Wow, this site is so comprehensive, I am overwhelmed with information! Some of my questions have probably been answered elsewhere, but I figured I’d ask rather than try to tease out the answers from the sea of information. My husband and I are currently sleeping on a futon with a memory foam topper. I often wake up with stiff joints and experience hip and knee pain, and my husband has some back issues. I think my hips “bottom out” the topper and rest on the very hard futon. I find the memory foam hot, and my husband thinks it’s too “dead”. Since we’re nearly 50, it’s probably time to ditch the futon and get a real mattress. The problem-we live in a small town in Vermont, so not a lot of shopping options. A new Sleepy’s opened in Middlebury about 10 miles away but I didn’t like the “used car salesman” vibe I got in there. We are about 30 miles from Burlington, so that’s probably our best bet. I love the idea of bucking the corporate brand-name trend (Occupy your bed!) and supporting smaller manufacturers and independent retailers. Here are the questions:
Can you recommend some stores in the Burlington VT area which are worth visiting? Do any of them carry mattresses made by Mattress Underground approved manufacturers?
At least initially, I like the sound of latex - but am I likely to find a decent latex queen mattress for under $1000 (our budget)? If not, can you recommend the best combination of materials that might fall into our price range?
If we fail to find what we want in a store, we are not adverse to ordering on line (in fact, we do most of our major shopping on line). Can you recommend which of the Mattress Underground member companies might offer products in our price range?
Thank you for any advice you can give me, and for providing this very thorough website.
I sent you a PM about using your email as a username (which I can change if you like)
You are the second one who has posted on the forum today from Burlington (see this thread).
I would guess that the reason for your pressure is just what you are suggesting. The futon has probably compressed and become firmer while the memory foam has likely softened and you are “going through” it more and feeling more of the firmness underneath it. As you also mention … memory foam is also the warmest of the 3 main types of foam (polyfoam, memory foam, latex) although there are cooler and warmer versions that can make a difference. It’s also not uncommon that a mattress that is too firm can cause alignment issues (as well as pressure issues) and this could be contributing to your husbands back issues.
While there aren’t any local factory direct manufacturers there … much less any of our recommended members … there are a few choices (out of about 35 I looked at in the area) that have better odds of finding quality and value or that could act as a testing ground if you are comfortable with an online purchase. They are listed in post #4 here.
You could probably just “squeek” in with a 6" latex mattress with this budget but that wouldn’t leave room for a design that had separate comfort and support layers and would normally be a choice for fairly light people who needed less than “average” thickness or who preferred a firmer mattress.
The comfort layer is the most important part of the mattress in terms of durability and for most people (but not all) would be the bigger part of the overall feel of the mattress so a latex comfort layer over a high density polyfoam support core would be a good choice as a “lower budget” latex alternative. These should be available in your price range.
If they aren’t available locally … then the members here that specialize in online sales (many of them carry latex) are listed in post #21 here. There are many good options but one mattress of that type (latex/polyfoam here) has been particularly popular because of it’s quality and value and because the top layer can be customized for firmness. Part of the reason for it’s value though is because there are no refunds so there is some “risk” involved as well (but they are good at helping their customers make good comfort layer firmness choices). A search on “Ultimate Dreams” (you can click this) will bring up lots of feedback about them.
There are also a couple of “all latex” options on the list (latex support core and comfort layer) that are also excellent value and only a few hundred over your budget if you feel that is worthwhile considering.
So I would start locally both to test the “feel” of latex in various combinations and to get a sense of what is available locally and then look at the online manufacturers as a source of better quality/value unless you come across a local option that is comparable or only slightly more (I usually use about 20% as a guideline but this is up to each person’s “value equation”) and the lower “risk” of testing the mattress in person makes up for any difference in price.
vfox – I’m also near Burlington and have found the following –
–not many dealers carry much of anything latex around here.
Wendell’s (both near Costco and on Williston Road) carry Nature’s Rest latex mattresses. At the Williston Road location, after trying one out on the salesroom floor (the most expensive model, and probably the most expensive mattress in their store) a salesman would not tell me the exact details (ILD numbers, layer thickness etc.) but that contrary to what the manufacturer website stated, there wasn’t much latex in it at all and it was mostly poly other than the top layer. With the one salesman we interacted with, it was not the best experience. I phoned the other location and they carry the same three models.
VTmattressdepot near Williston Road - they carry Pure Latex Bliss – not sure of what they have on the floor, but I hope to go there today and find out. They also mentioned on the phone they carry a number of PLB toppers as well.
Hope this helps!
Thanks jaicovt…very helpful to know which store gave you the best experience. That will save us a lot of time. Please do post and let us know how Vt Mattress Depot was.
VT Mattress Depot does not have PLB mattresses on the floor as they told me on the phone, grrrrr. However, they do have the toppers , as well as a large selection of memory foam beds which are nice to get a good feeling of core firmness vs. comfort level firmness. They also carry Dr. Breus’ bed line in whatever % of latex they are, which is nice to get a feeling of construction and comfort level firmness. They were all very pleasant and not pushy at all – if they stock something we’re interested in, I would not hesitate to purchase from them.
