This morning I got up early, did some mattress research, found and read this site and some others, and headed out to obey the directives. We went to three local mattress stores, including one listed in a post by Phoenix. All had a few locally made mattresses and a bunch of big name mattresses.
The wife’s back was once broken, and memory foam rather than latex is really where it’s at for her. After trying the three stores, two of whom were in general amazement of Phoenix here, we found that a mid-firmness Serta iComfort was our first pick at two of the stores. With number three being a Tempurpedic, apparently with some new features. Some of the locally made mattresses came fourth through sixth before it got to another big name. The Tempurpedic was a shock; I didn’t expect her to like it based on reviews I’ve seen.
In fairness, we ran into about six models of iComfort and only one model (at least the technical and layer description was the same - the name was different) hit the top six, but it was #1. And my wife tried about six Tempurpedics but only liked one really. I think the local memory foam mattresses only numbered about six between all three stores.
The biggest shock was how different they feel. I figured all that stuff about the different layers was crap, but something makes a huge difference for the perception of support. Two 2" 5# on 3" 4# (e.g.) mattresses do not necessarily feel remotely the same. (Though the latext mattresses did mostly feel the same - we hated all of them. B) )
Anyhow, so we obeyed the going local. We obeyed the shop several stores. And it left us confused because obeying the “Avoid buying a mattress made by any of the major national brands such as Sealy, Simmons, Serta, Tempurpedic.” is a challenge when our semi-blind trials lead to them.
How do we find equivalents made locally, rather than just local memory foam mattresses? We’re in Bellevue, WA; the two stores that have chatted with you are 6 Day Mattresses (was 4 Day) and The Sleep Store.
We really dislike the pillow tops some mattresses, including most latex ones, come with.
In looking at member sites, Rocky Mountain Mattress seems to put UltraCell poly-foam pillows on most of their mattresses.
We did run into some sleeze when shopping for mattresses. Some stores sell slightly used mattresses. Eeeew!
Price isn’t really an issue to us, but I was surprised that it would be cheaper to get a Brookyn Bedding mattress (another member) delivered than a local mattress… because Brooklyn has free shipping while many stores charge a delivery fee. (4/6 Day Mattress Store has free delivery over $699, which we surely will be… if we go with the i-Comfort.)
I’m really not getting how, once we see how different the mattresses are, we could buy via mail. For example, the BB Aloe Adelle looks, from what we’ve tried, probably perfect. Firm enough but giving enough, cool enough, fixable (via exchangable layers) if we get it wrong. But it’s a big unknown for several weeks after ordering, and then an ordeal if you don’t like it to do the repackage and exchange.
This is a quilting layer which is part of the cover of a mattress and is different from a pillowtop which is a method of attaching the top layers of a mattress to the “body” of the mattress below it where the attachment is recessed and the edges of the pillowtop are free from the body of the mattress. You can read more about the reasons that manufacturers choose to use quilting in their covers in post #2 here and more about pillowtops in post #4 here. In both cases … the type and quality of the foam or other materials used are important. About half of the mattresses in their main memory foam lineup don’t use any quilting foam at all and Rocky Mountain Mattress also has a line of component memory foam mattresses here which also have no quilting at all and have layers which can be re-arranged and exchanged. 3 of their mattresses are a pillowtop (and these are more of a box top or eurotop than a pillowtop).
I agree with your sentiments and unfortunately its far more common that it should be. Many stores that sell “overstock” or “scratch and dent” mattresses are just selling floor models, comfort exchanges, or mattresses that have been slept on.
This would really be a matter of how each person feels about the extra risk of an online purchase vs a local purchase that they can test in person and of course on the quality and value of the local mattresses they are comparing. I normally suggest a 20% “local premium” as being roughly equivalent “value” when you are making comparisons between local and online choices to make up for the added risk but of course each person may have a different risk tolerance or use a different percentage based on how they feel about an online purchase.
The two ways to make these kind of decisions would be to test local mattresses that are similar in design and materials which can give you an approximation (if there are any available locally that are similar) or through more extended conversations with an online manufacturer who in some cases may know of mattresses that are roughly equivalent to the mattresses they make and sell or can provide you with some input about which mattresses that others that are similar to you in terms of body type and sleeping positions will tend to do well with “on average” which can be helpful as well. As you mentioned … it also helps reduce the risk if a mattress you choose from an online manufacturer or retailer has good options available after a purchase if you make the wrong comfort choice because comfort is subjective and relative to each person and not everyone will fit into the “averages” that most online manufacturers use in their guidance.