Buying a new mattress, what to look for etc..

[pudding]

I had a bit of a car accident about 18 months ago and insurance company will pay out some money to me in the next while.

I've been sleeping on a mattress thats getting a bit soft in places and I don't think it's doing my neck and back much good, I find that I end up sleeping across it on an angle with my feet pointing to one corner and my head pointing to another to ride out over the dip in the middle.

So I figure with the $ I get I'll get a good one, one that hopefully leaves me rested.

Looking online at reviews and I see it becomes quite the decision to make as there's tons of options out there.

Can anyone recommend a retailer or mattress thats a good deal?

I'm a guy who weighs 220 pounds, seem to spend most my sleep time on my side or back and have a stiff neck.

[iris lily]

We got new mattresses last year.  What prompted me was the incredibly wonderful sleep experiences I had in hotel Sheratons. I even took off the bedding material  to look at the name of the mattresses.

I didn’t end up getting those mattresses but I did just get a new mattress because it seems like I should get one after 15-20  years.

I like a hard mattress so I got either a hard one or semi hard. And then I bought  one of those fluffy topper things on top of it. The fluffy topper thing is removable and washable. I think it is called “ pillow top.”

I did not want a pillow top mattress I wanted to add the pillow thing and make it removable in case I didn’t like it because it got grungy.

What I did learn is that the mattress shopping game Can be like shopping a used car lot. For our weekend house I bought two Serta mattresses, exactly the same, each  a particular model. I like the mattresses so much that I wanted the exact same thing for my city house. It was impossible to get. The city mattress store denigrated the country mattress store where I got the Serta mattresses suggesting that perhaps they weren’t real Serta dealers or blah blah blah. Anyway I just thought it was ridiculous.

Also I learned that when they remove your old mattress when delivering the new one, they cannot take that old mattress if you have had it outdoors. So don’t think that you’re helping the moving guys by moving it partially yourself outside,just leave it where it is and let the moving guys move out your old mattress. They wrap it in plastic due to bedbugs.

[RWD]

We bought two Tuft & Needle mattresses earlier this year. One regular and one Mint. The Mint seems perfect for us. The regular one was way too hard, but after adding a topper it was much more comfortable for us.

[Dancin'Dog]

We just bought a new bed & mattress.  Since I'd recently started snoring and also getting acid reflux while sleeping I wanted to try a folding bed frame, which can raise the head and/or the foot of the bed.  That required a flexible foam mattress, without springs inside it.  The brand we bought also is made from a special foam that stays cool.  The tilting frame has helped with the snoring and I haven't had acid reflux any more either.


The main negative that I realized is that it will be very difficult to move the mattress if we ever decide to move from here.  Since it's foam it's heavy and floppy.  It was delivered compressed and rolled up in a box.  We cut the plastic wrapper and it began to expand.  The delivery guy warned us to get it in position on the bed "before" cutting the wrapper.  I can't imagine how anyone could ever move one of these things up or down a staircase. 


Thankfully we like it fine. 


I wouldn't recommend one though because of how difficult it would be to move.  I guess if you need a folding bed there aren't many options. 

[anotherAlias]

We just bought a new bed & mattress.  Since I'd recently started snoring and also getting acid reflux while sleeping I wanted to try a folding bed frame, which can raise the head and/or the foot of the bed.  That required a flexible foam mattress, without springs inside it.  The brand we bought also is made from a special foam that stays cool.  The tilting frame has helped with the snoring and I haven't had acid reflux any more either.


The main negative that I realized is that it will be very difficult to move the mattress if we ever decide to move from here.  Since it's foam it's heavy and floppy.  It was delivered compressed and rolled up in a box.  We cut the plastic wrapper and it began to expand.  The delivery guy warned us to get it in position on the bed "before" cutting the wrapper.  I can't imagine how anyone could ever move one of these things up or down a staircase. 


Thankfully we like it fine. 


I wouldn't recommend one though because of how difficult it would be to move.  I guess if you need a folding bed there aren't many options.

I've moved a foam mattress from a third floor apartment into a two story home.  They actually aren't that bad to move once you get a decent grip on the ends.  Being floppy makes it much easier to get around tight corners and stair landings.  Although I wouldn't recommend them for heavier individuals.  I've noticed indents forming much more quickly on my SO's side of the bed.  I've tried rotating more often and it just created indents on both sides now. There is no way this thing lasts 10years.  We're at about 5yrs now and I think it will need replacing soon.

