The last time I bought a mattress for myself was about 11 years ago. I bought a fairly new full-sized one off a coworker. Four moves and a decade later, we’ve decided it’s time to replace it with an adult (and sometimes an extra toddler)-sized bed. When we started looking, I was shocked at the prices. $3000 for a mattress? What the heck are these things made of? Knowing very little, we went shopping for a mattress and other things on a Saturday morning. The first place, we stopped, Sleepy’s, seemed nice enough. We laid on a few and honed in on the one that we both felt most comfortable in. Meanwhile, Audrey discovered the fun of letting herself fall backwards onto mattresses and did it all over the store. She was giggling and the whole store couldn’t help but look and smile at her. Unfortunately, we soon stopped smiling. When we found something we liked, the seemingly helpful salesman started to get more aggressive. He asked how much we were looking at paying and I made up a number on the spot, something way below the listed price on the bed.
The said he would “talk with his manager” and see if he could get us that price. Then he started asking us if we could commit and have it delivered tomorrow. Anne had walked outside to give Audrey a break by that point, so I said I had to go out and talk with her about it. We talked about it for a bit, then decided we didn’t like the high-pressure sales pitch, so we got ready to leave. I had the car started up when the salesman came out and approached the car window. He then said that he had “talked to his manager” and he could give us the price we wanted AND a free “platinum package”. I said we would talk about it and let him know. We again decided this was sketchy, but to make good on my promise, I went in and gave him my phone number and left. Later that day we went to Jordan’s Furniture, generally known to be a reputable place with reasonable places. The salespeople there were nice and NOT high-pressure. Prices were generally lower, but strangely, we couldn’t find the mattress we found at Sleepy’s.
They had Sertas, but not the one we liked. Being indecisive, we left with a couple new names of ones we liked. Later, we went to Mattress Discounters. The woman there was not pushy and told us about the BBB complaints that Sleepy’s (a 700-store chain) had gotten. We decided to think some more and head home. At home, I did some research online and I found something strange – I couldn’t find much of anything on the mattresses we saw that we liked. I found some mattresses, many of the same brand, but not the same models. I later came to find out that this was completely intentional. The mattress industry is one big scam. There is no way to make an objective decision on a mattress using actual facts. Here’s a few things that the mattress industry does to get you: 1. They mark up their prices 100% to 200%!! No wonder the first guy was able to get his “manager” to give me such a steep discount. They were probably still going to make hundreds of dollars of profits on it.
2. They give the same mattresses different names in different stores or they set up exclusivity agreements by mattress line in certain stores. This makes it impossible to comparison shop because… 3. They make it really had to get actual facts about the mattresses. Stuff like coil counts, materials, overall construction are shrouded in secrecy. But that doesn’t really matter because… 4. There’s no objective measure of mattress quality. Consumer Reports won’t rate them because they can’t get the data and there’s no testing that actually says higher coil counts are better or the number of wires in the coils makes a difference in any way. You’re left to deciding how much you believe the marketing. Is a pillow top made of alpaca hair any better than one made of cotton? Your guess is as good as mine. 5. There’s very little online reviews of mattresses, probably because the model names are so fractured. The ones I did find looked more like content-free sites designed to attract referral credits.
With some more research, I found out that it was somewhat possible to compare mattresses models from different places. It turns out that they really only make one hardness variation in each line. So you can assume that a Plush Firm mattress in the “Classic” line, is the same as another Plush Firm in the Classic line, even if they have different names. was very helpful in figuring this out. We were able to understand which mattresses we saw and how they related to each other. For example, the mattress we liked at Jordan’s was a product line better than the one we saw at Mattress Discounters, even though they came out to the same price! Clearly Jordan’s had the better deal, but US-Mattress had an even better deal. So I did something I never thought I could do, buy a mattress over the internet. I’m pretty sure it’s the same one we saw in the store and the free delivery and frame were a good deal. I’m sure that even if I’m getting it at half the price I saw it listed at elsewhere, they’re still making a decent profit on it.
Anne and I agree that buying a mattress is worse than buying a car. While both have sketchy salespeople, when you buy a car, you can compare them on MPG, size, features, etc. Multiple dealers have the same models so you can compare prices and make an informed decision based on their invoice prices. There’s none of that when buying a mattress. Our mattress should arrive in a few weeks. Hopefully we’ll just find it comfortable enough to have to avoid going through buying a mattress again for at least another 11 years. UPDATE: The mattress arrived quickly and in good condition. We’ve been sleeping on it for several nights and while it feels comfy, I’ve had some upper back soreness which seems to be related to the new mattress. Hopefully it will go away. Otherwise, we’ll have to find another one and do a $100 exchange I guess.Customers are often very satisfied by latex mattresses because they offer unique characters compared to memory foam and innerspring, and are generally very comfortable and supportive.
