View Full Version : New mattress time - what works?
OK, my old cal-king mattress/springs are in need of retirement.
A quick perusal of the mattress-retailing-world makes it look like there's a whole lot of overpriced snake oil out there.
What mattress types/brands are decent, and reasonably-priced?
flowerseverywhere
11-8-11, 4:31am
I love my tempurpedic. Expensive but it is so comfortable and you don't feel a thing if the other person moves around in the bed. When we got ours there was a 90 day guarantee and you could return it. We intended to do so if it wasn't working, but once I got used to it, which took a few days I would never give it up.
I love my Select comfort bed. I got the cheapo model without the digital controls, so I have no idea what my "sleep number" actually is. The thing I like most is the adjustability. Its usually at one setting, but there are times like when I'm sick or when I've done a lot of physical activity where I like it softer/firmer than its usual setting.
rosarugosa
11-8-11, 6:48am
We've been really happy with our traditional mattress/boxspring from the Gardner Mattress company. High-quality, long-lasting, and made locally, although what is local for us wouldn't be local for you.
When we need new ones, we go to a mattress manufacturer (Denver Mattress maybe?) and buy their top of the line pillow top. It's about half the price of buying them at a furniture store. Our closest outlet is about 100 miles from here, but worth the drive. Our last set is at least 15 years old and still comfortable for us.
Years ago, you could look at the price tag of anything at the furniture stores and see letters at the top of the tag. Most of them used BLACKSMITH for a cost code. B = 1, L = 2, etc. That way you could figure out how much their cost was and see how much they marked stuff up. I wonder if they still do that...
Related question: what, in your experience, is the lifetime of a quality mattress? Ours is approaching 15 years and still seems to be ok, but I want to put money in the budget for the time that it is not.
Hi Bae... We went through this 2 years ago. We ended up with a tempurpedic knock off from Costco. It's been wonderful. It's a big chunk of foam with the top inches being memory foam. It's got a good amount of support, and neither of us feels it when the other moves, which is a big plus. When the top inches of memory foam break down, I imagine I will replace just that piece.
We had been on a fantastic foam core futon with a wool topper for years, and it finally got too firm for my middle aged bones. I really recommend this Costco version.
I have a Tempurpedic, and I will never give it up. My friend was with me when I got it and now she lusts for one. Try one at a local store if you can, and lay on it for a few minutes. Good luck in your search.
HappyHiker
11-8-11, 11:21am
Buying a new mattress is so personal, isn't it? What works for one back and preferred night-time body temperature (do you sleep hot of cold?) might not work for someone else.
I used to love my heated waterbed, but after I got older, it gave me backaches. I've slept on memory foam mattresses, and memory foam toppers and found them too hot and "clingy" for me. Now I find a traditional mattress and box spring set are the best for non-achy sleep. I prefer a pillow top and a medium firmness.
Stearns & Foster mattresses are a wonderfully crafted product, top of the line...and not inexpensive, but will last. Your mileage may vary. Look for sales...
What a timely thread this is. Enjoying reading through everyone's entries. We're in need of a new mattress and don't have the slightest clue as to where we should start looking (or at what), so this makes for a great start.
I've heard that unless you get a top quality memory foam mattress, it can feel really hot.
Rosemary.......if you don't get any pain or other problems from your mattress, it should be fine for many more years!
I loathe that commercial that says "If its over 8, its time to replace". And they say there are billions of dust mites in
it by then too. Just crazy. We use mattresses forever, if they don't cause any aches or pains.
Originally posted by CathyA.
I loathe that commercial that says "If its over 8, its time to replace".Chalk it up to the manufacturing industry peddling their BS in hopes of spurring unnecessary spending while at the same time, promoting the continued filling of our landfills at an unprecedented rate with more perfectly useful stuff. All this, while we (the caring) get to sit back (like spectators) and watch even more of our valuable resources being used up and burned up to create more needless new. And people by the millions are suckering into it.
Sad Eyed Lady
11-8-11, 8:32pm
Chalk it up to the manufacturing industry peddling their BS in hopes of spurring unnecessary spending while at the same time, promoting the continued filling of our landfills at an unprecedented rate with more perfectly useful stuff. All this, while we (the caring) get to sit back (like spectators) and watch even more of our valuable resources being used up and burned up to create more needless new. And people by the millions are suckering into it.
Amen Mrs-M! So well said - and with feeling!! My thoughts exactly.
The only place we have influence in this scenario is to choose to not sit back & spectate! Buy second hand (eliminate demand), repair, reuse, etc. I got my Costco mattress from a Craigslist buy. It was 3 months old, barely used, and 1/3 the price of a new one.
Buying used, and buying new, locally made goods, made with locally sourced ingredients/components, etc., is a darn good way to get out of the spectator's seat and take direct action.
I guess if everyone thought like us, there'd be alot less stuff out there. But its the mindless masses that follow the industries' words. How do we wake people up??
And so many people would lose jobs (making/selling/advertising all this junk), so we'd need to have an alternate plan of everything ready in the wings. Its all pretty overwhelming. :(
Stearns & Foster - Plush Top/ very firm underneath - King b/c we have 2 kids that end up in our bed on occassion.
Expensive as H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, but worth it to us. DH has sleep issues.
Every night we get in bed, I literally say "AHHHH" like I'm in a Marriott commercial.
Speaking of the age of mattresses, my mattress is about 30 years old (it was my parents and fairly new when I got it). It is a Sealy Posturpedic, mattress with box springs. I keep the box springs right on the floor. It's still nice and firm and I do turn the mattress every so often. I hate the thought of even getting another mattress and would probably go back to a futon.
jennipurrr
11-9-11, 11:26am
If anyone is looking for a deal on a mattress, you may want to check out searsoutlet.com You can select your local sears store there. We ended up buying a mattress for a supposed 90% off (inflated price I think) for $112. It was a customer return. I watch sears outlet for appliances for our rentals and the mattresses are often marked very low. You have to get over the ick factor that someone probably slept on it for a few nights, but ours was like new. Our old mattress was about 12 years old and had taken a beating. I hoped it would last longer but it was not a very great mattress to begin with.
Problem solved. We were over on the mainland a few weeks ago, went to two different family-owned furniture/mattress stores that have been there forever, tested some, asked some questions of the actuallyknowledgeable staff, picked the cheapest one that was made locally-ish, and arranged to get it over here. After a week in use, seems comfier than the high-end heavily-advertised brands too, at quite a bit less cost.
Simpler at Fifty
12-4-11, 3:36pm
We will get a cheaper one next time too. No more pillow top for us. Not worth it.
Chalk it up to the manufacturing industry peddling their BS in hopes of spurring unnecessary spending while at the same time, promoting the continued filling of our landfills at an unprecedented rate with more perfectly useful stuff. All this, while we (the caring) get to sit back (like spectators) and watch even more of our valuable resources being used up and burned up to create more needless new. And people by the millions are suckering into it.
Mrs M, I simply keep mattresses until my back hurts from sleeping on it. I have a mattress that was given to me as part of the antique bed I was given in 2005. I think it was 10 years old then. The box spring had to be custom made since it's a 3/4 bed. The mattress is a full and not one of the really thick ones. I had to replace the mattress pad recently (also came with the bed) and my mattress is almost too thin for the new mattress pad. Lots of slippage!
The only place we have influence in this scenario is to choose to not sit back & spectate! Buy second hand (eliminate demand), repair, reuse, etc. I got my Costco mattress from a Craigslist buy. It was 3 months old, barely used, and 1/3 the price of a new one.
Buying used, and buying new, locally made goods, made with locally sourced ingredients/components, etc., is a darn good way to get out of the spectator's seat and take direct action.
Mattresses are the one thing I would NOT buy second-hand. Just because of the ick factor. The only reason I took the used mattress that came with my bed is because it was from people I know VERY well.
Problem solved. We were over on the mainland a few weeks ago, went to two different family-owned furniture/mattress stores that have been there forever, tested some, asked some questions of the actuallyknowledgeable staff, picked the cheapest one that was made locally-ish, and arranged to get it over here. After a week in use, seems comfier than the high-end heavily-advertised brands too, at quite a bit less cost.
So, was it a pillow top, or foam or what kind? do tell. I've heard the foam type are kind of hard to get used to because when you shift, the "old' impression you made stays there for a bit of time, and you tend to roll back into it. The older I get, the softer I want my bed, at least on the top. But I don't want to sink to china on it, just on the top, with a firm under layer.
How do you spin or flip or move a Tempurpedic mattress? They seem very heavy?
