Buying a Mattress

[NeedMoreFans]

We are in need of a new mattress. Ours is an 8-year-old memory foam mattress that has developed a significant sag where I sleep (I'm 6'2" 250lbs, not exactly a small person). I cannot stay comfortable at night so I think it's time for a new one. However, it seems like the mattress business has changed significantly very quickly and there are a lot of online options that deliver it to your house. This is somewhat appealing because finding time to go to mattress stores is difficult and I really don't want to go mattress hunting with my kids in tow. However, I am somewhat skeptical because I won't be able to lay on any bed that is ordered online and many of these companies haven't been around long enough to get a good idea of the longevity of their mattresses.

 

Have any of you had success ordering one online? I'm thinking brands like Casper, Purple, Helix, etc... I know most offer a 100 night trial period so if we don't like it we can send it back.

[DHonks]

We have a Casper in our guest room and we sleep on a Leesa. To us the clear winner has been Leesa. It’s extremely comfortable, and after 2 years I’ve barely noticed my spot settle. I’m 5’11” 215-225. One thing we didn’t like with the Casper was its odor. My wife is very odor sensitive, and it took a couple weeks for the odor to go away.

[LouisEly]

The things with memory foam mattresses are:

 

1) their firmness is temperature-sensitive. They are softer in the summer than winter. If you live in a warm-weather climate, they will be softer than the same mattress in a home in WI.

B) there must be a hard, flat or mostly flat surface underneath them. You cannot, especially at your dimensions, put them on top of a box spring - you must put them on a platform, either a platform bed or a sheet or two of plywood

3) some of the nationally advertised brands are only 10" thick and thus I don't trust them to have a lot of support to them.

 

I don't know how much the nationally advertised brands cost (Casper, Leesa - maybe DHonks can be kind enough to share), but I bought my mattress off of woot.com. They have good deals, and some of the memory foam mattresses you can select the firmness. They'll ship to your house (for the usual woot shipping cost of $5) and they come shrink-wrapped in a box or bag that you can pull up the stairs. Also, if the national brands cost $1200 and you can get a $400 one off of woot (or Amazon)... you can go through three mattresses before you break even on the national brand.

 

I'd check woot for a week or two (if you can stand it)... and of course, make sure you have a hard flat surface under your mattress.

[DHonks]

I think the Leesa was like $900. I think I saved some as part of a teacher discount as well

[NeedMoreFans]

How did you settle on Leesa (and how did you get the teacher discount? I'm also a teacher)? The one thing that I'm noticing about the online options is that it's really hard to differentiate between them.

[DHonks]

id.me has a 15% Leesa discount for teachers.

 

we did our research and decided to try it. the 100-day trial sounded good too.

[GAME05]

I bought a 4" memory foam topper once and it was so thick it just enveloped me and made sleeping really uncomfortable.

[owbc]

Another vote for Leesa--highly recommend.

[A Swing and A Drive]

You can save a lot of money by just using a boxspring instead of a mattress, FYI.

[coolhandluke121]

Memory foam is overrated IMO. It doesn't breathe and I hate sleeping warm. You will waste a lot of money on a/c on nights you wouldn't otherwise need it if you use memory foam. That said, it is probably the most comfortable for pressure points and joint pain, but only until it breaks down, which doesn't usually take long - especially since it's usually a total scam (2 inches of memory foam on top of 10 inches of polyurethane or something like that).

 

Synthetic foams are filled with little air pockets to make them "cushiony", but air pockets eventually flatten. 100% latex is sustainably soft because it's part of the molecular structure of rubber. Latex mattresses don't go bad if you keep them clean and dry. They don't have anywhere near as many synthetic chemicals as most other mattresses (usually just latex, a fire resistant cover which you can remove, and a cotton cover), and they're hypoallergenic unless you're allergic to latex. Bed bugs supposedly hate them, too. They're very comfortable, although people with a herniated disk supposedly have trouble with them. They don't shake when your partner shifts in bed. They are floppy, heavy, and hard to move, and you need a strong foundation but not a platform (there should be slats underneath with small gaps so the bottom can breathe).

 

Inner spring mattresses are junk IMO. All kinds of suspicious, cheap, synthetic cushioning to put lipstick on a pig of a support system. Coils are very cheap and mattress manufacturers are making a killing on people who buy them. You're paying for a bunch of air for gods sake.

