They’re called Zem and they flollop.
— Jesper 
Firm and not saggy.
— Elaine
Latex mattresses are the most comfortable for me. Ikea has a good selection, for relatively cheap.
— chris
The definitive mattress site is streetmattress.com, long one of my favorite niche sites.
Find a store where you can try some good quality memory-foam mattresses.
Run, do not walk, to said store.
Try mattresses.
Figure out how to fit one into your budget (assuming you don’t have chemical sensitivities, as the foam does emit some fumes over it’s lifetime).
Also, look into dust-mite-proof mattress and pillow encasings. Many people have dust-mite allergies but don’t know it. A decent vendor we’ve been happy with is allergystore.com.
Latex matresses are *great* and should last years (25+ for a good one). Pocket sprung are the next best but quite a step down.
I couldn’t possibly express how much I love my Tempurpedic mattress. I have a California King size one and have had it for 2 years. It is the best sleep I’ve ever had on a consistent basis. The only real drawback is that every other bed I visit now (hotels, friends’ houses, etc.) is markedly uncomfortable in comparison.
Tempurpedics are definitely worth the price, especially considering that comparable pillow-top mattresses are only a few hundred dollars less.
— Brad
Rock hard. Cement floors are a decent substitute.
— Bob Aman
When I was in high school, my parents bought me the single greatest mattress I have ever had the pleasure to sleep on. It was a futon.
No, wait! Don’t skip ahead!
This wasn’t like any other futon I’ve ever encountered. First of all, it had a frame that didn’t turn into anything, it was just a support for the futon. Second, it wasn’t stuffed with batting or anything particularly soft. It had almost no “give” at all. Third, it was heavy. Heavy as in, “this is only a twin size mattress, but I need help to move it,” heavy.
And I slept like a rock. I’ve tried all sorts of other mattresses over the years, and none of them compare. They’re either too soft, or they wear out too quickly, or my spine gets all out of whack. This thing felt like sleeping on tightly packed sand. And it was incredible.
I don’t know how you’d ever find such a thing again, but if you do, call me and I’ll take if off your hands.
Latex mattresses look interesting, if pricey. Google Maps says there are three mattress stores within spitting distance. We’ll try them out tomorrow and report back.
— Mark
I had a “full-motion” (no baffles) waterbed growing up, but my wife doesn’t believe in them. I tried to explain that they come in various wave-reduction strengths, but she doesn’t care.
— Mark
pillow top.
Great article on avoiding the stupider features of mattresses, from Slate.com: Going to the Mattresses. I felt smarter after I read that some months ago, though honestly it has prompted my wife and I to simply put off our next mattress purchase.
— Joe
You want the ones that are the same as what Westin calls “The Heavenly Bed”. It’s by Simmons. Go to where they sell Simmons and say “We want one like Westin has.” Trust me on this.
— Tim
I’ve got the money for a new mattress, and we’ve found a mattress that we both really like. We’ve got the drive for it, as we’re still sleeping on one twin that’s older than either of us.
That mattress is still sitting the store, unpaid, because we can’t decide how to rearrange the bedroom, nor find the time to move the excess furniture into the spare bedroom.
— effika
I have one sore spot (hips) that causes me to need a softer mattress than the rest of my body likes. If you have a similar problem spot, consider that need, as it will make you prefer a mattress that has a different firmness from what you originally wanted.
I used to sleep on top of a sleeping bag on the carpeted floor. It was wonderful until the hip pain started.
— anon
About 7 years ago, my wife said “I’m not going through another pregnancy on this mattress”. We dropped some major coin on a top-of-the-line Stearns and Foster mattress and box springs, and it’s totally awesome. When we come back home from trips, one of us will always mention how much we like our mattress (and that’s after sleeping on the Westin and Marriot “premier” mattresses too). I still think it’s some of the best money I’ve spent.
— John C
I just bought Ikea’s Sultan Furudal mattress (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10094376) a week ago and must simply say: I does pay off to buy something a bit more pricier when you are using it one third of your life time.
