Bed shopping?

I’m zombifying my own thread

Time to tap into the collective knowledgebase again! We are desperately in need of a new mattress. I bought this one 10-years ago, and it was the cheapest one I could find at that time. Sub $400. I hurt a lot more now than I did 10-years ago, and my wife has some joint & circulatory problems that bother her at night too. Having said that, we want a good bed this time...but DAMN they aren't cheap!!!! I'm really intrigued by the Tempurpedic/memory foam-type beds, but she isn't sure. I've been reading tons of reviews online & checking out other brands, but one thing I've figured out is that you have to check out a mattress in person. The problem is there just aren't that many places within a reasonable distance. So, anyone here have any opinions/advice/experience regards to mattress brands/types?

Bought a Serta perfect sleeper Sirona 2 years ago and never looked back. Cost me a grand for a king size, but free frame, a set of sheets, and 6 months same as cash. Shop till you drop, someones always having a sale. Buy a good one, we spend 1/2 our lives sleeping, a good mattress is a wise investment! It's worth it to go big on size too. A few bucks now pays off big later. Make sure your frame has a center leg, helps cut down on sagging.

We went with a latex mattress and a good box spring when the supposedly top-line coil spring mattress got way too lumpy and worn out in only 10 years, though 3 moves in that time probably didn't help it any. We have had it almost 3 years now and it's nearly like new, still very comfortable. When I did my research it seemed that a GOOD latex mattress would last possible for life. No, not cheap (~$2k IIRC) but I'd do it again. I can pull the brand up if you want.

Tempurpedic/memory foam and latex foam are the only two that should be considered. The latex foam is by far my favorite and will likely last longer. Cheaper memory foam may take a set more than the Tempurpedic brand. A good quality latex foam mattress is not going to take any set over time.

only one thing to keep in mind with the Tempurpedic/memory foam is that they are .... foam... they hold heat like you wouldn't believe.

if you don't mind that then they are awesome ... otherwise get the best coil spring style you can afford

We picked up a king-size Sealy at Sears for just over $1K (including tax and delivery). That represented something like 65% off of list. We went to the Sleepy's across the street from Sears and the comparable bed was $1.7K.

Definitely pays to shop around, but I'd check out a Sears and use that as a baseline, as they're always running some kind of mattress sale.

One other thing - when you do your research remember that every bed dealer sells the same few models from the major mfgs, but with different names. I found a site that is like a name interchange, that will tell you that the Sealy XXX is the same as the Sealy XYZ is the same as the Sealy ABC. You should be able to Google it up. The dealers do that to make it hard to comparison shop and impossible to take advantage of their price match guarantees.

I hate to say it but you really have to go to a few good stores and lay on the beds for 10-20 minutes each to even begin to know if the large amount of money you're about to spend will be on something you'll hate. Bring your own pillows and just lay there as you normally lay to go to sleep - if you're a side sleeper lay on your side, etc. You'll feel stupid the first time but after a few minutes you'll realize this is the only way to do it. A good store and sales person will encourage you to do this.

Latex doesn't hold the heat, but memory foam does. It's the number one complaint about them and they are UNBEARABLY HOT! Don't do it.

I have both latex foam and innerspring and the latex is far more comfortable. Now they have a new heat dissipating foam that I'm seeing as a top foam on both latex and innerspring mattresses which makes them much more comfortable -even in the winter. They just keep you from having a hot spot which induces wiggle which wakes you up.

Best price I've seen for innerspring of a good quality is Sams. They have Simmons pillow tops. Costco has Sealy. I used to sell Sealy and you don't want them, the all develop a hump in the middle. We warrantied hundreds of them.

We have had our Tempurpedic for about 4 months and it is GREAT. Expensive but great. We bought our king size from Rooms to Go. Got 2 free pillows. The model we bought has air tubes that are supposed to be cooler then the lower models. It took a couple of night to get used to the sinking feeling.

carguy123 wrote: Best price I've seen for innerspring of a good quality is Sams. They have Sealy pillow tops. Costco has Sealy. I used to sell Sealy and you don't want them, the all develop a hump in the middle. We warrantied hundreds of them.

Huh? Sealy good or no good? Anyway, my latex mattress is a Sealy. It's got a very slight hump in the middle - should I be worried?

I have a Costco memory foam topper on my cheapass mattress. I've got to say, it's so good that I'll be upgrading to Costco's full memory foam bed when I have the chance. The topper was $100, I think the full mattress is $600.

It does NOT hold heat.

pigeon wrote:

carguy123 wrote: Best price I've seen for innerspring of a good quality is Sams. They have Simmons pillow tops. Costco has Sealy. I used to sell Sealy and you don't want them, the all develop a hump in the middle. We warrantied hundreds of them.

Huh? Sealy good or no good? Anyway, my latex mattress is a Sealy. It's got a very slight hump in the middle - should I be worried?

Sorry, I meant Posturpedic. I was trying to type and watch American Idol at the same time. Am I allowed to say I'm watching American Idol out loud?

