Choosing a mattress

April 23, 2004 12:52 AM

Since I'm about to graduate and move on with life, I'm thinking of ditching my 15 year old twin mattress. What should I look for in a new queen-sized mattress, and how should I pick one? How do I know I'm not getting ripped off? I've been trying to look at ads in the newspaper and I've gone into a few stores, but everything seems to be designed to be confusing, and nothing seems to compare across manufacturers ... or even in the same manufacturer's line. Help!

Subtext: College doesn't prepare you at all for the REAL challenges in life.

Subtext #2: Besides, it's really hard to get a girl to stay the night when you've got a bed the size of a postage stamp.

posted by SpecialK to shopping (11 comments total)

First, decide whether you like a firm or soft bed. I like a really firm bed, and I can't sleep well on a spring mattress. I go for hard foam matrresses, or my current preference, a futon.

Good foam mattresses may have a core in some other material, like cotton. That makes them last a lot longer than pure foam. Some mattresses have a winter side that holds the heat from your body, and a summer side that lets it escape.

Beware of the difference between the same mattress in a bedframe and on the floor.

Can't say I know much more about it. Make sure you lie on them in the store, and try a few different positions (heh).
posted by fuzz at 2:51 AM on April 23, 2004

You're right about the "designed to be confusing" part. Here's an article from last week's Washington CityPaper that talks about this, as well as the whole "used mattress" economy.

Also, "How to Buy a Mattress." Not all that useful, but it does raise some points to keep in mind.
posted by arco at 4:34 AM on April 23, 2004

Check the two previous threads about this topic.
posted by MsVader at 6:27 AM on April 23, 2004

I love my IKEA foam mattress. 4" main one with a 2" top one. You can put it on any surface and it works like a charm.
posted by jmgorman at 6:33 AM on April 23, 2004

The two most important things to know, IMHO, are that:

- The same mattress can be sold under completely different names by two different companies.
- Markups are HUGE, and retailers will haggle.

Work this to your advantage. People who pay full price for a mattress are suckers.

Go to your local retailer, and scope out something you like. DON'T BUY IT YET. Call up 1-800-MATTRESS and ask for their equivalent model, telling them what the store quoted you. They'll invariably knock a good chunk of change off the price. Go back to the store with 1-800-MATTRESS's quote, and ask them to beat it. They will. You could probably play them off each other for another round, but it's rapidly diminishing returns at that point. Don't feel skeezy about it- the retailer is perfectly aware of what's going on.

I did this when I bought my bed about 5 years ago, and paid a little less than 2/3 the retail price.
posted by mkultra at 6:40 AM on April 23, 2004

Slate ran a piece on mattress shopping a few years ago.
posted by herc at 9:08 AM on April 23, 2004

I had this same question about 1 year ago, pre-askmefi. Here is the answer I got in a nutshell from a friend who was 'in da' biz' of selling matresses.
1. Don't buy a pillow-top type. You are buying a thing you could put on your self via feather bed/duvet. Those pillow tops compress and ruin an otherwise good mattress.
2. Go for a non-flip one.
3. He said, in general, goto the shop say: "show me your most firm, most solid, hotel type matress, cheap." Buy that one. Get a feather bed, or whatever, a nice wool liner etc. An you will have the nicest longest lasting matress at the best price, comfortable as per you liking.

I did this, and we are very happy and in under 1k.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:05 AM on April 23, 2004 [3 favorites has favorites]

There are certain problems that seem solvable, but quickly devolve into frightening layers of complexity. One of those is scheduling the teaching preferences of a department of professors. By the time you take into account all of the real world variables (classes they can teach, times they prefer to teach, classes they *want* to teach, petty internal squabbles, institutional restrictions, etc.) you end of doing the whole mess by hand.

Choosing a mattress, in my opinion, is of the same order of complexity, in large part because of the scamming that takes place and the difficulty in making comparisons, plus the ever-shifting terminology and perks. The sheer number of mattress stores found in stripmalls in every city should be seen as a warning sign that there is easy money to be made.

We have an $800 bed/mattress. A no-flipper. It took away much of my back pain. We also have a smaller foam pad with eggshell foam on top of that. It is just as comfortable, and probably cost $50. On the surface, it looks like a dumb move to buy the big mattress, but in practice we like having a bed to sit on, with storage underneath, and it was time for adult furniture (see appropriate section of Cryptonomicon).

If you're single, you can build something big enough for two that is probably pretty comfy and will cost less than $100, especially if you incorporate pallets.

I'm writing this in the Salt Lake City library, watching skater/street kids engage in various transactions on the street below. They are blissfully unaware of thousand dollar bed decisions.
posted by mecran01 at 10:45 AM on April 23, 2004

I just had the exact same situation about 8 months ago when I upgraded from a horrid old twin to a wonderful queen-size pillow top.
I don't have much "insider" info, but I'll give you some tips. First, shop around, you can sometimes find the same brands at specialty bed stores, department stores and discount department stores....often you'll find the same beds but with different model names, to protect the higher priced stores from the lower ones. Also, see what is included or what you can weasel out of them...delivery/setup, bedframe, and any financing deals. I comparision shopped and found a Simmons pillowtop that I really liked at Value City Furniture for around $900 compared to about $1200 that I would have paid at Lazarus/Macy's. Part of the deal was that they had free delivery/setup, haulaway of the old mattress, free bedframe, and 6mo same as cash.
I've heard there's better times of the year to buy furniture/mattresses because of inventory, new stock, etc, but overall I think its a total buyer's market right now because of the economy, so you should be able to get a good deal.
One last thing, avoid specialty mattress stores, they were the most expensive in my experience.
posted by dicaxpuella at 12:22 PM on April 23, 2004

COSTCO! We special ordered our king size Sealy mattress from Costco--not the ones they have in-stock. We paid way less than what it cost in stores even after haggling and we're hagglers. We tried out a number of mattresses at many different stores to see what we liked and to get an understanding of what the mattresses are like. We checked out the sample at Costco. It was just like what we'd been trying in the stores. Ordered it from the little kiosk near the entrance and it was delivered(free) in less than 2 weeks.
posted by lobakgo at 12:40 PM on April 23, 2004

I bought a box spring with mine and only later realized that a lot of bed frames you can buy don't need one or replace them entirely. That was unexpected and something to think about.
posted by smackfu at 3:46 PM on April 23, 2004