Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Sep 7, 2011 7:30 AM
Joined: Sep 7, 2011
Points: 7
First off, I'd like to say I'm soooo grateful that I've found this forum when I did. I've been reading through, and its been very informative and I've learned a lot!! 

My boyfriend and I have been mattress shopping for a good week and a half.. The whole proccess has been daunting and at first very confusing! We decided we better do some research before just jumping right into it.(although we did actually buy a bed right there and then that first day, but had second thoughts the next day so we went to cancel it, and I'm glad we did!!) We almost bought a simmons beautyrest world class, but through research its led me to believe that the coils in these beds now a days aren't as durable as they once were.(?) Through further research, we've learned that the pillowtops are also, and mainly, the cause for mattress sagging due to cheapo materials.. Reading through these forms I've learned that the "S" brand names are notorious for using terrible quality foams. My biggest question I have is regarding the mattresses made by Kingsdown. I've come across good and bad reviews, however the only information of collected about these mattresses has been from the salemen and a not so informative specs sheet attached to the mattress. These are the mattresses we are looking at:

http://www.sears.ca/product/kingsdown8482-hemingway-box-top-sleep-set-queen-king/601-000366179-37764

http://www.sears.ca/product/kingsdown8482-christie-euro-top-sleep-set-queen-king/601-000366179-37671 (the one we are most leaning towards)

 

The only thing Im not fussy on about these mattresses is that it they are both foam incased, and thats not of real interest to me. I am also wondering if it would just be smarter to do with this one: 

http://www.sears.ca/product/kingsdown8482-astoria-euro-top-firm-sleep-set-queen-king/601-37506-37506

and just buy a high quality latex topper? If so, what should I look for, how much would it cost me, and where can I buy this in edmonton alberta canada? Also, would the pillowtop on this mattress wear better with this latex top? Would it been even better to just get no, or little pillow top and design my own topper?

We have a hearts set on having a pocket coil system... I guess because we are under the impression it helps with pressure points (is that true?) We asked the sales man a lot of questions regarding the coils, such as the coil count, coil gauge, coil turns, if its twice tempered.. Also, is this stuff about coils actually important? Reading on various sites, its lead me to believe it is. Anyway, the sales man did tell me the diffrences between simmons and kingsdown.. simmons coil gauge, I think he said was about 16.. the kingsdown is 12.5 in the middle, and 14 at the top and bottom... kingsdown is twice tempered coil (not sure about simmons),.. simmons coil turn was 4 or 6, and kingsdown 6 or 8, I cant remember.. but kingsdown does have more turns. I also tried to get as much information about the mattress pillow top matterials.. he said that the 'christie' bed has memory foam at the bottom, 4.5 lbs latex in the middle and memory foam at the top... however on the spec sheet (and you'll see it on the website) it doesnt talk about having memory foam in it at all. I am wondering if he was just telling us that it had memory foam in it to get us to buy the higher end model that 'just contains latex in it' as he said.. but it clearly lists (again you can see on the site) as having memory foam. We are kind of shying away from having memory foam because we've heard memory foam can wear down quicker than latex, and that it sleeps hotter. He didn't give any indication of other foams being inside these mattresses... But how can I find out for sure? How does one get this kind of information from the salesmen? If anyone knows anything, it would be greatly appricated! Also does anyone have any recommendations as to what we should do and what mattresses are good? We really are mostly just interested in having a high quality laxtex as the top! And a bed on the firmer side. Thanks again for the help!! Mattress shopping is suprisingly exhausting!! Like someone else put it, I just want to get this over with! hehe.

Thanks again so much!

PS. What mattresses are you people using, and are you happy with what you have?

Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #1 Sep 7, 2011 7:40 AM
Joined: Sep 7, 2011
Points: 7
After looking at the website, I see that I've fail to miss this: "44 oz Hollo & Silk Fibres are quilted to two layers of solid high density foam" I'm going to assume this is actually poly foam? And this is actually the top layer in this mattress isn't it..
Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #2 Sep 7, 2011 7:44 AM
Joined: Sep 7, 2011
Points: 7
I guess my new question is, what pillow top types should we be looking for?
Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #3 Sep 7, 2011 9:16 AM
Joined: Aug 1, 2009
Points: 175
I believe that the high-density foam in those mattress specs is typically polyurethane foam. That might be an odd kind of foam to use as a comfort layer (in the topper) rather than as a support layer (in the mattress), but I could well be wrong about that; I'm certainly no foam expert.

I looked at the mattress specs on those Sears pages and found them all to be confusing. It doesn't seem clear which foams are in which layers or which foams are in which order within the mattress. The specs also don't give the density of the memory foam or the ILD of the latex, or tell you how many inches of each there are, so you'd have no idea how firm or soft the mattress might be.

The advice I usually see on the forum is to avoid pillowtops altogether -- because they crater so often -- and get good toppers that you can manipulate independently of the mattress. If you do get a pillowtop, you should not need to also get a topper. Another option might be to get the pillowtop and enjoy it for as long as it lasts (if it's high-density foam, maybe it would last longer than most?), and then cut off the pillowtop after it's worn out and get toppers, assuming that the mattress itself is still in good shape.

There is a forum member with the username "Budgy" who is knowledgeable about mattresses; he also sells them and he is in Canada. I don't know where in Canada, though; you might want to send him a PM to find out.

This message was modified Sep 7, 2011 by Catherine
Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #4 Sep 7, 2011 11:23 AM
Joined: Jun 16, 2011
Points: 171
"Another option might be to get the pillowtop and enjoy it for as long as it lasts (if it's high-density foam, maybe it would last longer than most?), and then cut off the pillowtop after it's worn out and get toppers, assuming that the mattress itself is still in good shape."

That's an option, but just be aware that it might last only weeks to months. I just bought a plain top, firm Kingsdown mattress and softened and customized it with toppers.

After just over a month with my expensive pillowtop, I found myself grabbing the edges to haul myself with my aching back out of the hammock that had formed.

Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #5 Sep 7, 2011 11:44 AM
Joined: Aug 1, 2009
Points: 175
DoreenA wrote:

After just over a month with my expensive pillowtop, I found myself grabbing the edges to haul myself with my aching back out of the hammock that had formed.


A month?! Wow. You might have set a record there. How disappointing.

 

Selarah: The description of one of those mattresses you were looking at includes this:
"Visco Memory foam can be found in the mattress. This heat activated foam contours to your body alleviating pressure points to increase sleeping comfort."

I don't see how the memory foam in the mattress would get any body heat or do any good if it's below the pillowtop. I have no experience with memory foam, but that just doesn't make sense to me.

This message was modified Sep 7, 2011 by Catherine
Re: Much needed help! Mattress shopping..Kingsdown?
Reply #6 Sep 7, 2011 2:38 PM
Joined: Sep 7, 2011
Points: 7
Hello Catherine and Doreen, thanks for your responses :)

 

Catherine, naturally I'm just as confused as you are and trying to get that information from the saleman was still wishy washy. He did tell me that the latex is 4.5 pounds in both beds (which I have no clue if thats good or not lol) and I have no clue on how honest he was being. When we asked him to break it down to us the order of foam, he claimed that it ONLY had memory foam and latex with nothing else. I'm unclear if he decided to just say that because its what we wanted to hear? We are going to go to another store and try to get more information.

Doreen.. Wow, that is really sad. I have read similar reviews from people that there kingsdown only lasted a month.. With a lot of searching around on that subject, it seemed to me that a lot of the people with the problem were all complaining about this "Sleep to Live" brand from kingsdown in the US. Out of curiousity, did yours happen to be this brand? 

Thanks again for the responses. :)

 

Edit: Sorry Doreen, I just found the post where you talk about the S&F bed being the one that lasted under a month. How do you find the kingsdown mattress holding up?

This message was modified Sep 7, 2011 by Selarah

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