Mattress Shopping – ‬Recommendations? (Tampa, Orlando: sales, house, to buy)

[ghtix]

Thanks in advance for any helpful information.

We decided to leave our old mattress behind, and after moving to this area would shop for a new mattress. The time has come (temporarily sleeping in the guest room).

As is usually the case, we haven’t shopped for a new mattress in many years. We just remember we hated the process every time (right up there with car shopping, lol).

Whatever recommendations anyone can pass along would be appreciated.

Looking for places to go with salespeople who are honest, knowledgeable & helpful, and since today’s mattresses are “state-of-the-art” compared to the last time we shopped, looking for any advice regarding today’s products.

We are two senior citizens, basically looking for a queen mattress & boxspring with good back support, and one that can isolate the motion of each person so it doesn’t disturb the other person. We don’t mind paying the fair price for a good mattress, but not overpaying, of course.

We've seen all the commercials,. which can make things even more confusing.

Thanks!

[Cardiff by the Sea]

We were recently in Mattress Firm. We were there to buy a bed frame--not a mattress. We were rather amused that there are about 5 Mattress Firm locations within 2 miles on the Tamiami Trail. Mattress Firm bought out their competitors and kept the locations to prevent new competitors from moving in.

That said, I was rather impressed with their displays. They have color coded signs that make it very easy to understand whether a mattress was soft, regular, or firm. The signs also made it easy to understand which mattresses were conventional and which were foam. The prices are very clear as well as was what the payments would be if you finance. Their system would make it very easy to narrow down the choices and then do the "try-it-out flop".

The man who waited on us was pleasant and helpful. If I were in the market for a mattress, I would definitely go back to them.

[Florida or Bust....]

Originally Posted by ghtix

We are two senior citizens, basically looking for a queen mattress & boxspring with good back support, and one that can isolate the motion of each person so it doesn’t disturb the other person. We don’t mind paying the fair price for a good mattress, but not overpaying, of course.

If you get a memory foam topping that will somewhat isolate motion felt by each person. I found the drawback to memory foam is it takes more muscle strength to turn over on your sides. There are also pillow top mattresses, but I found most make the bed feel too soft. You will also have to think about how high the mattress will be from the ground when placed on your bed frame. These days mattress with boxsprings, half boxsprings, or bunkie boards can be so high that you end up climbing into bed. Something to keep in mind as you are trying out these mattresses in the stores. Good Luck!

[FLHfan]

I have been shopping for a mattress for a couple of weeks now. Just saw where Kohl's has them on sale for 40 to 60% off on line. If you find that you don't like it after a few nights they will come back and get it.

Free shipping and they will remove your old mattress if you need that too. Some of them from mid-priced & up come with a box spring too. The box springs come in short or regular. I found a Sealy that I like but I want to find one in a store to try out first.

And no, I don't work for them.

[tzais01]

I second Mattress Firm. I've bought all my recent sets from them. They seem very knowledgeable and are not high pressure. Mattresses can be delivered by them or picked up from their stores.

[ghtix]

Cardiff and tzais01 – Since there are numerous Mattress Firm locations along Tamiami Trail(and elsewhere), can I ask which specific store(s) / locations you purchased from and recommend? Thanks.

[tzais01]

Ghtix, I used the University Park West location at 5245 University Parkway. There are two stores within a couple of blocks, but this is the one I've used. They have all price points covered and good sales as well. Good luck!

[Sunshine Rules]

There have been other threads about mattresses that may provide useful info:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/saras...ood-ranch.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/saras...ess-store.html

[sware2cod]

Consumer Reports has periodic reviews about mattresses. They rate an Ikea mattress as one of their best buys because it is top quality and also a good price.I don't remember which one but it was Ikea's own brand. The closest Ikea is Tampa though. But they deliver/ship.

Maybe you can google to find the most recent Consumer Reports review. Or you can go to the local library and they have all the Consumer Report magazines saved in one large binder so them you can see the actual magazine, and make copies as needed.

The Beautyrest Recharge series seemed to be the best at concealing movement from the other person, IMO. I did some non scientific tests on this in the store and Beautyrest Recharge was way better than the others that we tested.

I also liked dealing with Mattress Firm, though I didn't purchase yet. I went to an Orlando location and found the same service that Cardiff mentioned.

[loves2read]

We bought two twins, a queen set, and a king set from Macy's because we shopped at our other home for company that would wait until we took occupancy and then deliver after we had the interior painted. We knew we didn't want a mattress that you had to turn because a king mattress is really too bulky/heavy to do that without lot of contortions--
beware a room with an 8ft ceiling and a ceiling fan over the bed...

We bought a low-profile king set so that the box springs was same type of support (purportedly) but about 3-4 inches lower than other box springs...we have found that our mattress in TX which has higher profile is more difficult to get on/off. And the bed we bought for FL house is style that looks better with lower profile mattress...some bedsteads do.
this was big boon when we had bad car accident soon after moving into the house and had lot of trouble getting on/off the bed...a taller mattress would have been impossible.

We ordered a mattresses for us with fairly firm construction and a plush top that has some padding but is not a true pillow-top... and after we got it home added two toppers to it.
Second one after we slept on it for week or so...so we did need deeper sheet set to cover all the pieces...
I had read that if you get a softer pillow-top mattress that the pillow top part usually wears out the quickest so it was better and less $ to buy mattress w/o pillow top section and just add your own...you can replace that if it wears and /or if it gets stained...

We had to do that same thing for the queen mattress set--our DIL is fairly thin and needed something with softer top to cushion.
Yes--it is little harder to turn over when you have those toppers but so far we don't mind.

What I read before we went shopping was that it is really important to take your time shopping for mattresses. That you should be prepared to spent 15-30 min lying on each one because it takes time for your body to adapt and show any pressure points that might be an issue. Also consider bringing your own pillow because that puts your body/head in normal position for you--if there is no pillow on mattresses you test or different consistency then your body will be starting from different point that your normal bedtime.
It is all about recreating YOUR sleep experience...

I read this guy's blog a good bit--he is able to compare different brands and mattress styles to each other...
Mattress Reviews From The Mattress Review Guru

Once I understood that you can spend a lot of money and still get a mattress that doesn't make you happy--that was fairly liberating. We also bought from Macy's because of their return policy. Have had them for over 3 yrs and so far still very happy with the ones we bought. We have been sleeping on our queen/guest set recently because master bath was being remodeled and bedroom was cleared for that. And queen has been comfortable--just too small for two adults, a dog and a cat.

I think all Ikea mattresses are foam. Some styles do get good reviews from various posts. We felt more comfortable going with inner spring construction just because had never slept on foam before. Off-gassing is apparently big issue with foam constructions...
There are some people who have ordered mattresses online to get ones that were well-reviewed but not available in their area, but I don't think I could ever do that for a mattress I would sleep on for prolonged periods.