Hi, Phoenix,
Your site is such a gift! I spent hours on it last night and came right back to it this morning. Thanks for helping me figure out how to wade through this mysterious world of mattresses!
My husband and I need to replace and downsize our 10 year old Original Mattress Factory Orthopedic Pillow Top King mattress and foundation (purchased when we lived in Cleveland, OH), because we now live MetroWest Boston where the rooms are small (and the cost of living is high!) and our king-sized bed completely fills our bedroom!
We are happy with the mattress we have had from OMF. The pillow top has indentions as we expected would happen over time, but the core part of the mattress is still like new in terms of firmness (we’re both mostly stomach sleepers who occasionally sleep on our sides and we’re both big people, ~250 lbs. each). We frequently flipped it and turned it over the years. We don’t wake up in pain, and we really don’t have any complaints about the mattress. We think that a decade is a good amount of time for having a mattress, especially given our weight and the cost which was ~$800 for mattress/box spring. After reading this site, though, we’re wondering if our expectations for a mattress have been too low (although we believe that the mattress, for what we knew and were looking for at the time, is an incredibly good value and quality for us!). Here are our questions:
Is it worth it to start investigating other mattresses at this point given that we have been satisfied with what we have had? I’m trying to figure out the pros and cons for starting a full search over just calling up OMF and having them ship us the same mattress in a queen size. Our budget is about ~$1000 for just a mattress (we need to buy a bed and will likely get a platform bed with slats that doesn’t need a foundation). My husband is partial to an innerspring mattress since it’s caused no problems, and I am more open to looking at latex mattresses before we make a decision.
I’ve read enough already about latex possibly being a “better” option for larger/heavier people than innerspring mattresses, and I’m assuming that that refers to the core components of the mattress not the comfort components on top. Please correct me if I’m wrong. We’re wondering where our tipping point should be for considering latex. I wonder if you have any thoughts on this?
We are a little over an hour away from Worley’s and/or Mattress Maker (assuming no traffic!), and we are open to heading down there on Monday. I’m wondering if it’s worth it, however, if we choose to stick with an innerspring. Assuming same materials, wouldn’t the OMF innerspring be like any other innerspring? What would be the benefit to make the trip to these local stores?
Our overall question is do we have a “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” attitude or “the grass is always greener” attitude, and when do we know which one will serve us well in the long run?! We aren’t passionate about our OMF mattress, but we don’t hate it at all. Are we missing something because we’re just neutral about it?! Should we be looking for absolute LOVE in our next mattress? It’s a philosophical question that we’ve bantered about all morning! Lol!! Any thoughts you have on all of this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, again, for your time and for creating this site. -J
You are in a fortunate position because you already have an option that you know works well for you and is a good match in terms of PPP. If you are sleeping “symptom free” and have no discomfort on your mattress and your needs and preferences haven’t changed over the last 10 years then choosing the same mattress again would be a very good option.
I agree with you that OMF has some very good quality/value choices. I would keep in mind that the two main functions of a mattress are support/alignment and pressure relief/comfort in all your sleeping positions and that after that everything else is relative to your circumstances and a matter of preference (temperature regulation, motion isolation, overall “feel”, and of course budget etc). Outside of the suitability of your choice in terms of PPP … the quality of the materials (which you can’t feel) determines how long the mattress will maintain its comfort and support. The expectations I would have when you are looking for a new mattress is that it’s a good match in terms of PPP (regardless of the budget range of the mattress) and the use of good quality materials that are suitable for your budget range so you have a reasonable expectation that the mattress won’t soften or break down prematurely.
I would still tend to do some local testing though just to see if your experience identifies a mattress that you would clearly prefer that is somehow “better” for you and the criteria that are important to you. Your testing may identify some features that remind you of some of the things you would have liked to improve in your current mattress that have come up over the years … assuming there are any.
I would do some local testing yes if for no other reason than to have a reference point for what is available to you inside your budget range but with the idea that it would have to be noticeably better in some way than what you have. I would also let them know what you currently have so they can use it as a reference point for mattresses that may be comparable.
It’s actually the other way around. The weak link of most mattresses is usually the comfort layers on top of the springs and the springs in a mattress will generally last much longer than the padding on top of them. A mattress will soften, compress, or break down from the top down and the comfort layers are the most important part of the durability of a mattress. In addition to having properties and a “feel” that many people like … latex is a very durable material and will maintain it’s properties for longer than other types of foam (polyfoam or memory foam) and for someone who likes the way it feels (which is a personal preference) it can be a very good option. A latex support core is also a very durable choice but so are most innersprings that have good quality comfort layers on top of them so the choice between an innerspring or latex support core (or the type of innerspring or latex) would also be a preference issue based on how it feels and performs.
Outside of the way it feels and performs … latex can be a good choice for heavier people because it doesn’t break down or soften as easily or quickly as other types of foam although high quality polyfoam can also be a durable material … particularly if it’s two sided (as you’ve discovered in your own experience). Again … the goal is always good PPP and the use of good quality durable materials and components that you prefer (especially in the upper layers) that are suitable for your budget range so you have some reasonable assurance that the mattress will maintain the feel and performance that made it a good choice for you in the first place.
Personally I would if for no other reason than curiosity but this would be entirely up to you. I would probably call them first and talk to them about your current mattress so they have an idea of which mattresses to show you when you get there. Even if the materials are the same (in terms of type or quality) … the design of the mattress (the firmness or thickness of each layer or the specific combination of materials or type of innerspring) can be very different and there is a huge range of innerspring/polyfoam mattresses that can be very different from each other.
I think that the “WOW” factor in a mattress is overrated and is mostly about more subjective perceptions and marketing in the showroom. It can be very misleading when you are face to face with the reality of sleeping on a mattress every night instead of your waking perceptions. The goal of a mattress is that it “disappears” underneath you and provides you with deep, restful, and “symptom free” sleep. Outside of when the mattress is new and is the subject of more heightened scrutiny and conversation as you are aware of and “feel” everything that you initially experience on it … a mattress that is easily forgotten and where all you know is that you sleep really well and wake up rested and refreshed is the “best” way to be “WOWED” by a mattress. I would rather love how well I sleep and how I feel in the morning than the mattress that I sleep on and the less there is to talk about (which is usually about symptoms or discomfort) the more likely it is that you are sleeping well
Thank you so much for your super quick reply, Phoenix! It was extremely helpful in giving us a framework for thinking about all this. We decided to go to two stores tomorrow that are open (Jordan’s and Boston Bed) just to follow your instructions in the tutorial for assessing options to get a feel for what we might like. We’ll head to Worley’s and Mattress Maker on Monday when they open. I’ll try to call them before going down there, as you suggested (something I never think to do!). Overall, I’m not going to make this into a bigger deal than it needs to be since we know we have a workable solution. I love what you said about the over-rated quality of the “WOW mattress”–we are pretty easy-going people who could as easily sleep on an airplane as a bed, which is probably why a lot of these comfort issues haven’t been things we’ve thought about before now. We’ll use your suggestions to either confirm our choice or come up with one or two more comparisons that work for us, but I’m not going to obsess about finding the “perfect” mattress. I’ll keep you posted! Many thanks! -J
I think this is a great idea … especially when you already have a good option that you know will work well for you. While the nature of this site is that it has a lot of information which can sometimes be overwhelming … I personally like the KISS principle. In most cases … both too much information (and paying attention to fine details that may not be so important) or too little information (and not making sure that a mattress uses good quality materials) can lead to some poor choices and it’s great to have a “low pressure” shopping experience where you already have a good reference point so a mattress would need to be noticeably better in some tangible way than what you already have available to be a serious “candidate”.
