Serta Icomfort request for advice

[jblo]

Need2Sleep - I spent 2 straight days going into stores talking to industry experts and that was the overwhelming opinion. Not everything is found on the web. But take it or leave it. If I find something online I'll post it. Though Costco carries some quality products, you should know that you pretty much get what you pay for.

 

[SleepFinally]

Our iComfort (not sure which one we got, but the salesman did say it was the firmest one in their line) was delivered yesterday.
We were told that we would probably have to "air" it out or let it breathe, you pick for a day. Well I'm here to tell you that there was very little odor to our new mattress. Something I've read about in this thread. I was surprised and pleased that we did not have this issue, the temps here are in the 90s, so the prospect of opening up the windows wasn't something I was looking forward to.
It did seem that the bed was "firmer" than the one on the display floor, but that was to be expected.
I slept well my first night and am pleased, the hubby on the other hand is undecided. I'll have to get back to you after a couple of weeks. I just wanted to say I am happy so far with our new bed.

 

[need2sleep636]

jblo wrote:
Need2Sleep - I spent 2 straight days going into stores talking to industry experts and that was the overwhelming opinion. Not everything is found on the web. But take it or leave it. If I find something online I'll post it. Though Costco carries some quality products, you should know that you pretty much get what you pay for.


Well this debate has sparked interest of many it seems and elaborating on your opinion would be helpful. What did these experts base their opinion on? Do they know who makes the foam for each of the two companies? Does Serta make their own foam?

 

[phreaky_d]

SleepFinally wrote:
Our iComfort (not sure which one we got, but the salesman did say it was the firmest one in their line) was delivered yesterday.

We were told that we would probably have to "air" it out or let it breathe, you pick for a day. Well I'm here to tell you that there was very little odor to our new mattress. Something I've read about in this thread. I was surprised and pleased that we did not have this issue, the temps here are in the 90s, so the prospect of opening up the windows wasn't something I was looking forward to.
It did seem that the bed was "firmer" than the one on the display floor, but that was to be expected.
I slept well my first night and am pleased, the hubby on the other hand is undecided. I'll have to get back to you after a couple of weeks. I just wanted to say I am happy so far with our new bed.

Thanks for posting your impressions. Can you find out which model you got and post the info here? I'm leaning towards the Insight and it sounds like that's the model you have. I just want to clarify.

 

[weewillywinky]

According to the most recent 10K filings with the SEC, Sealy does manufacture its own foam (which is not to say it doesn't license and outsource its manufacturing through licensees), but Simmons outsources all of its supplies and does not claim to manufacture its own foam. Serta is owned by a private equity firm and that company does not post filings with the SEC, so no public information is available on that company with the SEC.
For what it's worth...hope this helps.

 

[sleepdepot]

