Mattress Forum

Tempurpedic (if you like the memory foam feel - most other memory foam beds are lesser quality so beware),

High end innerspring (like Royal Pedic),

Lesser known local brands (like Gardner or maybe Orginal mattress factory - but make sure they do not use cheap PU foam (ideally none)),

Customized latex (sleepez, flobeds, foamsweetfoam) if you like that feel or one that you piece together yourself (sleeplikeabear, foambymail),

or mattress surgery (cut off the top of your current mattress or another innerspring take out the cheap PU foam and add a few inches off soft to medium latex (15-32 ILD range) and maybe 1-2" of decent memory foam).   If you go the front forum page, you will see "highlighted threads" at the top for some threads on mattress surgergy and other topics.

I'd like to keep my budget within ~$1500, which likely eliminates tempurpedic (worried about heat anyways) and a high end innerspring like Royal Pedic.

Mattress surgery sounds like something I'd consider and then bring up to my fiancee who would then flip out.......not ready to go that route yet.

So I think either a latex mattress or a decent basic innerspring that we can experiment with using toppers.

We both like the idea of being able to customize our respective sides of the bed, as TC2334 said we are likely opposites (sleep-wise):

Seems like sleepez allows for his/her customization plus the ability to exchange layers if we find we don't have the right combination. 8500 is within price range. Can I use current boxspring? Order foundation from sleepez? Put slats across my bedframe?

Could also try Ikea latex mattress and add toppers if necessary, but not a lot of reviews about their latex beds.

If we go innerspring route, can we use different toppers on each half of bed? Seems like that would be easier with king-size mattress (buy 2 twin size toppers) but we want to stick with queen. What innerspring is popular here for use as a base to add toppers to? (Sorry that may be another complicated question)

Forums are awesome! Thanks so much guys, I certainly appreciate folks spending their time to help me.

Yes, I have heard that they have pretty good quality, and made more of the way they use to make mattresses.  I don't live in that area, so I have never tried.   You probably should check them out.   Just try to avoid anything that has polyuerethene foam in it (at least as little as possible, it doesn't last).

seems like all the processes do involve poly foam (except the latex). Maybe it's something you have to specify that you don't want?

Yeah, I just noticed that on the website.  A bit dissapointing, but they don't use a whole lot (some S brands use inchs and inches of the stuff).  1" would probably not make much difference  The "Quilted" mattress looks to be the worst offender.  I am not sure why they use it at all other than they are trying to keep the cost down.  Maybe they have a one without or you can request without.  Not sure what the dense polyester is, but I don't think that would lose support like a PU foam.

The pocketed coil does not use PU, just has polyester pad over the springs (I think that is okay).  Not sure if you want pocketed coils, but that one sounds pretty comfortable with the latex on top of the coils.
 

p.s. there are different qualities of PU foam as well.  Some are denser and longer lasting than others.  So, 3/4" of high quality  would not necessarilly be a deal breaker for me.  I bought some HD PU foam for sofa cushions, and it seems to be holding up okay.

Example: The foam type is 1835. The 18 means a cubic foot of this foam weighs 1.8 pounds. The heavier a piece of foam, the longer it will maintain its shape. The 35 means it takes 35 pounds of pressure to compress a piece of this foam to 25% of its original height. The higher this number means the firmer the piece of foam.

The foam provided to meet the firmness specifications of soft, medium and firm are based on our experience and industry classifications. Just as people have differing opinions about the taste of food, review of a movie and physical beauty, the way a piece of foam will feel will differ from person to person. In general, a soft feel means foam will moderately compress when used, a medium feel will slightly compress and a firm feel will barely compress. The technical specifications of the foam being provided are listed in the tables below. We make no representations as to personal feel.

Premium foam will last longer than standard foam, all things being equal.

These tables are based on foam usage by an average person weighing approximately 150 to 200 pounds. Adjustments to the foam supplied will be made for weights outside these parameters.  

As far as customizing each side of the bed independently for me and my fiancee, can this be done with toppers over a standard innerspring?

Seeing as I'm really new to this game, I'm sure even after research I'll still need to feel this one out for myself (ourselves). I want each of us to be able to change things around as we see fit. The latex beds online seem to make that possible (with the layer exchanges), and I can see it being a possibility with toppers but I just wonder how messy it would get trying to customize each side independently.......

by the way, we are both on the slender side.... she is 5'5" and I am 5'8".......if it makes a difference.

If you really want to customize both sides, then you are better off getting latex from one of the places mentioned above.  The main question would be do you like latex.  So, ideally you would try some all latex beds to get a sense.  Most people like them, but a few do not.