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. Meet the Brentwood Home mattress! Brentwood Home is an LA based company committed to developing sleep products that are as safe and natural as possible.
They have a small line of mattresses that include both foam and spring options designed to meet the needs of a wide variety of sleepers. For this review I took a look at their most popular memory foam mattress, their Bamboo Gel 13. While we focused on the Bamboo Gel 13, this mattress is very similar to Brentwood’s other Classic mattresses (Bamboo Gel 13, 11, 10, and 9). For more information on the varying sizes / models see our full comparison of all Brentwood Home mattresses here. The Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel 13 mattress is made in the US and built from a combination of gel memory foam, wool, ventilated support foam, and wrapped in a bamboo infused cover. But does the Brentwood Home bed have what it takes to pass the Sleepopolis mattress test? Continue reading below to find out! The Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel 13 mattress is built from 3 different layers of foam to a total height of 13″. Top layer (comfort and cooling) – this is a 3.5″ layer of gel memory foam.
This is the primary comfort layer for the mattress and creates great pressure relief, contouring support, and body shaping. The gel helps to prevent any heat retention in the memory foam and keep the sleeping surface cool. At 3.5″ thick this is a quite thick top comfort layer, especially compared to most other online mattresses. The extra thickness helps to create improved deep compression support and prevent bottoming out, which is especially important for heavier sleepers. Middle layer (support and cooling) – this is a 2″ layer of ventilated support foam. It works in connection with the gel memory foam top layer to continue to improve airflow and cooling in the mattress. It also acts as a transitional support layer, further preventing any bottoming out feeling in the mattress. Bottom layer (foundational) – this is a 7.5″ high density support foam. This layers acts as the foundation base and provides shape and stability for the mattress. The cover of the Brentwood Home mattress is built from a blend of polyester and bamboo.
It’s designed to help keep the sleeping surface cool and deliver a soft feel to sleepers. The cover also has a wool layer backing sourced from New Zealand. This thin layer of wool helps to naturally wick moisture away, improve airflow, and help prevent odors. The layer of wool is a bit of a rarity in the online mattress industry. Most online mattress companies utilize ultra thin covers design to help sleepers feel more direct foam contact. The layer of wool gives the mattress a slight cushioned traditional feel. In terms of the style and aesthetics, the cover is fairly simple and straight forward. It’s all white with a basic horizontal stripping across the top layer of fabric. At 13″ thick the Brentwood Home mattress is thicker than most mattresses (10″ is the most common size). This extra thickness gives the mattress a little more “weight” and prominent feel within the room. There is a zipper on the bottom of the cover. This allows the cover to be removed, which can be helpful in the event you need to spot clean the mattress (spot cleaning only, don’t machine wash / dry the mattress).
Firmness, Feel, & Support The Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel 13 mattress comes in at a 5-6 out of 10 on the firmness scale. It has a medium feel that will meet the needs of most sleepers. FAQ: What firmness do I need? If I had to sum up the Brentwood mattress I would say it has a traditional memory foam feel with advanced cooling features. Perhaps the most common complain sleepers have with memory foam is the effect that the deeper hug and contour has on heat retention, causing sleepers to heat up during the night. The Brentwood Home mattress also has this classic memory foam feel. However, it does an excellent job of improving airflow, keeping sleepers cool. The response time is average compared to most other memory foam mattresses. After you first lie on the mattress it will take a few seconds for the mattress to adjust to your size and shape. The mattress has excellent body shaping and contouring. The top layer of foam allows sleepers to sink 1-2″ (more if you are a larger person) creating a notable hug.
However, even with this level of hug the mattress does a good job of staying cool during the night. The combination of bamboo infused cover, wool backing, gel memory foam, and ventilated transition foams work together to promote airflow and cooling. I did not feel excessively warm during my sleep test of the Brentwood Home mattress. Sleepers who are very sensitive to heat may find the mattress warmer than they like by virtue of having more of your body’s surface in contact with the mattress via the deeper hug (these sleepers may find one of Brentwood’s latex or coil mattresses a better fit). I found the mattress offered excellent support. The thicker overall profile and thicker comfort layers do a great job of providing support even with the increased level of sinkage and hug. Sleeping near the edge wasn’t incredible, as the deeper level of sinkage just don’t allow the edges to properly support sleepers. However, this is not unexpected. Most memory foam mattresses, especially those with deeper body shaping struggle with edge support.
Sinkage and mattress hug are incredibly important. The sinkage in various positions and places on the mattress can dramatically change the feel and overall experience. Every mattress reviewed on Sleepopolis goes through the same sinkage tests. I created these tests to help better explain the subtle differences between each mattress hug, contour, and sinkage. Lying on back – in a normal lying position on my back with my weight evenly distributed I experienced 1-1.5″” of sinkage Lying on side – in a normal lying position on my side I experienced 1.5-2″ of sinkage Sitting on edge (conservative) – in a conservative sitting position, where my weight was positioned a bit further back on the mattress, I experienced 3-3.5″ of sinkage Sitting on edge (aggressive) – in a more aggressive sitting position, where my weight was positioned directly on the edge of the mattress, I experienced 4-4.5″ of sinkage Standing in middle – in a standing position, to show how the mattress performs under maximum pressure, I experienced 5.5-6″ of sinkage
As a reference point, I am 6’1″ and weigh 140 pounds. Your sinkage will vary based on your weight, size, and body shape. Brentwood also offers a wide variety of additional sizes including: Full XL, Olympic Queen, Split Queen, Split King, Split Cal King, RV / Short Twin, RV / Short Full, RV / Short Queen, and RV / Short King. Great option if you have a tough mattress size you’re trying to find. Shipping – free shipping, 3-5 days to build (all products are made to order) + 3-5 days for the mattress to ship to you Warranty – 25 years – first 10 years are no change on repair, years 11-25 are prorated Trial Period – 120 nights Designed & Made in the USA Is the Brentwood Home mattress right for you? The Brentwood Home Bamboo Gel 13 mattress is a perfect blend of traditional memory foam hug and contour with advanced cooling features. I would recommend the Brentwood Home mattress to sleepers who: Want a traditional memory foam hug – the Brentwood Home mattress has a notable level of sinkage in the 1-2″ range, slightly more for heavier sleepers.
This gives the mattress noted hug and body shaping. However, it also gives the mattress a more traditional slower response time. It takes the mattress a few seconds to adjust to changes in movement. Sleepers who need instantaneous foam response will probably not like the feel. Want a medium firm feel – the Bamboo Gel 13 mattress has a medium firmness in the 5-6 out of 10 range (where 10 is the most firm). It has a traditional feel with a firmness designed to meet the needs of the majority of sleepers. Want improved cooling + memory hug – for sleepers who are looking for the classic memory foam hug, but don’t want to be hot, the Brentwood Home mattress hits a nice balance. The combination of bamboo infused cover, wool backing, ventilated foam, and gel memory foam work together to keep the mattress cooler even considering the deeper memory foam hug. However, for heavy sleepers or other sleepers who sleep very warm, you may find the nature of the increased hug to be too warm.