First I would like to disclose that I am a mattress store owner since 8 years back. I am currently running just one store which I also am acting like the sales person in. I sell or have sold brands like Hastens, Tempur-pedic, Comfor-pedic (before Simmons Bought them out), Serta, Spring Air, Englander, Simmons, Sealy, Sterns & Foster, Natura, NexGel, Corsicana, Symbol, Kaymed.
I would like to give you my opinion on the mattress industry as well as on the Icomfort product...
1. Density of foam is a measurement of quality in most cases but not always. There are fillers that will make a foam denser but not necessary a higher quality.
2. memory foam/visco foam/tempur-material are all sleeping warmer because they are dense, they compress under weight and they trap the body heat of the sleeper inside of the foam. A mattress needs to be breathable to sleep cooler. The only thing that will help foam sleep cooler is to make it breathable. When infusing gel into the memory foam I can not see that this would make it sleep any cooler. But Serta has figured out a way to use the word and material Gel in their marketing! Gel sounds "Cool" but it's not! When gel is made with big air pockets it sleeps cooler. Kaymed, Nexgel and Intelliegel are the only ones that I am aware of right now that uses "real gel" in their mattresses. I know for a fact that the NexGel beds sleep way cooler than Tempur-pedic mattresses. How do I know this? Because some of my customers that complain about sleeping hot on Tempur-pedic has swapped to a Nexgel mattress and now don't complain about sleeping 'Hot"!
3. The mattress industry is filled with a bunch of ( I call them mattress-prostitutes). Their main goal is to make as much money as possible and tell a story with their product as opposed to making a 'Quality product' and making truthful claims about it. I see consumers all the time fall for slick sales stories! But guess what!? a story is not going to help once you got the mattress in your house and none of the claims made are true.. But at this time the mattress store has your money and you are stuck with a mattress that doesn't live up to your expectations!
4. Comfort Guarantees of mattresses; so many stores offer these guarantess!! If you buy a mattress from such a store there is a risk that you might also end up buying a slightly used mattress.The only mattress manufacturer to my knowledge that takes back mattresses are Tempur-pedic. Any other brand of mattress that is being taken back is most likely going to be resold!!
5. All foams soften up if/when compressed under weight! Some take deeper indentions than others. Latex softens up but holds it's shape fairly well. Good quality memory foam and Tempur-material softens up but holds it's shape very well. Polyfoams are less durable especially the quality being used in most regular innerspring mattresses today..(No matter which manufacturer). Polyfoam could be made to hold up but would cost more and therefor the manufacturers are "pricing their beds out of the competition" When people starts to vote by buying quality products (that cost more) instead of always looking for the cheapest, that's when manufacturers will be forced to change what they make and produce better quality.
6. No one mentions the box-spring or the foundation being used in mattresses today... Most are really poor quality and can and will make a difference in how well a mattress holds up! Guess why Tempur-pedic has switched to a solid surface on all their Foundations!? To keep them from squeaking is one reason but also to keep their mattresses look nad feel flat! Most other brands put their memoryfoam, latex foam mattresses on a "Semiflex boxspring" this is only going to make the mattress look like it's sagging in the middle or on either side if it's a king size mattress.
I would also like to point out that Dan's posts that I have been reading under this thread seem very honest and to the point. If you choose not to believe what I have said or what he has pointed out that's your choice/loss.
I am in the business to make money but I am not in the business to trick or fool people with lies! I feel that I have the experience and knowledge to help people on this site and in my store. I hope that some of what I posted here will be helpful to some before they spend their hard earned money on some marketing gimmick!

 

[daydreamer01]

Hey we gotta dan fan here. He never did show me any links for his claims, and quite frankly it diddn't make any sense that he was bashing his own product. ( if thats even true what he said about working for a major foam manufacturer). So you sell or sold serta right? Are you selling any icomforts at your store. I want real reviews and not ones that are biased from people who probably sell the other foam beds. Sorry but i have to comment if my bs meter goes off

 

[Guest]

daydreamer01 wrote:
Hey we gotta dan fan here. He never did show me any links for his claims, and quite frankly it diddn't make any sense that he was bashing his own product. ( if thats even true what he said about working for a major foam manufacturer). So you sell or sold serta right? Are you selling any icomforts at your store. I want real reviews and not ones that are biased from people who probably sell the other foam beds. Sorry but i have to comment if my bs meter goes off

@Daydreamer- Can you explain why my Icomfort Insight broke down after 30 days. Even the salesperson who took the return stated he could not believe how you just sank straight in with NO resistance at all anymore. There was no support provided on my side of the bed anymore after 30 days at all, to me that is concerning. I understand you have a hard on for the mattress, but we are honest people giving our opionion on a mattress. There is no reason to attack anyone. We merely are providing our experience to other possible buyers. I am not saying it is a horrible mattress, its just that there may be quality concerns due to longevity of the mattress itself. I know for a FACT this mattress broke down COMPLETELY in 30 days. No questions about it.

 

[weewillywinky]

Thanks for the valuable information. I am generally glad to read the contribution to this forum, from most all sources, and have the opportunity to hear them out and make a more informed decision. That's why we're here, I suspect, and although we all have a b.s. meter of some sort another, not all bs meters are calibrated the same!

