After sleeping on a horrible mattress for the past month, and realizing how crazy it is that I spend about 1/3 of my life on my mattress, I've realized I should probably invest in a nice one. I've spent the last 15 minutes googling around and I haven't found any site that seems to give a completely impartial review and/or explaination of what i should be looking for.

So, EDF, let's have at it. I'm looking for anything I need to know about mattresses, bedding -- mattress, sheets, frame, whatever. I'm sure there are some knowledgeable people out there. By the way, does it seem ridiculous that people balk at spending 2500 on a matress, but will spend 35k on a ****ty bmw with no sweat?

If this thread has been done before, I'm sorry.

Taylor

Tempur-Pedic. 100% worth the money. I've had mine for a year and a half and honestly it's one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Go to a store that sells the whole line, lay on them all and pick which one you like best (it may not be the most expensive one).

A lot of people love them from day one (myself and my wife), a lot of people take a couple weeks to adjust, then love it, and a very small % of people will never like them (or more likely don't give them a long enough adjustment period) - but that's what the 3-month money back guarantee is for.

Do yourself a favor and make sure to get it delivered/installed if you're getting a larger bed. They're very heavy and far more difficult to move than a regular mattress.

I used to have some very bothersome back pain and it's simply a non-issue now since I bought a Tempur-Pedic. The only downside is it spoils you and even the finest hotel mattresses feel like crap after you own one.

It's been done before thoroughly. Get a tempur-pedic Celebrity edition and CTS to make all of Cr's videos.

I vote tempurpedic too. I was in love with my bed the first time I sat on it.

Youtube of that thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8MSPnP1QNg

Taylor,

There's no one answer to this. You really have to go to the mattress store and lie on a bunch of them for 5 minutes each and see which one makes you drowsy. Every person has different tastes. For some, Tempurpedic is great -- for others it's a nightmare.

I bought a Sealy pillowtop (a CalKing) about a year ago and I love it. I didn't like the Tempurpedics.

One thing to know about buying a mattress at a mattress store is you can haggle the price forever. Those guys just want to turn it over; they will take a big hit. If the price on it is $1200, offer them $800. Just lowball all over the place and some sad-sack bed salesman is going to take your money.

Also, like tagtastic says, get it delivered. And LOL @ any salesman who tries to charge you money for the frame and delivery (and removal of your old bed). While you're negotiating the price of the mattress, also tell them "And of course you'll throw in the frame, delivery, and old mattress removal, right?" And if they say no, walk out. Before you get near the door that will all be free.

What about the knockoff Tempurpedics (bob-o-pedic and the like) ... are those almost as good? Anyone have any experience with them?

agree, but even better than this is imo is sleeping on a bed first. you can buy the W Hotel Bed (which I have), the Westin Heavenly bed, even the bed from the Bellagio. I always sleep great at the Bellagio, so if price was irrelevant to me, I would just buy their entire setup. (they will tell you what it is)

Tempurpedic -- my life is a lot better since I got one (I spent my first ~18 months here on an aerobed). You can check it out next time you come over for racketball (hope that doesn't soo too gay) .

good info re: negotiating. how do you like the cal king? is it excessively large? I want one but my friends are telling me it's nuts to have a bed that big.

Taylor

anyone have any input on sheets/pillows? the sheets at the venetian and the wynn were very very comfortable. i'm leaning towards calling up the wynn and just having them send me one of everything -- bed, frame, sheets, pillows. i'll probably go to a mattress store first tho.

taylor

fwiw, i just ordered a queen-sized tempur-pedic originalbed, which to my understanding is tempur-pedic's most basic, "standard" mattress.

i ordered it from 1800-mattress with a box spring, a metal frame, and one set of the best sheets they offer and the total came to slightly under $2k including free next-day delivery.

I'm almost 6'3" so I do need a big bed at least just for length. For width, it makes sleeping with a girl a whole lot easier. When I had a queen, I would often bump into the girl during the night or she would dangle her legs over into my area and I'm weird about this but I find it really hard to sleep at night with that going on. There's time for cuddling then there's time for sleeping, and when the latter happens, leave me alone.

