Which mattress? (merged threads)

Tim_Deegan

anniemay wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, I think I need to look round some more but its sooo confusing and stressful as we can't afford to make the wrong choice, if we don't get it right we will be stuck with it for quite a while and we've both got bad backs already.

Anyway, thanks again, much appreciated

Unless you like being hot in bed, the reflexfoam/memory foam type mattress may not be right for you. Instead you may be better off with the sprung/memory foam type.

Tim_Deegan

Tim_Deegan wrote: »

On another subject, I just stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights, and the mattress was one of the most uncomfortable I have ever slept on. So I had a look to see what it was:
It was made by Layzee Beds. It was twin sprung, topped with latex. The hotel were probably charged a fortune for it, and to be honest they were ripped off. So if anyone is tempted, don't bother.

I've just found out that Layzee are also part of the Silentnight group. I suppose this could explain a lot.

povster

Tim

Do you have an opinion on the following brands?

millbrook
rest assured
sleepeezee

Thanks

Tim_Deegan

povster wrote: »

Tim

Do you have an opinion on the following brands?

millbrook
rest assured
sleepeezee

Thanks

All three are large companies. However Millbrook are probably the best option out of the three. They used to have quite a good reputation, although I have heard a growing number of complaints more recently. I found the following information about them:

Millbrook employs approx 700 people in the manufacturing and service sector. The group is split into four main parts. Millbrook Beds Ltd - manufacturers of high quality beds for both the retail and contract market place. Millbrook Furnishing Industries Ltd - specialist joinery outfitters of offices, ships, furniture restoration & refurbishment, specialist metal & wood finishing. Millbrook Healthcare - are service providers to the NHS Trusts providing the service of storage, delivery, repair and refurbish of 20% of all the wheelchairs within the NHS. Design, manufacture & supply of manual and para wheelchairs and mobility aids/accessories to the private/retail market. Millbrook Industrial Contracts Ltd - supply of mobile specialist industrial finishing services mainly operating in mainland Europe.

As for Rest Assured, they are part of the silentnight group......need I say any more.

Sleepeezee are very middle of the range.

Try smaller independent manufacturers as you will get more for your money.

Lomax_3

alictait wrote: »

Hi guys.

I have been looking for a few weeks now at mattresses and thought I had made a decision on a La Romantica Madrid Mattress, however after finding that Ergoflex have a sale on just now I decided to investigate.

Now the ergoflex mattress is a standard style memory foam mattress, i.e foam and memory foam and goes against the recommendations of several places. Firstly it has a higher density memory foam at 85kgm3 as opposed to the generally recommended max of 70Kgm3. It also has 90mm of memory foam which would also go against the recommended maximum of 63mm, I wonder if the higher grade foam would allow for a thicker layer of foam ?

Anyway at that point I was ready to say no way, however the reviews for this are fantatstic.From Review Centre it has 83 reviews with an overall of 9.1, Value for money rating and reviewer rating of 9.5. Looking through the reviews most people give it a 10 but as always there are a couple of negatives.

I must admit that I am tempted, despite the initial trepidation.

I'm still trying to decide here, I had to log on though and comment here since there is a bit of a whiff of suspicion here on their marketing strategy, it seems there is a website called http://www.memory-foam-buyersguide.co.uk/ that was setup the same time as their main website. Along with that I'm suspicious too that a lot of the comments are all one off's, in that people make one comment and then never return.

It muddies the waters when trying to get real feedback on something (I've seen elsewhere a forum website where someone mentioned ergoflex and then as if by magic a new user appeared, made one great recommendation of it and then never posted again (then again I guess I might not post again ).

I'd be cautious on taking the "reviews" too seriously, while they may or may not have a great product, a review website that lets anyone appear and make a comment looks open to abuse.

I'm still looking though, despite suspicion on their online marketting practices I'm tempted by the ergoflex, build wise it seems similar to the Tempur which they endlessly compare themselves to (they both seem to have gone for a dense foam, maybe this is perfect for sleeping on your back like I had to in hospital when I had a back operation - but it sounds a bit hard for sleeping on your side and then changing positions if the indention is slow to recover as someone already pointed out). But the product seems decent still, and balancing the suspicion on all the good reviews is that there are at least very few bad ones, not too bad a sign.

The other one is a unknown - Hush empress, its a pillow top, ~4cm memory foam pocket spring based mattress that offers a medium feel apparently, it sounds good stuff. http://www.hush-collection.com/pages/Empress.html
(I've seen it at £370, not cheap, but not wildly expensive either).

No idea if this is any good, but I should would be interested to know if anyone here has any experience of Hush, currently split down the middle on the choice

alictait

Lomax wrote: »

I'm still trying to decide here, I had to log on though and comment here since there is a bit of a whiff of suspicion here on their marketing strategy, it seems there is a website called http://www.memory-foam-buyersguide.co.uk/ that was setup the same time as their main website. Along with that I'm suspicious too that a lot of the comments are all one off's, in that people make one comment and then never return.

