Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Mar 2, 2010 6:18 AM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
Some of you may have seen my first thread that explains my story:

So after months and months of researching, going from mattress store to mattress store, I finally made a promise to myself that for my new year's resolution I'd finally pick a new mattress.
I had been sleeping on a old, innerspring, sealy posturpedic hand me down from parents. That mattress is probably twenty yrs old

Never had any serious back issues though but that's probably because I'm still young (27) and workout (lift weights) religiously (5 days a week) and eat healthy foods.

So In my search of mattresses I narrowed down my options to Simmons beautyrest, Sealy posturpedic, and Serta perfect sleeper. My old boss whose a Chiropractor has a Simmons so he recommended that brand for me. I ended up going with the Simmons because of his recommendation and the price was great for a king, pillowtop ($800).

I've had the bed since Jan 3rd and I like the new mattress, but don't love it. I've had numerous nights where I toss and turn all night and can't fall asleep. I've also woken up with low, achey back pain that I've never experienced before. I am a stomach sleeper so I know that's bad for your back but I didn't use to feel this with my old, worn out, hand me down mattress.

I have a little over a week left of my 60 day exchange policy and I'm considering exchanging the mattress for a different one. I just get scared I'll choose another mattress and will not even like it as much as the Simmons and I'll be screwed lol! The other mattress I'm considering (went back into Sleep America where I bought the mattress and layed on more beds) is a Serta. This is supposedly there "higher end" model that has a 20 yr warranty and more supportive foam in the hip areas and what not. I think the label says Serta perfect day "morning sunrise" or something like that.

The sad thing is the serta is around $1600 so I'd have to pay  a lot more to switch to that mattress. It would be worth it though if I can sleep a lot better.

Just needing some opinions please to help with my decision. I'm stuck here :(

...............................................................................................................................................................................................

Ok, so by March 3rd, I have to choose my new mattress to exchange my Simmons with. The recommendation you guys gave me was to buy a firm mattress and put a latex topper on it.

For a king sized mattress around 1,000, I really only have a few choices. A Sealy non pillowtop, a serta perfect sleeper, and a Europa firm bed. I had never heard of Europa but the sales lady says they just don't advertise like the big "S" brands. She said there good beds though (individual pocketed coils, 10 yr warranties).

Which of these would be the smart pick? I'm deciding tomorrow so please help!

Thanks...
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #18 Mar 5, 2010 2:55 AM
Location: L.A. area
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Points: 1161
woofman81 wrote:
Yes, it is the luxury "firm" model with no pillowtop

I went to Stearn and Foster's website to double check.
I think you made a good decision. I'm not sure but I think the S&F springs are a little better than the Sealy springs, so if you ever need to do mattress surgery you'll be in good shape.
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #19 Mar 5, 2010 3:14 AM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
jimsocal wrote:
I think you made a good decision. I'm not sure but I think the S&F springs are a little better than the Sealy springs, so if you ever need to do mattress surgery you'll be in good shape.

Hearing that from you alone will help me sleep better tonight lol :)

I'm crossing my fingers on this one. Hope it suits me much better than the Simmons did.
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #20 Mar 5, 2010 5:02 PM
Joined: Jan 16, 2010
Points: 45
Does anyone know what the S&F Estate is called at Sleepys? :-(
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #21 Mar 5, 2010 5:47 PM
Joined: Oct 15, 2009
Points: 966
Slides wrote:
Does anyone know what the S&F Estate is called at Sleepys? :-(


Usually the estate has dark brown detailing.   You can look at a picture on their website.  It usually says it on the mattress, but you can ask as well.

I don't know of any real reviews of the estate over a long period of time.  So, their still is possibly an issue of the foam quality and how long it will last.  Some of the older S&F models had sagging and foam issues like all of the other S brands.

Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #22 Mar 5, 2010 7:49 PM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
sandman wrote:
Usually the estate has dark brown detailing.   You can look at a picture on their website.  It usually says it on the mattress, but you can ask as well.

I don't know of any real reviews of the estate over a long period of time.  So, their still is possibly an issue of the foam quality and how long it will last.  Some of the older S&F models had sagging and foam issues like all of the other S brands.


Correct Sandman, the estate has the dark brown detailing. I got the luxury line which is a lighter brown/tan detail.

So I did a interesting test today since I noticed now that different salesmen can give better pricing. I went into ANOTHER sleep America store (I'm not crazy I swear haha) and acted like I was a regular price and got a quote for the mattress I agreed to yesteday (the Stearns and Foster luxury firm) and sure enough, the guy quoted me 1061.00 compared to 1169.00 from the guy yesterday.

The other catch was I hadn't layed on a Stearns and Foster estate firm bed yet (a step up from my luxury model). The guy quoted me 1331.00 for a firm estate Stearns and foster. I had no idea I could get it that cheap.

I still went with the luxury firm but I'm almost wondering if I should upgrade for another couple hundred bucks to the estate firm?

