Originally Posted by
cinlo
We decided today that we need a new mattress. Where do we begin? What manufacturers should we look at?
Rather than manufacturers, you want to look at bedding types is my suggestion. Mattresses are made of different materials and each perform different and price points are all over the board.
The bedding industry is the sleazy part of the home furnishing business. Its full of smoke & mirrors, useless warranties, empty promises, confusing specifications and slick talkers. There is NO aspect of the bedding industry free from this, all makers do it. So having a basic understanding of bedding types will arm you to do battle. One thing I will always do is give an honest answer though it may make be very unpopular with people in the trade! There will be those who say I am way off-base, but this is my knowledge base of selling bedding since 1984.
Some Basics:
Bedding wears out. It wears out much faster than most people expect. When two people sleep on a mattress/box for perhaps 300 nights a year, multiply that by 10 years and that's 3,000 nights of some 300 to 400 lb atop foam and springs. They all break down and wear out.
Warranties are confused with service life. Warranties are there to service manufacturing defects, not wear and tear. Most people confuse the two. 100% of beds will wear out, but only 1 % or less will ever have a manufacturing defect. A bed can have a 20-year warranty, and be worn out in 8 years, happens all the time. The bedding makers want you to think that warranty protects you, but if you read it carefully it excludes more everything other than loose stitches, broken springs and broken box frames.
The average service life of the common bed is around eight to nine years. You can tell the bed is used up when their is a ridge in the middle of the bed (assuming two people sleep in the bed) that no longer dissipates after the matt has been rotated.
Types of beds. Within each type you will find ardent supporters who claim its the best bed ever. Learn the facts, try them out and decide for yourself.
* Conventional Foam: These are the vast majority of beds, made with a spring grid covered with various densities of polystyrene foam, similar to what you see under wall to wall carpeting. Cheap to make, and fast to produce in the factory, its a high-profit bed and typically is what you buy from Sealy, Serta, Simmons, King Koil, etc. They vary wildly in price from $ 300 a set to $ 2,000. They break down quickly and are at their best the first five years of use. They also tend to be a 'dirtier' bed than other types and have more dust mites, etc. Not for allergy sufferers.
* Memory Foam. High Density Foam that conforms to your body shape, some love it, some hate it. It does tend to sleep hot as air cannot circulate under you body as easily as with other types. Priced like conventional foam.
* Air Chamber Bed (Sleep by Number, etc). Pockets of air chambers you can adjust firmness with a control. Not that supportive in most cases, but some like them.
* Natural Latex Bed. Made of Latex, usually expensive. Different densities of latex are used in the bed to support different weight areas. Tends to sleep 'soft'. These last 2x as long as conventional foam. $ 3,000 and up.
* All Cotton Beds. Old School, layers of cotton felt and sewn above a spring grid. The Cotton does not break down like foam, and maintains its form far better over time. Lasts 2x as long as conventional foam. Two makers in the USA are Royal-Pedic and Shifman. Expensive, requires a lot of hand labor to produce. $ 2,500 and up.
FYI I sell only one bed brand in my store, and sleep on them as well (as do my kids), and that's Royal-Pedic out of California. I replace my bedding appx. every sixteen years. I prefer their all-cotton to their latex line, because I like a firmer bed. If I were not buying all-cotton bedding for myself, I'd purchase a conventional foam bed in a 'hotel' grade and toss it every four to five years.
So, there's a starter for you to go shopping.
-Duane
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
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