Your guide to buying the best mattress - from budget to luxury - we offer tips and advice on what to look for in a bed!
Mattress types
There are so many mattresses on the market that choosing a new one can seem overwhelming. Each manufacturer bedazzles with new technology and marketing speak, making it practically impossible to weigh up comparable products between brands – unless you bring it down to basics. Keep in mind there are predominately four types of mattresses to choose from, so once you know what you like you can limit your search to that style and then select the appropriate bells and whistles.
Inner-spring
These are the most common mattresses sold in Australia. It’s the spring system that provides support, so it’s important to check the quality of the springs and the way they’re arranged. Pocket spring systems, where the springs are independent of each other, are generally considered the best. It’s the padding surrounding the springs that supplies the comfort. Many manufacturers will use the same spring system and then vary the padding to provide a range of different mattresses. Confusingly, a particular model produced by a manufacturer may be listed under different names at various retailers, making it hard to compare prices.
Latex
Latex is a natural hypo-allergenic material made from the sap of rubber trees. Good latex mattresses have pin-core holes incorporated into the design that allow them to breathe. Latex mattresses curve to the shape of your body, minimising gaps between you and the mattress and providing a great cushioning experience. Quality latex matresses are expensive, but can last up to 25 years. Plus, they’re good for allergy sufferers as they are much less attractive to dust mites than traditional spring styles.
Memory Foam
Also known as viscoelastic foam, memory foam was originally created by NASA to be used in astronauts’ seats to soak up g-forces. It’s made from polyurethane and conforms to the shape of your body. It takes about 15 minutes to fully respond to your body’s warmth and doesn’t spring back like regular foam. Some testers have reported lying on this type of mattress felt like floating, as it supports high-load areas such as hips and shoulders, while others said the experience was more like being bogged in wet sand. There is concern that memory foam may retain too much heat to be comfortable, but some manufacturers are incorporating new, ‘temperature neutral’ materials into their designs.
Pillow Tops
Pillow tops are inner-spring or latex mattresses that have a top layer of another material, such as feathers, memory foam or latex, to provide a luxurious cushion, which they undoubtedly do – at first. The problem with pillow tops is the upper layer tends to wear out faster than the mattress. Consider buying a separate pillow top, known as a mattress topper or overlay, and fitting it onto your mattress if this is the way you want to go. Pillow-top mattresses are not to be confused with memory-foam ones, which are designed to have two layers and will wear evenly.
Sizing
Standard Australian mattress sizing is as follows:
- Single: 92cm x 188cm
- Single extra long: 92cm x 203cm
- King single: 107cm x 203cm
- Double: 138cm x 188cm
- Queen: 153cm x 203cm
- King: 183cm x 203cm