Hi Dxybly,
I’m sorry to hear that your Tuft & Needle didn’t work out for you but I’m glad that you had the foresight to buy a mattress with a great return policy so that you could try it will little risk.
I would be very cautious about using other people’s reviews or experiences on a mattress (either positive or negative) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how suitable a mattress may be for you or the durability of a mattress and in many cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on or vice versa (see post #13 here).
[quote]This mattress, the “Grand Central” is apparently not available online, but is billed as a soft plush pillowtop mattress with:
-3/4 quilted
-1" pressure relieving gel memory foam
-6" verti-coil individually wrapped coil
-3" foam encasement around mattress
-10 year non pro-rated warranty
I lay down on it briefly and it did feel comfortable, but can someone more knowledgeable than I speak to the quality (or lack of) of the materials listed above, and share any thoughts about the company or things to look out for as I potentially move ahead with the purchase? Does this seem like a good value for $500?[/quote]
Outside of PPP … a mattress is only as good as its construction and the quality and durability of the materials inside it (regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label) and without knowing the specifics of all the layers and components in a mattress (see this page) it’s not possible to make any meaningful comments about the quality or durability of the materials or the mattress as a whole or identify any potential weak links in a mattress.
If you can find out the specifics of the materials and components of any of the mattresses you are considering then you can either compare them to the guidelines here or if you post them on the forum I’d certainly be happy to make some comments about the quality/durability of the materials inside it.
The “value” of a mattress purchase is always relative to how it compares to the other mattresses or “finalists” you are considering and there is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses but “value comparisons” will boil down to …
1. Testing for suitability and PPP (either with your own personal testing or a more detailed conversation on the phone backed up with a return/exchange policy you are comfortable with).
2. Checking the quality and durability of the materials in the mattress and comparing them against the guidelines (or posting the information on the forum where I’d be happy to make some comments) to make sure there are no weak links in the mattress in terms of durability (which means that I would only deal with retailers/manufacturers that are fully transparent about the materials in their mattresses)
3. Comparing your finalists for value based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you including the price and the options you have available after a purchase if the mattress doesn’t turn out to be as suitable a choice as you hoped for.
If you test, check, and compare using these guidelines then you can more easily decide on which mattress is the “best value for you”.
Phoenix