visited mattress store; I need to lie down!

[phoenix]

Hi powerdog,

The two brands they seem to promote most are Kingsdown and King Koil. I was shown mostly Kingsdown, including a latex/pocketed coil model called “Canterbury” and a Blu-Tek – but also the King Koil “iMattress.” All these were in the around $1800 with box spring.

Both of these manufacturers tend to be much less transparent about the details of the layers in their mattresses and providing the quality specs of every layer which is the only way to really know what you are buying and how it compares to other mattresses in terms of value and quality/durability.

They all felt good for the few minutes I was on them. I told her that I’d read some bad things about Kingsdown, and she said I had to be careful that the comments werent’ about the models sold by Sleepy’s because those are made more cheaply than this store’s models. She said that she and her husband (store owners) actually supervise the design of the mattresses they stock.

If they really are “supervising” the design of the mattress then they would be able to provide you with the type of material and the specs of every layer of the mattress (particularly the foam densities they use). This would be one of the most important parts of a mattress design. If they are able and willing to provide this then you would have a way to make meaningful comparisons about durability and not just comfort and support when the mattress is new. If they can’t provide it then you would be making a blind purchase with no way of really knowing what you are buying. Better retailers and manufacturers will not only provide this to you but they will help you to understand what they mean. If they give you this information but don’t really know what the specs mean then you are always welcome to post it here (making sure it includes the type of foam and the density of any memory foam and polyfoam in the mattress) and I’d be happy to help you “translate” it.

Anyway, I can’t say any of the 3 beds was THE bed, over and above the others, and I can’t say any were uncomfortable. But I worry that I’ll be one of those people who say, “It was great for the first few months, but then…” There’s a 60 day exchange, but I want it to be problem-free after two months.

This is very wise thinking. While any comfort or support issues will certainly show up in that time … it will take longer than this for you to know of any durability issues based on sleeping on the mattress which again is why knowing the specifics of the materials is such an important part of any mattress purchase.

There’s a totally different direction we could take. My wife and I were thinking of taking a road trip based on including the Custom Sleep Designs store in CT. It’s 5 hours each way, but there are places to see along the way. I know we could just order on the website, but we’d feel better about talking to the staff in person and seeing what they offer.

While it would be a long trip … I think it would be time well spent to travel a bit to look at mattresses that have better quality and value. You will have the mattress for a long time and it will have a significant effect on your how you feel and your overall wellbeing over the next decade or more which makes a little extra time spent in travel and research well worth it IMO. I would start with a conversation on the phone to get a clear sense of who they are and the design of their mattresses before you make the trip.

Besides the manufacturers or retailers in Connecticut listed in post #2 and #4 here (including Custom sleep) … some of the other lists with options or “directions” that may also be worth considering (and again I would call the ones that attract you before making a trip) are included in post #5 here.

If you do plan to do more testing locally … I would always suggest calling a store first to make sure that if the comfort and support of a mattress matches your needs and preferences that they will also disclose the foam density and other specs of their mattresses or at least tell you which ones have this information available for people who want to know. This will save you the time involved in testing mattresses where you like the way they feel and perform only to face the frustration of having no way to know their real quality, durability, or “value”. I would also ask this twice when you talk with them before visiting because in my experience as soon as you mention “specs” they will tell you that they have a “spec sheet” but it will rarely if ever include actual foam densities and only have a generic description of the materials in the mattress. In most cases they will say whatever they believe will get you into the store. Anyone who tries to tell you that a mattress is “good quality” without being able to validate it with relevant information is really just “selling” you because without this … neither they or you would have any idea of the real quality or value of a mattress. It would be like looking at a piece of furniture that was made with particle board that looked and performed the same as another one that was similar but used real wood and not being able to find out which was which and a salesperson telling you they didn’t know or worse yet that it didn’t matter, that “only engineers need to know that stuff”, or that “nobody ever asks” or really needs to know.

Phoenix