mattress question

Ok we are looking at buying a new bed and will also need a new mattress. (Old bed is literally ready to fall apart.) So plan is to upgrade to a Queen size bed. Anyway we aren't entirely sure about mattresses. We are mostly looking at the Sealy brand, but are open to suggestions. Also do not want a pillow top or a memory foam type. We tried a couple out at the furniture store today. Sealy Bay Island Visco, Sealy Canoe Ridge Plus and Sealy Slipstream. We liked the Slipstream the best of these three which we liked the best of the ones they had there. Both my husband and I prefer soft mattress to harder ones. Any suggestions/ideas ect appreciated.

Just if you go to a spring-type mattress (as opposed to foam or futon), try it out with BOTH of you and make sure that one of you can move without jostling the other. We bought our first and last spring-type mattress without doing that test, and now every time he rolls over or extends his legs, it nearly bounces me out of bed. It wasn't a cheap mattress, either. I can't wait until the awful thing wears out.

We actually did both lay down on it, but well do more testing with them as you suggest before making a decission. Our current mattress is at least 15 yrs old, so even if we don't get a new bed, which we do need, we really do need a new mattress regardless. (Of course we currently have two memory foam mattress pads on top of the mattress. LOL)

We bought a Tempurpedic "celebrity" model about 5 years ago. Best money we've ever spent. DH has back issues, and I have hip and back issues.

when one of us goes out of town, we say something like "honey I missed you, but I really missed the tempurpedic".

They're pricey, but 20 year warranty, and oh so fabulous. It provides the softness I need for my hips but the support I need for my back

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Originally Posted by lo123

We bought a Tempurpedic "celebrity" model about 5 years ago. Best money we've ever spent. DH has back issues, and I have hip and back issues.

when one of us goes out of town, we say something like "honey I missed you, but I really missed the tempurpedic".

They're pricey, but 20 year warranty, and oh so fabulous. It provides the softness I need for my hips but the support I need for my back

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Our next bed will be memory foam. We currently have a 2" topper on a rather slab-like mattress (it was nearly new...had been a guest bed mattress in my DH's grandparents' Summer home). It works pretty well, for now. But the mattress is almost a decade old and not as supportive as it once was.

I think it's kinda funny that a cyclist is looking at a mattress model called "Slipstream." I wonder what brought Sealy to come up with that name... ;)

Spend some time reading about mattress sales, materials and construction. We upgraded a few years ago, and the jist of it is that mattress sales is in the same category as used cars for deceptive and obfuscatory sales tactics. Many manufacturers relabel/re number the same model for each distributor, which makes it impossible to compare models or prices based any reviews you might find. I remember being rather astounded after reading half a dozen or so "how to buy a mattress" articles. Buy one on sale for sure: don't pay full price. Also, make sure you but from a place with a 30 day sleep on it and love it or return it guarantee.

Irulan stated my issue with mattress buying -that the same mattress will have a bunch of different names depending on the store that is selling it. I find that so outrageous that if I could boycott a mattress I would. :) I need to buy a new one too, mainly because my spare bed one is way way old and so I want to replace my bed and move my bed's mattress to the spare bed. But I just dread going to buy one. It's also one of those things they tell you to negotiate on, and I HATE to do that. Give me a fair price and let's finish the deal. When I bought the one on my bed now, I remember hating the process, but feeling like I had talked them down and had done well. Then at work a friend mentions she just bought the same mattress from the same store, and talked them down $200 more than I did. That is just messed up.

Wonder if my guests would really mind sleeping on the floor? ;)

Also, knowing about and understanding the different materials and constructions types is critical so you don't get snowed by the sales person.

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Originally Posted by lo123

We bought a Tempurpedic "celebrity" model about 5 years ago. Best money we've ever spent. DH has back issues, and I have hip and back issues.

when one of us goes out of town, we say something like "honey I missed you, but I really missed the tempurpedic".

They're pricey, but 20 year warranty, and oh so fabulous. It provides the softness I need for my hips but the support I need for my back

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+1

DH and I slept on one at a hotel once and fell in love with the mattress.

oh yeah, you should spend at least 1/2 hr or more testing it at the store. Take a nap, ya know?

I can't remember which models we got the name brands..since now there's 2 homes. We paid in the higher range but with a discount.

We thankfully both prefer the model that's the 2nd hardest /firmest in the line, for back support. I can truly feel a soft mattress under my back...and my back aches afterwards. No way.

A quality mattress is so important for sleep and saving a person's back long term.

We just bought a Sealy Embody latex mattress a month ago, and love it. We had it narrowed down to that or a Tempurpedic memory foam matress. Two things convinced us to go with the latex: it felt cooler, and DH didn't sink as deeply into the latex. Latex feels closer to a conventional matress, rather than having that sinking or "cocoon" feeling.

The pillows are pretty awesome too :D

when I was sick and tired of my old, creaky, spring mattress, I wanted to buy a latex foam mattress, as I wanted to be as "green" as possible (what with so many mattresses littering the landfill taking about a million years biodegrade). Latex is natural rubber and will biodegrade much faster than conventional mattresses.

One thing to keep in mind when you get a "memory foam" type mattress is, if you tend to get hot in your sleep, you'll find yourself sweating a lot. The one I initially bought turned out to be a gross customer return mattress, and after wrangling through Better Business Bureau, they offered their equivalent, newer model which is latex foam plus wool and bamboo fibre topping which controls the heat and I must say it's MUCH better.