— Jannis
I had a King’s Down mattress that I just loved. It was on the very soft side, but it was comfy as hell. Shortly after my wife got pregnant, she decided that we needed to have a firmer mattress. These days we’re sleeping on a Simmons Beautyrest Black Label, with Latex and all that goodness. Can’t go wrong with either of these two.
I’m glad Joe mentioned that Slate article. It’s useful to know what you’re up against. Shopping for mattresses is even worse than shopping for cars.
I’m also glad that Scott mentioned King’s Down. One of the people who commented on the Slate article wrote, “I’ve tried a lot of mattresses, but finally found a $200 mattress, made by a small-time manufacturer in North Carolina, that was far superior to a $800 name-brand mattress I had bought earlier.” I’m pretty sure that small-time manufacturer is King’s Down. I haven’t been able to find any others that seem to fit that description.
Mark, seeing as how you’re lazywebbing mattress recommendations, and how you’ve probably got more local King’s Down dealers than most of us (Mebane, North Carolina is less than 50 miles from the Research Triangle), any chance you can test a few King’s Down mattresses and let us know if they’re really as good as all that?
— Brett
Fucking South. Everything is closed until noon on Sundays.
— Mark
@Brett: yeah, looks like Fred’s Beds has King’s Down mattresses. I like Fred’s Beds, and we have several nearby (closer than 50 miles). We’ll check it out.
— Mark
I recommend the floor, because it means you don’t find your lightweight 2cm foam mat uncomfortable when camping.
— Adrian
We didn’t get to Fred’s Beds, but we did check out several mattress types at one of the local stores. My wife finds the latex “too soft” but likes the all-foam. She thinks she needs an “extra firm” mattress; I have yet to convince her that pretty much any new mattress is going to feel firmer than the one we’ve been sleeping on for years and years.
On the bright side, we both agree that we don’t need a boxspring.
— Mark
My wife and I got a Simmons. It’s the most comfortable mattress set we have ever slept on before or since. Oh, except one — a B&B we were at one had a Warren Buffet Bed (yes, that’s a brand . . . ) and it was nicer.
Really, the only way you can get a mattress that is nice is to lay on them in the store! Don’t be afraid to spend a little money. We are glad that we did . .
— MikeH
My wife and I both like our Original Mattress Factory mattresses (we have a full in the guest room and a king) I get tired of the commercials for them and don’t buy all the hype. But the prices are good for what seems to be quality mattresses. The sales people we had were decent, no pressure, and I felt they were honest and straightforward. They have stores in Garner, North Raleigh (in the Glenwood furniture alley) and it appears in Apex, but I haven’t been by that one.
Tempur-Pedic for the win. Don’t bother with their fancy ones — just try the original. But do be warned that it may affect your love life, as sleeping on it is ever so slightly better than sex.
“So honey, do you want to… erm… ?”
“I think I just want to lie here.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I might have to invest in one of these Tempur-Pedics, but based on that last comment I think I’ll wait a year or so. I’ve only been married for two months.
We must have lain on all the mattresses for sale from Cary to Raleigh before settling on one. I don’t suppose it matters much which one we selected because your preferences will doubtless differ – we each found ones that we agreed with, but finding the one that both of us agreed with was a little trickier. We searched Fred’s Beds, Rooms to Go, Original Mattress Factory, Sleep Number store, and several others.
Too bad you’re not in New England. A best kept secret here is Gardner Mattress. Family owned and operated, their beds are amazing. We’ve had our King for 5+ years and I still look forward to getting into bed everynight — I’ve yet to find a luxury hotel that beats it. Well worth the splurge. (BTW, I have absolutely no association with them, just offering up some solid personal experience.)
— Jen
I have a mattress of polyurethane foam rubber. Cost me $300 for a queen size piece of foam. Very comfortable for me and it has good support and conforms to my body better than a spring mattress. It also has no pressure points. It’s no tempurpedic but then again if you don’t want to shell out $2500 for “space age material” it’s pretty nice. It’s firmer than tempurpedic but it supports in the same way.
