To pillowtop or not to pillowtop?

[cmo]

Mattress shopping advice needed! Our old mattress has gotten too 'dippy' and it's time for a new one. I know the manufacturers make it hard to compare similar mattresses, so I need to do a little sleuthing before I go looking. Currently, we have an almost 10 year old king-size pillowtop mattress. The pillowtop is on both sides so it can be flipped, however, that didn't seem to help much with the dipping problem (there are what looks like 2 big dents where we sleep, and it has been that way for a couple years).

So, while I like the comfort of a pillowtop, I'm not sure it's the way to go. Recently, we were at a vacation condo, and the mattress had an added-on foam mattress topper (like an egg-crate style) on top of an ordinary mattress and it was great! I slept comfortably on my stomach for the first time in years!

Also, I'm curious about the environmental factor. I know some mattresses have less chemicals, residue, etc. used in their manufacture and would like to learn more about this. We have some foam Ikea mattresses on our guest/daybed, which have worked out well, but they are too thin to go well on our bed frame, which needs a box spring.

Any advice & personal experience is most appreciated!

Thanks,
Chris

[teddy]

When I was researching mattresses awhile back, I read that you can get away without a pillowtop. That's just a way to make you pay more! The pillowtop wears down before the actual mattress.

Just add a really plush mattress pad on top of your mattress. I found nice thick ones at Homegoods (Marshalls/TJ Max housewares store).

[lizajane]

i really don't know, to be honest. i just know that my sealy posturpedic pillow top was the best 900 bucks i ever spent. i LOVE LOVE LOVE my bed and have yet to find a mattress that rivals it.

it is 7 years old and still brings me great joy.

[linsei]

We have a 5 year old Serta pillow top, and I cannot begin to express how much I detest that mattress. We have experienced the same as you, 2 huge dents and serious all-over lumpiness. Ours is the kind that is flipable, but flipping is supposed to be optional.

We plan to buy a bed soon, and probably will not go for a pillow top mattress again. It is so tempting, they feel so great at the store! We plan either an add on type topper or maybe Tempurpedic or Select Comfort. We almost bought a SC recently, but only like the feel of one that had the pillow top (and were skeptical d/t our past pillow top experience).

Linda

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[gatorsmom]

We just did a lot of research on mattresses before buying one 3 weeks ago. I particularly wanted a Simmons Beautyrest because I'd heard so many people rave about them (and we were going to buy it through Direct Buy). So I learned a few things, not sure what will help you, but here it is:

There are 3 types of spring mattresses (if that's what you are looking for. Otherwise, there are the memory foam (temperpedic), air-adjustable (sleepnumber), water beds, etc).

The 3 types are firm, plush (which is soft) and pillowtop. The firm have coils which don't "give" as much and are great for back sleepers. The plush have a different gauge coild which give more for side and stomach sleepers. Pillow top is just extra padding which is usually found on plush mattresses but can also be found on firm mattresses. The pillow top padding can actually contain memory foam in it.

Most mattresses in retail stores right now are non-flip. And most of the time, you should use the box spring that's intended to be used with the mattress.

The more springs in the mattress, the better it is going to withstand time AND the less motion-transfer you will have (in other words, the more coil count in the mattress, the less you will feel your partner roll over at night). Of course, the higher the coil count, the higher the price).

Some of the extra features of the pricier mattresses include the extra spring or foam sides (makes the side of the mattress feel firm when you sit on the bed), memory foam or latex foam inside the mattress, different types of polyester foam + latex + memory foam in the pillow top. (of course, those same pillow top mattresses can be found without the pillowtop).

The best thing to do is go to a mattress store and lay on them. We did this a couple of times and did our research before we bought one. We found some of the pricier Simmon's mattresses were just too soft. We wanted one that was soft (DH and I are both side sleepers) but not too soft. We went with a plush, 900 coil count mattress with a pillow top that didn't have memory foam in it(I hate that stuff). WE love it.

HTH!!
Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

[janeybwild]

What she said :( Ours sucks.

[hellokitty]

Personally, I am anti-pillow top. It seems that after a few yrs everyone I know with a pillow top complains that it is saggy? What I recommend is getting a good mattress and then spending the $ to get one of those memory foam mattress toppers, they are usually about $60. The memory foam mattress toppers last quite a while, but if it starts to get saggy, it will be easy and cheap to replace that. You can't replace a pillow top, since it is attached to your mattress. Also, FYI you will notice that most companies now have, "no flip" mattresses, so even if you get a pillow top mattress, it will only have a pillow top on one side. I wanted to get a mattress that you could still flip, but they seem to be impossible to find anymore.