 

I guess the gold standard is buckwheat. I have a buckwheat pillow and it's amazing. It conforms exactly to your shape and then stops moving completely. The hulls cling to each other in a way that allows them to move when you're trying to carve out a comfortable sleeping position, but stops them from sagging once you're settled in. And unlike memory foam, they breathe because they're concave. I'm thinking of getting a buckwheat mattress as well, but I spent $1500 on a latex mattress from plushbeds.com 5 years ago and it's working well for me. It should last 20 more years at least.

 

Bottom line, I recommend natural bedding materials, and not just on principle - they're actually the most comfortable and durable in my experience.

[SeaBass]

I have a latex mattress. Love it. I'm a big heavy guy and have lower back problems and I have no issues with the latex mattress. They're on the expensive side now days from what I hear, I got mine 4+ years ago a little before they hit larger popularity. Was worth the money to me, plus they are pretty durable so should have a longer lifespan than a traditional mattress.

[LouisEly]

I bought a 4" memory foam topper once and it was so thick it just enveloped me and made sleeping really uncomfortable.

Probably was a low density like 3lb. I have one on my guest bed, but I made sure to go with a 4lb density so that it's a little firmer. People like it a lot, and I also take it with me camping. Works well on the tent floor.

 

Overall, I do find the toppers to be inferior to the mattresses.

 

CHL121, you seem to know a bit about the technology. What are your thoughts on the cooling gel that is infused on some of these? I had the original Temperpedic, purchased in 2002, and that sucker sure did absorb heat. When I moved I got rid of it and purchased one off of Overstock that had air channels in it. Worked better, but after 5 years it had a little sag and I found the 14" thickness to be a bit too much. Now I have a 12" one I bought off of Woot.com (I believe a Simmons Curv) that has gel in it and seems to do a good job of dispersing heat. I don't wake up sweaty, but I also keep the temp at 76 and use just the flat sheet, no comforter, and have the ceiling fan going.

[coolhandluke121]

 

CHL121, you seem to know a bit about the technology. What are your thoughts on the cooling gel that is infused on some of these? I had the original Temperpedic, purchased in 2002, and that sucker sure did absorb heat. When I moved I got rid of it and purchased one off of Overstock that had air channels in it. Worked better, but after 5 years it had a little sag and I found the 14" thickness to be a bit too much. Now I have a 12" one I bought off of Woot.com (I believe a Simmons Curv) that has gel in it and seems to do a good job of dispersing heat. I don't wake up sweaty, but I also keep the temp at 76 and use just the flat sheet, no comforter, and have the ceiling fan going.

 

I tried gel once and hated it, but I try to sleep without A/C whenever possible and it still wasn't good enough at diffusing heat. I couldn't really judge whether it's better than ordinary memory foam or not because it's kind of an all-or-none thing; the heat is either insufferable or it's not, and I still found the gel to still be insufferable for thermoregulation.

 

I do use a memory foam topper on my latex mattress in winter, but I could do without it, whereas I can't imagine doing without my latex mattress (or buckwheat pillow).

[NeedMoreFans]

As I've researched more, latex or hybrid seems to be the best option for us; not memory foam. Now to find out which one to get...

[MadThinker88]

Not sure where (city wise) you are at, but I recommend The Original Mattress Factory.

 

Much cheaper rates then most others and outstanding quality. While they are NEOhio based I know they have stores in the Minneapolis area & they deliver as far east as Eau Claire, WI from Minny (at least they did as of late 2012 when I moved to that area).

 

In the end it might not be a match for your needs but a little research/ checking out is never a bad thing. Good Luck

[flatbear]

As I've researched more, latex or hybrid seems to be the best option for us; not memory foam. Now to find out which one to get...

Seems like I'm facing the same problem as you (I've never thought it would be so hard to choose a mattress). What did you bought in the result? Or you are still choosing?

[NeedMoreFans]

We have not bought one yet. We had a couple other big expenses and flood damage so this got put on the back burner. I put a small pillow under the dip in my side of the mattress so it's not as bad as it was.

[CheezWizHed]

Not that you are still looking, but I did buy the purple mattress (despite my dislike of anythink Viking-esque) and it is very comfortable. I had a memory foam for 10 years and really like the cooler feel of this mattress in the summer. We have had it for two years and no issues.