Let's talk mattresses

[Rob_B]

Hi folks,

It's about time for a new mattress as we've been getting by with a standard one with a foam topper so does anyone have good suggestions?

I'm not looking to pay the earth but am willing to stump up some cash for a decent nights sleep. We'll be off to a store next weekend to field test* a few but thought I'd ask!

Cheers fellow sleepers!

Rob


*This isn't as dirty as I've made it sound

[cptwhite_uk]

Good quality, firm pocket sprung. Would expect it to be around £400? Make it king size if you have the space

[Rob_B]

I'll be keeping our frame (King)

I've seen the Premier Inn ones you can buy but they seem a little expensive for what they are :/

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

[Rob_B]

Only if it revolves and vibrates...

[flearider]

the more springs the better .. if your over 12 stone ..think of the time you spend in it .. ? £800 over 5-8 yrs an't to much and your back will love you for it ..

[herulach]

We got a tempur foam one about a year ago. Expensive, but absolutely worth it.

[kalniel]

We didn't get on with Tempur, but found latex ones by Dunlopillo to be the absolute bees knees. Again, very expensive but worth every penny and very long lasting.

Didn't get on with sprung mattresses either.

But it's very personable. Go to several stores and lie on them for ages, ideally with your preferred choice of bed partner. You'll get some looks but any sales person worth their pay will recognise what you're doing and take you very seriously.

[Splash]

We splashed on a Tempur mattress about 8 years ago. Initially I found it way too warm (I like a nice cold bed), but I adjusted to it. Need's replacing now, but think we'll hold on for another 6 months to a year simply because the bed needs replacing, and we're likely to be moving to a larger place in that time.

[snedger]

Hello
I like my Dormeo memory foam mattress a lot.
I thought I liked my previous £1200 firm bed, but it turns out my back problems have decreased somewhat since going memory foam, so it looks like I'd made an uninformed decision that I absolutely had to have a firm bed.
Unfortunately lying on a bed in a shop for 5 minutes tells you nothing about how you will enjoy that bed after weeks, months and years.
And just to contradict myself, the Queen sized firm bed with memory foam topper at the Molitor in Paris 2 weeks ago, and an oversized memory foam pillow, gave me the best few nights sleep ever
Good luck in making a lucky choice.
Cheers
snedger

[neonplanet40]

I got my mattress from Snug . They are very good. I've had 3 now (had single then double then king). I would recommend them.

http://www.snugmattress.co.uk/snug-p...-foam-mattress

This is my current mattress. Have had it for 3 years now. Still going great. Very comfy.

[jim]

Weirdly enough, the best service I had was in Oak Furniture Land. Dreams were absolutely useless - they seemed to expect us to know what we wanted.

The salesman in OFL took us round all the different choices, let us test them out, asked for our feedback, and then took us onto another to recommend. It probably took us 45 mins - 1 hour to test them out, and then we came down to two options. The one we took (IIRC) was sprung, but with a latex layer on top so you sink in a bit, don't feel any springs, but it's pretty firm underneath that.

In short, without extensively testing them out, I would have ended up with totally the wrong thing.

[Rob_B]

Cheers for all the ideas folks, a few places mentioned I'd not have thought of!

[Zak33]

I like FOAM and not memory foam

They come rolled up in a vacuum sealed bag.

they're cheaper than springs and they're lovely.

A Silent Night double, will come for £99 delivered.

you'll not spring around, you'll not roll together and you'll sleep like a baby

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silentnight-...=foam+mattress

Buy a new one every 4 or 5 years

Easy to get upstairs... cut the bag open and stand back ..takes about an hour to get to proper size.

Ive had 3 now. Won't have springs again. No need.

[abaxas]

We have the cheapest possible matress on our bed. Then stick on winch memory foam and on top of that a cotton padded 'topper'.

Cheap as chips and each bit if replacable when it wears out. Also with the added benefit of being ultra comfortable

[Jasp]

Hi Rob,

For your intended budget I'd be looking towards a pocket sprung mattress around 1000-2000 spring count, make sure their full height springs on 1 or 2 layers, generally speaking the most that will fit in a layer is around 1500 max, pocket springs have the advantage of bending individually to your back as well as providing individual support so no bouncy castle effect when ya Mrs gets in or vice versa, stay away from open coil / continuous coil, fillings will come down to personal preference :

Memory Foam / Block Foam - Generally comes in Two types either full blocks or filling on top of a pocket spring mattress, Full block foam will contour to your body generally hugging you it will also be hotter as their is no where for the heat to travel, avoid if you don't like the sinking feeling. Combination mattress or Foam + Spring have the advantages of a traditional feel with the benefits of the foam, the springs help force the foam back up so it generally recovers faster, because the springs also move as you do they also help shift the air around the mattress generally resulting in it feeling cooler then a full block foam, look for ones with either Coolmax or Outlast fabrics to help the heat problem further.

Gel / Geltex - An advancement of memory foam that comes in many different types, generally is marketed as cooler then Memory foam and will generally last longer because of the gel inserted into the foam but will ultimately cost more.

Tempur - Not to be confused with Memory foam as its open cell visco elastic, Tempur are the only company able to use the Nasa logo as they purchased the rights many years ago, the whole idea behind a Tempur mattress is no upwards pressure, basically you lay down and no pressure is put against your body hence a weightless feeling, these are extremely personal preference you will either love it or hate it very marmite.

Traditional Fillings (Lambswool, Cotton, Polyester, Silk, Cashmere Etc) - At your price range your generally going to be looking at polyester and cotton, traditional fillings are tried and tested they will last for years and a lot of them have the advantage of being turn-able mattresses, if you spend a little more you will generally get extras such as lambswool, silk, cashmere, alpaca wool and even merino, merino wool is generally considered one of the best as it has a wicking effect that draws moisture and heat away from the body but doesn't get hot or wet itself. You can also get pillowtop type mattresses in this category were they are one sided with a top added, they are generally very comfy but will settle extremely heavily to begin with upwards of 3-4cm in the first month, avoid if you don't like a *used* mattress look quickly.

Latex (Natural / Artificial) - Again another tried and tested filling used heavily in the 80s with the invention of dunlopillo, golden rule here is avoid the artificial stuff like the plague as its hot and sweaty only go for the natural latex, latex has the big advantage of doing everything memory foam does without the heat, its also more of a elastic feel so bounces back extremely well and has the huge advantage of being hypo allergenic if yourself or the mrs suffer from allergies or asthma, a latex mattress is generally a bit more expensive because of the costs involved with producing it.

Waterbed (Just for the sake of it) - Again tried and tested, a very specialist item that won't be stocked by many big company's these days, water naturally fills in all the gaps offering extreme support, newer style water beds normally come in high flow or low flow as they contain baffles that stop the water from moving around you can also get single or dual bags for you and the Mrs so you have your own personal waterbed each, has the huge advantage that the tension can be altered simply by adding more water to the bed or taking it away, a water bed will generally last between 15-20 years if conditioned properly each year, generally they have to be heated 24/7 as your body is incapable of heating that much water. People tend to worry about the weight but as their built on a cross shaped frame the weight is distributed across the floor evenly.

Most of all get into a shop and try them, find a firmness that works for yourself and the Mrs and ask to see mattresses in the same firmness (Ignore the old Firmer is better, as its not) any salesperson worth his salt should be able to show the different types, some shops will also do comfort guarantees so ask about them and what they in-tale, costs etc.

Ask for a deal, most stores will have a flexibility of between 5-10% off the price but will heavily depend on the salesperson you get.

Most of all enjoy yourself and get on the damn beds, narrow it down to three you like and try them each for 5-10mins to get a proper feel for them before you buy.

P.S Sorry for the wall of text lol.