A'goin' Mattress shopping.... HELP!!

halo

Polkmaniac wrote:

^^ I believe that's the most informative and comprehensive post on any topic I've ever read...

+1 but...my Serta plush top mattress was fine for the first three months (firm, supportive, and comfortable) now I sink into the mattress anytime I'm on the bed - the firmness is gone. The mattress was just about $900 (sale price) retail was $1200.

janmike

You will spend approx 1/3 (8 hrs) of your day (24 hrs) on this thing. Me, I only sleep 5 hours per night. Anyway, I do not understand why people do not hesitate to spend BIG $ on a leather sofa or a chair where they sit very little, but hang on to their wallet when it come to a mattress. People spend more $ on the headboard and frame than they do on the matress. DAH!
Buy a good one and your 8 hr, 10 hr or whatever day at work or school will be that much better. Your back will thank you 25 years down the road.

Gaara

Ok mattresses there is lots of info that has already been said but I am going to repeat so bare with me. Just a FYI I sold mattresses along with TVs and Appliances for about a year and a half, so I have had lots of training on this schtuf.

To begin why buy a good bed? For starters you spend 1/3 of your life on your bed and this is the foundation to a healthy mind and body. Why? Well you sleep in five cycles, stages 1-4 then REM. Stage 1 you are drowsy and falling asleep, but can easily be awoken. This is when you woke up and hit snooze and you are starting to fall back asleep, but your thinking about falling asleep, and your not really sure if your awake or not. Some people enter a dream like state but they are only in Stage 1, I love doing this…it’s a blast. Stage 2 is light sleep when the heart rate begins to slow down and body temperature will decrease. Stage 3 you enter deep sleep and begin experiencing delta waves, Stage 4 is even deeper. These stages take up to 90-120 mins before entering into REM. REM is rapid eye movement, this is when you dream. With this you can also have twitches and such along with heightened cerebral activity. Now you need 90-120 mins of good solid sleep to attain REM sleep, and the first REM stage is only about 10 mins, then the cycle repeats. Well actually the cycle isn’t that easy, it follows a pattern like this 1 2 3 4 3 2 5(REM).

Anyways the more you sleep the more sleep cycles you attain, the deeper the REM sleep. As you sleep more the REM stage gets longer and longer. Now REM is important because this is when you convert memories from the day into long term memory, and also is tied with feeling tired. What this means is if you wake up during the night a lot you may never achieve REM, and even though you got 8 hours of sleep you feel tired and worn out. Since the first 5-10 mins before you fall to sleep is never converted to memory, you may do this and not even know it. So if you have an old crap mattress you may be tossing and turning and waking up during the night, leading you to be groggy and tired the next morning. A good bed will give you the support and comfort you need to get a good nights rest, which will help both mind and body.

First the new stuff:

New mattresses do not need to be flipped; in fact they cannot be flipped. If you look at any new mattress that is a pillow top there is a pillow top on the top, not the bottom. These things are made so all of the comfort is on the top, just a heads up.

Now mattresses really have changed alot over the years, and much more more rapidly now. They are made differently and so much for the better. For example many brands have different gauge coils in thier mattresses in different areas. THe reason for this is that you sink in at certain spots, specifically your lower back area. The reason for this is so you get more support on your lower and upper back then if the springs were all the same. This is one way in which beds have improved for the better, but only certain models do this. Using the clearance test I talk about later is a good way to see if a mattress does this.

Another example is total foam encasement that is the mattress has foam all the way around. You can tell by just feeling the side of the mattress, if you feel springs it is standard, if you feel foam it is foam encased. The benefit of this is that you get the same support all the way across the mattress, the support doesn't just stop at the edges. This will also prevent roll off, and since the sides are stronger it will prevent wear.

Many mattresses are combining technologies, for example coil mattresses with a few inches of memory foam on top. These are a great combo but react like memory foam, they take a little longer to react and "give". You can also find mattresses with memory foam, air bladders, and coils all in one!

