What's a good price for a good mattress?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We’ve needed a good mattress for years. I’ve been cheap and put off buying one. Since we got married, we’ve had one that was decades old and kind of lumpy. Since we got the new bed frame, which is a different size (now Queen sized), we’ve been using the mattress from the foldout couch because it was queen sized and we weren’t willing/able to spend on a new one.

It’s a terrible matttress, thin and lumpy and creaky, a big step down from the unsatisfactory one we gave up. My wife has slept somewhat impatiently for many further months on this thing. She’s had some minor back problems and general soreness pretty frequently, and I’m not very happy with it myself.

We never have had a really nice mattress. So today we went out and bought one. I really like it…but I’m having anxiety about the price.

I have no idea what a good, sleep-inducing, quality mattress ought to cost these days.

We considered getting a chemical-free earth-friendly mattress…but apparently, to get one without fire retardant chemicals, you need a doctor’s excuse that you’re allergic, and the earth-friendly brands all seemed expensive without necessarily emphasizing comfort.

Ultimately we went to a national chain and got a very nice feeling mattress. It’s supposedly a new product. I’m not fooled into thinking it’s a paragon of technology, but it was much better than most of the other mattresses we’ve tried, we both agreed on it, and it was vastly cozier and healthier-feeling than the folding couch pad. :stuck_out_tongue:

The darn thing is $1400 with delivery, though. I’m having some buyer’s remorse, or at least anxiety, when I look at the sales receipt.

We don’t need a box spring or anything else really, since we have a platform bed…just a mattress. That seems like a lot of cash for a mattress, even in a high cost-of-living area like Northern Virginia/Washignton DC.

But I do concede that decent sleep is vital, and there are some things one shouldn’t skimp too much on. Is a mattress in that class of things?

What sort of prices have Dopers paid for good mattresses/sets? Is this a relatively outrageous purchase price, or is this in the range of what normal adults pay for a good night’s sleep?

Thanks for your opinions and comments!

Sailboat

2

I bought the whole shitten-cabootle several years ago in queen size for around $500.00 with free delivery. I believe I’m right when I say there’s a lot of competition in the mattress world, so I’d have to believe you could do way better than this $1400.00 deal.

Good luck!

3

I got a fabulous mattress (queen) for about $500. It was a Sealy with the normal spring construction, but then a 6-inch layer of memory foam on top. Heaven…

If I had a LOT of money, I’d buy one of those famous Swedish memory foam mattresses. A King costs about $2000. So, if you’re happy with your mattress, I’d say you did okay.

4

I paid $1200 for a queen mattress last fall. I could have gotten a cheaper mattress, but I couldn’t have gotten my mattress cheaper. It was, and is, worth every penny I paid for it. I tried a lot of mattresses before I settled on the one that I bought, which was the best one for me. A mattress is a very personal thing, and what works for me probably won’t work for you. If you’re really worried about the price, spread it over 10 years, the average life expectancy of a mattress. That’s $140/year. That’s not so bad, is it? My last inexpensive mattress turned into a lumpy rock about 2 years later, but YMMV.

5

$500 or so. Sorry. :frowning:

6

$30. But I sleep on an air mattress, so don’t listen to anything I say. Please. It’s for your own good.

7

I bought a new mattress last week, one of those sealy posturepedics, for $900 including boxspring, frame, delivery exc. The first store I went to offered the same mattress for $1000, and only the mattress sans all the other necessities. With everything else it would have come to around $1300.

Depending on the kind of mattress you bought, you either had a good deal or no real deal but closer to regular retail price.

8

I checked Sealy, American, Sears, and K’s when shopping for my new bed. I found all of them had Queen-sized beds with box springs and frames that I found comfortable were all about $1300 or so. I was getting ready to buy when I decided to try Denver Mattress on a lark.

The salesman was great and did a very quick and easy “sleep test”, which was probably a load of crap but did make me feel better about choosing the “right” mattress. In the end, I got the mattress, box springs, frame, and pillows for $829. He told me it was something about them making their own mattresses and selling them without a “middle man”, so they were less expensive but just as high in quality. Again, probably crap (doesn’t Verlo make mattresses in the store?!) but whatever. It was a very good deal on a great mattress.

9

I’d expect to pay 1200 or so for a good queen size mattress.

10

Wow, even in the overpriced northern Virginia area, we only paid about $700-$800 for our matress and boxspring. We have the kind where you can’t feel it if the other person in bed rolls over, and I think it’s a Simmons Beautyrest, but I’m not waking up my husband and the baby to look at the tag and find out. It’s supremely comfy, with a 10-year-warranty.

11

I paid a total of about $400-450 for my sleeping arrangement, 3" thick futons over tatami mats (each one is half-queen-sized). I like a firm sleeping surface, and I couldn’t ask for more.

12

IME, there are four categories of mattress:
Crappy, Decent, Good, and Heaven.

I went the cheap route back in 2001, got myself a full-size mattress & boxspring for $250. Needless to say, that one was Crappy. I moved into a furnished apartment last year and gladly took the provided (also Crappy, but less so) bed over that pokey sagmat.

The $500-800 others are talking about generally gets you something Decent to the lower end of Good. What you have paid sounds just about right for something in the better part of the Good category.

13

I just bought a Tempur-Pedic bed and it cost me almost $4000.00. I was freaking out about the cost also until I got it now it was the best money I ever spent. IMO when it comes to beds you get what you pay for…