Buying a new Mattress !

[Manoverboard]

It's time for us to buy a new mattress

The base in question is slated and we aim to buy ' medium soft ' this time round.

We are fully au fait with the better quality Brands and think we know all about pocket springing etc but we have no regular knowledge of the extras.

So ….

A number of the mattresses that we have looked at so far have gel toppings, memory foam toppings and pillow toppings ?

Any advice on the plusses and / or minuses on these features would be much appreciated.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We have a pillow topping. The basic mattress itself is pocket sprung and quite firm.The most comfortable mattress we've ever had. We don't like memory foam which we find makes us very hot. Seems to store up rather than dissipate the body heat.

[barney]

Earlier this year we bought an Otty mattress. Best sleep I've ever had. Some sort of memory foam hybrid that came in a box.
No regrets at all.

[david63]

When we were buying a new bed a few years back we were also advised that "memory foam" mattresses are very hot.

Before buying check what the "turning" instructions, if any, are. Ours is a wool frilled mattress which only needs turning round, not over, every month - the problem is that it weighs about half a ton!

[Stephen]

Have checked out 'Dreams' for mattresses Moby. You can try before you buy in store and get all the answers to your questions.

We use to have a M&S firm sprung mattress but changed to a Dreams sprung medium soft a few years ago. Much better. We still have the M&S memory foam topper as well

[Manoverboard]

Thanks for the info everybody, my thoughts thus far ...

We will probably avoid the memory foam / gel combinations and stick with the traditional pocket sprung versions. I am warming , not literally, to the sound of Merv's ' pillow topping ' but on a Medium / Soft mattress.

Our nearest Branch of ' Dreams ' is Yeovil, bit of a trek but deffo a good idea to have a practice sleep on the latest offerings.

www ' Mattressonline ' or John Lewis would probably be our first ports of call.



We haven't actually heard of Barney's Brand …. are there any other Brands that you would recommend ?

[barney]

I hadn't heard of Otty until I started doing a bit of research Moby, and it came out very favourably when compared to others.
The reviews on the mattress were generally excellent, but the delivery service left a lot to be desired, as we also found to our cost.

There are quite a few of these hybrid's on the market now.

What's weird is that in comes in a big box, tightly rolled.
You put it on the bed and within a few hours, it's a king size mattress.

Our bed is a slatted base and it works great.
It did take a bit if getting used to with the pillows, but now it feels unusual when we sleep in a 'normal' bed and pillows.

It's such a big financial outlay that you have to confident in making the right choice.

We are both happy with this one.

[screwy]

We bought an I-Gel mattress last year, shouldnt have bothered,not the best decision we have made. not bloody cheap either.

[oldbluefox]

Surely it's difficult to recommend a mattress as some people prefer a firm mattress and others a softer one. Personally I prefer a firm mattress but I think my first port of call would be to a Which magazine to see what their recommendations are.
It's also something you have to get used to. The mattress we had before our current one was awful when we first had it. We hated the thing but since it cost a lot of money at the time we persevered and it turned out one of the most comfy mattresses ever. I must admit it's a difficult decision to make but so far we have always gone for pocket sprung rather than one of these 'new fangled' creations!! The one we have at the moment is pocket sprung with a memory foam topping. Comfy and cosy.

[Stephen]

Surely it's difficult to recommend a mattress as some people prefer a firm mattress and others a softer one. Personally I prefer a firm mattress but I think my first port of call would be to a Which magazine to see what their recommendations are.
It's also something you have to get used to. The mattress we had before our current one was awful when we first had it. We hated the thing but since it cost a lot of money at the time we persevered and it turned out one of the most comfy mattresses ever. I must admit it's a difficult decision to make but so far we have always gone for pocket sprung rather than one of these 'new fangled' creations!! The one we have at the moment is pocket sprung with a memory foam topping. Comfy and cosy.

Same here

[Manoverboard]

Had a waltz around the Dreams showroom in Yeovil this morning. They had a 20% offer for kids beds and mattresses so plenty of those to choose from, they also had a few in the expensive ranges with pillow toppers for grown ups so that was very interesting for us.

Didn't realise that ' pillow toppers ' were sprung and that they couldn't be detached from the main body of the bed.

Our present mattress is deffo on the firm side so trialing some of the soft ones was a real experience, got a bit of a sinking feeling on those.

The rule of thumb for choosing beds is supposed to be ' soft ' for side sleepers, ' medium ' for front sleepers and ' firm ' for back sleepers but as side sleepers ourselves I would have to say that the formula doesn't seem to work for us.

Decisions, decisions but on balance I think Medium firm plus a pillow topper will do the job nicely.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Our pillow topper isn't sprung, it's a soft pillow like layer on top and built into the main structure of the mattress. Maybe it's not what they now call a pillow topper. But it's very comfortable.

[Manoverboard]

Our pillow topper isn't sprung, it's a soft pillow like layer on top and built into the main structure of the mattress. Maybe it's not what they now call a pillow topper. But it's very comfortable.

I've no idea and I doubtless need to do more research … yours sounds just the ticket so we just need an invitation for the weekend to try it out

[Mervyn and Trish]

You're very welcome but guests get the straw palliasse in the shed.

[Manoverboard]

No, no, no … we expect the barn at the very least

[Mervyn and Trish]

If you don't mind sharing with the sheep. ......

[Manoverboard]

… and Onelife presumably

[Mervyn and Trish]

He accepted the shed offer. But the sheep rejected his application for a visa.