Ultra high-end mattresses

Wow! I'm surprised that your mattress has given out so quickly. I have chronic lower back pain and am about to start looking for a new mattress. Tempur-pedic was one I was considering...

We have a Hastens Superia II and I've slept many nights on a vi-spring of some type.

The Hastens is AMAZING. Let me put it to you this way. Our bed doesn't fit up the stairs. We found that out AFTER we bought it (and it wasn't returnable). It sat in our front hall for 4 months while I tried to figure out what to do. We ended up having to take out a window (not the glass, the window, frame & stone lintel) so that a crane could hoist the bed in.

It was worth it.

A lot of it is due to the topper, we upgraded to the better one than the Superia came with. A lot of people don't sleep with the topper at all and I know people that have bought the $1k plus topper and up it on a memory foam bed. To each their own. But despite the extra maintanance of the topper and the bed, when it's just right it's perfect.

The thing with the topper is the bed is almost never hot. It breathes realy well.

The vi-Spring bed felt like a really wonderful feather mattress. Really nice for a weeke-nd but not something I would want every night. The Hastens, I sigh every night when I get into it.

I used to have a duxiana bed... I spent $13K on it and to be honest, I won't buy a mattress that expensive again. It wasn't that it was a bad bed. I slept well on it, but I have slept quite well on a foam sweet foam all latex bed too, for a fraction of the price. Additionally, moving twice with that thing was a bitch... the mattress alone was easily 250+ pounds.

Rob, many thanks for your input. Very helpful, and I feel the same on many of your points. An incredibly cool feeling and I felt I was just floating above the mattress. Our local retailer sells only the highest end topper, as they feel it is a small price compared to the mattress, but makes a big difference.

xhoser, I am glad I caught you my friend. Don't be lured by the 5 minutes you test it in a showroom. My testimonial is not unique and I would encourage you to read the reviews on temper-pedics. Many have a good experience, but there is a solid contingent that are not happy. We were ok for the first 6 years, but something happened, and now I wake up to back and neck pain every morning. In addition, it is a hot mattress and does not breathe well. My brief experience (an accumulated one hour in the showroom) with the Hästens (perhaps it is the materials) is that it feels much cooler and breathes better.

The Hastens store here will aloow you to spend the night in a special room in their show room so you can really get a feel for the bed. They also have a list of hotel rooms that have the bed in them as well for you to try.

We did think hard about the topper on a tempur pedic bed. I think it would be a good comprimise and negate the heat problems but the bed won't last 20+ years like a Hastens...

Nice topic wine-doc.

I have considered the Hastens but when I saw the >$20,000 price tag at ABC carpet in NYC, I got quickly discouraged.

That said, I have heard these things last forever.

Question . . . I have also heard that these require quite a bit of maintenance . . . some type of repacking or fluffing (of sorts) of the mattress materials every year or so. What's your experience been with that?

Good point about the weight TPE, but something I am willing to deal with for a good night's rest.

Parcival, I am not aware of any refluffing process, but I did hear that the topper needed to be replaced every number of years, which is not a cheap proposition.

You need to re-fluff the topper everytime you change the sheets. Just roll it up, un roll and give it a good shake, other wise over time the horsehair compresses.

Same goes for the matress itself, rotate end to end every 6-8 months and when you are changing the sheets and have the topper off, walk on the bed (or get your kids to jump on it). Unless you are VERY enthusiastic in bed, the wool and horsehair will compress a little where each of you sleep. It goes right back to the old position with some jumping though.

As for price, we didn't pay anywhere near retail. I think it's like cars and watches. There is the retail ask and the reality. They had our bed in stock (not on the floor, it was brand new) but in a beige/grey and white check instead of the iconic blue and white. Harder to sell and sitting in inventory. We saved about $4,500 off list and got two of the down pillows (with inserts for under your neck and highly reccomended) and a pair of down booties for my wife.

The weight of the bed is a pain and we'll have to remove that widow again to get it out when we move (or put a juliet balcony in the bedroom...) but it's worth it. To me anyways. You spend hours every day in bed, between that and your office chair that's a lot of your day. Splurge a little.

Hey guys, I hate to be so blunt to ask this . . . but to get a better sense as to what a good price vs. over-inflated price is, what range should I be expecting for a "good price" from a Hastens dealer?

I've slept on a Savior at a hotel. I imagine it was their "lowest" level bed and it was very, very nice. Another company to consider if you are thinking about this type of expenditure on a bed.

Wow, and here I thought I had an expensive mattress. $20K?
I had a few too many glasses of wine on my wedding anniversary a couple years ago, and ordered a high-end, king sized Sleep Number bed off QVC, for $3K. A few days later FedEx dropped off 7 huge boxes on my doorstep, so no problem getting it upstairs to the bedroom.
Still, it is amazingly comfortable; so much so that I almost hate getting out of bed in the morning. Probably one of the best investments I've made. I used to wake up every day feeling worse than when I went to sleep. No longer.

winetarelli,
Very nice story with the Savoir mattresses, and I do love a good story. Unfortunately, could not find a local retailer to check it out. Perhaps a stay in the Savoy could remedy that.

Parcival,
They do have sales, but not often. The prices that I saw online are for the twin size beds, and they go up markedly based on size. The folks here in Houston were willing to give a 20% discount on floor models, but we passed on that. We have a friend who is an interior designer, and they get 20% off with their purchases. So we were fortunate to have that applied to our purchase. Now we wait three months for it to be built and shipped - ah the price for bespoke mattresses. But it is a lot less time than a couch we had made in Italy - that was aggravating.

Rob, thanks for the tips on the mattress and topper care. A great excuse for the 4 year old to jump on the bed!

UPDATE:
We received our Hastens mattress, and after about a week in the new bed, I can report back to the group.

We sleep much better. We both find it harder to get out of bed in the morning because we are sleeping more deeply. I also find that I am not having the back and shoulder pain that I had before as well. So far a win, and we will have to keep in mind all of the maintenance for the topper.

Thanks for the input.

Glad to hear you're liking it!