Simplified Choice Mattresses aka Disruptors, Bed In A Box, One Choice Fits All, Universal Comfort, Millennial Mattresses

[phoenix]

Hi sunyata,

I’ve noticed while reading real reviews online that a lot of people complain about simplified choice mattresses being too firm.

Reading reviews is the least reliable way to evaluate a mattress, its materials, durability or appropriateness for one person as compared to another (see post #13 here). A mattress than one person or group of people feel is “too firm” would have no meaningful correlation to what might feel good to other individuals, as there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a mattress for someone else to make specific suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance that can possible be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which is always the most reliable way to predict which mattress will be the best match for you in terms of PPP (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here), and I could point to just as many people who complain that everything they try online is “too soft”.

I’m still on a Tuft and Needle from 2013 and I can’t believe how terrible it is.

While I’m sorry you don’t enjoy the comfort of your older Tuft & Needle mattress, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a “terrible” bed (which would be more of a reflection on the quality of material) – just one that unfortunately apparently doesn’t meet your personal comfort preference. Being an all polyfoam mattress I wouldn’t expect it to feel as soft as the memory foam mattresses that you prefer.

It’s obvious the online model uses as much marketing and confusion as the mattress stores.

There are transparent online-only mattress companies, just as there are transparent brick and mortar retailers, but I am in agreement that there are still too many who don’t do a good enough job of providing more objective and complete information to consumers. And that of course has been one of the goals of this site – to bring to the attention of consumers what to look for in a mattress and help build awareness for some of the manufacturers who are “doing it right”.

I do wonder about the different ways in which logistics and organizational structure might affect the product that they are capable of producing. Do you think there is something about the online-only model which limits these companies to selling somewhat to very firm mattresses? Is it harder to make a high-quality soft mattress?

No, there are plenty of plush mattresses sold online, both compressed and boxed. Many “simplified choice” mattresses are even offered by manufacturers in multiple choice configurations from firm to plush.

Sadly, the most comfortable in-store mattresses I tried, in my opinion, were the Tempurs and Beautyrest memory foam mattresses in the 4k range. Low in “value” as they are, my guess is there is nothing like them online… much less compressed into a box.

There are plenty of “plush” memory foam options available online and many that people consider “too plush” (you don’t have to read too far back into the forum to find people with that opinon :cheer: ). But whether or not you’d consider these plush enough for your taste can only be determined through you own personal testing. New boxed-bed mattresses are being announced every week in the industry, and there are some good memory foam options listed in post #21 here and post #12 here.

Phoenix