Memory foam vs latex for a bed.....

Tim_Deegan

stevep94 wrote: »

Sorry 'bout that (to Tim I mean!) It was a snap post while I was walking out the door too - it was just too brief - it really bugs me when you get a reply with no supporting comments (ie. not too helpful!) but to be fair to Tim, his last post is useful! (although I still have no idea which online retailers are any good!)

SteveP

I'm afraid I'm not allowed to actually recommend anything as it could be viewed as advertising.

stevep94

Tim_Deegan wrote: »

I'm afraid I'm not allowed to actually recommend anything as it could be viewed as advertising.

OK, no probs - sorry I didnt realise you were a trader - I thought you were just another consumer that liked his beds!!!!!

SteveP

Eric_Pisch

I find all foam breaks down very quickly in a year or two

our bed has 1200 pocketed springs and has lasted 20 years

Tim_Deegan

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

I find all foam breaks down very quickly in a year or two

our bed has 1200 pocketed springs and has lasted 20 years

Reflex foam breaks down as the bubbles start to burst. However memory foam is open celled, so doesn't have any bubbles to burst. So good quality memory foam will usually outlast springs.

Gonzo

stevep94 wrote: »

Sorry 'bout that (to Tim I mean!) It was a snap post while I was walking out the door too - it was just too brief - it really bugs me when you get a reply with no supporting comments (ie. not too helpful!) but to be fair to Tim, his last post is useful! (although I still have no idea which online retailers are any good!)

SteveP

Ha, I think it's a general problem with electronic communication, you only have the words to go by, there's no tone or expression to judge! (I tend to set my default mood setting to 'shrug')

Anyway, the original reason I was browsing this topic, beds etc.

I need a decent bed, and intend to spend some of my wedding present money on a half-decent one.

I've been to Dreams, Bensons etc and suffered death by salesman/woman as much as I can stand. The ones not on 'sale' seem to be outrageously expensive for what they are. There is a also an intoxicating layer of marketing that makes it hard to see where facts end and romance and fiction take over!

You're then stuck with on-line and locals. (I poked my head onto the M & S site as I have a load of vouchers for there too, but nearly pooped myself at the prices!)

How do you know what is good and what isn't? As usual when making this type of purchase, I have read a load of threads on here for information. As far as I can tell, local suppliers seem to make the best affordable beds, but you are in a sense 'buying blind' (or is it just because they don't have the marketing budget? Discuss.)

After reading lots of the posts on the bed/mattress topics, I reckon I've got a fair idea of the prevailing wind. Tim D seems a decent chap, although it's a fine line imparting advice and not advertising, which means he falls back on certain stock phrases, but I can see his difficulty as he doesn't want to be booted off the forum! His shop (whatever that might be, ahem) has an excellent rating on your favourite auction site and I haven't tracked down any negative feedback anywhere, (though my search wasn't entirely exhaustive before anyone jumps on me...)

You have to take the advice at face value I guess. He is obviously gaining by being on here, as it's not that hard to track him down, but without his advice, I really don't see where you would go (Chain salespeople? *shudders*). No-one else on this forum is giving much in the way of pertinent information, other than "my bed's okay" which isn't much to go on in isolation. To be fair to him, he does give good general advice as well, that he doesn't gain from and his general analysis on materials etc seems fairly logical. If it is all just a thinly disguised sales pitch, which some posters have in the past intimated; then I would have thought that it would have come back to bite him at some point.

I have a subscription to Which, but there's hardly anything on there so that's not been much help! I reckon I will probably give Mr D a go as my bed is currently terrible. I certainly didn't like the chain stores, and the other locals just sell the Silentnight brands, which most people seem to be less than enamoured with.

I have the Healthbed shop not far from where I live, it looks pretty pricey, but I'm going to pop in, as you never know, and it will make a good final check before I empty my wallet!

Sorry for straying around a bit, but this is basically what you were looking for. Read the previous topics on this topic if you have the time. They get surprisingly heated on what you would think is a fairly dry topic, although I guess it's all about the Benjamins, and no-one likes to be ripped off.

(My rambling 2 pence)

emmell

I had a memory foam mattress, hated it, and now have a pocket sprung with latex top and I love it. I bought from a local bed shop where I could try loads of beds, an independent one not one of the large bed sheds.
ML.

Tim_Deegan

There are good and bad memory foam mattresses the same as there are good and bad latex mattresses.

Eric_Pisch

Tim_Deegan wrote: »

Reflex foam breaks down as the bubbles start to burst. However memory foam is open celled, so doesn't have any bubbles to burst. So good quality memory foam will usually outlast springs.

I use a shaped memory foam pillow to support my neck at night and the damn things always go flat after about 18 months ... maybe its my shrek like size ...

bargainbagger

Gonzo
Your "rambling 2 pence" post summed it all up very well. I have been researching this market for a year before taking the plunge just recently.

The problem we have as consumers is deciding which advice is good impartial advice and which is plain marketing. You have to make your own decision and after reading almost every post on the subject I decided rightly or wrongly that Tim D's comments indicated an enormous level of knowledge of the market and are given in a genuine desire to help people and not promote his own business. Obviously, if he is sincere about what he thinks and says, it makes sense for him to stock and sell the types of mattresses that he recommends rather than those he doesn't. The important aspect is that the process works this way round rather than the alternative of having a load of inferior mattresses that he has got to try to sell by constantly recommending them and rubbishing any others.

So, on balance I came to the conclusion that Tim's advice to seek smaller independent bed manufacturers and retailers made sense - the former don't have the costs of advertising, marketing, rates and salesmen's salaries and commissions of fixed retail outlets. Therefore, they are able to offer the same or a better product for less money. The downside for us, the consumer, is that we have to take the quality of the product on trust often without the ability to see and sample it in the flesh. This is an alien concept to us - we like to be able squeeze the fruit before we buy it - but when buying a mattress it is questionable how valuable this is. When we use a mattress it is invariably covered by a sheet so what it looks like is irrelevant. And the qualities we are looking for in a mattress can only be appreciated after prologed use, not in a 2-minute lay on a bed.

Tim_Deegan

Eric_Pisch wrote: »

I use a shaped memory foam pillow to support my neck at night and the damn things always go flat after about 18 months ... maybe its my shrek like size ...

That sounds like it is a poor quality one.

I personally have memory fill pillows. These are made up from memory foam that has been ground up, so they are the size and shape of a normal pillow. You do have to fluff them up in the morning as you would have to with a feather pillow. And if you want extra height then it is better to use a feather pillow underneath.