Hello. My name is Ryan. I’ve always done quite extensive research before purchasing and I’m amazed at the depth of the information all in one place here. I find it a bit much to commit to understanding, but I believe I’ve read enough to start.
I live in Rochester, NY and there are only 3 mattress chains locally and all 3 of them only sell Serta from what I saw. We also have a Raymour and Flanigan. I’ve been to all 4 places and I’m sure you know how fast I wanted to walk out of the stores.
In case you’re interested, the first one I visited had a man who walked over (in a suit and tie) and gave me an analogy of how it’s better to have secretive proprietary parts “like when you buy computers from Dell”. Buddy, it wasn’t that hard to put my AMD FX 8350 processor with compatible stuff and 16GB of 1866mhz RAM…Psshhh… Dell. I felt bad that I cut him off, but I can’t stand there listening to paragraphs of jargon to confuse me into submission. “Sir, I’ll just go to your competitors which are both across the street and in view.”
Pardon the rant. Anyways, I consider myself to be physically fit and I’m trying to progress my fitness further. I’ve been sleeping on a moderately higher end futon and am mostly a side sleeper and facedown sleeper. I’ve tried to sleep on my back when I first get in bed, but the arch in my back hovers above the mattress and obviously can’t stay that way.
I have a very firm memory foam (or something) pillow which I got as a gift once, but my head doesn’t sink into it, so it’s mostly useless.
I bought a curved memory (or something) foam piece from a thrift store I volunteer at for a few bucks. It’s concave on both sides like a capital letter “I”. This is somewhat comfortable if I could sleep on my back, but as I said, my back’s arch hovers above the mattress.
So I’ve been using a coat as a pillow. It’s an army green coat which is the kind which keeps you cool in the summer but still warm in the winter. It makes a nice adjustable firm support, but the zipper is pretty hefty.
Does anyone know of a good place to test out mattresses near Rochester?
Are there any suggestions for pillows? I also want to buy some blankets which are heavy/dense but keep me cool like that coat I mentioned; quilts could be an option.
I hope I gave enough info and that I’ve read enough about latex and layers.
In case you are wondering about my budget, I’ve learned over the years to not go out of my way to find low-end items, but make your budget, find what is the best of that category, research more and branch out to similar item types, refine, stretch your budget, find coupons or refurbs but not lowering your standard. I don’t want to make a mistake this time, so I’m going to go slow. I can go upwards of $1000, but I don’t want to go over $2000, because for that money, I’d rather buy other things than have that extra margin of quality without diversity.
I probably want to buy something over $800, but I’d prefer to not be overly frivolous and not go over $1600.
I don’t know if I should get a frame.
I might have written too much, but I wanted to explain. I appreciate any help and thank you in advance.
-Ryan
You’ve probably already read this but just in case … the first place I to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that will help you how to choose the mattress that is the best match for you in terms of quality/value and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Rochester, NY area are listed in post #11 here.
The pillow thread here should be helpful. There are some basic “needs” for a pillow (based on body type and sleeping position) but beyond that a pillow choice is mostly about preferences.
[quote]I hope I gave enough info and that I’ve read enough about latex and layers.
In case you are wondering about my budget, I’ve learned over the years to not go out of my way to find low-end items, but make your budget, find what is the best of that category, research more and branch out to similar item types, refine, stretch your budget, find coupons or refurbs but not lowering your standard. I don’t want to make a mistake this time, so I’m going to go slow. I can go upwards of $1000, but I don’t want to go over $2000, because for that money, I’d rather buy other things than have that extra margin of quality without diversity.
I probably want to buy something over $800, but I’d prefer to not be overly frivolous and not go over $1600[/quote]
I don’t know the size you are looking at but this would certainly be enough to make a good quality/value purchase although it’s probably a little low for many “all latex” mattresses (although there are certainly some in the higher end of your budget range).
You will need some kind of support system that is suitable for your mattress. This could be a metal or wooden bedframe with a foundation or box spring to support the mattress (depending on the type of mattress you choose), a wooden or metal platform bedframe combination that can be used directly under a mattress, or an adjustable bed. There is more about the different types of support systems that would be suitable for different types of mattresses in the foundation thread here.
Yeah, I’ll touch up my reading before I visit any more places. I see there is a manufacturer in Syracuse as well.
I can’t believe I didn’t go to Jamestown Mattress which seems to be right in the next plaza from the 3 places I went to last week!
The 3 that I went to were MetroMattress, SleepCity, and CityMattress, if I’m remembering correctly. I don’t remember the order or which ones were which, but the first one was horrible. The other two were across the street and the one on the right seemed off and slightly unwilling to examine my intent. The third, on the left, was a smaller shop with one older man speaking with someone and their elderly mother; he said he can help in a minute, but I saw only Serta mattresses.
I see that Jamestown Mattress is in both Greece and Henrietta, and even Lockport and Erie which I might be seeing some family in each anyways! I’ll check out Jamestown Mattress and will set aside the idea of traveling to Syracuse because it’s such a long drive with a brief visit.
I’ll also set aside my plans of researching pillows and frames, but I wonder about adjustable frames. Does an adjustable frame have potential for assisting sleep positions or is it only for recreational activity?
I wonder, along with others, how you remain active on this forum for years. Maybe you’ve answered it before, but I only make my point clearer by saying that I can’t find it among so many of your posts.
Some people collect stamps, others clean their house or pursue fitness or social family things, but you are interested in mattresses. Honestly, I never knew there was such specific science involved and how it effects a person’s body. I sure hope you get some financial gain or something.
These would all be the types of retailers that I would tend to avoid (see the guidelines here).
Assuming that they will provide you with the information you need about what is inside their mattresses (see this article), at MetroMattress the only mattresses I would consider would be their Therapedic mattresses, At SleepCity there is nothing listed on their website that I would consider, and I would be very cautious about anything at Citymattress as well and would make sure you know the type and quality of every layer in any mattress you are considering there and make some careful comparisons with other mattresses if you did decide to consider any of their mattresses. I would especially be cautious about their Pranasleep mattresses which are “mostly latex” but use fairly thick polyfoam quilting layers which could be a weak link in their latex mattresses and are also in a more premium budget range than other similar mattresses. As you know … I think highly of Jamestown Mattress and they would certainly be my priority if I was in the area.
If you do decide to go to Syracuse then the Syracuse list is in post #2 here. I think highly of Sleepmaster there as well and they would be a priority if I was in the Syracuse area.
An adjustable bed can certainly help with some sleeping issues. There is more about adjustable beds in post #3 here and the adjustable bed thread it links to.
You can read a little more about “why” I run this site and some of the history behind it in post #4 here. It took a few years to get there but the income from the site is now at the point where I can support my family … which is a “good thing” for any project that takes up an average of 16 hours a day
Thanks. I have a bit of a less-than-ideal access to internet, so I apologize for the time lapse.
I went to Jamestown mattress a while ago now and spoke with the local manager in the quiet store. He immediately acknowledged what forum I did research on before I even finished a sentence. He showed me around, but when I asked about latex and memory foam, he only had one of each on display.
I’m disappointed that there is only a single natural latex to test and just another gel memory foam.
There’s some sample blocks I noticed on a shelf. I also asked him the pricing for a TwinXL and pricing to make the mattress compatible for adjustable frames if I ever decided.
I’ll find it next to impossible to get to Syracuse and I’m not sure what to do if I can’t try 2 similar layers. I haven’t decided between latex and gel memory yet.
What can I do? I can call the Lockport and Erie locations, because I might pass through them for a brief time, but not enough to go more than twice. I’ll call them when I get a chance to access internet again.
It’s unfortunate that they didn’t have a larger selection at the store you visited. The only suggestions I can make would be to call the other stores that are within reasonable driving distance to find out what they have available on their floor before you go there, to test some of the other options you have available in the area, or to consider some of the online options you have available to you.
If you are uncertain about whether a mattress is or would be a suitable choice for you in terms of PPP then the options you have after a purchase would likely become a more important part of your personal value equation so you can use your own sleeping experience to decide on whether a mattress is a good match for you and still have good options available if it isn’t.