That would frustrate the heck out of me as well. I don’t understand why anyone would say they had a particular mattress on the floor only to discover that they didn’t. It makes no sense to me.
I would also be very careful about the Dr Breus mattresses. When they were made by IBC before they went bankrupt and the Dr Breus name was taken over by Comfort Solutions … they were heavily promoted as being a “latex mattress” by salespeople who didn’t know any better and couldn’t or wouldn’t provide the layering details while in fact the latex in the mattress was only in a range from a thin layer (I believe about 18% on the law tag if I remember right) to 50%. this was also by weight and by thickness it would be even less because latex is heavier than polyfoam. Always check the law tags and insist on knowing the layers you are sleeping on if what is being “promoted” doesn’t agree with the materials that are listed for the mattress.
I checked with Wendell’s and confirmed that they don’t carry any of the Gold Bond latex mattresses but they do provide a cutaway of their Nature’s rest latex/poly hybrid mattresses. They come in three firmness levels and he said he would check and let me know the thickness of the layers in each model.
I talked with Burlington Bedrooms and they also told me that they carried King Koil “latex” mattresses with various combinations of latex and polyfoam (the highest one was 86% latex) and he also said he would call me back with details.
I also talked with Vermont mattreses Depot and they do have the PLB Pamper in their warehous outlet next door that can be customized with either a 2" or 3" topper. they also carry some Naturra mattresses which are high quality but also pricey latex mattresses. They don’t have the specs or layering of the Dr Breus because the manufacturer (Comfort Solutions) doesn’t supply them. They were by far the most knowledgeable and open of the three outlets I mentioned.
If any of these call me back with more information I will add it here :).
Wow, I can’t believe the time you take and your thoroughness, Phoenix. This country would be in better shape if every industry had a watchdog like you! Thank you again.
I talked with Wendell’s and they confirmed that the Nature’s Rest models all have a 2.5" quilting layer over the talalay latex (which is thicker than I normally like to see) and the three models all have a layer of latex which is what they call “body curve” (you can see here it has different thicknesses in different areas which varies from about 1" to 1.75"). The lowest model has just this latex layer and the quilting and the middle one adds another 1" of talalay latex and the top end adds 3" of talalay latex over the body curve. They all have 7" of polyfoam (what they and many others call “plant based foam”) but they didn’t know the density of the base layer (hopefully it’s 1.8 lb or higher).
It’s great to see a retail outlet that actually does call back with this type of information (they often don’t).
I actually do not know about any store in Burlington VT area for mattress. The best part is You can order online, I can suggest you a place for the mattress with minimum cost and maximum quality. “OVERSTOCK”. I think you knew it before. isn’t it?. This time they have almost 40+ deals for latex Mattress price range varying from $500 to $2000. This is a best match of your desire. Just make it happen…
While overstock can sometimes be a good source for mattresses … they also sell some very poor quality/value mattresses and many of the listings there are very misleading or even wrong in their descriptions. It would take a great deal of research knowledge in many cases to order a high quality/value mattress from overstock and of course their level of knowledge about mattresses and their ability and experience to provide good guidance and help with making the most suitable choice is very limited. A local choice from an outlet that offers good value and also has the knowledge and experience to help people “in person” to make better choices is always less “risky” and potentially more “accurate” than an online purchase … especially if the online outlet has little knowledge about “fitting” a mattress to a customer.
In most cases … a consumer would be far better off and making a much less risky online choice for something as important as what they sleep on by working with a manufacturer or outlet that offers better quality and value than overstock and has much more experience in helping people make their best possible choice. some examples of these types of outlets are in post #21 here. A mattress is only as good as the materials that are in it and the suitability of the components and layering for the needs and preferences of the person sleeping on it and on both counts … either good descriptions or the help and experience that can make a difference in the best selection … overstock often falls short.
In addition to this … the cost of returns for making a bad choice on overstock can add to the risk.
Phoenix
PS: You are trolling on the forum and on the verge of being considered a spammer. I have deleted your other posts and if you link to overstock again outside of the specific context of a thread you will be banned.
Put mattress shopping on hold for a few months, but back now. We went to Vermont Mattress Depot (just off Williston Rd) today and had a very good experience. They were knowledgeable, open, and not at all pushy. They are an independent, locally owned shop. We decided we definitely want latex comfort layers (have some questions, will put in another thread). Vt Mattress Depot used to carry Pure Latex Bliss but discontinued because they were too pricey and not selling well. They now carry Natura instead. Unfortunately, the mattresses we liked best (Natura Cloud and Blue Tek Polar) were beyond our price range, but instead of trying to push us to spend more than we were comfortable with, or trying any kind of wheeling and dealing, the salesman was eager to work with us to find a compromise we could afford. We may end up buying on line simply because of the price issue and to have a greater selection of brands, but this is a shop I would feel comfortable doing business with.
We also dropped into Wendell’s (which is just around the corner) but they had fewer things to look at and the salesman was clearly reciting memorized lines, not showing real knowledge.