My father is a furniture upholsterer and he made the cover for me that surrounds it. I only had to pay for the foam. I forget the name of the material. To further protect it, I got one of those waterproof hypoallergenic covers which keep the bed bugs and the occasional spilled drink from getting into the material.
Also easier to transport, since it’s easier to fold in half into a limited space for transportation :)
— Adrian
I prefer to sleep on the floor
— moonbug
The Westin Heavenly Bed is the one my wife wants. Having said that, I must add: I work with people who do sleep studies. I have it on good authority that all “clinical” tests of mattresses that report better sleep on a specific brand are pretty much bogus. People report deep sleep on basically any surface, from Tempurpedic to concrete (really). How else do you think we managed to survive millions of years of evolution before the advent of the Sleep By Number system? Clearly, no one has ever slept before.
The only important thing about a mattress (besides price) is really the comfort you feel while conscious. The moment you drift off, you really won’t know how comfortable or uncomfortable you really are. Your sleep will be basically the same, although your perception of your sleep may be affected by what you think you know about your mattress.
— Josh
Who needs a mattress when you have a hangmatt? I do not like latex exept on girls =)
I prefer good old fashion mattresses – it must be nice and soft. I can not understand those guys that sleep on the floor.
— Peter
Why can’t I comment on the article ‘If iPhones Were Wishes?’ I can comment on every other item, just not that one. Isn’t one day a little bit soon for an article to be closed for comments?
— Anonymous
Mark–are you from Raleigh?
You mentioned Fred’s Beds, and I drive by that place all the time on Glenwood. I live in the Brier Creek area in NW Raleigh, and have been a long-time reader of your blog. :P
— Justin
It depends on the purpose of the mattress. If it is for sleeping only, latex/memory foam is great. If it is for, um, entertainment… you want the most expensive extra-firm boxspring setup you can afford.
— sleeping bachelor
I wish it weren’t the fu. The fu makes me happy. Not the cheapest fu, yo, though they’re all pretty cheap. Won’t need more than the fu, me. She will. Haven’t met her.
LQ
Mark, although you’ve mentioned trying latex-foam mattresses, you didn’t say anything about visco-elastic polyurethane foam (aka memory-foam). Did you try any (Tempur-Pedic, or other brands)?
Another weekend, another update. We went to Cary Towne Center and looked at Dormia, a brand of memory foam mattresses which I had never heard of. Nice, somewhat pricey, could probably find them cheaper through a distributor that wasn’t, you know, in the mall. But D liked them better than the other foam mattresses we saw at Original Mattress Company last week.
Also the Select-A-Number beds, which we decided, after a prolonged sales chat, that we didn’t really like that much. But they also sell high-end pillows, which instantly made me hate the $10 pillows I’ve been sleeping on all my life.
The search continues.
— Mark
Have you found many decent retailers of latex mattresses in Raleigh/Cary? I’ve only been to Fred’s Beds recently, and my wife and I are looking for a latex mattress. Honestly most of the best options are at IKEA, but that’s either a drive to DC or Atlanta to test it out, so I’m not really sure what to do about that–something local would definitely be great.
— Justin
Latex & memory foam are great, but very, very expensive.
You’re best bet is a Serta/Sealy from Sam’s Club — they consistenly have the best prices.
— Brian Duffy
In Winston Salem, the industries for the blind makes basic mattresses that are extremely inexpensive. They have two varieties, firm and extra firm. I needed a new bed for my guest room last year so I bought a set (box spring, mattress and frame) for under $300 total. The ridiculous thing is I like sleeping on it as much as the extremely expensive set I have in my room. Its a bit thinner than my expensive one, but so far at least that hasn’t really affected how it sleeps. A friend of mine bought a set for his place as well, and we’ve both been really impressed at how well they’ve done. That may not be your thing, but it might be worth a try.
In unrelated news and if you care about such a thing, Sealy is a North Carolina company.
— rob