Tips for Buying a Mattress?

[Gilberto de Piento]

I need to buy a queen mattress. The one I have is completely done. Any tips to get a good mattress without spending a ton of money?

Two sided or one sided? Just a mattress or mattress and box spring? Does the (not optional) warranty even matter?

I just got back from looking at one store and the cheapest was $600. The $1200 model actually seemed a lot nicer but it's hard to tell. Luckily I didn't like the really expensive foam/gel.

According to the salesman if you are happy sleeping on any of them then you are paying for how long it will last. I didn't write down the warranty and price for each model but it seemed like they were getting more expensive but the warranty period wasn't increasing as rapidly so the price per year was more on the more expensive ones even though they supposedly will last longer.

I just looked on craigslist and there were a couple of listings that looked promising - "used one month, have receipt, didn't like the way it felt" kind of ads. I'm not interested in any mattress that has been used more than a few times and I don't want any bedbugs but I'll consider used given how expensive they seem to be.

[WYOGO]

Tuft & Needle. Git after it...

[OTCW]

Mattress in a box on Amazon or Ebay or Sams club. They are foam/memory foam and come compressed and shrinkwrapped, folded into a box. Sealy makes a great Queen version that can be had for less than $300 at times.

20 year warranty. I have one and love it. It is on the high firm side, just an FYI. Do some research and find the right one for you.

[jennypenny]

We have Ikea's version of the tempur-pedic mattress and love it. No box spring--it sits right on the bed frame. IIRC, we bought it the last time I was pregnant, so 12 years ago. I'd recommend an extra cover or two because the cover it comes with is very difficult to get on and off the foam.

[brighteye]

Jlcollins has featured Tuft& needle on his blog: http://jlcollinsnh.com/2014/10/26/tuff- ... -to-sleep/
He liked them.

[Ydobon]

I would never again buy a mattress online (unless it was as a result of ROBO shopping).

I *thought* that I wanted a firm mattress when we moved into our current home, bought one and faced a year and a half of shitty sleep. It had seemed like a great deal at the time (£££ down to slightly smaller £££), but it was a massive mistake.

We decided to replace it earlier this year and replaced memory foam for a far more forgiving latex top, which still offers some of the benefits of memory foam. Before buying we tested dozens of mattresses to make sure we got the right one. Unfortunately this was about £600.

The new mattress should last a good decade, but online shopping wasted £350

[5to9]

Broad categorizations of "online shopping" are dangerous. For example Tuft & Needle has a 30 trial period with a free returns process, and very clear definitions of what sort of degradation is covered by their warranty after that period. I can't yet speak to the mattresses themselves, but with any online purchase, knowing the company's return process and their reputation for backing it is important.

[5to9]

And to the original question, we recently ordered a Tuft & Needle mattress, which should arrive this month. I will be happy to report on the process, and the quality of the product. The price seems more than reasonable for comparable products.

[Gilberto de Piento]

Thanks for all the tips. I ended up buying a name brand box spring and mattress for $500 at a local furniture place.

More tips:

-They wanted $50 for delivery so I tied it down to the roof rack on the car with some ratchet straps. It's nice to be self sufficient.

-I got a used metal frame from friends for free. If you need one ask around or look on craigslist where they seem to go for very little money.

-Don't believe the salespeople. The ones I dealt with seemed nice enough but they tried every used car dealer trick in the book to upsell, etc.

-Make sure the mattress will fit up your stairs before buying.

I thought about tuft and needle but all of the foam mattresses I tried were too soft. I did notice that there are a lot of similar sounding foam mattresses from walmart or amazon for half the price. I'd like to compare the cheap ones to the tuft and needle. Do you think the T & N mattress is really different or just the method of marketing is?