Osterkraut wrote: I have a Costco memory foam topper on my cheapass mattress. I've got to say, it's so good that I'll be upgrading to Costco's full memory foam bed when I have the chance. The topper was $100, I think the full mattress is $600. It does NOT hold heat.

If it's memory foam it holds heat, that's the whole way it works.

I have their memory foam topper too, but I traded the 3" one I bought for the 1" one my daughter had so that it wouldn't be so hot.

+1 on size. Going from a full to a queen was great, the extra 6" didn't take much more room, but it feels WAY larger.

Also going from a $200 no-name wholesale bed set to a $1200* pillowtop King Koil was great.

*$1200 list price, paid $600. Sturzens Furniture sells all their matresses at 1/2 price.

Jamison

I have NEVER slept on a mattress as comfortable as this. Not only me, but my wife and my then 8 year old son. When you get a little boy raving about a mattress, you've got something.

These are the mattresses at The Dearborne Inn at the Henry Ford museum. Phenominal nights sleep for the four nights we spent there.

Not cheap. But god were they nice. Some day, we'll replace ours with one.

Also, from what I've heard most mattress places are bargainable (You don't have to pay the price on the tag), so I would try that in addition to the "somewhere's always having a sale" search...

I will never buy a 'real' 'mattress' ever again. About 6 years ago now we needed a new mattress and on the recommendation of my Father in law I just went to a foam shop and got a king size mattress cut from 6" foam, they had a range of firmness to choose from, we got the second hardest. No cover, no mattress store mark up nothing. I think it was about $250 and I've never slept on anything more comfortable any where ever. I will never be conned into buying a 'mattress' from a store again. It's just bare foam, no covering or anything, that's up to you, but that's what sheets are for.

I built the bed to go with it too for another couple of hundred $$'s. Good quality 3/4" plywood box base with a large top with two hinged panels for lot's of storage underneath. The outer edges (about 2") of the top are doubled up (to 1.5") and rounded to a full bullnose and overlap the base by about 3-4" so you have some kick space. My only regret is I made the top about 2" bigger than the mattress, it seemed like a good idea at the time but is a bit of a PIA. Some piano hinges for the top panels and some varnish and you've got a really good bed for a weekends work.

I am amazed at the prices! The Original Mattress Factrory here in the 'Burgh has some great products at decent prices. Perhaps you have a local factory-direct deal?

I'm a little shocked at the prices, too. I don't think we pay that up here.

I will never buy a 'real' 'mattress' ever again. About 6 years ago now we needed a new mattress and on the recommendation of my Father in law I just went to a foam shop and got a king size mattress cut from 6" foam, they had a range of firmness to choose from, we got the second hardest. No cover, no mattress store mark up nothing. I think it was about $250 and I've never slept on anything more comfortable any where ever.

We have a Futon that is so uncomfortable, I have trouble sleeping on it (oddball shift nights). I put a 3" foam mattress from an old tent trailer on top of it, and it is the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on. My chronic (old guy) lower back pain disappears whenever I sleep on it, and I've had it through 3 different spring type mattresses.

Thanks for all the replies!

We pulled the trigger & bought the Tempurpedic "Cloud". I won't be picking it up until Tuesday(we work an hour away - and in a different state - so they were going to charge for delivery). The good thing is we got free pillows, frame & cover in the deal, which adds up to ~$300+ list. Having the 3-local dealers within a block made shopping easy too.

It wasn't cheap by any means, but my wife has joint & circulatory problems, and my back isn't great, so we really are looking at this as a long-term investment in our health & well-being.

I'll report back in a few weeks with a review, too.

we just went from a queen to a king. I tried to get wife to buy the standard set over at Costco's but she wanted to try out dozens.

we bought one on sale over at Macy's for $1000.

Sometime mattresses are like carpet. your getting jacked on price once every decade.....LOL

I've always wondered about the foam beds... How does um... playtime... go on them?

I know you already bought one, but this is for anyone else that's reading this. DO NOT buy a Spring Air Comfort Flex. At over $1000, it was great until about the time the warranty went out. Now it's the biggest saggy baggy POS ever. We sleep on a 4" memory foam pad on a sheet of plywood on top of the old mattress. It's more comfortable, cheaper, and will probably last longer than the $1400 dollar mattress. Kind of pisses me off just thinking about it.

mtn wrote: I've always wondered about the foam beds... How does um... playtime... go on them?

www.sleeplikethedead.com has some "reviews" regarding those details. They have ratings for thins like "traction", "bounce", etc.

I wouldn't bother with the air beds. I've seen way too many that grew mold after a year or two. I'm not cheap, but I typically go easy on my stuff and it lasts awhile, so I was a little reluctant to buy a new mattress. I finally gave in when I was waking up every day in massive pain. Wasn't worth it. I was set on a foam bed, but tried out this place called The Original Mattress Factory. Partially a spring-based mattress, but way higher quality than anything else put out there. Two-sided (everything else these days is only one) Heard many good things about them, never a bad thing, but my girlfriend's recommendation sold it for me. It's great. No more pain, better sleep.