Mattress Buying

We are looking at replacing the King Mattress.
Wow, have things changed, What happened to the 3 “S”… Simmons, Sealy and Serta.

Now we have purple, avocado etc etc.
Bed in a box?? maybe 30 years ago… not now!!
Probably cannot lift the thing.

We are close to buying from Original Mattress Factory (OMF)… mattresses like we are use to, no box, no smells., they deliver, set-up and haul away the old.

The Warranty’s seem ridiculous. When we get a new Mattress, we get them to haul away the old… so now you don’t like it, Surly, they cannot bring back the old… why we want the tried and true.

Went with wife to OMF. She was ready to buy… but the plan was to visit 3 stores. Making a plan and following it has worked with us for over 50 years, Why change now?
I suspect we will be back to OMF.

We had good luck with Simmons Backcare, but the store on our list did not offer it.

We briefly discussed Sleep Number but a Review on Youtube where someone waited a month to get the flat deflated mattress repaired was a non starter. We had just waited a month for the Dishwasher to be repaired… wife said “Forget it”.

Any Comments?

The mattress business is rampant with bait-and-switch schemes, phony “warranties,” and downright fraud. It permeates retailers, distributers and manufacturers.

Manufacturers purposefully change standards, ratings, names, etc. to confuse the buying public. You’ll find a name brand and quality line that is carried in one store can’t be matched in another store selling that same brand. Many retailers will carry their own proprietary style or model of a popular manufacturer just so they can claim to be the exclusive source for it.

We had a Beautyrest mattress that cost $1,700 originally and was guaranteed not to sag for 10 years. It started sagging in five years and I called the retailer we bought it from and they sent out a “specialist” who measured the defect and said it qualified for warranty replacement. It turned out that the qualifying replacement mattress’s price was another $1,200 adjusted price.

I could see it was a scam at the time but just went ahead and paid for the new one because I figured a new purchase would likely be at least the adjusted price we were going to pay for the replacement one. It won’t happen that way to me again… good luck mattress shopping… it’s a zoo!

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I’ve never understood how trying out mattresses in stores provides any real idea of how one will feel when you are actually sleeping on it. I also put mattress shopping in the same category as in person car shopping - to be avoided at all costs. I switched to a memory foam mattress in a box before there were any advertised brands with designer prices and have never regretted it. No squeaky springs and can’t even tell when an animal decides to jump on it. The box it came in was about the same size as an artificial Christmas tree box and the old mattress went out for garbage pickup. Good luck with your hunt!

In 2000, we bought a king size Tempur Pedic memory foam mattress. We are still using that mattress. Each night it feels like it did the first night.

Ha ha ha. Right! I got to lay on a Purple mattress in the factory before I bought one, but it didn’t help me know how I’d sleep on one.

@PricePerformer, have you read this recent thread about mattresses?

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This is a really hard decision to make and I have been wanting to pull the trigger literally for years. I have spoken with Mfgr’s about my sleep style etc. Each one has steered me to their entry model instead of the higher price ones. My main problem is I need the height because of the bed style. All the box beds are designed for not using a box spring even though you can. My mattress set is 27 years old but was in a guest room and has been used regularly for the last 8. I guess i could try it first and then decide if i need to just build a solid one. There are several good reviewer videos on YouTube. The best one in my opinion is Sleepopolis. He does a great job. My original choice and probably still is, is Tuft and Needle. I have looked at this one for years. The basic model is the suggested one for me as a stomach sleeper. You have a year tryout and if you don’t like it, they will send a charity organization to pick it up and give you a full refund.
If you are a Veteran they will give you a discount.
Hope this helps.

My memory foam was on a box springs for years because the frame was an old low Hollywood frame. Just recently replaced the increasingly annoying and squeaky frame with a 14” platform. The additional height of the platform minus the box springs equals the same height as the previous set up. However, I’m finding that the memory foam mattress feels even more comfortable without the box springs. Should have made the change sooner.

