So many mattresses, so little time. Finding the right type of mattress that is comfortable for both your body and budget can be tricky. This guide was built to be practical and focuses on quality and best value.
Overview
There’s a strong possibility you’re confused about how to choose the best mattress for you because of the increase in mattress types over the last 5 years and the industry’s use of jargon. In addition, the Australian cot and mattress requirements have documented safety protocols, which adds to the information overload.
I put together this mattress guide to provide you with a brief history of mattress varieties, design, manufacture, use advantages and disadvantages, and the price range of various mattresses.
How we review
After considering all of the elements, we select the ideal mattress for each kind. To find the best mattress for you, we started with the Australian mattress market. The information source presented us with a list of the best mattresses in each category. We gathered data on each mattress, such as customer reviews, style, trial time, warranty period, and pricing.
Mattress Types & Materials
Let’s start with the fundamentals. You are the most important consideration in choosing a mattress type. Aches and pains, body type, weight, and whether you prefer to sleep hot or cold are all factors to consider. Mattresses are divided into four primary categories:
- Innerspring
- Foam
- Hybrid
- Latex
Along with the four categories stated above, there are a number of lesser-known mattress types on the market that we also discuss. Let’s have a look at the different sorts of mattresses one by one.
If you want a good mattress but don’t want to spend a lot of money, look at our list of the top affordable mattresses in Australia.
Inner Spring Mattress:
Overview:
As the name implies, the coil-based design and construction are the key features of this innerspring mattress. Innersprings were created to sustain the sleeper’s weight while also providing some room between contact areas. Innerspring mattresses sleep a little cooler than a form mattress that conforms to your body completely.
Design:
Although the coils are capable of sustaining a lot of weight, there is usually not much padding between you and the springs. Mattress toppers and bedding can be used to offer more comfort to the bed, allowing it to be customised to your preferences. Thin layers of materials such as cotton and polyester are commonly found in factory-made mattresses.
Best Used For:
The most important attribute of springs is their bounciness, which is exactly what happens when you start moving. This makes the bed a wonderful choice for newlyweds and individuals wishing to spice up their sex life in general. There are also no significant heat retention difficulties, so the pair is able to chill down quickly!
Types:
There are umpteen innerspring mattress types based on various kinds of coils used in the mattress. They are:
1. Bonnell coils – Traditionally known to be the most often utilised and cheap coils.
2. Offset coils – They have a design that is similar to Bonnell Coils, but they use a different mechanism and technology to link the coils.
3. Continuing wire coils – This sort of coil is made up of multiple pieces of wire intertwined together. All of the individual lattices, as well.
4. Pocketed coils – This coil type is best produced by using a unique way to build core support.
Price Range:
The price range of Innerspring is $600 – $1,100.
Pros
It gives great edge support
It is super bouncy giving a great feel
There is a provision for temperature regulation
Price is affordable
Cons
You can feel the pressure points
Motion isolation is experienced in this mattress
The mattress is not very durable
The mattress coils can make noise
Hybrid Mattress:
Overview:
Hybrid mattresses, as the name implies, incorporate much technology. This usually entails both a coiling system and foam padding. This arrangement creates a balanced feel, reduces bounciness, and often maintains more heat than single coils.
Design:
In most hybrids, the pocketed coils discussed in the overview are the major design components of the innerspring core, enhancing motion isolation and increasing edge support as well as bounce relative to all-encompassing foam mattresses. They provide excellent temperature regulation because they incorporate coils, which are well-known for their ability to do so.
Best Used For:
These beds strike a balance between motion and comfort when compared to other older mattresses. They’re a perfect halfway ground where you can be active while still getting a good night’s sleep.
Types:
Hybrid mattresses come in a variety of types, but they all have two things in common: an innerspring support core and a substantial comfort system. Diverse hybrid mattress types are created by varying these components and their ratios.