The only knock on the estate firm was that I could tell it had more foam on top so it didn't feel as "firm" as the luxury firm I chose.
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #23 Mar 5, 2010 8:06 PM
Joined: Oct 15, 2009
Points: 966
woofman81 wrote:
Correct Sandman, the estate has the dark brown detailing. I got the luxury line which is a lighter brown/tan detail.

So I did a interesting test today since I noticed now that different salesmen can give better pricing. I went into ANOTHER sleep America store (I'm not crazy I swear haha) and acted like I was a regular price and got a quote for the mattress I agreed to yesteday (the Stearns and Foster luxury firm) and sure enough, the guy quoted me 1061.00 compared to 1169.00 from the guy yesterday.

The other catch was I hadn't layed on a Stearns and Foster estate firm bed yet (a step up from my luxury model). The guy quoted me 1331.00 for a firm estate Stearns and foster. I had no idea I could get it that cheap.

I still went with the luxury firm but I'm almost wondering if I should upgrade for another couple hundred bucks to the estate firm?

The only knock on the estate firm was that I could tell it had more foam on top so it didn't feel as "firm" as the luxury firm I chose.



The estate I liked was the luxury firm no pillowtop.  Is that the one you tried?   If you want really firm, they have an Ultra firm estate that felt rock solid.  Too firm me to sleep on.  The luxury firm (one step softer than the ultra firm) estate felt firm and supportive, yet probably sleepable without a top.  Who knows if in 6 months it would be sagging.

I believe the price of a queen estate was around $1275 on sale at Macy's.  Right now it looks like they increased the price a bit to around $1500

The estate has a different coil system.  It is coil in a coil.  The salesman told me that the estate was much better, but he may have been blowing smoke.  I had trouble getting info. on exactly what was in the S&F, so that made me a bit nervous.

In the end I decided that I wanted to be able to customize myself.  I tried a flobed that I pretty much liked, but I ended up getting a good deal on a Sealy Reserve that I cut open (you would not believe the junk foam inside) and put in my own latex and 1" of memory foam.  I am pretty happy with that right now. 

The firmer one (with the least foam) still might be your best bet, but you may need to add 1-2" to make it comfortable enough.  If you end up doing mattress surgery, you don't want to pay up a lot for the foam they put in.

This message was modified Mar 5, 2010 by sandman
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #24 Mar 5, 2010 10:31 PM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
sandman wrote:
The estate I liked was the luxury firm no pillowtop.  Is that the one you tried?   If you want really firm, they have an Ultra firm estate that felt rock solid.  Too firm me to sleep on.  The luxury firm (one step softer than the ultra firm) estate felt firm and supportive, yet probably sleepable without a top.  Who knows if in 6 months it would be sagging.

I believe the price of a queen estate was around $1275 on sale at Macy's.  Right now it looks like they increased the price a bit to around $1500

The estate has a different coil system.  It is coil in a coil.  The salesman told me that the estate was much better, but he may have been blowing smoke.  I had trouble getting info. on exactly what was in the S&F, so that made me a bit nervous.

In the end I decided that I wanted to be able to customize myself.  I tried a flobed that I pretty much liked, but I ended up getting a good deal on a Sealy Reserve that I cut open (you would not believe the junk foam inside) and put in my own latex and 1" of memory foam.  I am pretty happy with that right now. 

The firmer one (with the least foam) still might be your best bet, but you may need to add 1-2" to make it comfortable enough.  If you end up doing mattress surgery, you don't want to pay up a lot for the foam they put in.


Yep, that's exactly it Sandman. The guy quoted me 1361 for that mattress in a king, "firm", no pillowtop. Sounds like a great deal.

Yeah, he showed me the coil in coil system (they had a display) and how it works. I layed on both mattresses for a few minutes with a pillow. The estate has more of a "foamy" feel to it. It would easily feel softer than the luxury firm I chose.

I'm still debating on just sticking with the luxury firm, or paying a few hundred more bucks and getting the best (the estate firm). The estate firm would NOT need a topper because it has plenty of memory foam on top.

Heeeeeelllllppppp :)
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #25 Mar 5, 2010 10:51 PM
Joined: May 3, 2008
Points: 827
Anytime you buy a mattress with memory foam or any foam in it you are asking for trouble.  It never lasts, you can't replace it, unless you do mattress surgery.

Read all of our complaints here regarding that.... JMHO.
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #26 Mar 5, 2010 10:55 PM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
Also, the estate mattress compared to the luxury is much taller. Does that mean anything? Does that mean it's that much better?
Re: Two more days left to exchange my Simmons Mattress (didn't like it)
Reply #27 Mar 5, 2010 10:56 PM
Joined: Feb 24, 2010
Points: 26
Leo3 wrote:
Anytime you buy a mattress with memory foam or any foam in it you are asking for trouble.  It never lasts, you can't replace it, unless you do mattress surgery.

Read all of our complaints here regarding that.... JMHO.

Good point, so maybe the luxury would be the better option....

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