My mom is looking to buy an S brand spring mattress, as she wanted to have a mattress with a familiar brand name. I know that the S brands are not recommended on this forum, but she is set to get one…
She has narrowed down the choice to two mattresses: one is a Sealy, available at Costco.ca website and one is a Serta, which is sold at a popular mattress retailer here in Canada.
Both mattresses are on sale now, but the Serta mattress from the retail store would be $150 more expensive. However, it has 150 more coils than the Sealy from Coscto
The salesman at the mattress store said that the Sealy mattresses sold at Costco have low markup, but the quality is subpar. Obviously he is not going to give praise to the competitors.
Can someone please possibly advise just by looking at the description, which mattress seems to be a better quality mattress? I know that the choice is subjective, but maybe someone can nonetheless recommend one over the other?
My apologies for the delayed response, suspent .Yes; I do see from your earlier post that your Mom has a preference for the familiar S brands (and to your point, they are a much debated topic on the forum).
Back in earlier days when the S brands “ruled the mattress school”, Serta, Sealy, and Simmons primarily differentiated their brands using their support core systems. Serta incorporated continuous wire coils; Sealy used an offset coil; and Simmons used a pocketed coil; you can learn more about the types of innersprings from Phoenix’s article, “Mattress Support Cores- Innersprings”. Today, the mattress world has changed dramatically in that the discussion now isn’t “how long will the bed last”, because if you get a mattress with the wrong comfort and support, it will seem to last forever!
[quote]She has narrowed down the choice to two mattresses: one is a Sealy, available at Costco.ca website and one is a Serta, which is sold at a popular mattress retailer here in Canada. Both mattresses are on sale now, but the Serta mattress from the retail store would be $150 more expensive. However, it has 150 more coils than the Sealy from Coscto
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What I don’t find in your first post is some basic background about your Mom’s sleep history: what mattress is she currently using and how old is it? Can you share some personal details such as her height, weight, body profile, and preferred sleep position(s)? Her personal stats will help determine which mattress constructions may be better suited for her overall needs. What size mattress is she planning to buy?
[quote]The salesman at the mattress store said that the Sealy mattresses sold at Costco have low markup, but the quality is subpar. Obviously he is not going to give praise to the competitors.
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Good assessment on the sales talk, suspent. With your research and comparisons, stay focused on determining the quality of the materials used, the mattress’s construction, the budget, and post-sale remedies that cover any contingencies of concern.
Thanks for including the product links in your post. Let’s take a look together at what details the sites reveal:
Serta Perfect Sleeper Elite Mariyah Mattress:
SleepCountry’s site doesn’t provide any meaningful component specs but only a brief listing of the proprietary materials used. The mattress is available in one firmness but there isn’t a mention of what that is. It does have a 5-zoned pocket coil system which could indicate a firmer feeling mattress overall.
Sealy Posturepedic Island Cays Firm Double Mattress:
CostCo’s site was not particularly transparent either, offering a list of proprietary materials and no densities or other details for assessing mattress durability. This appears to also be a firmer zoned mattress having 3 zones rather than Serta’s 5 zones.
I was unable to find any other specs on either of these models online and without knowing what materials are inside, what thicknesses they are, how they are layered, what are the densities of the foams, what are the wire gauges, etc., there is no measurable way to understand the quality of the mattresses. Have you visited either store again or have you gone in a different direction?
Thanks so much for the detailed response Sensei!
My mother is 63 tears old, she weighs about 175lbs.She is a side sleeper. Looking to get a size DOUBLE mattress.
I was inclined to go with a memory foam mattress by buying a bed in a box, but my mom said that she sleeps warm and is even hesitant about getting a spring mattress with a memory foam topper because she’s worrying she will be sweating during the night.
Right now she is sleeping on a sofa bed, so any mattress will be an improvement for her. The mattress from the sofa bed is firm.
