Step 1
Learn the Basics
Gather basic information that can help you ask better questions regarding mattress materials and construction, as well as identify knowledgeable manufacturer/ retailer sources in your area. A quick scan (not studying) of the overviews in the mattresses section will get you started. For more detailed information, the other topics included in each section, as well as consumer questions on the forum are useful. Some of the conversations on the forum may be more complex than useful for your needs, so stick with topics that suit your research. Time spent reading the overviews too will educate you more about mattress materials and construction, providing knowledge for asking meaningful questions.
Step 2
Make a Plan
Learn how to skip the worst choices and focus on the better ones. By using this overview of the industry along with the mattress shopping guidelines, you should be able to bypass the major manufacturers/ retailers that are not of value. Consider avoiding chain stores, mass market, or mainstream retailers as reliable sources; often their salespeople cannot provide in-depth information for making an informed decision, leading to confusion, frustration, and wasted time. At this point, it is also good to set the mid-range of your mattress budget. This number is the price you prefer to stay under for a mattress purchase but could go slightly over if the benefits offset the price difference (based on the quality/ value of a certain mattress or that it was uniquely better in some particular aspect than anything else available). Remember, a mattress isn't simply a luxury purchase; it is an important function of how well you sleep and how rested your body feels. Now is also a good time to choose the types of mattresses and materials you will want to test.
Step 3
Find a Trustable Source
Begin researching local manufacturers and better sleep shops within a reasonable driving distance. Start by reviewing "Finding a Good Mattress Outlet" to help identify your best mattress shopping options. You may also consider consulting a TMU Expert Member, or reviewing other consumer subscriber's comments on the Mattress Forum. Note: TMU Forum subscribers who submit at least one forum post have access to exclusive discounts or bonuses offered by our trusted members, (Make sure to mention The Mattress Underground, or use coupon codes they provide on our Trusted Member ~ Directory). If you aren't sure how to locate better options in your area, you may want to do some forum searches by logging into your free subscriber account and using the "search forum" feature. A search for the nearest major city often brings a "list" of results with nearby locations and consumer feedback.
Who you buy from, their knowledge, experience, and ability to help you make the most suitable, high quality/value choices best matching your needs and preferences is one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase. Calling ahead and talking with any manufacturer/retailer you plan to visit, or consider buying from online, will help you get a better idea of what knowledge and service to expect from them. For any mattress, you are seriously considering make sure to ask this information you need to know before the purchase to help determine what you can expect in terms of product quality and suitability.
For chat sessions, make your questions brief, clear, and direct to the chat agent. If you sense from the responses that the agent is inexperienced or cannot answer questions to your understanding, save the notes you have made and start another session later with a new agent for comparison.
Step 4
Do some In-Person Mattress Testing
Work with the "experts" at better sleep stores near you who are completely transparent about their mattresses. They can help you identify the types of materials, components, and layering options that best suit your needs and preferences, that will match all of the most important parts of your ~personal value equation~ and that have the best value in your budget range. Ask about exchanges, returns, warranties, post-sale support, and any other benefits that may provide additional value to your purchase. Use their help and guidance to understand and test for your PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) as you test and compare mattresses.
Remember as you test a mattress, that comfort (pressure relief and subjective "feel"), is mostly what you feel when you go to bed at night; support (spinal alignment) is mostly what you feel when you wake up in the morning (either with or without back pain and discomfort), and quality/durability (the type and quality of each layer and component in the mattress) is all about how your mattress will feel and perform in a year or two (or hopefully much longer) down the road. Learn more about primary & secondary mattress support and pressure relief and how they relate to each other.
Keep in mind that mattress warranties only cover manufacturing defects and won't tell you anything about the quality, durability, or useful life of your purchase and are mostly about marketing (More about mattress warranties explained) Also you can read an in-depth analysis of all the important parts of a "successful" mattress purchase.
Here are some suggestions for testing for pressure relief and for testing for alignment (which is a little more difficult) and in forum post #11. There are also some good mattress testing tips on our forum. Keep in mind that testing for more subjective perceptions of "comfort" alone has less than a 50/50 chance of making the most suitable choice (see this RTI study on choosing the best mattress) so more careful and objective testing is key in a successful mattress purchase.
Avoid considering other people's experiences on a particular mattress as they will likely be different from your own. A mattress that works well for one person may be completely unsuitable for another. This is why your own testing or experience is the most reliable way to find a mattress that is right for you, regardless of how well it may work for someone else. To avoid any mattress shopping pitfalls it would also be well worth reading the forum posts "Making mattress comfort choices" and "the danger of selecting a mattress based on reviews".
Again, always look for good quality components and materials, and avoid lower quality materials and "weak" links relative to your weight/ BMI range for any mattress you are seriously considering. Follow the mattress durability guidelines to help you determine whether a mattress has the performance and useful life you expect no matter how it may feel in a showroom,
Now you are in a good position to chose a "finalist" at each manufacturer/ retailer you work with and advance to the next step of the Mattress Shopping Tutorial. There is more on our mattress forum about the most important parts of the "value" of a mattress purchase that can also help make more meaningful mattress comparisons.
Step 5
Choose your mattress
Narrow the list of "finalists" by manufacturer/retailer based on all of the results of your research, such as comfort, firmness, PPP, the durability of materials, and all the other parts of your "personal value equation" that are most important to you. By now, you should be confident that your choices will likely be good and better than those found at a major brand or outlet store. While the process can be difficult, take a breath, close your eyes, and go with your instinct on smaller differences that matter to you. Realize that any of your final choices should be suitable, with the eventual winner having some fine detail that gets the purchase. Learn more about the final choice between mattresses in this post.
Other
Other Considerations
Mattresses Online/ Direct-to-Consumer Shopping: If no better quality and/or value choices are available in your area, try a search online using the guidance of the members listed in post #21 here. These direct-to-consumer (D2C) manufacturers/ retailers have deep experience in components, materials, construction, etc. and can answer many questions with a phone call. The TMU endorses their reputations as being among the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, and transparency.
The experts' detailed knowledge of their mattresses and how they respond to different body types and sleeping positions, along with an established customer base for drawing reference points, assures the consumer of a mattress purchase that is customized to their needs. Any exchange, return or added options available for mattress customization post-purchase helps lower the risk of purchasing online. These online manufacturers/ retailers are also a good "value reference" when making local purchases; if you must pay a "premium" for a locally bought mattress (should you feel more comfortable getting "in-person" advise from a local retailer while testing the product in person), this information may help you with value comparisons. For other considerations when mattress shopping online, review post #2 and this topic about the pros and cons of Local vs Online mattress shopping.
- For those looking for a memory foam mattress ... In addition to the online manufacturer/retailer on our Trusted Member ~ Listing already mentioned, the mattress forum has some listings of memory foam mattress options
- For those with a restricted budget ... The forum includes many of the better online lower budget mattress options
- For those looking for an online "simplified choice" mattresses (aka "one choice fits all" or "universal comfort" or "bed in a box" or "disruptor" or "millennial" mattresses) ... Our mattress forum includes more information in Posts #1 & #2 in this forum topic
- For Canadian Mattress Resources ... In addition to the Canadian online manufacturer/retailer from our Trusted Member ~ Listing, you may wish to also peruse forum with alternative mattress options
- There is more about the different ways of choosing a suitable mattress and how to identify and lower the risks that may be involved in each of them