There is a lot more going into boxes as well, they are built much better and are made to support newer mattresses. New mattresses are much heavier then older ones, because they have a lot more going on inside. Because of this you need a stronger box to support your new mattress. Boxes are now made to work with the mattress and give support in key areas.

Now for the real meat of it:

Shopping:

Before even picking out a mattress you should choose where you want to shop. You can shop at a store which has everything, but like most things they have, they know little about them. Shopping in a all in one type store will usually give you less selection, less help, but a better price. Shopping in a specialty store that only sells beds will give you a wide selection of brands and models, all sorts of extras, knowledgeable staff, but a higher price tag. “Real” bedding stores feel that they should not go below a 40% margin on beds, anything less then this “hurts the industry”.

When shopping around use the knowledge you have to test your sales men. Ask about things like coil count, then ask about coil gauge. Most will get confused and not be able to answer. You can also try asking what kind of foam the top layer is made of, and what the density of it is. This information is available, but only a very knowledgeable sales man will know.

Find out what is inside of the mattress. Some brands now have mattresses with memory foam on the top and conventional springs on the inside, IMO a great combo...my bed is like this.

IMPORTANT All companies change the names of the bed so you generally will not see the same bed in two stores. If a bed looks and feels just like one you saw at another store it probably is. We had five beds that were identical in everyway to five in another bedding chain, except the names and prices were different. One way to compare is to get a spec sheet of all the info on the bed if you think they are the same. When we did this the beds were exactly the same, coil count, foam, foundation, even the weight was the same.

Do not let a computer pick a bed for you. I can't remember the store that does this but the computer does a test as you lie down to pick a mattress for you. What it does is directs you to the highest margin line in the store, but not necessarily the highest price, just what will make them the most. Stay away...

IMPORTANT Buy a good foundation, the box spring is made to work with the mattress, and some brands will not honor the warranty if you do not buy the matching box. One thing most people don't know about frames is that you can get a low profile box, its about 3.5in lower then a standard box so using it with a taller mattress is about the same height as a standard mattress set would be.

Measure before you buy, so many times people had a twin and wanted a queen and the box won't fit. Most mattresses you can get a split queen box for a little extra money.

IMPORTANT Shop around, price shop, bedding is huge margin!!! It paid us 10% to sell it because it was so marked up; most bedding is around 50-60% profit, compare that to our average TV which was around 20-25% profit, much more room to haggle.

Check the stores offers and what it does. How much is delivery? Do they set it up? Do they haul away the old...for free? What if I don't like it, how long to exchange? Is there a charge? What if I find it cheaper elsewhere (extremely rare)? What if you have it on sale next week? Get these out of the way before you buy.

IMPORTANT exchange policy, find out how much and how long, this is big and varies a lot! Some stores will have a zero return policy, you bought it and its yours, some will have the standard 30 days, some will allow for 90 days. The bed will adjust overtime, which is why a lot of places will do a split exchange...aka if it is ninety days you have to have it for 45 days, then can return it 45 days after that. This gives you time to get used to the new mattress, and time for the new mattress to get used to you. Personally when I first got my mattress I jumped around on it a lot with a friend, sound childish but it seemed to do the trick and was quite nostalgic.

Types:

Now there are three different kinds of mattresses, standard, euro top, and pillow top. Standard is all one piece, euro top has a top and does not pucker, pillow tops have a similar top and pucker in.

More on types, you’ve got your coil type, air bladder type, water type, and memory foam types.

Standard coil is your best bang for your buck and most people will find one that suits them. Worries here are foam breaking down and springs popping out so find out what the warranty covers. See if it covers threads popping out, bulging or sinking. For most brands a mattress is only defective if the bulge or impression is a certain depth or extrusion, ask! This is also a good way to test the sales persons knowledge.

Coil count, not as important as it used to be. Many brands use high coil count mattresses but use a very thin gauge for the actual coils. Fewer heavier coils can give just as good if not better support then a higher coil count mattress with thinner coils.