If you go the foam route, do your research and don't cheap out. If I'm sweating in the middle of winter, I can't imagine how intolerably hot it must be in the summer!!

I don't have problems with my Tempurpedic mattress being too hot. The pillow feels warm sometimes, and you can't just turn it over due to its shape. For my next pillow I'm thinking of trying their traditionally-shaped version.

Regarding latex, I would never get a latex mattress due to allergies. I am not allergic to latex, but my sister is highly allergic to it, and I have enough other allergies to worry about developing an allergy from 8 hours worth of exposure to it every night.

A mattress weighs about twice as much at 10 years as it did brand new.

Why?

Mites, mite poop, dead mite carcases, shed skin flakes.

Yummy!

http://www.achooallergy.com/about-dust-mites.asp

Consider a new mattress every few years.

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

A mattress weighs about twice as much at 10 years as it did brand new.

Why?

Mites, mite poop, dead mite carcases, shed skin flakes.

Yummy!

http://www.achooallergy.com/about-dust-mites.asp

Consider a new mattress every few years.

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Not with a tempurpedic.

And I've never heard of anyone dying from a dust allergy. Latex, on the other hand...

We ended up picking the Slipstream by Sealy. We spent a good bit of time there Saturday and decided to go with that one. The store does have a 30 day money back policy. We did try the tempurpedic and Sealy's memory foam version and did not like either one. To us they are too hard. Thankfully we both like soft mattresses and the softer the better. One reason I HATE hotel mattresses. It is so hard for me to sleep on a hard mattress. We've actually bought a mattress pad that is strickly for vacations so we don't have to worry as much about how horribly hard those mattresses are. The one we picked I about fell asleep on it in a matter of minues of laying down on it. This is coming from someone who it typically takes about a half hour for me to fall asleep on a good night not matter how tired I am.
Before I'll even lay down on a mattress I test it by pushing on it with my hand. If it's firm/hard to pressing on it with my hand I won't even bother with trying it out as I know it will be too hard. The one we picked is a euro top.

Enjoy!!

Thank you. We're also lucky that we both like similar type mattress (both of us prefer softer ones).
It's gotten to the point that the mattress is way too old and the bed is ready to fall apart. We did not realize that until we just got everything moved into our new house. The poor bed has been through at least 8 moves. 3 moves from the person who have it to my husband, 2 moves before I met my husband, 1 when we got married, and 2 since we've been married. Guess it was just time to get a new bed and mattress rather or not we can really afford one. LOL

Heheh, we're just the opposite. DH and I both prefer firm mattresses, and we find most hotel mattresses too soft! :D

We had to specially request a non-pillowtop mattress for the condo we are building in Belize. They normally put pillowtop mattresses in them, and we found it way too soft in the condo we rented last summer. Have no idea what we'll end up with b/c there was no choice of brands or price points, and in a third-world country, there's just not the selection that we have here in the US, at all. For example, we had a choice of one brand of appliances (many different models but all the same brand - GE), one brand of TV, etc. We could ship a mattress down, but that would cost a mint in shipping and customs duty. So...we shall see.

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

...there's just not the selection that we have here in the US, at all. For example, we had a choice of one brand of appliances (many different models but all the same brand - GE), one brand of TV, etc...

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That sounds quite refreshing, actually. Besides, who needs a mattress or a TV in Belize, anyways?? Just sleep in the hammock tied between the palm trees, and read a book or gaze at the ocean!

Hammocks are way overrated in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by tulip

That sounds quite refreshing, actually. Besides, who needs a mattress or a TV in Belize, anyways?? Just sleep in the hammock tied between the palm trees, and read a book or gaze at the ocean!

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Sounds lovely in theory, but in principle there is rainy season...and mosquitos! I think I'll stick with whatever mattress they give us! :D

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Originally Posted by KnottedYet

A mattress weighs about twice as much at 10 years as it did brand new.

Why?

Mites, mite poop, dead mite carcases, shed skin flakes.

Yummy!

http://www.achooallergy.com/about-dust-mites.asp

Consider a new mattress every few years.

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:eek: Yuck...

I have one of those houses where the staircase to my bedroom is too short and steep to fit a mattress - it has to be taco-ed. So it will never be worth it for me to buy a new one :( You guys are making me jealous!

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Originally Posted by Irulan

Hammocks are way overrated in my opinion.

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Just not so good for the back when sleeping for hrs. in a hammock.

All you need is dust mite excluding mattress and pillow covers. Some of them are pretty inexpensive. It makes an enormous difference in my allergy symptoms. And, they're washable - I wash mine about once for every four to six times the sheets gets washed.

Emily, it is good that you and your husband prefer the same time. I am so glad my husband and I prefer the same type. At least it makes picking out a mattress a bit easier. I can definitely see where a pillow top would not be good for someone who likes a firm mattress.

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Originally Posted by Koronin

Emily, it is good that you and your husband prefer the same time. I am so glad my husband and I prefer the same type. At least it makes picking out a mattress a bit easier. I can definitely see where a pillow top would not be good for someone who likes a firm mattress.

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We got some sort of hybrid that has a pillow top-ish top but is firm and supportive, as we both really like firm. This has just enough cush to make you go "...aaahhhhh" but is still very firm, not soft all.