Mattress questions: Ikea & Macy's edition

January 2, 2013 2:01 PM

Inexpensive firm mattress options: how does the Ikea Hanestad hold up? How do firm MacyBed mattresses hold up? Can you haggle at Macy's like you can with mattress chains? (+ more discussion inside.)

I am looking for a firm, inexpensive, full or queen-size mattress in the SF Bay area. I'm on a tight budget--I'd like to spend something like $350 or less (mattress only, no boxspring.) I feel relatively confident that I can figure out which mattresses will be comfortable by laying on them, more or less, but I'm not confident about how they will hold up--sagging, springs popping out, or getting much softer. I know that there are warranties, but often this only kicks in when there is a lot of sagging, and with IKEA at least, you have to transport the mattress back to them for evaluation, which will be a pain and an expense. So I want something I'm pretty sure will hold up.

The IKEA Hanestad ($249 for a queen size, and reportedly on the very firm side) felt at least as comfortable as anything else in my budget at a chain mattress store, but several friends have told me that IKEA mattresses are bad quality. I would love to get people's comments on how specific models of IKEA mattresses held up, especially the Hanestad.

I'm open to hearing other ideas for firm + inexpensive stuff as well. Caveats: I do not want a pillowtop mattress. I also do not want memory foam (I know everyone here likes that memory foam mattress from Amazon but sadly I haven't liked a lot of the memory foam I've tried in stores.)

posted by needs more cowbell to home & garden (12 answers total)

Skip Ikea and Macys, go to the Sears Outlet!

The deals are amazing and they carry all the major mattress brands.

I love sleeping on a plank and my Simmons Beautyrest is 12 years old and is still superhard.

The website is great, you can read reviews, and they'll tell you what's in stock near you. They also deliver.

Sears Outlet. Who Knew?
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:06 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]

I've been watching Sears Outlet! Alas, there hasn't been anything that fits my needs that's near me and also new. (Reconditioned or like-new is not an option for me for various reasons.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 2:20 PM on January 2

I'd investigate that a hair more. I'm totally skived at the thought of bugs, but some stuff gets delivered and then taken back immediately, without ever having been slept on. (It didn't fit the room, it was the wrong thing, there are actual, legit reasons)


Go in and talk to the folks, they'll be straight with you. You might get the deal of the century.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:23 PM on January 2

Over the summer, we set up our guest bedroom with a rather nice queen set (mattress and boxspring) for $320, from http://www.1800mattress.com/. They delivered it in <48 hours, carried it into the room where it was going, and were very easy to work with -- I'd go with that solution again before using a crappy futon mattress from Ikea.
posted by ellF at 2:31 PM on January 2

A while back I read this review. Shortly after that I became single and I bought one as a newly-single-gift to myself and it was glorious. Just this side of granite. Note that it is sometimes referred as a futon mattress but it's actually a platform mattress and is so hard that it could never fold even a little bit. See the reviews at Amazon; it's available elsewhere for just around your limit depending on full or queen.

Side note, it comes in surprisingly small box and you open it and it puffs out into a very firm 8" thick mattress of excellent build quality.
posted by ftm at 2:38 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]

I've been on my Ikea mattress for ten years, and it's still absolutely lovely and cost MUCH less than anything I was seeing at "proper" mattress stores.
I don't remember which kind I got, though it's a spring mattress and was one of the cheapest. (It's blue! But they don't sell blue ones any more.)
I paid $425 for the bed and mattress at the time and am still using both after several moves. I flip the mattress now and again though I really don't notice a difference.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 3:40 PM on January 2

I can't speak to their spring mattresses, but I have an IKEA foam mattress that's around 4 years old at this point, and that I still find quite firm, but which I think is starting to go in the middle. I can't remember the model, unfortunately, but it's one of the slimmer ones -- probably the Fonnes. I didn't buy it expecting it to last more than about 4-5 years (even with pretty regular flipping and rotation), so it performed about as expected.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:22 PM on January 2

I say skip all the chains and investigate memory foam mattress wholesalers on ebay. There are tons of options and reviews so you can feel pretty confident about it. I was skeptical but I'm incredibly satisfied that I went this route. I've purchased two mattresses this way and both have been great and around 300-350 for a queen. The only reason I'm on my second one is because I moved and sold everything I couldn't pack in a box and just bought a new one when I arrived at my destination. The new owner is a friend and loves the one they bought from me too!
posted by amycup at 10:54 PM on January 2

Woops - I missed your note about not liking memory foam. Sorry! That was my big and not useful suggestion.
posted by amycup at 10:55 PM on January 2

I can't speak for the specific model you have in mind (the Ikea mattresses seem to range a bit in different countries, and we're in Australia), but we have two Ikea mattresses purchased a year ago, and we are very happy with them both. Like you, we wanted to avoid pillow tops and memory foam, just a nice, firm coil mattress. We have the Heggedal ($900 range) in our main bedroom, and it is a fantastic mattress. Right level of firmness, and two of us can shift around in bed and not distrurb the other. In our guest bedroom we have the Hamnvik ($500 range), and due to some issues with home repairs, spent half the year sleeping on that one. I have to say that they are both fantastic mattresses, and the cheaper one does not feel appreciably poorer in quality. I would be perfectly happy if that was my full-time bed.

Can't comment on longevity since we've only had them a year, but they weathered a move and our guests all find the bed very comfortable. I never owned an Ikea mattress prior to this, and my understanding is that they ramped up the quality a few years ago, particularly on their higher end range. I think Ikea mattresses are overall a higher quality than they once were, so if you're hearing reviews from people who bought them more than a couple of years ago, you might be comparing apples to oranges.
posted by amusebuche at 4:54 AM on January 6 [1 favorite]

I ended up purchasing the Ikea Hanestad after shopping around at Macy's and Mattress Discounters. The Hanestad was more comfortable than anything else anywhere near my price range, save for an $800 (on deep discount) Beautyrest set at Macy's. MacyBed brand mattresses, save for the extra firm model, didn't seem very solid at all. (Anything other than new was just not an option for me. I had a bedbug scare a few years ago that really ruined me--I lost 15 pounds in a month without trying from anxiety. It's just not worth it to me.)

I will try to comment here on how it holds up if I think about it, but if I don't, for anyone happening upon this down the road, feel free to memail me to ask! My housemate also got one so you will even have an n of 2 for your research :)
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:48 PM on January 15 [1 favorite]

As further data, one person who posted about this specific mattress on their blog has told me that close to two years later it is holding up very well. It is, however, very very firm at first. Like way more than in the store. And then it softens a bit.
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:08 PM on January 25