Air bladder is interesting in that you can adjust the supportiveness, but are pricey and are hard to find one that’s just right. There is also the issue of the bladder itself, I have heard many horror stories of bladders that will leak, so you slowly sink during the night. Find out the warranty on the mattress as well as the bladder itself. IMPORTANT If you want a king mattresses with different feels consider getting two Twin XLs, same size as a king and each person can have a totally different mattress. Usually the price of a Twin XL is a little more then a twin, less then a full. With these beds also look for hidden fees, I sold one to a customer without knowing that they charge $100 for the required pump, I felt bad charging him because of my own negligence so I gave him one of our demo pumps.

Gaara

Water beds...don't know to much about these but the frames are different then a standard frame. If you have a water bed now and want to keep the frame you are limited on what you can get, and whatever bed you get is going to be quite high up.

Memory foam, a strange type of bed that some love a some heat. The purpose is to give complete support from the top of your body to the bottom. The way it works is the foam reacts to heat and squishes down, and it kind of cushions your body that way. Memory foam does not really heat up and most have a cover to wick away heat so you will not get all hot and sweaty on one. NOT ALL ARE MADE THE SAME!!! You will have different feels because of different densities of foam and different construction methods. Look at the side of the bed and feel around, better quality ones will have multiple layers to give support and comfort, cheaper ones will be one big hunk of foam. Not for everyone, but give it a little more time then most to react.

Memory foam feels firm when you first lie down; it takes a while to adjust to your body because it adjusts to body temperature. If the room is cold it takes longer to adjust, if it is hot it will take less time.

Preference:

As for picking firm or soft, pick what feels best to you! People used to think firm was the best because it gave good support, but it only supported you at specific points on your body. Then soft was best because it gave in and supported your whole body, but it didn't really.

IMPORTANT You can get a soft mattress that is supportive. The number one reason people bought firm is for support...bad idea. The inside of the mattress will determine support, the outside comfort. I have a mattress with a very plush pillow top that is extremely supportive.

Cheap is not always bad, our bedding trainer was in this industry for close to five years before she came to us. We had a bed that was $899 and for most people this was the perfect mattress, it was extremely well built, comfortable, 10yr warranty, and never had issues. Stay away from the sub $500 category.

Informational:

On this same topic, generally manufacturers will have a line and keep the internals of the mattress the same and change the exterior. We used to sell Serta, they had five mattresses that were the exact same inside, only the tops were different on each, so each had a different feel but the same support. Since they all had the same support they were all just as good, the only benefit of one over the other is the comfort, which is a personal preference.

IMPORTANT If you want to see if a mattress is supportive lie down on a cheap firm mattress and put your hands underneath your lower back. This space is where you are not being supported. Go to a better quality firm mattress and do the same, it is much harder to do. You can also do this with two mattresses of the same line one that is firm and one that is plush.

Know your sizes, there are many sizes out there, Twin, Full, Queen, King, Twin XL, Cali-King, Olympic Queen...know what you want before you pick out a bed. Some are only available in certain sizes, no use falling in love if it is to small or to big.

IMPORTANT, stay on the bed for at least a few minutes, you can't tell a bed by pushing on it or sitting on it, lie down however you lie down. I used to tell people do what you usually do in bed, but after I had a couple customers humping to "test drive" the bed I stopped telling people this. Have your significant other lie down to, move around; see if you feel each other. Cheap bed you will feel everything, good ones you won't.

Accessories:

On to the frame, if you are buying a queen or above do not go with the cheap promo frame, see if they have a better one. For $40 for a king we used to up people to a much heavier quality life time frame that had an extra bar in the middle for support, casters for easy moving, and was built like a tank. We had an issue for a while with some rather large customers actually bending the cheap promo frames. Big people with larger heavier beds and cheap free frames is a bad combo. Not saying anyone reading this is fat, it’s better safe then sorry. For a queen a better frame is recommended, a king it is a must. Just like with your box you can also get a low profile frame if you want your bed lower to the ground. If you want it really low you can go without aswell, the purpose of a frame is to hold your bed off the ground. Warranty is not affected if you go sans frame.