Price Range:
The price range of Hybrid is $1,300 – $2,000
Pros
They are bouncy
They have temperature regulation in them
They are designed with balanced features
Cons
The price of the mattress is comparatively high
Motion isolation is experienced in this mattress
The mattress is comparatively heavier
Memory Foam:
Overview:
Foam mattresses are the most popular choice for people all around the world, including in Australia. Foam and latex, as well as any fabric, are used to make these beds. This mattress is made without coils. It’s a good balance of convenience and affordability.
Design:
The dense layer of polyfoam provides the foam mattress’s core support, making it thicker and more firm than the other polyfoams. Latex, polyfoam, or memory foam, as well as various fabrics, can be accommodated by this laid-back arrangement.
Best Used For:
The comfort mechanism of this foam mattress has the potential to reduce noise, increase pressure release, and isolate motion. They’re excellent for back, side, or joint discomfort, and they last at least 6 to 8 years, making them above average in terms of durability.
Types:
By varying the layers of the mattress’s internal structure, a mattress manufacturer can release a plethora of memory foam mattress models. There are hundreds of varieties because this is one of the key materials used in all types of foam mattresses.
Gel Foams:
To prevent heat build-up, these gels are mixed into gel foams by swirling them through the foam or manufactured into beads and placed inside the foam, where it is evened out. This is one of the greatest mattress kinds for stomach sleepers since it generates less heat, preventing the sleeper from becoming overheated.
Price Range:
The price range of foam mattresses is $900 – 1,300.
Pros
There is a lot of pressure relief for the sleeper
Motion isolation is not experienced in this mattress
There is very low noise while using the mattress
Cons
There is no edge support
It is not bouncy as there are no coils
Temperature regulation is not controlled much apart from in the gel-infused
Overview:
Latex mattresses are sometimes known as true latex or all latex mattresses because the comfort mechanism and core support are all constructed of rubber.
Design:
The support core of latex mattresses is made up of formulated latex that is made firmer and thicker in comparison to the core support, with the goal of providing stability and strength to accept heftiness.
Best Used For:
These latex mattresses are most suited for people who have bad backs and want to enhance spinal alignment or relieve pressure. Having said that, it is similar to a stiff wood piece and does not take the contour of the body when sleeping or even engulf it. As a result, this mattress type is prone to requirements. Because the latex has bounced, it may be beneficial to sex life.
Types:
The varieties of mattresses are classified based on the type of latex utilised in the mattress.
Dunlop vs. Talalay:
Latex mattresses are made using either of these two processes. The Dunlop technique necessitates moulding, stirring, and baking of rubber tree sap, whereas the Talalay process necessitates vacuum-sealing, freezing, and baking of the sap.
Organic vs. Non-organic:
Chemical fillers and other synthetic components are used to treat all latex. Latex must include at least 95% natural latex and be certified organic by the Global Organic Latex Standard in order to be deemed organic (GOLS).
Price Range:
The price range of the Latex mattress is $1,600 – $2,000.
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Pros
They are bouncy
They have temperature regulation in them
They are designed with balanced features
There is very low noise while using the mattress
Cons
Motion isolation is experienced in this mattress
The mattress is comparatively heavier
The price of the mattress is comparatively high
Overview:
A waterbed is a mattress made of vinyl that is filled with water and contains tubes called bladders that fill and store the water, making the procedure simple.
Design:
They are made up of tubes that contain water bags, and there are now independent waterbeds that don’t require any frames. The mattress is equipped with temperature settings that warm the water for a therapeutic experience.
Best Used For:
Patients or those with bodily aches will benefit from the water movement and inbuilt warmer in the waterbed mattress type. It’s better to do it on a cold winter day when you can curl up in a warm water bed.
Types:
Waterbeds come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as different brands. Softside and Hardside are the two most common types.
1. Softside Waterbeds: A Comfortable Outer Edge – A soft side waterbed is made with foam bolsters to preserve its shape, which is then covered with a fabric casing, padded on top, and lastly built in an upholstered box, similar to a box spring.
