Curious about Stearns and Foster mattresses
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Can anyone explain this stuff from Stearns and Foster's web site? ( http://www.stearnsandfoster.com/Estate_Product.aspx ) They state: "Divinely Indulgent Sleep Surface. Working in tandem with our IntelliCoil design, our new proprietary cushioning materials (called Variable Response Technology®) give you relief where you feel the most pressure while you sleep: on your shoulders, hips and knees. No more tingly hands. No more painful backaches in the morning." Sounds great, but I could not find any specs as to what their proprietary cushioning materials are. Is it PU foam? Is it at least HR or M-grade? or is just cheap PU? Or is there no pu, only latex? (I doubt that) Does proprietary mean they won't tell us, or does it mean only that they have a patent or something on it? Also, they apparently make their own springs and their springs look interesting to say the least... but what gauge are they? . Are they individual pocket coils or regular type - more like Bonnell? Hard to tell from their description. I wonder how many coils per Queen... Anyone who knows, I'd be curious of the above questions, particularly whether or not they use pu foam in them, and how much pu foam would be found in their firmer mattresses? This message was modified Sep 6, 2009 by jimsocal
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Re: Curious about Stearns and Foster mattresses
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twalkman wrote: You're right, the S&F marketing terms sound good -- but performance didn't live up to the hype on the top of the line mattress we bought we bought 3 years ago. The plush level cushioning formed a noticeable hump in the middle within 1.5 years and now the mattress is unusable to us. Also the current issue of Consumer Reports lists S&F as the next to worst brand in their customer satisfaction survey so I don't think we're the only ones with this experience. Sad since they used to be considered the gold standard and still charge that way.
-Alex |
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So, Alex, do you have any ideas about why their older style mattresses failed for so many of us? Kait |
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I do not. I noticed an increase in the warranty exchange rate for mattresses purchased during that time as well. It was enough for Stearns to do a redesign. If I had to make a professional guess I'd say it had to do with the coil on coil design. Poor support for the top coils. -Alex |
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Alexander wrote: If I had to make a professional guess I'd say it had to do with the coil on coil design. Poor support for the top coils. -Alex Interesting. That inspired me to go to do a search on S&F coil on coil design. I found this at their website: http://www.stearnsandfoster.com/mattressStyle.aspx It appears they are still using a coil on coil design. This certainly makes it look incredibly impressive and build well enough to last 20 years. The fact that it's lasting 1.5 years for low weight people must mean that it is some foam breaking down. Perhaps it's the layer of foam between the coils, although it really feels like it's more of the top padding. But this is helpful in giving me something else to consider when I open up the mattress. p.s. I sure wouldn't buy another S&F mattress for at least 3-5 years from now to find out if they've really solved their durability problem. Especially considering their standard for warranty replacement has left previous customers out of luck (and money). This message was modified Sep 14, 2009 by twalkman
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Re: Curious about Stearns and Foster mattresses
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twalkman wrote: Interesting. That inspired me to go to do a search on S&F coil on coil design. I found this at their website: http://www.stearnsandfoster.com/mattressStyle.aspx It appears they are still using a coil on coil design. This certainly makes it look incredibly impressive and build well enough to last 20 years. The fact that it's lasting 1.5 years for low weight people must mean that it is some foam breaking down. Perhaps it's the layer of foam between the coils, although it really feels like it's more of the top padding. But this is helpful in giving me something else to consider when I open up the mattress. p.s. I sure wouldn't buy another S&F mattress for at least 3-5 years from now to find out if they've really solved their durability problem. Especially considering their standard for warranty replacement has left previous customers out of luck (and money).
You have to keep things in perspective here. Even when a bed has a high enough warranty rate to incite a manufacturer for a redesign it's still probably under 5%. Even with the older coil design, just because the Stearns didn't work for you doesn't mean it doesn't work for most people. My son sleeps on the current Intellicoil latex pillowtop and has nothing but positive things to say about it. One of many reasons you should never make a buying decision based on customer reviews. -Alex |
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Alexander wrote: The current Estate Stearns and Foster coil is not coil on coil. It's coil IN coil. -Alex It appears the link I got from google above is to their old design and no longer actively linked on their site (makes you wonder what else is hidden there). Alex: Question: Would you guess the permanent body depressions that started appearing within a year are attributable to a break down in the springs, or a break down in the foams used in the padding? And do you think the depressions will continue to get deeper and deeper, or the depressions have sunk to their natural level and the rest of the mattress won't because it doesn't get constantly used? |
Re: Curious about Stearns and Foster mattresses
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twalkman wrote: It appears the link I got from google above is to their old design and no longer actively linked on their site (makes you wonder what else is hidden there). Alex: Question: Would you guess the permanent body depressions that started appearing within a year are attributable to a break down in the springs, or a break down in the foams used in the padding? And do you think the depressions will continue to get deeper and deeper, or the depressions have sunk to their natural level and the rest of the mattress won't because it doesn't get constantly used?
If I had to guess I'd say you have a King size mattress, yes? -Alex |
Re: Curious about Stearns and Foster mattresses
| No, queen size. |
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Hey, Alex; So, the S and F used coil ON coil before their re-design? I never opened up that mattress, just gave that one year old, $1,850 one away. I have seen coil ON coil recently, promoted like it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Looks like a short pocket coil on top of some other coil. It really felt like the foam crapped out to me, tho. First, the body impressions(king). Then I slept in the middle for awhile. Used my husband's side(he only is here a few nights a week so I can sleep wherever I want to most nights), then found myself curled all the way to the edge. I finally figured this was NUTS when I woke to find myself curled around the very edge and across the top...last place that had any cush left. That was very sad. Kait |
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Hi Kait, if you look at the S&F picture from the link above you can see the coil on coil design. There is a thin padding layer between the two sets of coils. I'm wondering if that is what is giving way and causing the body impressions to form so quickly. Either that or the coil on coil design is just too unstable. All in all, it now seems like technology for marketing sake instead of a real improvement. Just more complexity that isn't needed. Btw, I talked with someone at one of the well regarded companies that sells Talalay. He got very quiet when I mentioned I was considering opening opening the mattress and replacing the padding. He obviously thought I was nuts. When I asked why he said it is probably a spring problem not a padding problem. He said to keep sleeping on the mattress for another year or two until the mattress meets the warrantee requirements -- which made me think he was nuts. |