I will be getting married in the next few months and I am looking to find a good “bang-for-the-buck” kind of mattress. I’ve never purchased a mattress before so I have spent a lot of time reading the website, forum, etc, but I need some help. I live in the Shelby, NC, area.
I went to a local mattress store today and found a Southerland Omni for $699. It felt like it had good support for my back, etc, and both I and my fiancee felt good about it, but we don’t want to pay the top of our budget either.
Any recommendations about that particular line of mattresses? I tried to get the details about its make and material, but received little. The salesperson gave me as much as she could, which is the following:
1 in. 3.5 lb gel memory foam
672 foam encased pocketed coils
I know its from one of the big manufacturers, but in my small town it seems that is all I am going to find. I really don’t want to buy online because my fiancee has a weak back that needs good support (more firm mattress) and I don’t want to get a mattress that she can’t feel and try out, but I would consider it if there is one that is highly recommended and for a good price.
Besides that, any stores in my area that anyone could recommend? I’ve spent most of my day and much of yesterday evening researching how to buy a good mattress and, needless to say, I am ready to be done. I’ve been to my local Hendricks Mattress Center, Cummin’s Furniture, and Badcock Furniture stores. Hendricks had the Southerland.
My fiancee and I would prefer a pocketed coil style mattress for less than $600, but again, maybe I can’t find anything out there for that price. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hopefully you’ve read the mattress shopping tutorial here (which has a longer and a shorter version) which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Charlotte, NC area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.
I would also suspect that the specs and information you were given are incomplete. If you can find out all the information in this article from the retailer you are dealing with and post it on the forum I’d certainly be happy to make some comments about the quality and durability of the materials in the mattress but without more complete information it’s not possible to make any meaningful comments or help identify any potential “weak links” in the mattress.
There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.
Just in case you decide to consider online mattresses some of the better online options I’m aware of that are in lower budget ranges are listed in post #4 here and in posts #3 and #4 here.
There is also more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) in post #2 here that can help you assess and minimize the risks involved with each of them. With an online purchase from a company that has a good return policy (or even a good exchange policy) then you would have a trial period to decide whether the mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and there is much less risk involved in making a choice that isn’t suitable for you because you can just return or exchange it for little and in some cases no cost if it doesn’t work out as well as you hoped for.
Thanks for the assistance, Phoenix! It seemed that no matter how many web searches I tried I couldn’t come up with any local companies like this and as a result I thought for sure that there were none.
I’m probably going try Sleepeasy first and then Original Mattress in Gastonia.
I did find the Regency Sapphire mattress on Original Mattress’s website, which sounds closest to what we will be looking for. If you have any concerns regarding its construction, I’d like to know, but I like their website because they are very transparent about their materials. I like the price, too.
I’ll update this next week with details on anything I find. Thanks for the help!
Just for reference … the most effective google searches I have found that generally turn up the most options in any particular area is a google search on “mattresses near City, State abbreviation”. I usually click on the map that turns up for most cities and then go through the pages of options one by one to either check their websites or call them to find out what they have available if they don’t have a website or if their website seems out of date. For some reason this search term usually brings up more options than other similar searches such as “mattress near City, Stage abbreviation” or mattress(es), City, State abbreviation" or “Mattress store(s) near City, State abbreviation” … I have no idea why that is. Sometimes the regular “non map” google search results include some options that for some reason aren’t included on the map so I usually go through them as well.
You can see the specs of the Regency Sapphire (two sided) and my comments about it in posts #3 and #4 here.
I’m looking forward to your comments after you’ve had a chance to look at or test some of your local options.
Could you give me any advice on the following info? I called Sleepeasy Mattress and was able to get a limited amount of information on some mattresses in my price range.
The salesperson said that they use a 2036 grade foam, as opposed to the industry standard of 15 something. I don’t know what that translates into as far as lb/cu foot.
For their boxes and for the mattress innersprings they use leggett and Platt verticoil or symetrics innersprings. Have you heard if they are a solid company and would you be able to recommend their hardware?
The first two numbers are the density of the polyfoam and the second two numbers are the IFD (firmness) of the foam. The “industry standard” is 1.5 lb density (and many manufacturers use lower quality/density than this in some of the foam layers in their mattresses). 2036 means that they are using a 2.0 lb polyfoam which is a good quality and durable material that as he mentioned is higher than the industry standard (which IMO is too low outside of two sided mattresses or lower budget mattresses). The firmness would be 36 IFD which would be a firm foam.
The IFD (firmness) information isn’t important because your own personal testing will tell you whether a mattress is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). The foam quality/density guidelines I would suggest are in post #4 here.
Leggett & Platt is a huge company (bigger than any of the mattress manufacturers) and supplies most of the innersprings that are used in the industry to most of the mattress manufacturers. Of course they also have a huge variety of different innersprings that they supply some of which are more costly and some less costly and each one has different properties but the innerspring in a mattress isn’t generally the weakest link in a mattress anyway because the materials above the spring is where durability is most important because these will generally be the weakest link of a mattress and the first to soften, break down, or sag. There is more about the different types of innersprings in this article and in post #10 here and you can see some general information about the different types and categories of innersprings that are made by Leggett & Platt here.
Newlywed? Definitely the traditional innerspring - period. Original Mattress Factory has great mattresses, double sided, fairly priced. Over the years we have bought several of theirs and they last. Only reason I researched mattresses elsewhere is I want an adjustable bed to watch tv and they do not have a good selection of adjustable base friendly mattresses in my opinion.
I had opportunity to try the Original Mattress Factory’s mattresses and was somewhat disappointed. Yes, I’m sure they are more durable, etc, but the motion isolation was disappointing, to say the least. My fiancee and I felt like we was on a giant spring where the slightest motion was felt over the whole bed. Any movement by either of us was transferred to the other person. I won’t be going with their products, unfortunately.
I would like a pocketed coil innerspring mattress, but I don’t know that I’ll find any for my target budget. I called Sleepeasy Mattress but their pocketed coil mattresses all run ~$800 or more. They were very helpful and I’d like to get one of theirs if I could afford it, but I’m not willing to spend that much right now.
At this point it looks like I may have to go with the Southerland Omni for now and a few years down the road when the finances have settled out I can get something nicer. It’s not my first choice, but its no use getting a durable mattress that neither of us like.
If you have any other suggestions, I’m up for it, but for now I’m shopping for the cheapest price I can find on the Omni.
This is one of the characteristics of the type of innersprings they use that use helical coils to link the springs together. Mattresses that use pocket coils will transfer less motion but as you mentioned they are typically in higher budget ranges.
I would make sure that you find out the quality/density of the “missing” layers in the Omni so that you have a reasonable expectation that it will last you as long as you are hoping it will. It’s not good “value” to buy a durable mattress that you don’t sleep well on but it’s also not good value to buy a mattress that you sleep well on at first but that softens or breaks down too quickly relative to the price you paid. I would tend to make sure that any mattress you purchase is both suitable and “durable enough”.