Maybe it's the size of my bedroom that's big, but nobody notices I even have a Cal King and it certainly doesn't look too big. And once you're in it, you certainly don't complain. It is definitely not nuts to have a bed that size. Do it, you won't regret it.

As for sheets, people make a big deal about thread count, but thread count is only one factor that goes into making comfortable sheets. Just feel them in the packaging with your finger and see if you like them. As long as they don't feel like that thin white toilet paper they use in motel sheets, most nice sets (bookmark at least $50 for a Cal King set of sheets) will be plenty good.

I ended up going to around 3 different stores and laid on beds for about 3 hours. I ended up getting Simmons Euro firm pillow top. Wasn't a big fan of the tempurpedics.

I'm sure people have mentioned already, but get a Tempur-Pedic bed. It costs a lot, but it heads and shoulders above all the imitators. I got a Grand Tempur-Pedic bed and bargained my way down to 1,500 out the door, free delivery, no tax, and two free pillows. They retail for 2,400 at Brookstone.

These beds aren't for everyone though. Go to a store and literally lay down for a good 20 minutes with the pillows. I can honestly say that I will never go back to a traditional bed again.

With respects to sheets, I have heard from numerous people that you should get a light cotton for Tempur-Pedic beds in order to allow your heat to transfer to the bed's surface so it can conform to your body better. I just bought standard Ralph Lauren sheets at Bloomingdales and it seems just fine to me.

as far as negotiating goes, most b & m chains have to beat any advertised price by 5% plus give you free delivery and installation. I just did this process by going to two different stores, finding the beds I liked, finding them online, and then doing a final test drive in the store.

The mark up above cost in the two stores I visited floated somewhere in the 2-2.5x range.

Just wanted to add that when buying a mattress it is best to find a store that allows a 30 day trial period just in case you have your bed delivered and you wind up hating it. Just laying in the store and testing the bed is a lot different than sleeping on it for several weeks. I believe all temper-pedic's have a 90 day trial period, bit I might be mistaken about that.

Anyone here a restless sleeper (tossing and turning) with a Tempurpedic? I've heard it takes a little bit of time for the foam to fully relax back to its flat shape. Any problems?

If you don't mind paying a bit of a markup, you could make it easy and get a whole ensemble from Westin: Heavenly Bed

The love for Tempurpedic isn't undeserved, but there are lots of manufacturers who use that technology but with different specifications. So saying "Tempurpedic" isn't necessarily a one-size-fits all solution. That said, I find it hard to believe anyone wouldn't like one, although given how hot those things are, you want to make sure you have a nice AC unit in your room. I think I saw something that said your average person sweats off a cup extra of water per night on a tempurpedic.

For value, I think getting a regular mattress and a foam topper is an amazing deal and close to instinguishable from the real thing.

For sheets, I used overstock.com a few years ago and got some really nice sheets (700 ct egyptian cotton if i recall correctly) at some ridiculously low rate. Very worth it, don't go cheap on the sheets.

Since I moved to Buenos Aires, I've been sleeping on the bed provided at furnished apartments, and it sucks. I just never remember to go buy a tempurpedic style pillow.

It took me about 4 days before I got in the zone on my bed.

If you are willing to upgrade to the Grand or higher, the problem of heat is effectively eliminated. I don't even notice a difference in temperature between my bed and a standard one.

I'm a very "warm" person in general (always hot) and this worried me a lot. But it turned out to be a total non-issue. I don't really notice a difference at all in temperature between my Tempurpedic and a normal mattress (and I don't have a super high end one that's designed to be even cooler).

I got a Kingsdown (http://www.kingsdown.com/) after trying their BodyDiagnostics thingie in a Sleepy's. It seems gimicky as all hell, you lie down on what appears to be a highly glorified scale (perhaps a couple scales) and then it recommends one of like 6 possible mattresses. I didn't buy it at all and insisted on lying on all of the mattresses it hadn't recommended to compare, but the recommended one was by far the most comfortable. I got it, have had it for about a year and would definitely recommend.

Had same experince at the MGM and checked the labels and ordered Pillows and a Comforter from this company. The pillows are the best and I am allergic to feathers and didnt bother me at all

http://www.pacificcoast.com/