My bed is the most comfortable ever… Just a simple viscoelastic memory foam from Corsicana mattress company. It was cheap, it’s quite old and still going strong. I can’t see paying a huge price for bedding ever more having found this one.

I know a lot of you are very picky about your mattress’s. I like a firmer mattress.

A few years ago my conventional Sealey was showing it’s age. Wal-Mart had a “bed-in-a-box” with springs (not foam) and I gave it a whirl. I have to say I’m pretty happy with it.

I have 2 guest rooms so I took the really ratty mattress out of one and threw it away and put my older mattress up there.

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I bought a king sized bed in a box about 5 years ago. Moving it while it’s in the box wasn’t so hard, but trying to get the thing on the bed so it could expand was a bit of a chore by myself. I also bought a new frame that didn’t require box springs. Both of them together were less than $500, and it is surprisingly comfortable.

What brand did you purchase and how long have you been sleeping on it? I replaced 4 mattresses in a matter of 7 yrs. Ridiculous! Every one of them sag where I sleep and where my wife sleeps. I’m about to save a bunch of money and sleep on the floor.

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Any Purple mattress owners here? Comments?

Can’t remember the brand on my memory foam. Bought it from Overstock probably about 10 years ago. Don’t believe they still have it. There were firmness choices and after reading all the comments about the firm being too or very firm I knew that was the one I wanted. Seems like it was around $300 on sale. Liked it from the beginning and still smile every time I lay down. At the time I figured that at that price it could go in the guest bedroom if I didn’t like it and I could get something else.

Yes. See the thread I linked above.

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thanks,thanks

We bought the most firm from Original Mattress Factory.
So far only slept on it one night. It is really firm maybe too firm.

It is hitting me in different places than the old.
I need to give it more time.
One thing I noticed immediately, I like to change positions during the night (side to side and occasional Back) and the firm is much easier to do than the valleys.

We had a 5 year old Sealy that had developed valleys.

I really dont know how to pick… I will say that comfort for one person can be drastically different than for another. Blow up between my folks and my brother (who wanted a firmer mattress while he was essentially living with my parents…mattress in his room was too soft (think actually comfortable). He was more than willing to buy a replacement…since it was my folks home, they were outraged. Meanwhile, the mattress in my room was shorter, but rock hard (actually, rocks were softer!) We put up with it, and never dreamed of saying anything on the relatively infrequent visits, because it was their home. Eventually moved beds from one room to the other…a huge amount of drama over nothing.

All that said, for your own home, find what best fits you.

My grandpa used to always rave about how comfortable the bed in his guest bedroom was. We all knew better, but you couldn’t convince him of that. One day, my mom bought a new mattress and hauled the old one off without telling him. I don’t think he ever realized it (my aunt cleaned for him, so he didn’t even wash the bedding when someone slept in it). We moved it to my house after he died, and my parents continued to use it when they came. I’m not sure why beds cause such drama.

I bought my sleep number back in 2003 and have been very happy with it over the years. You adjust the air on how you want it and the only thing that can really break down is the pump, but it hasn’t yet. I was interested in getting a king size sleep number and went to the store a couple years ago and it seemed like the prices went up quite a bit. It’s really just a fancy air mattress with digital controls now days. My sleep number will be the last bed I ever buy and it has been a good investment.

My step kids have purple beds and that’s what seems to be in now days.

It’s total luck if you end up with a good mattress at a fair price. We tried a ‘mattress in a box’ and while I was fine with it, especially for the price for a king, my wife hated it. After a couple years, we bought a traditional Sealy Posturepedic and paid a lot more. It’s been less than 3 years and there’s already a significant hump in the middle. I think it’s because they make them cheaply and they can no longer be flipped every 3-6 months. I’d rather go car shopping than have to deal with replacing the stupid mattress. Maybe I can talk my wife into another mattress in a box.