 

[slpngoc]

First, thanks to everyone for insightful posts, it really helped in shopping. I will tell you my shopping experience for the iComfort as candidly as possible.

I had an iComfort Insight twin XL on order from Sears from Mon. 5/30/11, but cancelled the order today. It was to be delivered 2 days from now. At Sears, they had an Insight and Genius both twin XL and a Revolution Queen on display. Sitting and pushing on the Insight repeatedly, I noticed a little variance in the 'give' of the mattress - at the feet area, it was firmer, in the hips area, there was a little more sink when pushing into the mattress. Also, when I sat up on the mattress in the middle 'Indian style' on bed, it sunk down a bit, sort of like being in a hole. When I pressed all around the Revolution mattress, the feel was much more even from head to toe. .. Insight felt alright to lay on, but after reading Pete's (?) and Astinia's (sp?) posts, I decided I'm not in the mood to experiment.
I found out Sears used to carry a memory foam mattress by Sealy (Embody?) last year, but now they have the iComfort. It just seems like a revolving door to keep a few memory foam mattress on the floor from different companies, like 5 foam mattress and 25 innerspring ones.
I did a google search on subject 'are memory foam mattresses toxic' and a number of pages come up talking about how memory foam is petroleum based and has many chemicals in it. Reading about VOC's, off-gassing and all is a turn off. I know S brand innersrpings will do that too, but I doubt as much as a memory foam one. I bought a mattress with 3" memory foam topper 3 weeks ago, and the memory foam smelled awful for days.
That Insight mattress was mfrd 3/31/11 and had some variance in feel. I've been looking at and ordered an S&F entry level plush tight top where the floor model mfrg. tag was June 2009 and the feel is very even in different areas of the mattress. I look forward to getting my new one in 8 days and getting off the couch (never let small outfit take your old mattress if you don't see yourself sticking with them on an exchange : | )

 

[Guest]

slpngoc wrote:
First, thanks to everyone for insightful posts, it really helped in shopping. I will tell you my shopping experience for the iComfort as candidly as possible.

I had an iComfort Insight twin XL on order from Sears from Mon. 5/30/11, but cancelled the order today. It was to be delivered 2 days from now. At Sears, they had an Insight and Genius both twin XL and a Revolution Queen on display. Sitting and pushing on the Insight repeatedly, I definitely noticed a big variance in the 'give' of the mattress - at the feet area, it was firmer, in the hips area, there was quite a bit more sink when pushing into the mattress. Also, when I sat up on the mattress in the middle 'Indian style' on bed, it sunk down quite a bit, kind of like being in a hole. When I pressed all around the Revolution mattress, the feel was much more even from head to toe. The Genius also had more sink in the hips area, but firmer in feet and head area.. Insight felt alright to lay on, but after reading Pete's (?) and Astinia's (sp?) posts, I decided I'm not in the mood to experiment.
I found out Sears used to carry a memory foam mattress by Sealy (Embody?) last year, but now they have the iComfort. It just seems like a revolving door to keep a few memory foam mattress on the floor from different companies, like 5 foam mattress and 25 innerspring ones.
I did a google search on subject 'are memory foam mattresses toxic' and a number of pages come up talking about how memory foam is petroleum based and has many chemicals in it. Reading about VOC's, off-gassing and all is a turn off. I know S brand innersrpings will do that too, but I doubt as much as a memory foam one. I bought a mattress with 3" memory foam topper 3 weeks ago, and the memory foam smelled awful for days.
That Insight mattress was mfrd 3/31/11 and the variance in feel was big. I've been looking at and ordered an S&F entry level plush tight top whose tag says is 2 years and the feel is very even in different areas of the mattress. I look forward to getting it in 8 days and getting off the couch (never let small outfit take your old mattress if you don't see yourself sticking with them on an exchange : | )

Glad I could help. Like I said I am not trying to get people to not try out the Icomfort, just giving my first hand experience. I am a bigger than average guy being 6'6 240lbs, but still am a slender guy. What would happen if say a 5'10 250lbs person used the bed, would it happen worse as there is more confined weight? Just wanted to let people know what happened so they do not have to go through exchanges like I did. Best of luck to you. I did make two reviews on here as well today to review both mattresses I have had now.