It muddies the waters when trying to get real feedback on something (I've seen elsewhere a forum website where someone mentioned ergoflex and then as if by magic a new user appeared, made one great recommendation of it and then never posted again (then again I guess I might not post again ).

I'd be cautious on taking the "reviews" too seriously, while they may or may not have a great product, a review website that lets anyone appear and make a comment looks open to abuse.

I'm still looking though, despite suspicion on their online marketting practices I'm tempted by the ergoflex, build wise it seems similar to the Tempur which they endlessly compare themselves to (they both seem to have gone for a dense foam, maybe this is perfect for sleeping on your back like I had to in hospital when I had a back operation - but it sounds a bit hard for sleeping on your side and then changing positions if the indention is slow to recover as someone already pointed out). But the product seems decent still, and balancing the suspicion on all the good reviews is that there are at least very few bad ones, not too bad a sign.

The other one is a unknown - Hush empress, its a pillow top, ~4cm memory foam pocket spring based mattress that offers a medium feel apparently, it sounds good stuff. http://www.hush-collection.com/pages/Empress.html
(I've seen it at £370, not cheap, but not wildly expensive either).

No idea if this is any good, but I should would be interested to know if anyone here has any experience of Hush, currently split down the middle on the choice

Hi again,

I did a bit of further research aswell on ergoflex despite the negative comments here. I had initially emailed the company and got a very swift response I am sure there will be no issues posting part of the response here

I am interested in your product but would like if possible for you to clarify a couple of concerns. I have been looking at mattresses for a while now collating advice from different places. I note you compare yourself to Tempur, though Tempur have done very poorly in recent tests compared to other memory foams.
Tempur are widely regarded as the market leader, and originally pioneered the manufacturing of 'visco-elastic' foam for domesic use. In my opinion Tempur make excellent mattresses, however suffer in product reviews from their hefty price tag. They also tend to get too warm, and their previous version of foam (tested by 'which' in 2006) has since been modified to make it recover faster when turning over. The Ergoflex 'cool-sleep' airflow system largely negates the temperature problem and we also use a 'faster recovery' HD visco foam.

My prime concern is the density and thickness that you quote for your memory foam. Most places seem to recommend a max density of 70kgm3 and thickness of 63mm, whereas your mattress is 85kgm3 and 90mm respectively. Can you explain the benefits of such ?


We disagree with the information you have read. There is a lot of unfounded conjecture available to read online, most of it peddled by retailers or manufacturers selling products of a lesser specification. True 'HD' foam (85kg m/3 + ) requires great technical ability to manufacture, and as such is what we believe to be a good indicator of the technological ability of the manufacturer. In the UK, Ergoflex mattress have a top layer of 85d visco foam. The only other manufacturers in the UK that have the ability to manufacture at this density and above are Tempur & Kaymed. Density is a reflection of the raw material content used to create the layer of foam and is a good indicator of the support the mattress will provide and the longevity you will get from the item. The current Ergoflex mattress composition is what be believe to be the optimum performing mix of materials, density, depth, layering, etc, for the mass market domestic consumer.



A further email also indicated that they do not offer a comfort guarantee.

Having used a 2" thick memory foam topper for 2 years that has since developed indentations in the areas where we sleep, I am worried about spending a relatively large sum of money on any memory foam product(be that Ergoflex or La Rpmantic Madrid) We are in the market for a SuperKing mattress so the price is obviously that bit dearer. As our old reflex foam mattress ( I say old - its about 4 years), is still in pretty good condition I am actually debating trying a better quality topper again to see if it retains its shape and then possibly replace again in the future. I am skeptical as to whether the indentations are actually an inherent problem with memory foam or whether we have been unlucky - but I am sure you can appreciate our trepidation.

With the experience of having used the 2" topper I could see how anything less than 2" of memory foam would be insufficient and in turn would dismiss the empress as an option. I have also been dismissing any memory foam mattress that has neglected to mention the density (on the basis that if they don't provide the figure then it is usually inferior), again an issue with the empress (at least in the link provided).

Although I like the idea of purchasing a luxury mattress and transforming my sleep pattern. I am just not sure I can justify taking a chance on something for £600 +, that will be problematic in 2 years time.

HTH

mattersdorff

that's some incredibly poignant questions Alictait, you seem to have looked into things are lot more deeply than I have so it will be really interesting to hear what conclusion you come to regarding getting a new mattress.

I am still totally stumped knowing what to go for...

after 3 years with an atrocious Sleepnight Miracoil mattress that buckled in the middle and now has springs that squak and groan like a painfully creaky door whenever the wife and I touch it, I'm desperate to spend some reasonable money on the most comfy mattress possible.

we spend a third of our lives in bed so its desperately important!

mattersdorff

This is a message for Tim, I have read through more pages in this listing than I care to admit and I like many, feel incredibly grateful to you for your honest advice and suggestions regarding what makes a good mattress.

