Vispring, Leesa Legend or Berkeley Ergonomics Oslo

My husband and I are looking at mattresses, as our needs have changed now that we are in our mid 60s, with more health problems. We are pretty fit and physically active, but I have serious knee problems, arthritis, we both have back problems, and my husband has a serious shoulder problem. We used to love firm mattresses, but need more of a cushioned experience now. We have been sleeping on a Hastens, which we grew to hate very quickly after buying (it’s an instrument of torture), and had serious problems with the company, so we are trying to avoid the same mistakes in purchasing that we made with that purchase. We have narrowed our list down to a few. We love the Vispring (Tiara), but are concerned about some posts we have found on other web sites about durability. In your durability guidelines, you mention cotton, wool, horsehair and silk (the Visping components) as less durable: will these affect the comfort level changes more quickly, even in that high quality mattress? We have encountered some valuations on that brand indicating that they rate low on durability. We also want to ask a question on buying just the mattress without the bed systems that they offer. We have a platform bed, so it will not have the springiness that comes with buying their base, and they do sell the mattress without base…but how smart is it to go in that direction? We have even asked them to let us try the mattress on the floor, to see the comfort level without the base, just want to avoid a serious mistake. We thought if we buy a soft rather than a medium level, it will help compensate for the lack of a base with springs…. Or is it better to go medium, to provide more spring against the harder platform base?

The other mattresses we are looking at are the Berkeley Ergonomics (the Oslo) and the Leesa Legend (and maybe adding a Vispring cotton/wool topper to either one to make them more plush). They both seem to have less of that soft sinking thing we seem to need now. But will they hold up better…in other words, if we buy the Vispring based on it’s initial comfort level, will the materials matte down quickly leaving us with a changed situation, since it is not as durable? Will the Leesa Legend or the Berkeley Oslo be more durable choices, in terms of not changing as much with usage? Of the 3 choices, which would be considered the most hypoallergenic/safe for the consumer? And which may be the best for our particular health issues?

Hey Super Sleeper,

Welcome to our Mattress Forum :slight_smile: ! We hope that you find the information and comments from our moderators, trusted members and other consumer members useful during your research process.

It sounds like you are referencing this particular passage from the Mattress Durability Guidelines post:

[indent]“Materials and components that can have a significant effect on the durability or useful life of a mattress depending on their quality/density or thickness:
• Polyurethane foam (often called polyfoam)
• Memory foam (or gel memory foam)
• Natural fiber batting (cotton, wool, silk, horse hair)
• Semi synthetic fiber batting (rayon made from bamboo or other cellulosic materials or PLA made from corn starch, tapioca roots, or sugarcane)
• Synthetic fiber batting (generally polyester fibers)
• Firm densified polyester fiber”
[/indent]

The emphasis here is on the phrase “depending on their quality/ density or thickness” part of the passage. Vispring incorporates premium quality natural materials in each of their entirely hand-crafted mattresses, placing them on the longer end of the materials/ components durability spectrum.

Also of interest for consideration is your BMI. Have you and your husband calculated your BMI/ Body Mass Index? BMI is based on your height and weight and you can use one of many online BMI calculators (such as here) to determine that number.

Here are some useful quotes from Phoenix regarding “durability” in general:

“Assuming that you sleep well on a mattress when it’s new … durability is the length of time you continue to sleep well on a mattress before changes in the materials and components in the mattress caused by changes in firmness or the normal wear and tear or breakdown of the materials over time lead to a loss of comfort and support to the degree that you no longer sleep “well enough” on a mattress and decide to replace it.”

Phoenix also has some helpful insights regarding Vispring and other “ultra premium” mattresses in this post you may find interesting: Matress Shopping in San Antonio Texas #6

What type base are you using currently with your platform bed? According to Vispring’s web site section “Caring for your bed” there could be warranty issues with using a bed base other than something they offer, you will want specifics from them on that. If you do test their mattress on the floor, comment back afterwards and let us know what your thoughts were.

Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the guidelines here … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses (see this article) are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice. The best way to know which types of materials or mattresses you tend to prefer in general will be based on some local testing of different types of mattresses to see if you have a preference of one or more types or materials or mattresses over others and whether it will be a good “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences).

Thanks,
Sensei

Hello,
I have had Berkeley Ergonomics for the last 3 years. I bought this mattress from sovn.com in Dallas. Berkeley Ergonomics mattress and the so called flexible European slats are a total disaster and I would NOT recommend buying them.
From all the research I did this was supposed to be good quality mattress with good materials, but all those things did not matter in the end.
The mattress sinks immediately upon lying on it and causes hip/lower back pain. The mattress layers do no stay in position and they are protruding out on the edges. I have to push them inside by hand every night. When I lie down on the mattress, I can feel the inner coil springs under my bum with the upper body arched up stressing the lower back/hip region.
The flexible European slats foundation is a total sham. Never put a mattress on this type of stuff. It does not offer any support. Putting the mattress on the floor helped little bit , but in the end even that fails.
After spending $3K for the King mattress and having chronic lower back pain, Berekeley Ergonomics Mattress is a one of the poorest quality mattresses out there.

My advice:

  1. You can do all the research you want about the mattress quality, durability etc. But in the end you need to get a feel for it over an extended period of time. So never buy a mattress that does not have ATLEAST 100 night risk-free trial.
  2. Never buy Berkeley Ergonomics mattress as it is of poor construction and poor durability. Never put any mattress on the flexible European slats. Warranty from Berkeley Ergonomics is totally useless. They asked me to put a quarter on the bed and take pics to show the sinking. This is a useless test. The bed would not sink with just a quarter coin. It only sinks if anybody lies on the bed (even a small dog is enough to show how much it sinks down, but that is not acceptable for the warranty test).

I had been debating whether to throw away this mattress and get a new one for the last one year, since I have already spent $3K on this piece of crap. But I cannot take this pain any more and go to work with just 3 to 4 hours of sleep tossing/turning.
I am ready to purchase a new mattress instead of sleeping on my couch. There are so many choices to consider again, but sadly none sticks out so far as the best one. I hope to make the right decision this time.
My requirements are simple:

  1. I do not want the mattress to sink. Need a firm feel and good lumbar support while still conforming to the contours of the body.
  2. I do not want to wake up with mattress getting too warm/hot. Need breathability, cooling effect.
  3. I am only 190lbs, 5ft 10", not too heavy. I sleep both on my back and on the side.

If anybody has good recommendations that would satisfy these criteria, please let me know. Thanks very much.

I found a showroom here in Austin that has the mattresses from many of the online retailers to get a feel for the bed: Our Sleep Guide Online Mattress Store Austin, Texas
I am looking at some options for the heavy persons and cooling mattress.

Regarding Visprings:
From all my showroom visits, I found Visprings Regal Superb to be very good, but quite expensive for me.
This one gave solid lumbar support without sinking — it has the right amount of firmness feel and no temperature increase.

If budget is not an issue, then you might want to consider Visprings Regal Superb on a Legg and Pratt Prodigy Comfort Elite adjustable base.

But I would advise against buying low end/lower priced Visprings mattress because they save all the goodies for the high end model that is sold at a higher price. This is always an issue with vendors selling multi-priced mattress of the same type, where they only offer the best build in the higher priced ones.
Due to this reason and also due to the fact that they don’t have a trial period, I avoid Visprings mattress unless I can afford the high end ones.

Hey Octonion,

Thanks for your question to the TMU Forum!

Sorry to hear of the problems with your current mattress but hopefully you will find resources here to help find some better choice options for your sleep preferences.

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 …

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

I did check Our Sleep Guide Austin Showroom’s web site out, looks like they have a good selection of well-known online bed-in-a-box brands, sounds like a good way to personally experience them. They also feature one of our Trusted Members Nest Bedding, may want to demo something in their hybrid mattress offerings while you’re out there. Would enjoy hearing your thoughts after visiting their showroom… :wink:

Cheers,
Sensei