 

[phreaky_d]

I also appreciate all the info in this thread...it is certainly turning out to be the most informative source of iComfort info on the web. I was just about to buy the Insight today when I got an INCREDIBLE offer from another local furniture store competing for my business. I definitely need some advice on this situation:
Essentially, I can either buy a full-size iComfort Insight with a free mattress protector and two free iComfort or Tempurpedic Symphony pillows for about $1,170 with tax, OR I can buy a full-sized Tempurpedic Classic mattress with a free mattress protector and two free Tempurpedic neck pillows for $1,050. The Tempurpedic bed is a recent return from someone who bought the wrong size bed. I'm definitely thinking the Tempurpedic is the better deal and when I tried the Tempurpedic Classic mattress earlier today, it felt a bit more dense and firmer than the iComfort Insight.
From what I gather, the Serta is a new mattress and there obviously aren't a lot of long-term reviews on the iComfort. However, although the Tempurpedic warranty is 20 years compared with the 25 years on the iComfort, the Tempurpedic has excellent long-term reviews and is a well-known company. In light of this new offer on the Tempurpedic, I'm definitely swayed towards jumping on the Tempurpedic offer. What do you guys think?

 

[sleepswithcats]

If I were you, I would buy the Tempurpedic. They are a known quantity.

 

[slpngoc]

phreaky_d wrote:
I also appreciate all the info in this thread...it is certainly turning out to be the most informative source of iComfort info on the web. I was just about to buy the Insight today when I got an INCREDIBLE offer from another local furniture store competing for my business. I definitely need some advice on this situation:

Essentially, I can either buy a full-size iComfort Insight with a free mattress protector and two free iComfort or Tempurpedic Symphony pillows for about $1,170 with tax, OR I can buy a full-sized Tempurpedic Classic mattress with a free mattress protector and two free Tempurpedic neck pillows for $1,050. The Tempurpedic bed is a recent return from someone who bought the wrong size bed. I'm definitely thinking the Tempurpedic is the better deal and when I tried the Tempurpedic Classic mattress earlier today, it felt a bit more dense and firmer than the iComfort Insight.
From what I gather, the Serta is a new mattress and there obviously aren't a lot of long-term reviews on the iComfort. However, although the Tempurpedic warranty is 20 years compared with the 25 years on the iComfort, the Tempurpedic has excellent long-term reviews and is a well-known company. In light of this new offer on the Tempurpedic, I'm definitely swayed towards jumping on the Tempurpedic offer. What do you guys think?
The 20 or 25 year warranty should be a non-factor. Who would keep a mattress that long anyway? Like the other said, TempurP is a known item that has been around. iComfort has 2 measly months on the market and a couple or three bad reviews already. Not to be jerk, but you may want to look into the issue of materials / chemicals and claimed toxicity with memory foam mattresses and decide whether you believe that or not.

 

[need2sleep636]

slpngoc wrote:

The 20 or 25 year warranty should be a non-factor. Who would keep a mattress that long anyway?

Took the words right out of my mouth. 25 years.......come on.......really? Sounds like bait to me.

 

[jblo]

petes67bird wrote:





@Daydreamer- Can you explain why my Icomfort Insight broke down after 30 days. Even the salesperson who took the return stated he could not believe how you just sank straight in with NO resistance at all anymore. There was no support provided on my side of the bed anymore after 30 days at all, to me that is concerning. I understand you have a hard on for the mattress, but we are honest people giving our opionion on a mattress. There is no reason to attack anyone. We merely are providing our experience to other possible buyers. I am not saying it is a horrible mattress, its just that there may be quality concerns due to longevity of the mattress itself. I know for a FACT this mattress broke down COMPLETELY in 30 days. No questions about it.

