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The perfect mattress. What do you know?

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    HK Island
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    Question The perfect mattress. What do you know?

    I'm looking for the perfect mattress to ease my back pain. Been searching for a while, but there are so many technologies involved. Latex, inner springs, memory foam........can someone tell me the pros and cons of each please?

    And of course, my back is not sensitive to tell the difference from one mattress to another. I'm sure it is not always "the more expensive the better". Surely, much of the cost goes to the patent instead of the cost of producing the mattress. Are there any small brands with good quality?

    I kind of think that Sealy and Slumberland is good, but I am not sure. Not to mention, Sealy is just way too expensive. Any comments?

    Thx


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    2,879

    We are all individual so there is no universal mattress recommendation that's good for everyone of us. It depends a lot on what back problems you have, what sleeping position you use, etc. And somebody with identical problems might still feel better on a different mattress than you. It all comes down to "try before you buy" in my experience. I know that's not easy with a mattress, but I noticed differences when I slept at hotels and used that to decide on my own mattress. For instance, I had a hard mattress at home, which I believed was good for me, but when I went overseas and slept in a softer hotel bed, my back pain actually got better. A few years prior to that, I was convinced that whenever I sleep in a softer mattress things get worse, and it was probably true at that time. I also experimented a lot with pillows and sleeping positions, and I still happen to change one of these every once in a while actually.

    Check the following article and web site for some hints:

    Back Pain Mattress Recommendations

    Exercise can help a lot to get rid of back problems. Since I've started to work out a few years ago, my chronic pain problems are a thing of the past. I actually just started to work out slowly, not doing anything specific for my back problems, but I do a lot of different things depending on the season, what equipment I have, etc (running, cycling, indoor, outdoor, hiking, weight lifting, rowing, etc). The weight lifting has probably been the most important one that helped me getting rid of the back problems (and it doesn't have to be a bodybuilder style program in case you are concerned about this). Doing only one thing (ie. running) or one type of training (ie. cardio) can actually make things worse. Not to mention that I feel and look a lot better since I started to workout, I am much healthier too. Sorry, this wasn't meant to be a lecture on solving your back problems ;-)

    Last edited by 100LL; 05-10-2010 at 11:01 AM.
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  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    145

    We bought our in Ikea, the best mattress we ever had. It is Sultan Tuvebo, in twi parts, the thinner top is made of latex. We had a very expensive latex mattress in Aust., but this one is far superior comfort and was around HKD2000.


  4. #4

    Got the hotel deluxe from Sealy, after a yr or so , it had an uneven surface and sagging in the middle. I had call the customer service for inspection on the mattress which their suggest was to add a chip board in between to support the sagging area. Frankly, it's a mattress higher than market price - it was around 60K HKD, and Sealy are suggesting adding a pc of chip board in between. After a longer bargain, Sealy agreed to send in a new one in Oct .... still waiting and suffering from back pain every morning !


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    11,884

    Latex: Pros- Good motion isolation. Doesn't do the slow body-moulding thing that memory foam does.
    Cons- Retains heat more than springs.

    Memory foam: Pros- Good motion isolation. You get a gradual sinking in feeling when you lie down on it so it

    might take some getting used to. Cons- Retains heat more than springs.

    Springs: Pros- Tend to run cooler than the above. Cons- are if you move around on one, the motion tends to be

    felt by your partner unless you have a pocketed coil version (Simmons, KingKoil).

    Just get the mattress that feels comfortable. Typically, if you sleep on your side, a softer mattress is better.

    If you sleep on your back, firmer. Chinese people tend to prefer mattresses that resemble concrete, so many of the

    mattresses you come across in stores will be rock hard. If you want a 'Western' branded mattress, you will pay

    more simply because you are a minority in the market.

    One judge of quality with spring mattresses is the number of springs they hold- generally the higher the better.

    This tranlates directly into weight- the heavier the mattress, the better and the more durable it is likely to be.

    I have no idea how to judge latex/memory foam mattresses, but from what I have noticed they are even more stupidly

    expensive here than spring mattresses.

    I'm not sure if the above is much help, so here is some very rough advice:

    If you are single, get a comfortable spring mattress
    If you are not single, get a comfortable spring mattress with pocket springs
    If you are price sensitve, avoid OTT stuff like pillowtops (which IMO are mainly marketing ploys)
    Avoid full foam/latex ones unless you sleep in air conditioning year round

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  6. #6

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    11,884
    Quote Originally Posted by penguin golf:
    Got the hotel deluxe from Sealy, after a yr or so , it had an uneven surface and sagging in the middle. I had call the customer service for inspection on the mattress which their suggest was to add a chip board in between to support the sagging area. Frankly, it's a mattress higher than market price - it was around 60K HKD, and Sealy are suggesting adding a pc of chip board in between. After a longer bargain, Sealy agreed to send in a new one in Oct .... still waiting and suffering from back pain every morning !
    Sealy should have a black and white definition of what would be covered by a warranty replacement. It is either on their website or with the documents that came with the mattress. I know that Simmons has a strict definition, and that it includes the max depth of any depression in the mattress surface.