Which mattress? (merged threads)

Tim_Deegan

glitter123 wrote: »

But then how do I balance that against selecting a bedstead that I like?Afterall its the bedstead which is going to form the focal point of my bedroom and its all well and good having a fab mattress but if I hate the bedstead.........

And what is the main thing you do in your bed?..........for most people it is sleep. Impressing guests is far less important than making sure your body is supported properly, so that you wake up fealing refreshed, rather than sore and aching.

glitter123 wrote: »

When choosing an unbranded mattress how do I (as a consumer, not an expert) know which companies are good and which are mediocre?

You ask!!!!!!!

• If you find the model you are interested in on ebay, then ask the people who left feedback. remember that feedback is usually left within a couple of days of delivery, so their opinions may chang in time. Also remember that some peoples standards are far higher than others, so ask as many as you can.
• Ask in forums like this one to see if anyone else has purchased the same model.

You can also purchase from a company who will take the bed back if you are unhappy with it. However read terms and conditions as some charge very high rates for returns.

Zent

Tim

I phoned Kozee Sleep (Birmingham) for a local stockist. (I am in deepest darkest Wales, but coincidentally they have a stockist only three miles from me.) I later went out, forgetting to phone Kozeesleep (Dewsbury) for their nearest stockist, and while out called in at the (Birmingham) stockist. They had a Regency Double in stock, ex-display, sprung edge, no drawers, so it's coming on Thursday. Now think I should have 1. Paid the extra for two drawers. 2. Haggled over the price.

furniture123 list it (New) for same price, and give 5% discount at present.

Never mind, my forty year old Relyon is getting past its best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so £20 extra over the next 40 years ain't too bad. Plus, I prefer to support local businesses, and if anything goes wrong, I can go round with "the boys", Charlie and Sunny.

And after all this, I can quite happily sleep on straw on the floor in a stable - goes with spending a lot of time with the aforementioned ggs.

porka

Thanks for the great thread

I have been in to dreams today and ordered this mattress:

http://www.dreams.co.uk/en-gb/ProductDetails/?cid=POCKETSPRING-MAT&pid=133-00177&language=en-GB

If you look for that mattress as a Divan set the description also includes "Sleepeezee"

So I started searching and it found that the Sleepeezee Backcare Luxury Mattress has exactly the same spec and can be had on ebay for less than half the price !!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-King-Size-Sleepeezee-Backcare-Luxury-1400-Mattress_W0QQitemZ380029283937QQihZ025QQcategoryZ131591QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Am I right that this is the same mattress ?? Also, is it any good ?? I have 24 hours to cancel my order..

Thanks in advance for any input !

Tim_Deegan

porka wrote: »

Thanks for the great thread

I have been in to dreams today and ordered this mattress:

http://www.dreams.co.uk/en-gb/ProductDetails/?cid=POCKETSPRING-MAT&pid=133-00177&language=en-GB

If you look for that mattress as a Divan set the description also includes "Sleepeezee"

So I started searching and it found that the Sleepeezee Backcare Luxury Mattress has exactly the same spec and can be had on ebay for less than half the price !!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-King-Size-Sleepeezee-Backcare-Luxury-1400-Mattress_W0QQitemZ380029283937QQihZ025QQcategoryZ131591QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Am I right that this is the same mattress ?? Also, is it any good ?? I have 24 hours to cancel my order..

Thanks in advance for any input !

It appears to be the same apart from one thing......the one in Dreams is two sided. Although this shouldn't justify an extra £300.

This is a perfect example of large chain stores getting manufacturers to make a mattress to a slightly different spec, then change the name, and charge over the top prices.

If you search around you can also find it cheaper than the one you found on ebay.

If I were you I would cancel the order with Dreams, but then try and find a similar mattress that is two sided on line.

