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Comment by mech1234 | Hacker News Reader

Get a firm or very firm innerspring mattress from IKEA. You can do this for less than $300 and it will fit in the back of a sedan in it's roll-up-package.

Sleep on it for a bit. If you don't like the feel, which you probably won't, add a memory foam mattress topper for ~$50. Use a thicker or thinner topper to suit your needs.

Congrats! Because your mattress is firm, its foam will not break down for a long, long time. Sleep easy knowing you didn't waste stupid amounts of money and that your mattress will last essentially forever.

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Not sure this is good advice. I like a firm mattress, but IKEA mattresses are absolutely terrible. I also cannot sleep with a foam topper on any bed. They're hot and screw up my back beyond belief.

As a counterpoint I have done exactly this and am perfectly happy with my IKEA mattresses; your mileage may vary I guess.

I also got a firm IKEA foam mattress (MATRAND) a couple months ago and I was sleeping better from the first night, and a couple more nights and the knots in my shoulders were gone.

Also, at least in NYC it’s flat rate $50 for home delivery. I ordered on a Wednesday night and was delivered to me that Friday afternoon :) very happy with my cheap ikea mattress.

Ikea sells different types of mattress (spring, foam, latex), each with different thicknesses and price points.

I've bought ~10 Ikea mattresses, avoided the cheapest ones of each type, and been pretty happy.

I can understand why a foam topper would feel hot. It's main purpose is to provide a sleeping surface that's the same shape as your body, so of course this means it maximises the amount of contact between you and itself. So no space for air to circulate

But I don't understand how a foam topper can screw up your back, unless your mattress is too soft to begin with. A bad/cheap foam topper will compress pretty easily, and provide no additional support, but I don't see what harm it would do.

>I've bought ~10 Ikea mattresses, avoided the cheapest ones of each type, and been pretty happy.

You've bought ten mattresses from them?! In how many years, and for how many people?

I don't think my parents bought ten mattresses in the 20-odd years they had their four kids living at home - and I still sleep on one of them.

Personally I don't trust anything from Ikea anymore. Their quality is such garbage for all their products from furniture to glassware to lamps, I can't give them a dime of my money knowing whatever I buy won't be around next year. Multiply whatever you were going to spend by 1.5 and go to a decent home store, or just go to Target instead.

"You've bought ten mattresses from them?! In how many years, and for how many people?"

In ~20 years. Most are still in use. Some were for my parents, for guest rooms and for flats that ended up being rental properties. I bought two mattresses last year, as we moved to the US from China (which has different bed sizes).

"Their quality is such garbage for all their products from furniture to glassware to lamps"

This is an overstatement. I and my family members have several Pax wardrobes that are still going strong after 20 years. And several Malm dressers that have lasted over 10 years. As long you assemble and install the things correctly, and make sure they're straight, then there's no reason they shouldn't last.

There are Ikea dressers which are less sturdy than the Malm, because the drawer runners are weak ball-bearing style ones, instead of the wheely ones on the Malm. (Ball bearing runners can be great, but the ones I've seen on Ikea dressers aren't designed to carry much load.)

I’ve found a couple of patterns with IKEA. They’ll often have two virtually identical products, with overall quality and material being the only difference (particleboard vs. real wood, usually). Also, the main drawback is often the loose tolerances that lead to a given piece not always fitting together as well as it should.

> Personally I don't trust anything from Ikea anymore. Their quality is such garbage for all their products from furniture to glassware to lamps, I can't give them a dime of my money knowing whatever I buy won't be around next year. Multiply whatever you were going to spend by 1.5 and go to a decent home store, or just go to Target instead.

IKEA is such a hit and miss. For the price, their ceramicware is pretty good. All of their glassware is cheap and too small. They can have a really nice real-wood dining room table for $500, or a glued together entertainment unit for $2000.

I generally find they have good quality for wood dining chairs, wood tables, BEKANT desks, and rechargeable batteries.

I bought a foam mattress on Woot at one point. At first, I loved it. Best sleep I'd had in a long time.

After about a year or 2, I started to notice that I was not getting good sleep and my back was achy a lot.

I got a new bed with a more conventional mattress, and I was a lot happier with my sleep again.

The old mattress? I gave it to my mother. "Best sleep" situation for her again, but after a while she replaced it.

I think initially the comfort is amazing, but either it slowly erodes your back's health, or you slowly learn to sleep differently on it, and it hurts your back. At least, that's how it seemed for us.

Totally unscientific, but that was my experience.

The problem I have with foam mattresses is they conform to my shape TOO well. Pressure is transferred from my strong tough parts to my weak parts. Instead of applying pressure to my arms and back, foam will apply pressure to my ribs as well. It took months to get used to it.

I feel the same way about foam toppers, and foam mattresses are exactly the same.

I’ve gotten those blue gel-impregnated foam toppers. I cannot abide a hot bed, and these have been fine.

I otherwise agree with OP. Firm inner spring with medium firm gel foam topper is both cheap and by far the best sleeping experience I’ve ever had. I used a cheap inner spring from wayfair.

> but IKEA mattresses are absolutely terrible

To each their own I guess, I own one for 2 years and sleep like a baby every night.

I got a Zinus mattress (cool gel version) and it is absolutely amazing. Cost me like $220 for a queen size and I couldn't be happier

Seriously wanted to, but most recent reviews in Amazon many said after a couple years it's unusable :(

I've had an Ikea foam mattress for a few years, and I really like it. I think it cost around $900 for a queen size (?)

I tried some Ikea mattresses when I was mattress shopping, and none of them felt comfortable even in a short test period in the store.

I ended up buying a Leesa and have been very satisfied with it over the past 5 years.

I too like the spring mattress with memory foam topper.

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