2. Hardside Waterbeds: A Classier Look – In a hard side waterbed, which features a waterbed frame, the hardwoods or softwoods keep their shape.
Price Range:
The price range of the waterbeds is from $50 to $2,000, depending on the type.
Pillow Top Mattress:
Overview:
A pillow-top is a type of mattress design in which a layer of material is placed in a compartment and then stitched to the top section of the underlying bed. It is a layer that lies above the rest of the mattress.
Design:
This mattress is not a large mattress, but rather a design feature that may be put on a variety of mattress types to give them a plusher feel.
Best Used For:
It is used to increase the aesthetic appeal of an old mattress.
Price Range:
The pillow top mattress ranges from $1,000 to over $1,400.
Polyfoam Mattress:
Overview:
Polyurethane Foam, often known as poly-foam, is one of the most affordable and high-quality foams available. It’s used in mattress toppers as well as entry-level and low-cost mattresses.
Design:
This polyurethane foam, often known as polyfoam, is made from petrochemicals. Manufacturers utilise polyurethane as the top layer of spring mattresses because it is very affordable, not because it is of great quality.
Best Used For:
They are most commonly used in sofa cushions or egg crate type mattresses, which are quite basic and rarely purchased by everyone.
Airbed Mattress:
Overview:
The most distinguishing and distinctive aspect of airbeds is the support core of the air chamber, which sets them apart from other mattresses.
Design:
The core support is extremely adaptable because it is filled with air, and a pump is used to fill and remove air from its chambers, allowing you to change the feel of the mattress at any time. A smartphone app or remote controls can also be used to control the pump.
Best Used For:
Separate air chambers on both sides of the air bed make it pleasant and easy to alter the firmness level, which is one of the most appealing features, especially for couples.
Price Range:
The price range of airbeds is $2,000 – $2,400.
Organic or Natural Fiber Mattress:
These mattresses are made of natural fibres that have to meet and satisfy the organic production regulations. These mattresses comply with government and environmental natural product regulations and norms and are thus certified as organic materials by organisations such as the Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS).
Because the air chambers, coils, and foams are organically certified, latex is the predominant component in these mattresses.
Mattress In a Box:
The entire mattress market has witnessed a fresh change and update in the last few years, all because of mattresses-in-a-box, which eliminates the need for anyone to walk down to a showroom and vie for a lie-down on potential new mattresses. You can order the mattress online, and it will arrive in a vacuum-sealed box at your doorstep.
People Also Ask:
The Latex Mattress is the best mattress type for people preferring firm mattress while hybrid or memory foam are the people’s choice.
A mattress with medium firmness or maybe with a softer pillow top is the best mattress to sleep as it will give your spine that just-right balance of support and cushioning.
Memory foam is generally durable as there are no coils and thus reduces the risk of sagging while the spring mattresses are not that durable as they have springs and coils which would poke and sag due to extended use.
Memory foam medium-firm mattresses are preferable for side sleepers. It relieves pressure from your back and keep your spine aligned when you are sleeping on one side.Too soft mattress may sink your body and m,ay give back pain while too firm mattress may create body aches
It is based on how you sleep. The mattress types for side sleepers should consist of Medium Soft to Medium Firm mattresses while the back and stomach sleepers should look for Medium Firm to Firm mattresses.
Compared to spring foam mattresses last longer
The chiropractors recommend hybrid memory foam or latex mattresses as both of them have good balance between support and pressure relief.
The general thickness or the standard mattress thickness is 8 inches with 2 to 3-inch thick comfort layer and 5 to 6-inch thick base layer.
Well the answer to this is yes. Generally expensive mattresses are surely worth it. But again it is not fair to judge a mattress on its cost but rather to judge it based on its comfort level and the quality materials used in it.
Conclusion:
As stated in the above article, buying a mattress necessitates a number of significant considerations, including the most common sleeping position, comfort level, and demand. This guide on mattress types, construction, benefits, and drawbacks will help you choose the best mattress for you.