Jun 28
Buying a new bed
Yet another “I can’t decide what to buy” post.
I really need a new mattress. My futon has fused into a solid back-breaking lump – lately I’ve moved to sleeping on the sofa. I’m not complaining about the futon though, it has lasted at least four years since it replaced the previous futon. But this time I’m looking for a mattress with a little bit more support and softness.
Now I could just go into Farmers or Harvey Norman, lie on a few beds and then pay up thousands of dollars, but for a big purchase like this, I normally like to do research. Buying a new mattress is so complicated. Prices are all over the place, from $300 up to $8000. You can’t compare because there are so many different names that you never see the same mattress model twice. (I think that’s a deliberate strategy, and camera sellers do it too.) Also, there’s always a sale on, full price is just an abstraction.
Big name manufacturers seem to be Sleepyhead, Sealy, Simmons, Tattersfield, and Serta. (Any others I should look at?) The retailers I’ve identified are Harvey Norman, Beds-R-Us, Farmers and Bed Post. (Only Harvey Norman and Beds-R-Us actually bother to put their catalogues with prices on their websites.)
The Sealy bed selector recommended a queen-sized Crown Jewel Plush. That seemed like a good start, but reviews on Epinions are very mixed. Those who’ve just got the bed seem to love it, but there are also many pissed off complaints from people who’ve found the mattress has sagged and the warranty is worthless and not honoured by Sealy. This is obviously US-centric, Sealy is made in NZ under license, but I guess the same thing holds?
Digging further, mattresses sagging is a very common complaint with inner sprung mattresses and actually in the report from SleepLikeTheDead.com Sealy was the manufacturer with the least reported sagging. On this video Nick Robinson says “a lot of people nowadays consider inner-spring mattresses to be old-fashioned” and “find air beds and memory foam mattresses more comfortable”, and “there is no price advantage”. According to his research the best bed to buy would be an air mattress from Comfortaire, but of course that’s not available in Auckland?
So, should I try and find an air-bed? Buy a traditional inner-sprung? Keep on procrastinating like I have all day today? Probably any new bed would give a better night’s sleep at the moment. At least I’ve got an idea of what I might get. Now I need to go lie on some beds for five minute rests.
June 29th, 2009 at Monday, 9:19 am
My parents had an air bed. Wasn’t that comfortable, but more worrying was the continued rot of the underlay. Airbeds are not breathable, and cannot tolerate condensation, or any kind of moisture. Even when stripping our one right down every day, it still rotted. Gross. Modern bedding technology might address this now, but I’d still be skeptical.
But, if you’re going to get a plasticish bed, you should get a waterbed. That would be cool : – )
June 29th, 2009 at Monday, 11:27 pm
Modern air mattresses have a layer of memory foam on top, so it’s more of a combined foam-air mattress.
I did look at waterbeds (very 70s just like me), but a waterbed requires heating, and is a problem to move. In fact my floor might need reinforcing to handle it.
Maybe I should just buy a cheap mattress which will last a year and see what sleeping science has delivered by then.
June 30th, 2009 at Tuesday, 2:38 pm
You do realise that there’s an international Mattress Conspiracy? There is an evil mattress genius somewhere whose aim is to keep you confused about the inner workings of mattress technology. For what it’s worth, I was unaware of this as a younger man, and allowed a mattress salesman to sell me a Design Mobel mattress. That was almost ten years ago, and it’s still in perky condition. Mind you, I was wayward in those days, not having been shown the rightful ways of the frugal man. So, I probably spent too much on it. I’m pretty sure it’s the type with springs, not foam.
June 30th, 2009 at Tuesday, 7:02 pm
Don’t you dare buy a gimicky air or waterbed. You will regret it.
buy innersprung.
July 3rd, 2009 at Friday, 9:58 am
Hammock!