It's funny this thread comes up now since I am in the process of buying a new mattress myself. We decided to go from a queen to a king size bed (already bought the bed), now just need the mattress. My week of research has brought me to the conclusion that I am getting a Latex Foam bed. They are very durable and arguably the best for your body as they allow you to 'sink in' a bit and conform to your body instead of being more rigid like spring beds. Memory foam beds do this also, but I have some reservations about them.
Memory foam beds come in varying quality depending on the density of the foam that is used and the overall construction of the bed. Tempurpedic is considered the 'best' memory foam bed. It uses 5.3lb density foam on top (3 inches) with something like a 2lb density standard foam underneath. Tempurpedic is very expensive though, I got a quote from one place and it was $1700 + shipping for a kingsize. Their 'house brand' was like $750 + shipping, and based on their specs it was of equal quality. The site I'm referring to is
http://www.foamorder.com by the way. I believe tempurpedic has strict price control, so you really won't find much variation on their brand between stores. I decided NOT to go with a memory foam bed for a few reasons. The main one is that I have a memory foam pillow and after just a year its lost a lot of its firmness. I really wasn't able to find many reviews on its long-term durability. Most say they love their bed but didn't find many reports of use beyond a few years. I did find a couple negative ones that mentioned the same thing, it gets soft and spongy after a while (same as with my pillow). The other thing to remember is, almost all memory foam beds are just 3" of memory foam on top of some other foam. You can get the same performance just buying a 3" memory foam mattress topper, but make sure its 5lb density. That foamorder site sells a king size of that for like $400 or something.
After researching, I'd never buy a spring-mattress again because I really believe a bed that conforms to your body is better for you. Super-soft spring beds do to some degree, but firmer beds can't conform as well as a foam bed.
NEVER buy a pillowtop. A pillowtop is nothing more than some low-density foam on top of the mattress. This foam will break down long before the bed wears out (the lower the density of foam, the quicker it breaks down). As soon as it breaks down, it will form body indentations or just feel like mush. If you want a softer layer on top, just buy a mattress pad (normal, latex, or memory foam). That way you can replace it after it breaks down without having to replace the whole mattress.
So I decided to go for a Latex bed, as you get proven durability along with the 'conform to your body' advantage. Unfortunately I'm finding a hard time finding many local stores that sell them in order to try them out. I only found 1 so far and it was a medium-density foam with a 'plush' topper (which is low-density latex foam) which my wife feels is too soft. I'm probably just going to buy one online, but I wish I could try it out first. I think we'll just go with a firm rated bed. If its too hard we can always add a memory foam mattress pad on top. Most places let you exchange the mattress for a different firmness within the first 30 days.
I haven't decided where I'm buying from yet. Here are the places I'm evaluating:
http://www.foamorder.com
King size latex foam is $1080 + shipping (about $70 it looks like). I'm confused about their mattress cover though. The standard one looks like its gonna be crappy cheap, and the upgrade cover ($300) has low-density foam in it which I am afraid will break down after several years.
Foam Sweet Foam
$1039 for a king size. Only 12.50 shipping and it comes with 2 free pillows (regular, latex, or memory foam). They also sell a deluxe version that is 3" thicker for $1459. You can get split-firmness beds where the top is firm and the bottom is medium, so if its too hard/soft you can flip it over for a different firmness. Actually, I believe you can do this from foamorder too, but have different left/right firmnesses. Mattress comes in plush cover (again, I'm kind of paranoid of plush covers now).
http://www.mattresses.net/latex-mattress/
This is the cheapest of the bunch. $995 for a king size and it comes with a foundation too (about $300 from the other 2 sites, which I do need). 20% off if you don't get the foundation. My problem with this one is that its only 5.5" of latex foam, where the other 2 are 6". 6" is the recommended core size for mattresses, so I'm afraid 5.5" being too thin, although it is only half an inch. The mattress cover seems good on this one too as it doesn't have soft foam on the outsides. They do have a ultra-plush version if you want the extra softness on the top built-in. It mentions you can get half/half firmnesses too like the other ones (not sure if they mean top/bottom like foamsweet foam or left/right like foamorder). Unfortunately the site doesn't give you a shipping quote unless you go through the checkout process.
There are a few other sites you can check out too, although the prices at these places are considerably more.
www.flobeds.com
www.4-bed.com
www.abed.com
For the most part, all these websites are really cheesily/poorly designed, but I've read favorable things about all of them. Right now I'm still not sure which place I'm ordering from or what firmness. I'm leaning towards mattresses.net based on that being the cheapest price (depending on shipping) for the mattress + foundation.
Hopefully that helps you out.
