Bed in a box?

[dfoulk]

Ok, so I'm thinking about purchasing a new mattress sometime soon and starting to do a bit of research on it. I'm currently sleeping on a King size Stearns & Foster Latex mattress that was one of their really high end offerings about ten years ago. So it was a really high end mattress back then.

Being ten years old it's surprisingly still in very good shape but not quite as good as it once was. There's plenty of new technology out now as well so I'm wondering what I'm missing out on. So we'll pick up a new mattress and this one will get moved to the guest room.

It used to be that you just went to several mattress stores and lay down on everything until you found the one you like. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore as there are from my estimations about 50 bed in a box manufacturers to consider all offering 100 plus night sleep trials. So you buy a bed and then try it out, which is both good and bad. Good that you get to sleep on it before committing to it, bad that you are in the dark about what you're buying. Add to that the fact that most bed review sites seem to be getting kickbacks from the various manufacturers and I'm not sure from what I've read what to believe.

Ok, so if any of you have tried any of these new bed in a box mattresses please share your thoughts. I'm looking at memory foam, latex an hybrid mattresses.

I'm looking for something that I can sleep on my side fairly easily. I have wider shoulders so that's a factor for me as I'd really like to have my spine in alignment while I sleep. I do sometimes sleep on my back as well. I mentioned the idea of a split kind bed with an adjustable platform to the wife and she likes the idea of us being able to adjust the head and feel of the bed as well as the massage feature. A bonus would be being able to adjust the head of my bed up if I happen to start snoring (not a frequent snorer but I do snore from time to time, especially if I have a cold).

I don't like a bed that's too soft, or too firm. Price isn't a major consideration as I spent a lot on our last mattress and don't have a problem doing the same on the next one. I consider a really nice mattress to be money well spent. After all, we spend a third of our lives in bed I'll pay a little more to be comfortable there and cut costs somewhere else if need be. I do live in Arizona so a bed that sleeps cooler would be desirable as well.

Anyway, please share your thoughts on what you've tried. I know that I can get some honest opinions here.

 

[Vespasian]

Aren't those bed-in-a-box brands that advertise on TV just big fancy air mattresses?

 

[dfoulk]

Aren't those bed-in-a-box brands that advertise on TV just big fancy air mattresses?

The sleep number one is an air mattress with some memory foam on top.

Most are multiple layers of different density foams. Some contain springs as well.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm a side sleeper, and I love our Temperpedic. Yes, the massage is nice!

 

[Ajwien]

I have a Tuft and Needle mattress that I purchased about 6 months ago. My wife is a side sleeper and it works for both of us. Worth researching but ultimately YMMV.

 

[Tannhauser]

When we moved into our new house last year, we bought a new mattress. Reading about Tuft and Needle was what got me into researching the whole bed-in-a-box thing. Leesa is the one we ultimately settled on. Works great for us.

 

[Alacrity59]

Maybe funny. Occasionally my wife and I stayed in hotels in a suite with a king sized bed. Always felt like I'd have to strap on a backpack to hike to her side. Then you get to the middle and have to hike back in the morning. I know the difference between Queen and King is not that much. Just saying how it feels.

 

[Heron]

We've bought two bed-in-a-box mattresses. Both have been excellent. We bought an Olee brand gel/foam mattress from Amazon for somewhere around $200 and it's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on, even better than Tempur Pedic.

Just be sure to read the fine print on the return policy. The first one we bought specified that it could only be returned in the original packaging, which is impossible to do. The mattresses are deflated, sealed, and rolled into a small box. Once it's unwrapped it's not going back in the box. The more reputable companies will come pick it up.

One last thing, I've noticed these companies often advertise with discount codes, so it would be worth searching for a code. I know Casper and Purple advertise discount codes on podcasts.

 

[JayFromBrooklyn]

there are plenty of mattress unboxing videos on youtube, it's pretty cool how they expand after you cut the bag open. My parents got a foam Tuft & Needle from amazon that they really liked. The wife and I got an inexpensive hybrid Hampton & Rhodes from MattressFirm that even after a year, still amazes me how great it turned out to be for the price.

You said that yours was latex,....latex is still being used and touted for being a more natural material. The most important thing for us was to have some firmness and the foam not be squishy. Alotta current mattresses have soft pillowtops. so you have to keep that in mind when you're selecting your firmness level. We preferred the ones without the pillowtop but other people love them, just be aware of the options.

 

[troy]

We also got a king size Tuft and Needle about 6 months ago. I wouldn't mind if it were a little more firm, but from what I read it's one of the firmest of this type. It is still much better than the 20 year old spring mattress we were on, and I didn't have to bend it in half to get it up the stairs like I did the old one. No issues with it sleeping too hot, like I read a lot of the cheaper ones of this type are said to. All and all were both pretty happy with it for the price.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

I know a guy in the business. He says most are made...so they start to fail 3-5 years.

Suggest you read the Consumer Reports magazine on em. Your library may have a copy.

And don't rule out Costco in your shopping.

 

[dfoulk]

I know a guy in the business. He says most are made...so they start to fail 3-5 years.