[terran]

No personal experience, but I'll probably be buying a cheap online mattress shortly. Here's a compelling writeup: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/06/23/how-i-saved-2120-by-buying-a-mattress-online/

[Dancin'Dog]

We just bought a new bed & mattress.  Since I'd recently started snoring and also getting acid reflux while sleeping I wanted to try a folding bed frame, which can raise the head and/or the foot of the bed.  That required a flexible foam mattress, without springs inside it.  The brand we bought also is made from a special foam that stays cool.  The tilting frame has helped with the snoring and I haven't had acid reflux any more either.


The main negative that I realized is that it will be very difficult to move the mattress if we ever decide to move from here.  Since it's foam it's heavy and floppy.  It was delivered compressed and rolled up in a box.  We cut the plastic wrapper and it began to expand.  The delivery guy warned us to get it in position on the bed "before" cutting the wrapper.  I can't imagine how anyone could ever move one of these things up or down a staircase. 


Thankfully we like it fine. 


I wouldn't recommend one though because of how difficult it would be to move.  I guess if you need a folding bed there aren't many options.

I've moved a foam mattress from a third floor apartment into a two story home.  They actually aren't that bad to move once you get a decent grip on the ends.  Being floppy makes it much easier to get around tight corners and stair landings.  Although I wouldn't recommend them for heavier individuals.  I've noticed indents forming much more quickly on my SO's side of the bed.  I've tried rotating more often and it just created indents on both sides now. There is no way this thing lasts 10years.  We're at about 5yrs now and I think it will need replacing soon.

I can't remember the brand, but I think ours is made of latex and bio gel.  It's very heavy & floppy.  I think the bio gel is what keeps it from building up body heat.  It's a queen size & I'm guessing it weighs over 125 lbs.  I'm not sure two people can wrestle it onto the bed if it was laying on the floor by the bed.  It's that heavy & cumbersome.  (We aren't weak people.  My wife & I just moved a leather sectional upstairs last week.) 

[Bracken_Joy]

No personal experience, but I'll probably be buying a cheap online mattress shortly. Here's a compelling writeup: http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/06/23/how-i-saved-2120-by-buying-a-mattress-online/

We're on year two with our Lucid one from amazon. $160 for a queen and we love it. Nice and firm, and I there's no breakdown at all yet. I will say, though, from everything I've read, memory foam type mattresses break down so, so much faster if you're a heavy (like 250lb+) person. Apparently you'll get major indenting within a year on a lot of memory foam mattresses, so an inner spring or combo style mattress is better if you're larger.

We had no problem moving it.

[GillyMack]

I dislike mattress purchases because there’s no way that laying on one in a store for a few minutes will tell you what it’s like for sleeping for a whole night or weeks of nights. One previous mattress purchase was a mistake but we stuck with it for a few years out of stubbornness (or frugality). And to add insult to injury, it started to develop permanent impressions pretty quickly.  So back to shopping again.  To make things more difficult, DH and I don’t like the same type of feel of mattress. We never have in many years of marriage. Because of this, we tried out Sleepnumber beds which are adjustable, including different adjustments for each persons side. As DH says, glorified air mattresses. But it’s really turned out to be the answer for us.  Some back issues for me have gradually faded away.  DH has discovered that if he exercises hard, a firmer adjustment is best and when not, he softens it up. So he varies his side. We bought the bottom of their line and it’s been fine for us. Kept the cost within reason.  Their bells and whistles can get quite pricey. Also an extra benefit is very easy to move: deflate and away you go.  I think are other companies making this type of mattress, too.

[L8_apex]

Try putting some books under the depressed spot with your current mattress.  I use six that are all about one inch thick and the size of a piece of standard paper.  I sleep in the same spot so over time it compresses, and the books between the mattress and box spring fix that....

I'd say that's the mustachian solution.

[nirodha]

Memory foam from Costco. If you don't like it, you can return it for a full refund.

Never again will I buy from a box mattress store. Too many bad experiences.

[pudding]

I turned my mattress 180 and I seem to be sleeping better on it now.

Checked out Ikea, they had one that I really liked at around 800.. thinking about it.

Also thought about getting a memory foam topper, but they cost a few bucks and not sure if that's throwing good money after bad.