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Interesting discussion. What has been stated for the cheaperpedic is basically correct. And is being done by many matress manufacturers. Tempurpedic is the standard. The marketing experts, the ones whom took the concept and made it famous. There is a tremendous cost to this and that is why they are so expensive. But they do it right and with no shortcuts. That is the basic problem in trying to get a productg similiar to Tempurpedic but not pay that much money. So many companies try to compare themselves to Tempurpedic but take shortcuts with the foam so are not really the same experience. I currently sell Englander and USA mattresses. I have also sold retail Sealy and Simmons and King Koil. I can sell a product like the Cheapopedic for $899.00 retail for king. But I will admitg, it is not the same as the Tempurpedic. I can sell the same thing...basically for $1699 retail. I can surpass and give your the ultimate matress for $8999 retail. There are so many combinations and types of foam out there one can go on forever.

Now I personally sleep on the following. A platform base. An 14 inch mattress using latex foam, natural not fake, with a 5 inch, five density layer of memory foam with a 1 1/2 inch layer of polyfill fiber on top of the momory foam so it is not hot in my hot climate of Texas. I have a 100 percent cotton ticking on it. I love it, I had it custom made for my and my wifes tastes and after much testing and experimenting over the years working around mattresses my whole life. It would retail for about $1499 for queen (my wife and I are snugglers and I don't like searching for her over a king size).

Moral here is you can build your own. But search around and you will find one for you witho9ut the hassle. I personally sell over 500 different models. And I work for two brands and there are thousands out there. If you don't want to shop around then the standard is Tempurpedic with four models. It is the safest route.

Wow I made typos on the above post and I apologise. I know I make some but I cannotg type as fast as I think like Lori and I type with limited use of my fingers as I have Rhuematoid Arthritis. I should spell check more

rock and roll wrote:(my wife and I are snugglers and I don't like searching for her over a king size).

Sorry to pull that one line out of that whole informative post, but AWWW!!!!

R&R, thanks for commenting. You've confirmed the conclusions I came to.

Can a person with a lab rat / geek / DIY personality build a quality, custom made mattress for themselves and save money doing it? If they care to take the time locating quality materials and the effort to assemble their own mattress it seems that the answer is "YES".

It is possible to save even more money in the short term by compromising the quality of some components (e.g. base foam) recognizing that it will wear out sooner and need to be replaced. And this is what I've seen a lot of people do using the JC Penny firm or extra-firm foam "topper" as a base. However the issue of quality compromise to save money also applies to purchasing a commercial mattress ranging all the way from no-name brands for cheap to no-compromise products like Tempur-Pedic at the high end.

People that want to save some (maybe a lot) of money but not do the entire DIY route could look at the mattress kits available from http://www.memoryfoam.com and possibly other suppliers.

However as noted here, most people aren't willing to DIY even to that extent viewing it as difficult and a "black art".

Can a person buy a quality commercial mattress which competes with or at least approaches the quality of a Tempur-Pedic but costs less? Clearly the answer is yes. They exist and from what you've said in this thread and others products like the King Koil are one possible source.

However if you look at what reasonable markups and marketing costs (probably the largest factor IMO) would be then it isn't possible to produce a product that is significantly less expensive than the Sealys and King Koils of the world. Although (some of) those are much less than Tempur-Pedic. Not that I was ever proposing that you, I or anyone try and make a commercial mattress to compete in that marketplace.

BTW, your own personal mattress sounds fascinating and incredibly comfortable. I'm amazed that you think such a thing could retail for as little as you indicate .

Finally, I'm unclear from your various postings where you stand in the distribution chain. You seem to be in the sales end, but I'm not sure if you are in retail or wholesale. Just curious.

I am a broker. I sell for several factories all over the world to the furniture stores.