This review provides insight into general latex mattress properties as well as a comparison of specific latex mattress brands. Latex mattresses provide many of the benefits of memory foam (very supportive and comfortable) without many of the cons. They can be all natural (for the environmentally conscious) and springier than memory foam, making it easier to move around in bed. There are many more options to consider when shopping for a latex mattress, so you’ll need to do more research than you would if buying an innerspring or memory foam mattress. They are also generally expensive and very heavy. Types of latex mattresses There are three make-ups that constitute a latex mattress. All latex mattress – this mattress is made entirely of latex Latex on top of memory foam mattress (hybrid) – this mattress has a top layer of latex over a bottom layer of memory foam Memory foam on top of latex (hybrid) – this mattress has a top layer of memory foam over a base layer of latex
If you’re interested in a latex mattress at all, you will most likely prefer an all-latex mattress or a latex on top of memory foam mattress. A memory foam on top of latex mattress provides all of the cons of a latex mattress (weight, price, availability) without providing any of the pros (organic/natural, no off gassing, spring). Generally we recommend going for an all latex mattress because it has the opportunity to be all-natural, will have no off-gassing, and will have a greater durability and lifespan – which are the reasons you would consider a latex mattress over a memory foam mattress in the first place. An all latex mattress of course consists entirely of latex, though there will be core layers and comfort layers with different foam densities. For these mattresses the latex may be natural (often with an organic cotton cover) or non-organic (often with a non-organic cover). If you’re interested in a latex mattress, you will most likely prefer the all latex mattress since it will not have the cons of memory foam that the hybrid foam mattresses bring.
The table below show shows a breakdown of the most popular all latex mattress products: Latex on top of memory foam mattress (hybrid) You may consider a latex on top of memory foam hybrid because it offers the comfort benefits of latex and are cheaper and more lightweight. The top layer of latex ranges from 2-7 inches in thickness, with at least one inch of memory foam on the bottom. The cons of these hybrid mattresses is that they will have the off gassing from the memory foam. The following chart show a breakdown of the most popular latex on top of memory foam hybrid mattress products: Memory foam on top of latex (hybrid) Memory foam on top of latex mattresses (sometimes called foam-latex hybrids) are not recommended by Slumber Sage since they offer the negatives of memory foam (off-gassing, not natural/organic), the negatives of latex foam (increased weight, increased price) and none of the positives of latex foam (springier than memory foam, sleeps less hot).
For this reason we do not review or compare these types of mattresses on the site. Natural vs Synthetic Latex Mattresses are made of all natural latex, synthetic latex, or a blend of natural and synthetic. See our post on natural vs synthetic latex for a full description of the differences in material. Most mattresses are either all natural or blended, though be careful with the marketing material for specific products – a number of mattress retailers will advertise a bed as all-natural even though it is a blend. Natural latex mattresses are generally more expensive, more durable, more elastic, and less soft than a blend. Talalay vs Dunlop Latex Processing Both natural and synthetic latex can be made using either the Talalay (newer) vs Dunlop (traditional) latex processing methods. Generally Dunlop results in a firmer mattress is less espensive, but we don’t necessarily recommend one over the other generally. See our full post on Talalay vs Dunlop vs Continuous Latex Processing for more info.
Latex beds are generally medium firm to firm compared to memory foam and innerspring mattresses. A benefit of some latex mattresses is that the latex layers that make up a mattress can be rearranged to allow the sleeper to make a custom firmness. Below is a breakdown of general firmness trends for various latex mattress properties: Look for Compression Depth in the warranty A potential issue you will have with a latex mattress is that the bed will compress where you regularly sleep. In the warranty, this is covered as compression depth, meaning the length in inches of the compression. We recommend that the warranty should kick in before 2 inches of compression, and preferably less. Latex Density, similar to memory foam density, is calculated as a weight per square foot measure. Higher density means the mattress will be firmer and often more durable. A latex mattress may have several layers of varying density that can be rearranged for a custom firmness.
ILD, or Indentation Load Deflection, generally tells you the firmness of a latex mattress. The ILD of latex mattresses typically range from 19-36. The definition of firm/soft/etc by ILD will vary by mattress company, however generally it will break down as follows: A foundation is not necessary for a latex mattress, but can be used if preferred. If using slats, keep them close together, though a flat solid surface is preferred. Make sure that your foundation choice does not void the warranty. Latex allergies will occur with natural latex mattresses. If you have a known latex allergy, then we suggest just avoiding a latex mattress entirely, since it’s not work the risk or effort of finding a synthetic latex mattress that may not bring on a reaction. All natural latex mattresses tend to have very minimal off-gassing, but synthetic or hybrid mattresses may have significantly more. As a product type, the offgassing really varies by the brand and manufacturing process.