Out of curiosity pete67, how exactly does a memory foam mattress "break down" after 30 days? Are you saying it no longer conforms to your body and weight? It just sinks in deeper on one side than the other? How deep was the indentation/depression on the mattress after you got up? Please explain. I just bought an Insight which I was very excited about until now. It gets delivered on Saturday so this is obviously a big concern. It felt awesome in the store and I was even comparing it to a Tempur Classic and Cloud. Perhaps you just happened to get a factory reject.
Also how did the return go? Did you have to pay a 20% restocking fee for an exchange/return? From what I understand, most memory foam mattress manufacturers require there to be at least a 3/4" depression on the bed after you get up for the full warranty to be honored.

 

[Guest]

jblo wrote:






Out of curiosity pete67, how exactly does a memory foam mattress "break down" after 30 days? Are you saying it no longer conforms to your body and weight? It just sinks in deeper on one side than the other? How deep was the indentation/depression on the mattress after you got up? Please explain. I just bought an Insight which I was very excited about until now. It gets delivered on Saturday so this is obviously a big concern. It felt awesome in the store and I was even comparing it to a Tempur Classic and Cloud. Perhaps you just happened to get a factory reject.
Also how did the return go? Did you have to pay a 20% restocking fee for an exchange/return? From what I understand, most memory foam mattress manufacturers require there to be at least a 3/4" depression on the bed after you get up for the full warranty to be honored.

Hi Jblo-
You know how when you lay in the bed, there is a contouring effect that occurs that shapes to your body, where it sort of molds to your shape? Well after about 30 days, when you layed or sat on my side of the bed, you would just sink straight in, no resilency at all left in the middle of the mattress on my side of the bed. If you even pushed down with your hand, it would just be extremely easy to push down in that location, but when you went to my wifes side, it was nice and firm and still contoured and had resilency. When I originally went back to the store to tell the salesperson, they couldnt believe it. Their reaction was, thats impossible.

After discussing with the salesperson, the mattress had a 120 night trial, so I used the comfort gurantee and only had to pay 49.00 for shipping on the exchange, plus the difference in the price of the upgraded mattress. Be sure to check with your store that they will honor the 120 night comfort guarantee. Well back to what I was saying, when they came with my exchange, they wanted to see firsthand what I was talking about as they couldnt believe it. The guy went first and sat on my wife's side of the bed, it slowly sank in and conformed to his body as he sat and went to lay down. Then he came to my side of the bed, sat down and sunk straight in. The look on the guy's face was priceless, like whoa. He then preceded to lay down and even stated its just like a hammock, the butt sank so far in and the head/legs felt as though they were elevated. It always rebounded to the original shape, just lost the firmness of the mattress itself to a sort of mush. He thought it was just a defect and tried to get us to exchange it for the identical mattress.

We werent fond of the mattress as well due to being sensitive to the odor it omitted along with the possible short life span of a replacement mattress. My rottweiler was also sensitive to the odor and really didnt want to be near it. He slept with us on our old bed, and on our new Vera Wang, but he wouldnt sleep or lay on the Icomfort. That says alot if a dog wouldnt lay on the bed and both my wife and I decided that maybe the dog could sense something far worse than we could. I wouldnt be too concerned with the mattress as every mattress will have "lemons" or issues with workmanship. Even cars do. I would just be sure before they deliver it that you find out how to take advantage of the 120 night guarantee and what any costs would be if you chose to pursue that guarantee. Good luck and if you have any more questions feel free to ask me.

