one with his foam. Showing (with pride I might add), why his was superior. It did seem the materials and craftsmanship were on par with the very best and the thought that went into it was undoubtedly extensive. Feeling the different densities of foam gave a template for my later online research. So then he showed me a final model Rome that had many-many wound coils throughout the entire inside the mattress. I found this one too firm. He said it is always better to buy a mattress that is too firm and then soften it up with a topper than to go the other way around. He likened this mattress to having lots of little fingers holding you up, responding to you as you move. I said, “the same theory as a bed of nails.” We both laughed.
So after all that, I still went back to the London to give it one more shot. I just liked it. I don’t want to just like it in the store because it’s like sleeping on a pillow, I want to like it in real life. What am I missing about the gel memory foam? From what I have read on the site the microcoil/thin layer of gel will take the place of anything deep in the mattress supporting that layer. Is this mattress a good value at $1,235 for the set? Should I buy a mattress based on what I’m certain I will grow accustomed to and not what feels the best for the 10 mins in the store? Finally, are the box springs that are used to support the comfort layers of the mattress going to hold up for 5-10 years? I know they won’t hold up like a full foam mattress, but what life should I expect? Is this VALUE?
Thanks again so much for the tips and steering me away from a mattress outlet with a sales pitch. I told my mattress story to a guy I sit next to at work and he said a guy once told him “never be afraid to spend a bit on anything that facilitates your body touching the ground: shoes, mattresses, chairs, tires…”
– Would really appreciate your opinion on the mattress and any other opinions you may have in general.
–Puttslayer