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.I received a free Cocoon mattress for review from Tempur Sealy. The Cocoon mattress is a mattress in a box made by Sealy. Sealy has been in the mattress industry since 1881 when the founder, from Sealy Texas began compressing cotton for use in mattresses.
The company is now known at Tempur Sealy as the Tempurpedic purchased Sealy in 2012 making them the largest manufacturer of mattresses in the world. The Cocoon mattress has been featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things list for 2016. Getting this endorsement from Oprah is a big accomplishment that should garner some recognition for the new brand. Many of the newer online startups were created as a response to some of the offerings and business models that the traditional brands offered. I was eager to find out if Tempur Sealy would be able to compete with these brands through the Cocoon. You can order a Cocoon mattress in two different levels of firmness direction through their website. You get free shipping with an estimate on when your mattress should arrive and it comes with a 100 night trial period. They even list 24/7 support which is something I have never seen before. The mattress arrives in a black box which gives it a sophisticated look and you can easily transport it to any room in your house to unbox.
Below is a picture of the inside of the box upon opening. You get a fun picture in a frame: Below is a video of me unboxing the Cocoon mattress. I noticed this mattress took a little bit longer to come to form than other boxed mattresses. I think this is in part because the top layer of foam is a bit denser than others. The Cocoon comes in 2 levels of firmness, a firm and a soft. According to their website, the cover is made of a stretch-knit fabric with spun poly fibers to make it breathable. They don’t list specific densities of their foams but the soft has 3 layers of foam while the firm has 2 layers. I was able to compare both the soft and firm versions of this mattress. Which allowed me to do comparisons to help you decide which is best for you. Here’s a picture illustrating sink in the soft version: Here’s a picture of the firm version: To get a sense of how they are constructed, I peeked under the cover of the mattress to show you how each layer reacts.
Here’s the soft Cocoon which has 3 layers: Below is a video of the firm version which has two layers. As far as heat retention goes, I didn’t notice much difference between the two levels of firmness. Below is a video shot with my infrared camera to illustrate heat retention: This is the soft version: Cocoon recently launched the Cocoon Chill mattress with a phase change cover below is a video showing heat retention on the Cocoon Chill mattress: Finally below are some videos of me dropping a bowling ball on the mattresses to illustrate motion transfer. Again, there’s really not much difference between the two as the top layer seems to be the same which is what is absorbing most of the motion. Here’s the soft version: Here is the soft version in slow motion: Compare that with the Firm Version What I like best about the Cocoon mattress is the top layer. It is a very soft layer that conforms well and provides great pressure relief. Between the two, I liked the soft version the best.
I really like to sink into my mattress and feel like it’s cradling every part of my body which this mattress does. I don’t think this mattress would be well suited towards heavier people. I think a heaver set couple might find the base layer not substantial enough when first getting in the mattress. However, once lying down it should be just fine. tly when you use coupon code Sherpa100 at checkout. Learn More About the Cocoon and why it is exploding in popularity You can also buy the Cocoon on Amazon for the same price but without having to use the discount code. Just note that the return process may be a little more difficult because Amazon has a standard 30 day trial period vs. the 100 day trial period offered direct through Cocoon with free returns. In this case I would advise buying direct from Cocoon.Try the Cocoon mattress at the Sleep Sherpa Showroom Disclosure: We aim to highlight products and services you might find interesting, and if you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue.