How to pick a mattress without becoming an expert on mattressesOct 12 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Decide how much you want to spend, decide what you want and pay attention to the details of the warranty. Buy from a reputable seller and protect your warranty. I recently went out to buy a king sized mattress. With a new baby on the way and the fact I co-sleep and already have a 4 year old that still crawls into bed with us at night upon occasion, I knew my queen sized bed was going to be too small. I talked my husband into it then went shopping. At first, never having shopped for a mattress before, I was a bit confused by all the hype, brands and types of mattresses. My first trip to a furniture store for this, I got a salesman who was obviously only interested in selling me the most expensive mattress and box spring he could. He also decided at the beginning that I wasn’t worth his time and ignored me for a while, until I lay down on one of the most expensive mattresses in the place and stared at him for a while. (I am used to this reaction from salesmen/women. They tend to look at me and think I don’t have any money because I do not dress up to go shopping or something.) I came away from this with the idea I was going to have to plunk down a lot more money than my husband was going to spend for a mattress. The next week I went back, on a hunch and found a different salesperson, one I knew and found that I could have a very nice mattress and box spring for about half of the price of the one that other guy wanted to sell me. I took my time however and went to several stores in the 3 weeks I spent deciding. After a while I did come up with a way to sift through the garbage and simplify shopping for mattresses. First of all, you have to decide what you want to spend. If you can tell the salesman what you are willing to spend, it is much easier for him to help you but be realistic. You are not going to get a decent kind sized mattress and box springs for 500 dollars for example (though it would be nice). Once you have down how much you want to spend, it also whittles down your choices as well which can be helpful too. Decide what you want. I don’t know anything about spring counts and stuff but what I wanted was a nice supportive, not too soft mattress that didn’t feel like an earthquake has hit when I get up and down during the night. I am a type 2 insomniac and my husband wakes up slightly every time I get up or lay back down during the night. (type 2 insomniac means you can get to sleep but you wake up a lot during the night, I almost never get more that 3 hours uninterrupted sleep without getting up for at least 10 minutes lol.) I found there are zero motion beds out there, though they are more expensive and also air beds which you can adjust by remote. I thought those were neat but the most comfortable bed I saw in my price range was a traditional I liked much better so I didn’t get one. I also found I hated pillow top mattresses. They didn’t support my back well enough. There are tons of choices out there but if you shop around, you ought to be able to find one that is just right. I ended up with a plush top traditional mattress. Pay attention to the warranty and the details of how this warranty is administered! This is important. It might have a 20 year warranty but how do you get replacements if there is a problem. What if you need a replacement in 5 years and find that the price of the mattress is prorated for the time you have used it? What if they want you to actually mail it in for a replacement? (I didn’t see a warranty like that but that doesn’t mean it exists, the prorated warranties really surprised me though.) Another thing my saleslady told me that made sense is that the warranty on most mattresses say in the fine print that for a mattress to be replaced, it has to be clean and sanitary. Apparently, if you find you need a replacement, if the guy who comes to inspect says it is unclean or unsanitary, they can void your warranty. My saleslady made it a point to tell me this because I am expecting and well, she knows how messy the first 6 weeks postpartum can be. She did have a mattress pad that guarantees that no stains will get through for 10 years or the company will replace your mattress. This is the same time period of the warranty on my mattress and cost about the same as would most good mattress pads and is guaranteed to last for 3 times as long as my previous mattress pads. Anyway, this might be something to think about if you do buy a mattress. Apparently protecting the mattress from stains can be important. I figure if the bed is comfortable and the warranty if good and I am buying it from a reputable seller with reasonable policies, I am not going to worry about how it is made or how many springs it has in it or anything like that. I am buying a mattress, not learning to build one. So my advice, bottom line, is to decide how much you want to spend, decide what you want and pay attention to the details of the warranty. Buy from a reputable seller and protect your warranty. And last, be flexible if you can. If the perfect mattress is a hundred dollars over budget, and you can swing it without too much trouble, go for it. Conversely, don’t feel you have to spend your whole budget if the perfect mattress is below the range you set yourself. Instead, buy yourself a nice set of sheets or something.  |
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