IMPORTANT On this topic buy a mattress protector that will extend the warranty. Many will cover the mattress for spills, tears, burns all kinds of stuff, for the same period of time as the mattress warranty. You should purchase one that is very thin, do not buy a big plushy one, this will give its own feel to the mattress. Which would you rather be lying on, the foam in your $1500 mattress, or the foam in your $80 mattress protector? Trust me on this, you will use it, I have had my bed for only about three months and it has already saved my **** twice. The one I have cost $50 and has stopped liquid twice, just grabbed it threw it in the wash and good as new. NOTHING GOT THROUGH TO THE MATTRESS, mind you these were large stains, the larges was about a foot by six inches. This will also stop things like dust...which is mostly made up of dead skin. If you have a old mattress you are getting rid of take it outside, stand it up against something, and hit it. It is gross, with mine it was kinda like shaking the keyboard upside down. Some stuff fell out, but more disturbing was the cloud that came out of it. That is build up flesh...gross.

On to accessories, you’ve got your pillows, sheets, and mattress pads. I have already covered mattress pads, so onto sheets. Most people can’t tell the difference between a 400 thread count sheet and a 800 thread count sheet. Personally I have 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton, but can’t tell much of a difference between these and the 400 thread count cotton I used to have. Thread count isn’t everything, there are lots of ways to manipulate it just like everything else. This is why you will see 1000 thread count sheets going for $100, and 400 thread count sheets going for $300. I would recommend right around 400 thread count, in whatever material you fancy. You can get cotton, Egyptian cotton, flannel, silk, whatever you want.

Now pillows, there are three major kinds of pillows, down, latex, and memory foam. First determine how you sleep, if you are on your back you need a lower pillow with less loft. If you are on your side it is better to have a larger pillow to prop your head up. If you are on your stomach you should have a pretty flat pillow, with your head almost on the mattress. Now as for the types, down is a standard pillow, it is fluffy but when you lay on it it sinks. Over time these things tend to fall apart and the down can clump up and get gross…like my old pillow. A lot of people love these and that’s fine. Latex is my favorite because it is firmer then down but feels similar. It also does not wear down over time and does not get ratty. Memory foam is a very firm type but some love them, I actually do like them a lot even though I don’t like pure memory foam mattresses. These are very supportive and can be found in a contour shape, used for back sleepers to support your neck and head.

Hmmm.... can't think of any other words of wisdom right now, if anyone has any questions for someone who used to sell these things fire away.

Last word of advice, don’t let price be an issue! You spend 1/3 of your life on your bed, it contributes to your physical and mental health, don’t skimp. Think how much you spent on your car that you spend an hour in a day, how much you spend on coffee in a year. You should have a mattress for 10-15yrs, buy a good one. You will also be less prone to have issues alter.

Jared

P.S. Sorry for saying salesman, it just comes naturally because the store I worked had 12 sales guys and one woman.

Mike Reeter

We have a Nautilus Air bed,about the same as Select Comfort....Love it.

tonyb

Take a women with you......
you will be rewarded!!!

janmike

I ditto the remarks by Polkmaniac. More info about matresses than I ever knew.

gwh

I bought the cheapest model mattress and box springs Simmons makes in a firm or extra firm .... I don’t recall exactly, anyway it’s as hard as a rock. I topped it off with a memory foam topper from Sam’s Club.


I’ve had this setup for a couple of years now, I sleep like a baby every night.

Total cost....about $450.






G

Dennis Gardner

tonyb wrote:

Take a women with you......
you will be rewarded!!!

Hell, take Jared (Gaara) with you. While he is telling the sales person all he knows about mattresses, you should be able to get a good nights sleep on the mattress of your choice completely unnoticed by those working in the store.:D

zombie boy 2000

Wow guys!!!

I'm speechless. Looks like everyone's pulling together to ensure that the wife and I make the best purchase possible. It's funny, though. In my first post, I had mentioned that we would be making the purchase last night, but things happened -- and we couldn't make it out to the International House of Mattresses (or whatever..)

All for the best, because now I have even more to go on than I had originally. Which was actually quite a bit from the afternoon crew. Thanks to everybody.

As for Jared, I've shot him a PM -- the considerable time he invested to my query did not go unnoticed.