Looking for the best mattress for your money? To cut through the clutter of advertising you'll see out there, Consumer Reports has a look at the best mattresses and mattress retailers. The magazine broke out their findings by category: Traditional innerspring, memory foam and adjustable air. In each category, Consumer Reports recommends a best buy, as well as other mattresses they recommend based on ratings. Innerspring: The Denver Mattress Doctor's Choice for $500. The Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid Trust Cushion for $1,275 is also a best buy in this category, with a higher rating, but it's obviously a bit more expensive. Memory foam: Tuft & Needle Ten for $600. (Message from Tuft & Needle: "We don't actually use any memory foam in our mattress. We use our own time of polyfoam, T&N Adaptive™ foam. We created it with a foam scientist to have the pressure relief and comfort of memory foam and the breathability and support of latex foam.") The Novaform 14" Serafina Pearl Gel (Costco) is also a "best buy" pick for this category, but it's more expensive at $800.
Adjustable air: Sleep Number c2 Bed for $800. It's important to remember that price does not necessarily equate to satisfaction with mattresses. A more expensive mattress may not make for a better product. For more tips on finding the right mattress for you, check out Consumer Reports' buying guide here. Read more: What you need to know about sleeping pills On the question of retailers, Consumer Reports ranked the Original Mattress Factory stores as the top choice for customer satisfaction. Costco Wholesale was a close second. The high placement for Costco may reflect their return policy on mattresses: A full money back refund without penalty and no time limit. That really makes Costco stand apart! I particularly like the warehouse clubs for mattress shopping, and I've long advised people to test the mattress right there in the store for an extended period. Bring a book or tablet to Costco or Sam's Club and get those mattresses off the displays or yank them off the walls.
Then lay there for 15 minutes and see how you like the feel before you buy. There's one more option I want to mention to you. Casper is a new mattress company that's beloved by millennials. Their mattress comes via package delivery in this tiny box and you open it and watch it unfold before your eyes. The mattress, which sells for between $500 and $950, is made of memory foam and latex. Here's the reason a lot of young people really like this company: Casper gives you 100 nights to test out their mattress. If you don't like it, you send it back for 100% refund. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads. 133 posts, read 497,151 times 131 posts, read 364,798 times 11,486 posts, read 24,330,136 times
62 posts, read 179,762 times Originally Posted by VickiR I agree, I love my bed from there. Its about 6 yrs old and still in brand new condition. 9,680 posts, read 21,080,185 times 736 posts, read 2,195,593 times Originally Posted by KodakMoment Costco has a bunch of them in store plus on line they have a discount on memory foam 220 posts, read 701,191 times 351 posts, read 616,547 times Another nod for Orignial Mattress Factory 271 posts, read 685,819 times 1,549 posts, read 2,485,241 times Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned. After my post about mattress shopping the other day, Garrison contacted me. “My home just flooded and due to renters insurance I was thrown into the market for a new mattress,” he said.
“I called up my long-time best friend whose entire family is in the mattress business. I used his advice in my purchase and I’ve been completely satisfied.” Here’s what Garrison’s friend, Justin, had to say. I’ve written a lot here to help you buy a mattress. Once I started thinking about this, all sorts of information came back to me. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Make sure there is at least a 30-day trial period. This is a deal-breaker and you should absolutely not purchase a bed without this guaranty, no matter what else they are offering. Most beds take 4-6 weeks of sleep to really break in and feel how they are going to feel long-term. Don’t give up on a bed after a few bad nights right away. Your body will have to adjust to the new bed. You should only use a bed about 10 years. Don’t pay more for a bed just because it has a warranty longer than that. The one exception would be a Tempurpedic-brand bed. Those come with long warranties and should last longer than 10 years.
Remember that if you need to get rid of your old bed, a lot of places will do that for you if you have your new bed delivered.For a decent king size, you’ll spend anywhere from $1,200 to $4,000, depending on what you are willing to pay for. Realistically, I’d recommend closer to $2,000 than $1,000, especially for a king size. King sizes typically run about $300 higher than queens. Keep in mind that over 10 years a $2,000 bed is only like $15 per month, and you spend 1/3 of your life in bed, so it is probably the best “value” of anything you purchase. You get what you pay for when it comes to mattresses. Ask for a “low-profile” box spring. They will make the bed 6 inches lower to the ground than a regular box spring and should be the same price. You usually have to specifically request that sort of thing. You might have to wait a few extra days to get the bed then. Remember that you will need a new bed frame for a king size bed. A frame is going to run about $50 at the low end, to $100 at the high end.