Resurrecting this thread (very informative) to ask a question: Remember when they used to make mattresses that you could flip? I mean, not just rotate regularly, but actually flip the thing over and use the other side too, to extend its life? Do they even make mattresses like that any more? Save me from that "Oh my gawd, I can't believe you just asked that" disgusted salesperson look :D
We actually flipped our broken-down pillowtop mattress over and use the back of it right now, with a topper put on it (not bad, but even that trick is wearing thin).
treehugger
7-24-12, 11:31am
Resurrecting this thread (very informative) to ask a question: Remember when they used to make mattresses that you could flip? I mean, not just rotate regularly, but actually flip the thing over and use the other side too, to extend its life? Do they even make mattresses like that any more?
We faithfully flip our mattress with every season change. And now that we have a memory foam topper, we flip that, too (dunno if we need to). That said, we bought our mattress about 8 years ago, so I have no idea if they still sell this kind (but I suspect they do; they can't all be pillow top and memory foam).
Kara
Remember when they used to make mattresses that you could flip? I mean, not just rotate regularly, but actually flip the thing over and use the other side too, to extend its life? Do they even make mattresses like that any more?
Some places do. There's a local firm here called "Original Mattress Factory" that promotes the fact that their mattresses are still two-sided and can be flipped.
ctg492............At first I read your post as asking how you could spin, flip or move in bed. I thought "wow........she (or he) is quite active in bed. hahahaha
I also would NEVER buy a used mattress, ever since DD had bedbugs and I began reading online about people who got them from getting a used mattress. She's unfortunately throwing her's out when she moves soon.
We gave several mattresses to St. Vincent DePaul when we cleaned out my mother's condo. I wonder if they are still accepting them? Wish there was a place that recycled them (after sterilizing them!).
Tussiemussies
7-24-12, 10:50pm
Was also concerned about bedbugs in your situation as on another forum one woman wrote that although her mattress was encased in plastic, they took it off a truck where they had collected all of the old ones. You never know if in the warehouse they are already covered in plastic or it is something they put on before delivery. Bedbugs are everywhere these days. I would put a good plastic cover over the whole mattress and leave it there for a year like that. Of course under the sheets etc.
rosarugosa
7-25-12, 4:51am
Pug: They do still make traditional mattresses that can be flipped and rotated; we bought one last fall.
rosarugosa, could you possibly tell me what brand you bought? I had a very earnest salesman tell me yesterday that they absolutely positively didn't make them any more .....:confused:
rosarugosa
7-25-12, 8:22pm
Sure, we get our mattresses from the Garner Mattress Corp.
http://gardnermattress.com/index.asp
We like the fact that they are local - the mattresses are actually made a few towns away from us, and local manufacturing is pretty rare in these parts. Our last set was from Gardner too, and we had it for 13 years. It actually seemed to be in pretty good shape when we got rid of it, but DH has a bad back and we didn't want to push our luck. Mom bought us this set for our anniversary; it was $1600. for queen mattress & boxspring. Since they are a small local company, I'm not sure if they are easily available elsewhere, but at least you can tell that salesman that they do still make flippable mattresses!
If anyone is looking for a deal on a mattress, you may want to check out searsoutlet.com You can select your local sears store there. We ended up buying a mattress for a supposed 90% off (inflated price I think) for $112. It was a customer return. I watch sears outlet for appliances for our rentals and the mattresses are often marked very low. You have to get over the ick factor that someone probably slept on it for a few nights, but ours was like new. Our old mattress was about 12 years old and had taken a beating. I hoped it would last longer but it was not a very great mattress to begin with.
If you think about it there really shouldn't be an icck factor to a slightly used mattress (although I agree that I'd be concerned about bringing bedbugs home). After all, almost everyone stays in a hotel from time to time without getting creeped out at the thought that hundreds, if not thousands, of different people have slept on the bed.
The only place we have influence in this scenario is to choose to not sit back & spectate! Buy second hand (eliminate demand), repair, reuse, etc. I got my Costco mattress from a Craigslist buy. It was 3 months old, barely used, and 1/3 the price of a new one.
Buying used, and buying new, locally made goods, made with locally sourced ingredients/components, etc., is a darn good way to get out of the spectator's seat and take direct action.
Because of the bed bug thing now, I wouldn't buy a mattress or upholstered furniture used.
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