BernardM

What about Healthbeds Memory flex mattresses. I think they were Which? Best on Test winner scoring 82% and passed a 10 year durability test.
I noticed it advertised on thebedroomstore.co.uk and also backinaction.co.uk

BernardM

In post 159 Tempur was said to come bottom in the test and didn't make the Best Buy award. This was surprising. If you look again at the test results it had high scoring marks equally as high as the Best buys. I remember it only came lower down on the which durability test. It seemed a bit harsh not to give it a mention.I know somebody who has one and they love it. I think I'd go for the Healthbeds brand though as it was such a high score. I am saving hard to get one as its fairly expensive.

cathodetube

glitter123 wrote: »

Tim_Deegan wrote: »

The mattress is the most important part of the bed, so you need to get that bit right first.
quote]


But then how do I balance that against selecting a bedstead that I like?Afterall its the bedstead which is going to form the focal point of my bedroom and its all well and good having a fab mattress but if I hate the bedstead.........

When choosing an unbranded mattress how do I (as a consumer, not an expert) know which companies are good and which are mediocre?

Hi

You don't have to get a bedstead. Instead you could just get a really nice headboard as that is what most people would see when they walk in a room. I have a normal divan bed, sprung base, pocket sprung mattress with a nice bedskirt on it and a great high buttoned padded headboard which I had made for me by a local upholsterer. That way you can change the cover if you want to by getting a loose cover made. I like to read in bed and this means I can lean up against the headboard and my pillows don't slip down. Personally I can't understand the craze for metal beds. They look harsh to me and I think they are something that will go out of fashion. I also like old fashioned beds, with very low footboards so that you don't notice them. If you have a smallish bedroom large high footboards will make the room look smaller.

The White Company make up headboards and so do Oka. You can look them up online.

purplepippa

i understand that a number of people have had bad experiences with silentnight, however has anyone actually had a bad experience with rest assured or pocket spring bed company? or is everyone assuming that their beds are rubbish because they belong to the silentnight group?

Tim_Deegan

I've actually had a conversation with Which Magazine recently. Whilst they try to give out as much information as possible, they admit that they aren't experts, and that they only produce a rough guide. The last guide they did was in 2006, but in the next one they produce they may be making a few changes.

First of all they said that memory foam mattresses are only available one sided. As we know this isn't true.

Out of the 17 mattresses on trial 12 were reflex foam/memory foam, 3 were pocket sprung/memory foam, 1 was open coil/memory foam, and the other was continuous spring/memory foam. So there wasn't a good selection of any of the sprung mattresses.

10% of the score was for convenience. They actually took into account that many of the reflex foam/memory foam mattresses come vacuum packed and rolled up, so they can fit in the boot of your car........this obviously only applies if you don't have the mattress delivered, and this can only be done once. They also marked all those with removable covers well..........this shouldn't really come into it because with most sprung/memory foam mattresses the fabric is actually part of the construction of the mattress. Most people use a mattress protector anyway.

The main reason the Healthbeds mattress came out top is because they use the right combination of density of memory foam, depth of memory foam, and density of the reflex foam underneath. Tempur still haven't got this right, and use memory foam that is too deep, and has too higher density, which makes it very difficult to change position in bed.

The report also mentions temperature, and says:

"

TEMPERATURE

Memory foam softens in
response to body heat, so your
body gradually sinks into it.
Even this Healthbeds, which
lets you sink into it the least,
will have greater contact with
your body than an ordinary
mattress. This reduces air
circulation around your body
and makes the mattress feel
warmer. Many people find
this helpful in winter,
especially because you can’t
use an electric underblanket
with memory foam. But you
may feel too hot in summer.
Memory foam is affected by
room temperature so you
might find it cold and hard

when you first go to bed."

What it fails to mention is that cooling is far better in the sprung mattresses where the air can circulate under the memory foam to dissapate the heat. Although this is a huge concern for many people buying a memory foam mattress, they don't allocate any score for temperature.

I won't go into details right now, but can do at a later date, but it has long been recognised that pocket sprung/memory foam mattresses give superior support due to the properties of the pocket springs.

I don't know if it is just the two sites you mentioned that are expensive, or if it's just that Healthbeds are keeping their prices high due to the Which magazine report.

Tim_Deegan

purplepippa wrote: »

i understand that a number of people have had bad experiences with silentnight, however has anyone actually had a bad experience with rest assured or pocket spring bed company? or is everyone assuming that their beds are rubbish because they belong to the silentnight group?

I have had reports of bad experiences for Silentnight, Sealy, Rest Assured, but not The Pocket Spring Bed Company, but they aren't anywhere near as common, so that's what I would expect.

I'd assume that as in any big corporation all the springs would be made to the same spec for each company.