[powrus]

I'm always amazed at the discussion regarding mattresses and box springs and how every other individual seems to have found the perfect solution. It's almost like doing a Coke/Pepsi comparison except with more brands included.

We're ready to replace our existing 12+ year old mattress and box springs (?) and find more confusion than answers. After a couple of weeks of shopping around and listening to sales pitches we now believe that mattress salespeople resemble auto salespeople. We also believe that any talk about product warranty is probably bogus.

How much real difference is there between name-brand mattresses? Right now Sears has a promotional mattress sales in effect. The end prices for their products are MUCH lower than the Sleep Number and the Tempur-Pedic etc. etc. etc. I really don't want to belittle those popular products nor the people who find them superior but we don't have the financial resources to buy top-dollar items when a lower cost item will suffice. For the difference in price, why not go the cheaper route and replace every 5 years? This site http://http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/best-mattress-good-nights-sleep provided some interesting thoughts.

Opinions, PLEASE

[powrus]

Well, I have to take credit for posting one the biggest "sleeper" questions on this forum in more ways than one (mattresses vs boring) LOL. So, with no replies to my post I'll insert an answer to myself.

My wife and I found one of the many January mattress sales going on and picked a time when nobody else was shopping in a particular bedding store. The sales person provided some basic thoughts regarding mattresses and box springs then backed away while the two of us tried approx 15 mattresses scattered throughout the showroom. We did so without looking at prices. We decided prior to visiting the store that comfort would be our primary goal - adjusted secondarily as to cost. It took us about a half hour to make our individual preferences and amazingly, we each picked the same mattress as our No 1 choice. Unfortunately, at half off list price, that mattress set came in at $2,700.00. Too much for our budgeted purchase.

So, we moved to our 2nd and 3rd preferences and came to an agreement. We ended up purchasing a mattress / box spring set for $850.00 and were surprised that our choice ended up being priced as low as it was under the circumstances. The set comes with a 15 yr warranty which we happen to believe is virtually worthless - but my wife and I agree that we will toss this newly purchased set out in 10 years and replace with whatever fits our comfort zones in the future. What we prefer today might not be our same choice in 10 years.

Regarding overall price for a mattress, one discussion might relate to cost per day. Looking at it that way, my wife and I are paying approx 24 cents per night of rest as a result of buying this specific mattress set. If we had opted for the $2,700 mattress set we would be paying approx 74 cents per night. Either way is pretty reasonable considering restful and therapeutic sleep is probably worth any cost. However, we established a pre-shopping maximum budget for our mattress purchase at $1,000. So far, we happy with our choice are moving on to new adventures.