Mattress buying advice?

[mginwa]

It's well past time for me to replace my old mattress set my mom bought for me in college. I tweaked something doing pushups this morning, and I'm sick of bad sleep and stiff neck/back/whatever. I'm not a fan of foam mattresses or platform mattresses, so I'm aiming for a standard queen mattress with boxspring set. I'm of the buy-well-buy-once mindset, and would really appreciate any advice on how to look for a mattress I can have for a long time--at least ten years.

Some friends bought a Heavenly mattress at Nordstrom, and it failed within a year of purchase. They are now going through the process of proving the mattress was defective and getting it exchanged. The fact that they bought it from Nordstrom makes this somewhat easier, but it's still a huge pain and ultimately, the store is just going to send them another of the same chronically problematic product. I'd certainly like to avoid a similar headache (and backache), and would appreciate any advice people have on how to get one from a reputable store with a good guarantee at a fair price. Thanks!!!

[theonethatgotaway]

This is going to go against what you're looking for, but we just purchased a $175 mattress off amazon and I  honestly have never slept better. We were considering the beauty rests prior.

Firm and I can't feel my husband move at night. Great bed, surprisingly.

[Jags4186]

Definitely take your time looking.  Lay on the mattress for 10-20 minutes in the store.  You don't need to spend $4000 for a great mattress but you should definitely not compromise to save a $100.  You spend more time on your mattress than anywhere else in your lifetime so make sure you get something comfortable.  I would stick to name brands with a 10 year warranty (Sealy, Serta, etc)

[mginwa]

Thanks! It seems like this is a unnecessarily tricky purchase. It's really important to have a good night's sleep, so it's high priority. They are expensive enough that it would really suck to have to toss it and try it again, and yet there are all those terrifying stores that advertise on the radio making the industry seem like charlatans.

Do no-flip mattresses exist to make people who weren't going to flip their mattress anyway feel better about it? They seem to have a shorter life span, which is unappealing.

Any experiences with Bloomingdale's or other national department stores? I'm going to stay away from Sears since they seem to be in a fiscal death spiral.