This is something that does give me some concern. I didn't see anything about the foam breaking down in any of the reviews I initially read, but when I started reading some unbiased reviews on Reddit I started seeing people talk about this being a factor. Most of these companies haven't been around for decades so who knows how long these mattresses will actually hold up. Sure they'll tell you that you get a ten year warranty but if the company isn't in business after a few years what good is the warranty.

This is what makes me second think the memory foam mattresses and look more into the hybrid and latex ones. I've been reading about Dreamcloud which seems to be built like a tank and Zenhaven recently still so many others to look at as well.

A source for honest truly unbiased reviews would be good as most of what I've found seem to get kickbacks from the manufacturers. It's hard to get an honest opinion when there's money changing hands.

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Unbiased reviews: Consumer Reports is a start.

 

[davent]

After sleeping on futons for over thirty years we bought our first mattress in August, spring core, local manufacturer. Twenty five year old company and we'd bought our daughter one of their mattresses a few years ago and she's been happy with it.

It's taken until the last week or so to come to terms with the different feel of the mattress.
dave

 

[Macfrommichigan]

davent,

Do you wish you stuck with futons? What were the pros/cons, in your opinion?

 

[davent]

Hi Mac,

So far we're both happy with the new mattress, whether that's due to the fact that we stretched the last futon's life well beyond what we should have done or our beat up bodies need a different support system i don't know.

What i liked about the futon, very firm, develops a fit to your body's sleeping position, i always found them very comfortable. No transfer whatsoever of the movements of your sleeping companion, they could toss and turn all night and you'd never know.

Disadvantages, weekly flip and turn, if you sleep in multiple positions that conformity to your body's most used position may lead to other positions being less comfortable. These days there doesn't appear to be nearly as many dealers around and my impression was the quality available here is not what it once was and that's one of the reason's we went mattress shopping. My wife had given my daughter's bed (too short for me) a few nights worth of sleep and she was all for getting a mattress for us as well.

My major concern with a mattress was the motion transfer but it's not very noticeable when awake and hasn't been a bother once asleep.

As long as i can stretch out and there's nothing jabbing into me, i think i can sleep about anywhere.
dave

 

[Macfrommichigan]

Thanks! Years ago I visited my old college roomie and slept on a futon one night. It was fine. Of course, we did have a couple adult beverages, so maybe it wasn't a fair test.

 

[dfoulk]

So I went to a local Mattress Firm store and layed on the Purple beds. Tested out the Original, 2, 3, and 4 models. Naturally, I seemed to prefer the more expensive 2, 3, and 4 over the original. I probably would initially rank them 4, 2, 3, then the Original for my sleeping preference. They were all very comfortable but I'm not sure that they were meeting my expectations. Not entirely sure why, but something felt cheap about them while the cost certainly wasn't cheap at all. Two Twin XL mattresses in the 4 model would have set me back around 5k. While the 2, 3 and 4 are meant to reflect the amount of the grid material used in the mattress, 2 inches, 3 inches or 4 inches. They seem to also be how many times the original they cost. With the 2 being twice the original's cost, the three is three times as much, and the four is four times a much. At least it works out that way with the Twin XL version.

All said and done, I said screw it and went online and ordered the Dreamcloud bed in two twin XL mattresses along with their split king adjustable base (head and feet go up and down as well as massage settings, etc). I was already set on the base after reading several reviews. The mattresses seem to get very good reviews so I figured why not give them a try as well. They're supposed to be 15 inch thick nine layer hybrid mattresses using individual coils as well as memory foam and latex. They so utilize foam but supposed to be more of a traditional mattress feel like something you'd encounter in a five star hotel (or better). They seems to get really great reviews with the only negative ones I found being related to long wait times and shipping issues (365 day money back guarantee, lifetime warranty).

I didn't really enjoy this whole bed in a box shopping process as I'm finding that I don't care for buying a mattress without getting to lay on it first. When we bought our last mattress we went to every mattress store within driving distance and layed down on every mattress before choosing our favorite one. I don't like the unknown in this as I want to know that I'm getting the very best bed for me. Since there's no place to go to lay on all of these mattresses and, (without shipping 50 mattresses to my house) I'm not really able to determine that. The review sites are paid by the mattress companies for referrals so that's something to consider when reading the reviews and watching the comparison videos. Sure there's Consumer Reports as an honest resource but I don't subscribe to it.

I'll share some thoughts once the bed and platform arrive. Thanks to all that commented and tried to help me out with this.

 

[Jayboz]

Got a Leesa about a year ago. Its pretty damn comfotable. Not so soft that you sink in, but not like sleeping on cement either. A good compromise bw the two. Im a back/side sleeper and have no issues with either.

 

[Commander Quan]

3 years ago we bought as Night Therapy foam & gel mattress from Sams Club. I ended up buying it sight unseen just on the reviews, and even if it only lasts another 2-3 years would buy another because the price was so reasonable.

During her first pregnancy my wife was really uncomfortable on our 7 year old Original Mattress Factory bed, but during her second slept great on the new bed.