Simmons Black (Kameryn) - a good choice?

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
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After our six-month saga of trying to get our Flobed right, we’re about ready to call it a day and (gasp) buy a “traditional” mattress.

As there are very few / no decent independent manufacturers near us here in Detroit (best options are about 4-5 hours away), we’ve had to look at the S-brands. As people who at this point know WAY more about mattress construction than we ever wanted to, we’ve limited our search to S&F and Simmons.

We did lay on a Simmons Black “Kameryn” which while described on the Macy’s site as “firm” may actually be a “plush firm”. It uses memory foam, gel-infused memory foam and the good Simmons pocketed coil system that’s only available on Black models - where every other row of coils uses a “braided” three-wire coil for extra support.

I LOVE the feel of the bed in the store (especially after laying on all latex), as my back gets the support it has so desperately been craving. Wife can ‘tolerate’ it (she’s a side sleeper and the bed was a bit too firm for her to lay on her [bony] hip, where she gets pressure points).

That said, I thought the foam samples they had of the “gel infused memory foam” and regular memory foam felt REALLY light and low-density. (I left my Acme 5000 foam density measuring device at home accidentally so have no idea what density foam they are using - and NO-ONE [and I mean NO-ONE] seems to know or be able to tell me what the density of the foam really is). So, I have a ton of concerns that I’d fork over $2,400 and pennies (which is a decent price for the Black, far as I can tell) and wind up with craters a few months or even first two years in.

I did my usual due diligence via google, and found a few people who love the Black models, and a few that give the usual “never will buy this again in a million years” types of reports. That said, this IS the “new and improved 2012 model” and has only been out a few months - but the few reviews I’ve seen on it have been positive.

So, is there ANYTHING that I can invest a couple thousand bucks in to get a good nights sleep in, without worrying it will go to crap in a year or two?

The mattress industry is, IMHO, one of the biggest rip offs and in such a complete state of disaster at this point that I can’t believe these companies are still able to be in business.

Thx…

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Hi bbb_63,

I can certainly sympathize with your circumstances however I would completely avoid all major brands even with a “traditional mattress”. This is particularly true with some of the higher priced models such as the Beautyrest Black.

Unfortunately, they use some good quality materials but also some much lower cost and quality materials (lower density memory foam) or polyfoam with an unknown density (and durability) which IMO can’t be justified in an upper end mattress at this price. If you look at an example here (and they have a few specs of other models as well) you will see many memory foam and polyfoam layers that have no density information. While these mattresses may provide good pressure relief and alignment in the short term, these types of foam are less durable and are also much less expensive materials that belong in mattress at much lower price ranges.

Did you have a chance to look at the “Detroit” link I included in your other thread (post #6 here)? There are quite a few other (and much better) options there that are much closer to you than 4 or 5 hours away including some latex/pocket coil hybrids that you were mentioning may be worth testing.

As I mentioned before … the coils in these mattresses are only one part of the picture and the foam that is used over the coils is a much more important part of durability and quality. Most people pay far too much attention to the 'coil specs" and not nearly enough to the specs that are in the other layers of the mattress.

That’s because in many if not most cases they are very light and the manufacturers will do everything they can to make sure that people don’t know the real quality of the materials they use. Knowing the density of the foams would expose the “real value” and durability of these types of mattresses and make meaningful value comparisons possile which is the last thing they want. These types of mattresses are only purchased on the basis of marketing stories … not the type of meaningful information that makes value and quality comparisons possible.

I agree with your assessment of most of the industry but fortunately the exceptions that really do make and sell higher quality/value mattresses more than make up for the majority. The “trick” is to find them. The link I included in the other post I referred to should help :slight_smile:

Phoenix