 

[jblo]

Petes67 – Thanks for all the great insight and my apologies for you having to retype your whole ordeal with the Insight’s sinkage/mushiness factor. (Turns out I was viewing only a fraction of this thread and didn’t initially see the “Show All” link). Anyway, in general with these forums often times there will be people pushing some kind of agenda, but you and a few other contributors on here seem very genuine with your experiences, opinions, and advice so I appreciate that.
Sounds like you did get a ‘lemon’. I can see how such extensive sinking in one area of the bed where your butt lies would be uncomfortable. But my confusion lies in the fact that the others (Sleepright and Astinia) found it unacceptable for the exact opposite reason – it was uncomfortably TOO firm for them with no softening up whatsoever. And Marmitenot thought it was initially too firm but after adding a featherbed topper was very satisfied. I’m curious how my body would react to it. I’m 6’ tall, 190 lbs. 34 years old and very active in sports/working out so I value good sleep for recovery and my hope in getting a memory foam mattress in the first place was that it would provide that firm yet conforming support. As for the odor that was initially the least of my concerns, but after you describe the intensity, it sounds like it could be an issue.
The bed doesn’t get delivered till Saturday. The place I bought it from requires you to sleep in it for 14 days before exchange/return. They offer a 120 day trial too, BUT a 20% handling fee will be charged on all “comfort exchanges” PLUS a local $75 pickup and re-delivery fee – that’s $340 if I do an exchange! Seems ridiculous. What would you recommend? The bed hasn’t been delivered yet so there’s still time to cancel and put in an order for another one. The Tempurpedic Cloud was my runner-up…but it’s another $500 more than the Insight which is way more than I wanted to spend. Would you suggest I take a risk and give the Insight a shot or drop significantly more coin and go with the trusted Tempurpedic name?

 

[need2sleep636]

$340 for an exchange.......WOW!!! There's a guarantee alright....... a guanrantee they will get paid no matter what.

 

[sleepdepot]

Daydreamer01,
I sold Serta. I do not sell that brand right now. So you can think what you want about what I wrote. I am trying to help people make a better decision. I am not making a dime off of these people that are shopping for mattresses here and I don;'t have any loyalty to any brand since most of them has screwed me over in one way or another at some point (hence their name "mattress prostitutes") . In my store I look for products that is going to be the best value, quality and comfort for your money! Trust me I make mistakes sometimes and I pay for it by having unhappy customers when I do. But you should know that I live in a small town and I wan't to feel good about meeting old customers out on town knowing that I treated them right and got them the best for their money. So I am striving to do the best I can.
I am simply trying to get people to understand that memory foam wether it's infused with gel or not will sleep hot/warmer! As far as the quality of the foam being used in Serta Icomfort; only time will tell. All foams including memory foam softens up though! One poster says his Icomfort softened up extremely fast, doesn't surprise me. This was one of the reasons for why I stopped selling Serta products. Their memoryfoam would soften up too fast and I was taking back mattress after mattress with this problem. Hopefully their foam quality is better today than it was then.
If a memory foam for some reason would sleep cooler than another type of memory foam it's because of an open cell structure were the cells are bigger. Bigger open cells would also soften up quicker! The complaint of Tempur-pedics being too hard when first set up in customers house is common. Tempur material do soften but it doesn't turn to mush, this is because there is a small open cell structure, this is also why they sleep warmer/hot. I would also recommend people to think hard before buying the Tempur-pedic Cloud beds since these beds actually has a lower density/softer material in the top of them. This means that an already soft material will soften more with time. Mush!? Maybe, we shall see..
I am not her to bash any brand as I could truly bash all of them if I wanted to. There are always going to be good and bad things about mattresses being made. The most important thing is for customers to simply realize when a sales pitch and story is just that and nothing else!
Write down a list of what you want in a mattress and then put priority on what's more important before you go shopping. Ask many different stores about their product and hopefully you can see the difference between someone giving you BS or the truth.
For the person that was choosing between a copy brand memory foam mattress and a Tempur-pedic.. The answer is easy, go with Tempur-pedic. Tempur foundations is much better than any of the copy brands foundations. Also the foam in Tempur beds have a track record of holding up. In the 7 years I have sold Tempur-pedic I have had very few complaints about their foam not holding up.
Hope this helps!