I hate having to buy anything expensive without being informed, but as near as i can tell there is an intricate conspiracy to prevent you from ever being able to be informed. No two stores have the same model names, any guide you find that recommends a version, and that version has long been replaced and is unfindable.
And the only determinable metric is coil count
Every place has a dozen setups like
The LARRY 700 coil count, $250
The MOE 825 coil count $850
The CURLY coil count 950 $2300
I have been putting it off for over two years, but a 30 year old mattress , where my ass slowly drifts to the floor just isn’t acceptable anymore.
So I have to sack up and do the thing I hate most of all.
“Hey Mr. mattress-pusher, I got X dollars, just give me something that costs that much, because I have no fucking idea what I am buying” :mad:
I completely and totally agree. Now compound that if you want to buy an adjustable mattress. There’s no consistency on anything, including the mechanicals. Ugh.
Screw all the coils and crap, they’ll sag on you inside 6 months no matter what they’re made of or how much padding is on them. They simply don’t make inner-spring mattresses like they used to anymore. We recently bought a Sleep Number bed (the most basic model was perfectly fine for us) and could not be happier. It’ll never, ever sag and you can adjust it to any firmness you want, even changing it depending on how achy your body is on a particular night.
IMHO mattresses are way overpriced. Fortunately, they’re always on sale, for one reason or another. God forbid you pay full price on a mattress.
Is there an IKEA near you. I seriously will buy my next mattress from IKEA: way cheaper and I don’t need to think of a mattress as an heirloom, thanks.
We bought a new mattress about a year ago. Like computers, all the stores advertise that they will beat competitors’ prices, but no store has the same model mattress, so they’ll never have to.
There are lots of good sites around which explain the types, but you need to spend a weekend or two just trying them. And of course have a budget. We got a latex one which has been great - we tried memory foam, and it just didn’t feel good. But it is very individual. We used to often wake up with backaches - no more.
Here is a site with pluses and minuses of various mattress types which I found useful, but you can find lots more. Don’t worry about what is most popular, just what works for you.
Have you ever slept on a ThermaPedic? We did once at a nice motel and the experience was heavenly. No way could we afford one but I’ve never felt anything like it before. Normally it takes a long time for me to fall asleep in a motel but before I knew it I was out like a light. The next morning I didn’t feel like I’d been “laying” on anything, no pressure points. It’s easy for me to say, I know, (not my money) but you might want to try one while you’re sleeping around. They’re unbelievable.
My husband loved the Sleep Number bed we bought. However, no matter how hard or soft I adjusted my side, I was always crippled up after spending the night on that bed. Every single time. So I started sleeping on the guest bed.
It’s a pity, because in theory it sounds like something I’d really like, but it just didn’t work for me.
Be careful about the guarantee, too. Around here, you don’t get your money back, you only get credit for another mattress. I guess this is reasonable enough, because what is the store going to do if you only want to have a mattress for a weekend guest, and then you return it? But it’s something to watch for.
And it seems that the mattress stores are all having holiday sales this weekend. As opposed to the sales that they have every other weekend.
A few years ago I didn’t have a bed so I slept on a quilt spread out on the floor. This was bad news for my backside, which has always been in bad shape anyway.
I visited my brother about 5 years ago, where I slept on a plain old foam rubber pad on the floor. It’s 2 1/2 inches thick. I thought it was comfortable enough, so he gave it to me. I’ve been sleeping on that ever since.
And every time I need to move it (4 times since he gave it to me), I just roll it up and stick it in the back of my car.
They are pricey, but the Tempurpedic mattresses can’t be beat. It really is the best thing you will ever sleep on.
Added bonus: the manufacturer sets the prices, so individual stores cannot monkey with them or they lose the right to sell the mattresses.
So while you will not find discounts, you also will not find yourself getting screwed and seeing your same mattress a week later in a different store for 30% less.
As for every other mattress - yeah, good luck with all of that.
Whatever you do, don’t go to a “Mattress Warehouse” type place (a stand-alone store that sells bargain-priced mattresses and nothing else).
They take used mattresses, strip the fabric off, replace it with new fabric, then seal it in a plastic covering so it looks brand new. The “refurbished” tag, which is required by law, is reverse or tucked under another tag so that it cannot be seen under the sealed plastic.
A local news channel did a story on this. In each case, the salesman assured the undercover buyer (with a hidden camera and mic) that it was a new mattress. The reporter sliced open each mattress they bought and found saggy springs, stains (!), even bedbugs.
Interesting. Got a link? I bought two nice new mattresses from a mattress warehouse a couple of years ago and haven’t seen any evidence that they are anything but new. No refurbished tag either.
We need to replace our aging King mattress and I’m dreading it. I love memory foam and my spousal unit prefers much firmer. My thought was that we buy two extra long twin mattresses - each of us getting what we like, and when we put them over the king foundations and add a good mattress pad over both, it should work great. Has anyone done that - will it work?
Failing that, we’ll get what he likes and I’ll put a thick memory foam topper on my side - like we have now.
I’ve never slept on a Sleep Number, but he did at a hotel once, and he hated it. Ages ago, we had a soft-sider water bed and I loved it, but he didn’t. Maybe part of pre-marital counseling should be mattress compatibility?? Altho we’re creeping up on 29 years, so maybe it’s not that big a deal??
Consumer Reports did an article on mattresses recently. They said a lot of people like Ikea mattresses (hoping there is an Ikea near you).
I had to get one for my son recently and I just gave up and went to the big furniture store in the area. They have a separate mattress room where people are dressed up like doctors. First you lie down on this thing with a video screen that shows your body looking like a mood ring, then they show you a few mattresses. We found a good one.
The only downside I can see is that if you get particularly jiggy wit’ it, the twin mattresses might go their separate ways and dump you down the crack. (And that is not a euphemism.)
No mattress problems here. I sleep in a hammock. These are hand woven hammocks, made in the Yucatan (where I live). A really fine, double weave will cost about $50. Once you are accustomed to them (2-3 nights) they are amazing! You sleep all night, six to eight hours, and wake up in the same position. No tossing and turning. They are machine washable and last over ten years.
My last mattress purchase involved going onto Overstock.com, finding the cheapest one in the biggest size that would fit through my door and ordering. Cost me $200, with a free matching box spring, and shipped to my door for $3.
DON’T do this! You will be sleeping in a cavernous dip within 3 months. I know; I bought an IKEA mattress. It is a huge waste of money no matter how cheap it is compared to other mattresses. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea.
Sorry to hear you had that experience. Not sure how long ago that was, but they make them with that “pillow top” now, too, so that may make a difference if that’s not the style you had.
Go test them at one of their stores, because they have the memory foam styles now, so you may like it on a softer setting with the pillow top but he can make his side firmer even with the foam.
Also, we bought one of these pads when we had that crappy IKEA mattress that collapsed on us, and we put it on the Sleep Number bed and it’s awesome.
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After you have checked it out seach online for alternative stores.
They’re unbelievable.