Current mattress is ~9+ years old and is sagging. I’m a heavy man, BMI is well over 30. Trying to figure out where to start looking for a mattress. I am currently losing weight (I’m down 43+ pounds over the last 6 months, etc), but we definitely need a new mattress.
I’ve had a lot of recommendations: full latex, tempurpedic, etc. I’ll admit, I am really lost and do not know where to start. I read through the tutorial, and it looks like (based on my BMI), I need to look at a Polyurethane mattress? Am I understand that right?
Someone told me it’s acceptable to haggle for all mattresses. Any recommendations for where to start?
Hi, dharmlost.
If you’ve already read the tutorial, that is a great first step. If you’ve had a chance to browse through posts here, you’ll see that the site owner, Phoenix, is responsive and helpful. I’m sure she’ll be able to help you. Take care!
I’m not exactly sure how you can up with that assumption about polyurethane foam being the focus for your choice based on your higher BMI (and congratulations on your weight loss, by the way!), but I’ll see what I can do here to help make things a bit easier and clearer for you.
Starting off, you may wish to again review the mattress shopping tutorial here. Specifically, two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
Outside of PPP (which is the most important part of “value”), the next most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new so I would always make sure that you find out the information listed here so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
In its simplest form … choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …
Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.
Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight/BMI range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.
Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
This page on the web site also provides a good summary, along with links, to steps about choosing a mattress that you may find particularly useful.
As for your higher BMI, a high BMI does present special challenges and generally requires firmer materials (in the support layers especially). This could be firmer latex or innersprings (the type of support component would be a personal preference and in the right design either could be suitable) or even a zoned construction. The same overall guidelines apply with higher weights though that PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) along with using high quality durable materials that will maintain their feel and performance for longer periods of time are the way to make the best choices. Heavier people in general will need firmer and thicker comfort layers and firmer support layers than those who are lighter and because no materials will last as long with much higher weights the quality and durability of the materials and components is even more important than normal. I wouldn’t “rule out” any types of mattress and base your choices on your own personal testing.Post #3 here has more information and suggestions about heavier weights that is worth reading.
In general, regarding polyfoam and memory foam, higher BMI ranges will need more durable materials and components in a mattress and in a BMI range of 30 or higher I would include any 1.8 lb polyfoam or 4 lb memory foam as a “lower quality/density” material (relative to a higher BMI only) and minimize their use to a total of “about an inch or so or less” in the mattress.
Polyurethane foam: If your mattress is one sided then I would look for 2.0 lb per cubic foot density or higher. If the mattress is two sided then I would use a minimum density of 1.8 lbs per cubic foot or higher.
Memory foam (or gel memory foam): If your mattress is one sided then I would make sure that any memory foam is at least 5 lb per cubic foot. If the mattress is two sided then I would use a minimum density of 4 lbs per cubic foot.
While it’s not possible to make a blanket statement about sales because each retailer or manufacturer can be different, I would keep in mind that the better manufacturers and retailers don’t generally “negotiate” (see post #6 here) or have “fake sales” based on the time of year or holidays (see the guidelines here and post #5 here). While they may occasionally have sales with smaller discounts or sell floor models at a reduced price, I would treat retailers or manufacturers that negotiate their prices or have “major holiday sales” with huge discounts as a red flag because manufacturers or retailers that sell good quality/value mattresses don’t need to negotiate or have “fake sales” to create a false sense of urgency and they generally sell good quality/value mattresses every day of the year at prices that are already very reasonable. Some online manufacturers do have ongoing rotating “sales” that change their name but the specifics of the sale tend to be similar.
Hopefully some of the information I’ve presented here will help you to refine your mattress search process!
I may have misinterpreted some of the tutorial/information posts that I was reading through for the last few days. At one point I saw one of the posts that spoke to durability versus BMI and what to look at for certain BMI ranges/values. I’ve been trying to read up on this and to understand but my mind isn’t wrapping around it as quickly as I’d like.
That being said, we did get a mattress today. We were out running errands and checking a few different places. We found one that was within our immediate budget, was comfortable, and had some decent reviews online. I didn’t see much about the particular brand/mattress here, so I’m second guessing myself. But the mattress was very comfortable.
We ended up with a MLILY Bliss mattress, this one: I may have misinterpreted some of the tutorial/information posts that I was reading through for the last few days. At one point I saw one of the posts that spoke to durability versus BMI and what to look at for certain BMI ranges/values. I’ve been trying to read up on this and to understand but my mind isn’t wrapping around it as quickly as I’d like.
That being said, we did get a mattress today. We were out running errands and checking a few different places. We found one that was within our immediate budget, was comfortable, and had some decent reviews online. I didn’t see much about the particular brand/mattress here, so I’m second guessing myself. But the mattress was very comfortable.
We ended up with a MLILY Bliss mattress, this one: ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: mlilyusa.com/mattresses/44
We were in a few different shops and got an idea of what we wanted based on firmness and comfort. We saw that mattress and the shop wasn’t setting off any red flags so we ended up going for it.
I got flustered because, unlike most purchases, this wasn’t a straight forward process and I got impatient. I went with my gut and got that one. Hopefully I didn’t steer myself wrong.
mLily uses foams that are made by Health Care Foam ADMIN NOTE:Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: certipur.us/pages/for-industry/find-a-foam-supplier/hk-foam/
in China (the same source as BedBoss, Easy Rest, and several other memory foam mattresses) which are CertiPur certified for harmful substances and VOC’s and as long as you can confirm the quality of all the materials in the mattress from your retailer (see this article) some of their mattresses can be reasonably good quality/value options.
They are also generally transparent about the quality of the foams they use so that their customers can identify any weak links and make meaningful quality and value comparisons with other mattresses (although this may vary from retailer to retailer and their willingness to call their distributor and find out the information you need).
Overall I would say these are among the “better” Chinese manufacturers although there will always be some additional uncertainty and risk involved with buying a mattress that uses Chinese foams and that may have been compressed for longer periods of time (see post #2 here and post #6 here).
Any specific mattress is only as good as the quality of its construction and materials regardless of the brand, so it’s important to make sure that you have a list of all the layers in your mattress that includes the thickness of all the layers and the foam density of any memory foam and polyfoam in the mattress before considering any mattress purchase (see this article). The specs for this mattress were listed on the forum in 2013 here, but some of that information was inaccurate so at that time it did cause me some concern regarding the accuracy of the remained of the specifications. And of course, those older specifications have no bearing on what the foam densities might be in the new mattress you purchased.
Regarding online reviews, they are one of the least reliable ways to select a mattress. You are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about using anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you. In many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
Regardless, congratulations on your new mattress! :cheer: I hope it serves you well, and I hope you’ll take the time to comment back later once you’ve had a chance to sleep upon your mattress for a while.