After doing some research and watching videos, I found out that firm mattresses are not the best choice for side sleeper, as they do not provide adequate support for the shoulders and hips, so we narrowed it down to a semi firm mattress, which is quite a popular choice. We even considered a hybrid mattress, but the rep from Sleepcountry said that they used to sell hybrid mattresses, but they stopped selling them due to many customers complains and stated basically that the mattress companies did not find an adequate way to combine/attach the foam to the springs (not sure if to believe that since many online websites claim that getting a hybrid mattress is like getting the best characteristics from a foam and a spring mattress).
I am not surprised that the websites don’t list more technical specifications of the mattress, as most people have no idea what they imply and care more about obvious aspects such as coil count than coil gauge for instance, which is equally important. I get the idea as well that the two mattresses are more or less similar in quality. My mother gave a deposit for the Serta mattress from Sleepcountry, but she has about a month until the delivery date, so she can change her mind if she finds a better deal…
Memory foam does tend to retain heat and “sleep warm”, part of its viscoelastic properties. If your mother is hot natured, perhaps some other comfort material would make a better choice.
Side sleepers get better support with a less firm support core and comfort layer to get a little more body conformity for their shoulders and hips. Semi-firm could be a good way to go, given that you have an understanding of whether the components and construction are suitable for her preferences.
If your local showroom chose to discontinue sell of hybrid mattresses due to customer complaints regarding workmanship, I would be curious to know what brands/ lines were dropped, and if any of those were Bed in a Box models. Generally speaking, with a roll-packed/ compressed hybrid mattress’s construction, foams are commonly glued together or to the coil unit, with no performance issues when done properly. And your quote regarding use of a hybrid mattress is “getting the best characteristics from both a foam and a spring mattress” with is a good assessment. Many of our trusted members offer BIAB high-qualityhybrid mattresses, you can learn more about this type mattress in Phoenix’s article, “Different Types and Categories of Mattresses”. A well-made hybrid mattress provides the traditional feel of innersprings combined with a variety of foams and other comfort materials.
For many years, mattress manufacturers had no direct path to the consumer and relied on brick and mortar locations of retail showrooms and department stores for selling of their products. As competition increased in a given market, their retail partners expected differentiation of similar products to tell a unique story to their customer base and why SSBs and like brands offer many models with degrees of similarity in their construction. In those days, the sales people often received store-level guidance as to which brands to “push”, based on manufacturer incentives and promotions. Only recently has the mattress industry by degrees become more transparent due in part to consumer activism, e-commerce development , as well as social media information sharing. Savvy Direct-to-Consumer mattress manufacturers understand that trust of a product’s quality for a purchase sight unseen lies in the content they provide online. The better the descriptions, the wider variety of images, the more thorough the spec details, and the presence of product certifications, as well as exchange/ return/ warranty information all add up to providing transparency and confidence in making an online purchase.
As per the earlier post response, with the meager details offered online for each model, the one conclusion I could draw is the Serta mattress uses a 5-zoned pocket coil system vs. Sealy’s 3-zone unit. Hopefully, all will go well with whichever model your mother selects. We’d enjoy hearing a research update from you or your mom following an initial sleep adjustment period with her new mattress, let us know how things go .
Thank you once again for the thorough reply Sensei!
Glad to hear your reassurance about choosing to purchase a non-foam semi firm mattress, while my mother and I came to the same conclusion.
I found your explanation about how mattress manufacturers choose to market their items very educative. I spent some time looking at the Bed in a Box mattress websites and also paid attention to their market savvy tricks and claims. Thousands of reviews with 4.9 average rating. Just can’t be true. Only after reading somewhat less biased reviews on other websites one discovers that it is just an average mattress with the normal spread of likes/dislikes, just like any other mattress.
It looks like my mother has decided to go with the Serta mattress from Sleep Country. She also liked the fact that it has a 5-zone coil system and more importantly that she was able to see it and test it out in the store. Also that it received good reviews on the website (most likely written by the store’s staff imo). At least the price paid is slightly below the sticker price (-$150) and there is also a 90 days sleep guarantee.
I will definitely post here to give an impression of the mattress and how my mom likes/dislikes after the adjustment period
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