Two choices of bed and two choices of firmness

[phoenix]

Hi granny_k,

Welcome … and I’m glad you found us and that the information here could help you. If you follow all the steps in the tutorial post one at a time you will have the best odds of avoiding “information overwhelm” and have the best chance of making the most suitable and “best value” choice.

It seems that you are on step 4 (you have researched the local stores and manufacturers to make sure they are knowledgeable and transparent and that they can provide you with all the information you need about the materials inside their mattresses) so that you can decide on which mattress is the best “value” for you (see post #13 here about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase).

Once you are at this step … then it’s a matter of using the testing guidelines in the tutorial to find the mattresses that are the most suitable for you in terms of PPP and since nobody else can feel what you feel, this part is up to you (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). Next comes making sure that you are making a durable choice by checking the quality of the materials inside the mattress to make sure there are no weak links and so you can make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses. Then the final step is comparing each of your finalists 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) to decide on which one is the “best value” for you.

At a local mattress store, I went through a 5 minute computer “test”, supposedly designed by Duke University (?). It involved my lying down on a machine bed while it “evaluated” the pressure. (Back sleeper here). They came up with a color code, then supposedly matched it to a choice of 3 beds in my price range that would “work” for me. I have no idea if that is legit; however, they came up 4 bed choices on their floor, including a middle-of-the road Northwest Bedding bed, (plush for me, they said, rather than Euro or Firm), . Northwest Bedding (from Spokane), makes their own lines of beds, but also puts together a bed for this store called the “Madison” line. This local mattress store has been around our Montana city for years, has great reviews, and the owner apparently has Northwest build the three styles according to his own specs. There are few reviews on Northwest Bedding; however, this store has done business with them for over 23 years, and when I called the factory direct they were very helpful and informative.

You can read a little more about pressure mapping systems in post #2 here and post #4 here. They can be helpful to confirm what you are feeling or help you narrow down your choices but I would always make sure that what your body feels is more important than what a machine tells you.

You can see my thoughts about Northwest Bedding in post #10 here and a forum search on Northwest Bedding (you can just click the link) will bring up more information and feedback about them as well. As long as you can find out what is inside any mattress you are looking at they would certainly be well worth considering.

I’m not sure where you are located but if you are in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas then the better options and possibilities I’m aware of are listed in post #4 here. If the store you are dealing with that carries the Madison line, is in the general area (or any area that there is a forum list), they carry Northwest Bedding, and they are open and transparent about the type and quality of the materials in their mattresses, then I would love to know who they are so I can add them to the list.

I also wouldn’t pay much attention to mattress reviews (good or bad) because they won’t tell you much if anything about the quality or durability of a mattress (you need to know the materials inside it to know this) and they also won’t tell you much about whether any specific mattress is suitable for you in terms of PPP because a mattress that is a good match for someone else or even a large group of people may be completely unsuitable for you to sleep on (see post #13 here). Of course reviews for the knowledge and service of a retailer or manufacturer can be much more meaningful than mattress reviews.

Now, I am looking for a second bed. (I sleep in the basement in the summer and main floor in the winter as I cannot afford A/C!). After sleeping for a few night’s on a Doctor’s Choice Plush at my son’s house on a visit last Fall, I found it quite comfortable, with minimal pain. The problem is that it was called a “Madison Plush”, and Denver Mattress tells me, “the Doctor’s Choice Plush is the same bed, renamed”. ???

I’m not so sure this is correct based on the information on their website (unless they have changed). While the Doctors Choice Plush and the Madison Plush use very similar comfort layers … they both have a different innerspring so for most people they would feel and perform differently in spite of their similarities. I would pay particular attention to how they contour and motion separation (if that’s important to you) because one appears to use a pocket coil and the other one doesn’t.

Part of the dilemma of whether I’ll keep the new Northwest bed concerns firmness. Based on what I’ve read, the plush will begin to sag pretty quickly. I wonder if it would help to get a firm in either brand, then use a foam topper for a few years until the mattress softens? Or will it matter?

You can see my comments about mattress/topper combinations in post #2 here. While this approach does have the advantage of being able to replace the topper without having to replace the complete mattress … the tradeoff is that choosing a topper that is a good match for a particular mattress and person where you can’t test the combination in person can be almost as difficult as choosing a mattress in the first place. The best way to confirm the durability of a mattress is to compare the materials to the guidelines here. The Madison Plush and the Doctors Choice Plush both use good quality materials and for most people that weren’t in higher weight ranges neither of them would have any weak links in their design or materials.

There’s 1.5 lb soy-based bioflex, 3 1/2" of supersoft convoluted foam, which I believe includes a 2" piece of top to foam encasement, and another 1 1/2" of safeguard fiberfill, bioflex supersoft foam with a circular knit cover for the top. The top is also water-base glued to the convoluted layer of quilting on top.

Unfortunately these specs are missing the density of all the foam layers so I can’t make any meaningful comments about the quality of the materials (see this article). If you can provide the missing information I would need then I’d certainly be happy to comment on the quality of the materials inside it or help you identify any weak links in the design. The support layer (such as an innerspring) isn’t normally the weak link of a mattress although it can certainly change how the mattress feels and performs.

Hopefully this can all help you make the best choice for you and I’m looking forward to finding out what you end up deciding … and of course any other comments or questions you may have along the way.

Phoenix