Your Guide To finding the Best Mattress

Trying to find a great mattress can be a confusing process.  There are a lot of confusing terms and it’s often quite difficult to know how to differentiate between two similar mattresses.  To make matters worse, mattress retailers hold crazy sales often and mattress salespeople are notorious for questionable sales tactics.  We understand how frustrating the process can be, so we wanted to put together an easy-to-understand guide to help you get the best mattress for you.  Here are some things you need to consider.

Retail Stores vs Online

I’m sure at this point you are aware that more and more companies are selling directly online.  There are three companies in particular, Saatva, Tuft & Needle, and Casper, that only sell online.  What is the advantage to doing so?  Well, they cut out the middleman in the process and are thus able to save a ton of money from not running stores and avoiding giant markups.  They then pass those savings onto the customer and offer high-quality mattresses for over 50% off similar mattresses seen in retail stores.  This is an intriguing concept and certainly an option you should consider.  Check out our guidance about buying a mattress online here.  In that article, I mention how you won’t be able to try out the mattress ahead of time, but with little or no shipping costs and very friendly return policies, your concerns should be allayed.  If you can go to a physical store when they are having a sale, that is a really great option too.  It’s important to decide whether you will be in-store or online, so you can then focus on other things.

Type

You should understand the main mattress types.  Try to get a feel whether you want a latex foam, memory foam, innerspring, or some kind of combination.  These types of mattresses have much different feels to them, and thus can provide very different sleeping experiences.  Memory foam, for example, contours to your body very nicely and allows you to have the mattress form around you so that you feel like you are sleeping on air.  However, the mattress can sag more easily, it can sleep hot, and some can give off a slight chemical smell that people don’t like.  You should aim to determine which type of mattress you want before looking at specific models.

Price

You should figure out your price range ahead of time as well.  I would make the argument that you should be willing to spend more than you might want initially.  This is because higher quality mattresses tend to last much longer than lower quality ones.  Therefore, you don’t need to replace your mattress as often and thus get a better value over the long-term.  Also, having a great mattress can have a very big positive impact on your life.  If you spend one third of your life on your mattress, it’s worth paying a little bit more for it.  To get the best price, I recommend either waiting for a sale at a store (given that retail stores normally mark mattresses up a lot) or buying online.  Otherwise, you will be paying much more than you should.

Eco-friendliness

If you look around on the Internet, you will probably notice that a lot of companies claim to have “eco-friendly mattresses.”  You should read my analysis of that subject here.  The main point you should take away is that most mattresses are made with chemicals and not with natural materials.  Some people can have allergic reactions to their mattress and/or harmful health effects.  The harm that the chemicals can cause is probably overstated, but I would recommend at least taking a look at some mattresses that are made with more natural ingredients.

Customer Service / Return Policy

There’s always a decent chance you won’t like your mattress and will want to replace it or just send it back.  The comfort level might not be right, for example.  In this case, you want to make sure that the company you are dealing with is known to have great customer service and a great return policy.  There is a trend for companies to have increasingly friendly return policies, and this is definitely a good thing.  Hopefully you will never have to deal with any customer service representatives at a company, but in case you do, it’s great to know they will treat you well.

Ultimately, the best mattress for you comes down to personal preference.  I can’t make a blanket statement like “this brand definitely has the top mattress around.”  You need to be willing to put in some time doing research, and if you do, you will definitely come up with a great choice.  Good luck in the process, and make sure to check out our reviews!