None of us would have the first clue as to what to look for if it wasn' for this listing... how on earth can anyone know unless they understand the mechanics of mattress production, let alone the dodgy selling techniques.

Even the WHICH reviews aren't entirely reliable based on varying opions, including yourself, in this thread.

Everyone simply wants to find an affordable, supportive and comfortable mattress at an affordable price - under £600.

You have mentioned it in the past that you are providing advice purely because you want to help everyone sort through the minefield of mattress terminology and information and also help us all avoid being ripped off by the big companies. And can I just reiterate that everyone here would be totally helpless without the information you've given.... it's really is wonderful information to help us all decide.

I noticed someone on the forum recently asked for your opinion on the La Romatica Madrid mattress.

As much as I appreciate that you are literally forbidden on commenting on beds you actually sell, I think it's important that people out there know that you actually work for Bedlum Beds who sell the La Romantica beds and that you actually currently use a La Romantica Madrid bed.

I know you can't admit that so I'm going to state it here just so people are aware and obviously I have no affiliation to anyone. If letting the MSE forum users know about this is against the forum rules, then I am happy for administrators to delete this post.

Can I ask Tim and other forum users to perhaps suggest a list of mattresses or just their individual preferences for mattresses that fit the ideal ideal settings of a good and supportive mattress that's also affordable - ie under £600?

Tim_Deegan

Lomax wrote: »

I'm still trying to decide here, I had to log on though and comment here since there is a bit of a whiff of suspicion here on their marketing strategy, it seems there is a website called http://www.memory-foam-buyersguide.co.uk/ that was setup the same time as their main website. Along with that I'm suspicious too that a lot of the comments are all one off's, in that people make one comment and then never return.

It muddies the waters when trying to get real feedback on something (I've seen elsewhere a forum website where someone mentioned ergoflex and then as if by magic a new user appeared, made one great recommendation of it and then never posted again (then again I guess I might not post again ).

I'd be cautious on taking the "reviews" too seriously, while they may or may not have a great product, a review website that lets anyone appear and make a comment looks open to abuse.

I think you are right, both sites are registered with www.fasthosts.co.uk This is quite a common ploy with many so called review sites.

Lomax wrote: »

I'm still looking though, despite suspicion on their online marketting practices I'm tempted by the ergoflex, build wise it seems similar to the Tempur which they endlessly compare themselves to (they both seem to have gone for a dense foam, maybe this is perfect for sleeping on your back like I had to in hospital when I had a back operation - but it sounds a bit hard for sleeping on your side and then changing positions if the indention is slow to recover as someone already pointed out). But the product seems decent still, and balancing the suspicion on all the good reviews is that there are at least very few bad ones, not too bad a sign.

You need to remember that Tempur came out bottom in the Which magazine report. Also as you say the memory foam is too dense, so has a very slow recovery rate. It is also too deep, so you will sink too deep into it making you too hot.

Lomax wrote: »

The other one is a unknown - Hush empress, its a pillow top, ~4cm memory foam pocket spring based mattress that offers a medium feel apparently, it sounds good stuff. http://www.hush-collection.com/pages/Empress.html
(I've seen it at £370, not cheap, but not wildly expensive either).

No idea if this is any good, but I should would be interested to know if anyone here has any experience of Hush, currently split down the middle on the choice

I don't know much about Hush, but the memory foam at 1.5" isn't deep enough to contour to your body. It doesn't even mention the density. It is also a non turn mattress.

alictait

mattersdorff wrote: »

that's some incredibly poignant questions Alictait, you seem to have looked into things are lot more deeply than I have so it will be really interesting to hear what conclusion you come to regarding getting a new mattress.

I am still totally stumped knowing what to go for...

after 3 years with an atrocious Sleepnight Miracoil mattress that buckled in the middle and now has springs that squak and groan like a painfully creaky door whenever the wife and I touch it, I'm desperate to spend some reasonable money on the most comfy mattress possible.

we spend a third of our lives in bed so its desperately important!

I think because of my trepidation at the possible inherent fault with memory foam, I am seriously considering the topper route again. If it lasts longer than a couple of years (or outlasts my current mattress), then I shall look at memory foam again.After all £100 I feel is worth the risk. We have loved our topper until recently when the indentations became so bad that you sink into the topper as soon as you get on it, so much so that I def want memory foam of some description. The beauty of memory foam is that there is no squeaks or movement in the bed when someone gets up in the night which is a huge thing for us.

I probably would have purchased the La Romantica Madrid mattress already, however as we live in Scotland, Bedlum Beds, who seem to be the only supplier I can find don't deliver very often to north of the border and cannot give me a timescale as to when I would get it.

Perhaps another alternative would be to buy a good quality pocket sprung mattress (probably turnable) and then a topper that ticks the right boxes. Therefore giving the best of both worlds.

HTH