I’ve never heard of a frame breaking, so I don’t know why you would need a high-end frame. The salespeople get bonus commissions on those though, so they will try to sell you one if they have them. They’re also going to try selling you a “mattress protector” or “mattress pad.” If it is a cushioned pad, then don’t bother; you are getting a new bed so why in the world would you need a pad for it, right? But, if it is a waterproof style that comes with a stain warranty for the bed, then it is worth thinking about. We used to sell mattress protectors that cost $80, and they had a 10-warranty that if the bed stained through the mattress protector, they would give you the purchase value of the bed so you could get a new one. The reason this is important is because if the bed gets stained or ripped, you will lose the 10-year warranty and will lose the 30/60/90 day trial period. They won’t take back a stained or ripped bed. Also, you can take the protectors off and wash them and they prevent mold from forming inside the bed and get keep the bed fresher overall.
They really are a good buy. Here are the brands to focus on: If you venture outside these brands, you are taking a chance. In my opinion these are the best four, and are considerably better than the alternatives. Serta is popular at the lower price points, but I don’t think they’re really worth their price, from a value perspective, especially at higher price ranges. Simmons and Sealy are better options at the upper ranges. The most important thing is that you lay on the bed for a couple minutes in the store the same way you would lay on it at home. If you don’t like it in the store, you won’t like it at home (you wouldn’t believe how many people think they will like a bed better at home even though they don’t like it in the store). If at least one of you spends a lot of time sleeping on your side, if you go with an innerspring mattress I recommend a Simmons Beautyrest. The coils are uniquely designed and are great for side-sleepers because they are “individual pocketed” rather than all connected together like on most beds.
Also, if either of you move around a lot and disturb the other person, the Simmons Beautyrest will cut down on that disturbance some. Second choice would be a a Sealy Posturepedic, which is what I have. It is a brand more designed for back-sleepers, but they make great beds. On the other hand, if you are willing to try something new, Tempurpedic or Stearns & Foster are great brands. They aren’t innerspring though. [Note: The author says that Stearns & Foster does offer innerspring mattresses now.] Tempurpedic is made from visco memory foam, and Stearns & Foster is made from latex foam; no springs in either one. People either love them or hate them. They are very unique. They are fairly firm, but I know plenty of people who prefer soft beds who absolutely love these even though they are firm. Plus, you won’t feel the other person moving around on the bed at all. The Tempurpedic is the bed that has the infomercials where a person jumps up and down on the bed and the glass of wine doesn’t spill that is sitting on the bed.
If either of you get hot during the night, then you will want “natural fibers,” like wool, silk, etc. Polyester is bad if you get hot. But, if you spend over a $1000, then all the beds at that price range are probably natural fibers. Dealing with a salesperson If the salesperson is any good, he will actually be your best resource. Mattress salespeople are pretty good at finding the best fit for customers — if you are willing to answer their questions. If you return the bed they lose the commission, so they do want to find the best fit for you. They might try getting you to spend some extra, but if you stay firm to your price max then they won’t push it because they are all so desperate right now that they won’t want to make you leave. The more information you give them, the more they’ll be able to help. The worst thing that can happen is that you spend a few extra bucks and get an even better bed. If the salesperson starts talking about “coil counts,” they either don’t know what they are doing or are just trying to sell you on the bed.
Coil counts don’t matter unless that is the only difference between two beds. The coil type and steel gauge are much more important. If you are looking at an innerspring mattress, ask whether the bed has any kind of “edge support.” The edge where you get out of bed is the first place that will break down, so the mattress should either have some type of heavier steel gauge for the coils or some sort of heavier foam around the edge. The salesperson might want to do a “comfort test” with you by laying you down on two or three beds as soon as you get in the door, and the price might be really high on those couple beds. Go ahead and do it. It is just going to help him and you narrow down the options by eliminating a bunch of beds based on their firmness/softness levels. Here’s some advice about specific stores: If a store is willing to negotiate mattress prices, then they are overpriced, so make sure you get them down a considerable amount. Mattress manufactures contractually set minimum prices that they allow retailers to sell their mattresses at, so they either have to price them at that minimum or overprice them and negotiate.