Hello! I’ve searched for a new mattress at all the local stores. My favorite was the Beautyrest Series 3 Firm. However, I weigh around 230 and worry about long-term durability. My biggest problems are navigating the crazy amount of contradicting information online and I’m being familiar with brands outside the local stores. Can anyone help point me in the direction of a mattress that will support my body weight, as a back/ toss and turn side sleeper, and hips (I have pain with my current mattress)? I prefer a firmer mattress, but am very interested in one that I’ll have for the long haul. Thanks, in advance, for the suggestions!
How tall are you? That’ll help some
I’m 5’6". Thanks for the help!
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What you mainly need is a stronger base layer, I think if you’re looking in a higher price range you might like the Brooklyn bedding thermobalance LX firm. It has a strong spring base of 13.5g coils holding up the heaviest parts, but plenty of cushion on the top for pressure relief. At the same time it won’t sink in much. I think that’d be a better bed than the beautyrest.
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For a 230 lb back/side sleeper dealing with hip pain, the material inside the mattress matters a lot for both pressure relief and for how the bed performs 10-15 years from now. Natural Dunlop latex is one of the densest, most resilient sleep materials available: it’s derived from rubber tree sap, vulcanized into a solid layer that holds its firmness rating consistently over decades.
Sight unseen, I’d go with the Naturepedic EOS Classic mattress in the “firm” or “cushion firm” configuration. The EOS Classic is an organic “hybrid” mattress made with coils, latex, cotton, and wool. The “firm” configuration has medium latex over firm coils, and the “cushion firm” configuration is slightly softer - made with soft latex over firm coils. Due to Naturepedic’s generous comfort exchange program, in the first 100 days, you can swap out the latex or coils in the mattress to make your mattress firmer or softer.
We’d be happy to talk through the right firmness configuration for your weight and sleep style or discuss other products. www.theorganicbedroom.com
Learn more: Naturepedic EOS Classic
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I have read many reports about saatva mattresses having issues, especially the saatva classic. Many say they get indentations and sink in within a year. And I never liked how they felt because it’s just an open spring stacked with a pocket spring, with a single layer of foam and cotton on top. The BB thermobalance LX has a zoned coil system, and I’ve never read about near as many issues with their beds. I have the non LX, elite version in firm and I think I like the zoned and side supported coil system that’s in the non elite version better than the elite version, the build just looks like it makes more sense to get the non elite because it’s so much cheaper and I don’t see any defining factors to make the elite version worth so much more.
Also the LX has a layer of latex in the top which is very high density and will help be supportive without feeling like you’re just hitting a wall of firmness.
Do you find the warranty to be similar to others in the industry? I’m not near a store where I can test the majority of mattresses that aren’t Stearns & Foster, Beautyrest, Serta, etc. I appreciate all of your feedback.
Yes their warranty is very good. And those lines like simmons and serta do have some good models in their catalogue, though I really don’t think you could go wrong with the thermobalance lx firm. I’ve been studying different builds since December and laid on many of the beautyrest, serta, tempurpedic, and purple models. I really don’t think you’d regret it the thermobalance lx.
My favorite build of theirs is the LX medium because I like a more medium surface, but since you like firmer, the lx firm is firm without being hard. It has more holdup than the medium while still having some pressure relieving comfort layers in the top.
I did like the Beautyrest Series Three, but the price is a bit much.
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Absolutely, there’s no reason they should charge that much. They pay employees large commissions usually and take a large portion of profit off their sales.
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Hey mattressshoppinghell,
You have actually given yourself a pretty good starting point. You’ve gone out and tried mattresses, and you’ve found one you like. That’s useful information. Where I’d be careful is assuming that because the Beautyrest Series 3 Firm feels good in the store, it is necessarily the best choice for what you’re looking for in terms of long-term durability.
At 230 lbs, you should be looking a lot more closely at what is actually inside the mattress than at the name on the outside of it. And if they will not tell you, what is on the inside, you may need to rethink what you want to do on the outside.
One of the problems with mattress shopping today is that there are an awful lot of different brands and an awful lot of apparently different mattresses, but once you get past the marketing, there is considerably less difference between them than you might think. A lot of the traditional legacy/S brands and a lot of the newer DTC brands are using variations of the same basic approach: lots of foam in the upper layers, different names for the materials, different stories about the technology, and a very nice mattress when you first lie down on it.
That doesn’t mean they are all bad mattresses. It means I wouldn’t make the brand or the marketing the starting point for your decision.
I’d start with the construction.
What are the actual materials? How much foam is above the support system? What are the densities of those foams? How thick are the individual layers? What is the coil unit, if there is one? Where are the materials that are going to take the most abuse over time? Those are the things that give you some basis for making an educated guess about durability. Additionally, where is the mattress made, and who actually makes it? Some companies pour their own foams, manufacture their own springs, and assemble their own mattresses in-house. That level of control typically results in greater consistency from one mattress to the next. This doesnt necessarily make their mattresses better for you or any one individual or couple, but there is something said about a mattress that offers consistency, longevity and durability.
And that’s particularly important at your weight. I’m not saying that being 230 lbs automatically means you need a rock-hard mattress. You are also a back and side sleeper and you’re already dealing with hip pain, so simply going firmer isn’t necessarily the answer. You need enough support for your back while still having enough pressure relief when you’re on your side. The trick is finding that balance without putting a huge amount of lower-density material between you and the support system. Everything between you and the floor, matters.
This is also why I’d be cautious about choosing the Beautyrest simply because it was your favorite in the store. You know that you like the feel. That’s valuable. But the showroom test tells you what the mattress feels like today. It doesn’t tell you what the materials are likely to be doing several years from now. And that is a “dirty little secret” regarding mattress searching. Many mattress companies know what folks are looking for as an initial response to a mattress on the showroom floor, so many build their mattresses around that philosophy. You can test 2 mattresses, side by side on the showroom floor, both feel identical today, but the one with the better quality foams and materials is likely to out last the one that feels just as great today, but will fade faster over time, due to the level of materials in the mattress.
I’d also be careful with the whole “sinkage” discussion you see online. A mattress changing somewhat over time is normal. What matters is what is changing and what effect it has on you. If the upper layers soften enough that your alignment, support, or pressure relief changes, that’s a much more important issue than whether someone can measure a particular size body impression in the mattress.
So rather than looking for “the best mattress for a 230 lb person,” I’d change the question a little.
I’d look for mattresses that use good quality materials, have a sensible amount of foam in the upper layers, have a strong support system, and don’t have obvious weak links in the construction. Then you can worry about whether the particular mattress gives you the pressure relief and alignment you need.
There are plenty of mattresses outside the local stores that are worth looking at, but I wouldn’t start by giving you a list of brands. That’s just replacing one set of marketing names with another.
If you want to narrow this down, post the exact specifications of the Beautyrest Series 3 Firm you tried, including the thickness and density of the foam layers if you can get them. Then we can look at the construction and see what makes sense and what doesn’t for someone with your weight, sleeping positions and hip issues.
From there, I’d use those fundamentals to identify other mattresses with a similar feel but a construction I’d be more comfortable with for the long haul.
That’s a much better way to get out of the mattress-shopping rabbit hole than trying to decide which brand or review site to believe.
Maverick
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