My sister points out, that though I blogged about trying to choose a bed to buy, I’ve never reported on what I ended up with. The short answer is a DesignMobel Bodyfit Energise mattress and with a Rhapsody Sleep flexi-slat base from Bedpost in St. Lukes.

I had a lot of trouble making up my mind, and can’t say for sure I made the best buy, but I am much much more comfortable, and sleeping much better. The more I learnt about bed sales and mattresses, the more trouble I had making a purchase. At one stage I wanted the space-age technology of memory foam, at another I decided to stick with the tried and proven inner sprung (preferrably pocket springs) mattress, but in the end I’ve ended up with a latex mattress, which is reported as being the most comfortable type.

After visiting a couple of places and not getting anywhere I just went to Bedpost, where I’d found the staff pretty good (for bed sales people) with the mission not to leave until I’d bought a bed. Trying to compare betweens stores is useless anyway. I lay around on a lot of beds until the salesman talked me into buying this one. In my sleep deprived state, I probably didn’t bargin very well, but I did get 22% off. Then it seems I’d chosen a model which they didn’t have any stock of, so in spite of the promise of a delivery “next week” it was 4 weeks before the bed finally arrived, but now it has I’m quite happy with it. As well as comfort, having a high base makes it much easier to get out of (in my old age) than a futon base and means there’s lots of space to store things underneath. Only problem now is to find another new mattress for the spare/visitors bed.

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.