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Hi all,
I know this stuff is all super subjective, but maybe some of you with more knowledge/experience can offer some suggestion / insights.
Background: Wife and I were sleeping on a 25 year old Spring Air that was about 18 years old when we "inherited" it from family. We have some cheapy 1.5" (maybe 2") memory foam thingie on top which seems to be equally deteriorated. This thing is obviously horrible to sleep on but neither of use felt like spending $1000s on a new bed, plus I was skeptical that it would make any difference, and it would just irritate me more if I spend $1000s and ended up feeling exactly the same (which is to say, never very well rested and usually with lower back pain each morning which goes away mid-day). Anyway, Costco has Novaform memory foam mattresses that I saw online had about 80 4-star (avg) reviews, so I decided to bite. Was $499 and I bought a $200 wood slat foundation on Amazon. Got it all set up and when I initially laid on it, it felt great (even if a bit stiffer than I expected). Over the nights I slept on it though, I found that I couldn't sleep through the night. I wake up multiple times tossing/turning. My back still hurt just as much, after about 3 weeks. Finally, I called Costco and they came and got it. I then just arbitrarily bought a Sealy Posturpedic (which was rated on the softer side) from Costco for about $599. My wife actually really liked the softness, but I felt like I was being swallowed by a pillow. I had a really hard time falling asleep the first night, and the 2nd night, I just laid in bed awake for hours, until I finally went and slept on the couch. I called the next day and returned it. I then made the HUGE mistake of going to a SleepNumber store and being wow'd by their marketing and videos and yada yada. I bought the C4 after trying it out in store. Got it all set up and after a few weeks, I really really hate it. It honestly feels like a cheapy air mattress like you'd get from Target, only it costs $2000! This thing is NOT worth $2000. Maybe $200, but not $2000. I tried to give it a fair shake. Tried several different sleep numbers for several nights, but the things just feels like a piece of crap. It's gonna have to go back, and I'll have to eat whatever costs are associated with a return. So now I'm stuck. I have no idea what to do. I thought about Tempurpedic, but I really don't want to spend a forture (especially after SleepNumber prooved to me that there is no correlation between price and quality). I've also read some pretty negative things about Tempurpedic. I'm wondering now: is there any sense in just going and buying a cheapy cheapy, extra firm mattress (like from Ikea or something) for a few hundred, and then buying a high quality, 4" topper to go on it? Does this make any sense at all? I sleep on my stomach usually (back occasionally) and prefer something firmer, but which still sorta "feels" soft, but not saggy. My wife likes a softer/pillowy feeling, so I'm not sure how to reconcile this. SleepNumber sounded good in theory, but in practice, it sucks. Comments/suggestions? Anything at all that you can suggest would be appreciated. I have no clue what to do at this point.
EDIT: I suppose some will suggest going to a store and trying things out, but it seems to me that 15min, 20min, even an hour... I can't really discern anything. Lots of beds seems to feel fine to me when I initially lay on them. It's only after a full nights sleep that my body has any feedback for me. I don't want to go to a store, b/c the sales folk are gonna be annoying and high pressure (and I don't wanna end up in another SleepNumber fiasco). This message was modified Jun 4, 2012 by sstchur
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I think one golden rule is to always be able to return a mattress even if there is some restocking fee. lemme tell you .... trying to sell a slightly used mattress is not something you want to do. I've got an iComfort on Craigslist for 15% of original cost .... not one phone call. Sure, it's a twin XL, but still. And remember, usually if you exchange to another mattress, that one will be yours for keeps. I got toasted by that one. |
| I'm happy wiht my setup. I got an extra firm innercoil mattress, no pillowtop, and very little foam over the springs. I added 2 - 3" layers of talatech latex. Medium and then soft on the top. When I added the soft, which was the last step, I was afraid it was too soft, but I wake up feeling good in the morning and sleeping through the night. I got the topper layers at FoamSweetFoam. They are on sale there and there are no returns, so its a little risky. I was prepared to cut the layers and start zoning if I wasn't happy, but I didn't need to. Good Luck. |
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I am also happy with a cheapo mattress and latex topper, even if the mattress doesnt end up having a long lifespan. I'm a side sleeper. Scored a SULTAN HOLMSTA display model for 50% off from ikea. coil springs with 1 inch foam covered by 1 inch synthetic latex. A fairly firm bed. It had been up on a pedestral displaying a duvet set for 3 months. It was basically new because it had not been laid on since it had been high off the ground. Topped that with a 2 latex topper 20 ILD from foam by mail. Rolled the dice on this combo and it has been great. If I do any more tweaking it may be a wool pad for all season temp control or look for a super soft 1 inch 14 ILD on the very top. Queen mattress 275.00 2 inch Latex topper 180.00 Latex cover from ebay 48.00 total cost 503.00 |
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I, personally, have a latex mattress that I bought from foambymail(dot)com that is certified to be safe by eco-INSTITUT but if I was going to buy a memory foam mattress I would buy it from bedinabox(dot)com as they are CertiPUR-US® certified. If you are going to buy memory foam only buy one that is CertiPUR-US® or Oeko-Tex® certified. Why? because when you buy a CertiPUR-US® memory foam mattress you can know, for example, that it is free of or is below harmful levels of toxic poisons and cancer causing ingredients like: Low emission (low VOCS) BPA-free Phthalates-free Made without ozone depleters PBDE-free Mercury, Lead and heavy metal free Made without formaldehyde BHT-free Protection for you investment: Whether you get a latex mattress or a memory foam mattress make sure you get a really good mattress protector because latex and memory foam will break down quicker from sweat, urine, dirt, spills etc. Protect-a-bed makes good mattress protectors but they can be pricey for some people so shop around online. Do a web search on CertiPUR-US®, Oeko-Tex®, & eco-INSTITUT for more information about their certifications. Considering a spring mattress? Forget it! Almost all of them are made to FAIL. They are one sided so you cannot flip them to get more life out of them. Some say they put some special foam boarder around the bed so you can have more support when you sit on the edge of the bed BUT it is really to give you less springs which makes it less expensive for them to make the bed. If you sit on the edge of you bed too much and/or for to long it will FAIL. Even if they put some latex, High Resiliency foam a.k.a. HR foam, High Density foam a.k.a. HD Foam, or Memory foam a.k.a. visco-elastic polyurethane foam in the bed it is almost ALWAYS buried deep down in the mattress so they can sell you on it and with a higher price. Then they put JUNK polyurethane foam on top of it (that is why people do “mattress surgery” and cut their mattresses open and pull out all the junk foam and replace it with a latex or memory foam topper). Those polyurethane junk foam top layers will start to break down on day 1 and if you can stand it the mattress will only last you 4 years at best even though it has a 10 year warranty. During those 4 years the mattress will (pick your word) dip, crater, canoe, hammock. Your back will hurt and you will have wasted your money. *Please note that there are some “brand” name mattress companies out there that sell latex and memory foam mattresses that ARE NOT 100% top to bottom end to end latex or memory foam. What they do is put an inch or 2 of latex or memory foam on top of a block/foundation of some “other” type of foam and call it a latex or memory foam mattress. This still may be better then having the latex or memory foam buried in the bed above the springs BUT when the block/foundation of that “other” type of foam under the latex/memory foam collapses you will need a new mattress. The only exception (there maybe others) is bedinabox which states that their, “mattresses use only HR support [base] foam with a rating of 24/32. That means a 2.4 lb density with a 32 IFD.” This appears to be the good quality foam base with high enough specs to work as a base support system to work under their memory foam. |