Is the Jamison Mattress the Right Bed for You?

The Jamison mattress is not as well known as other big-name brands, but they have been around a very long time -- 125 years, in fact. They began manufacturing mattresses in 1883, and perhaps the biggest surprise is, ownership has stayed in the family and continues in the present. This is unusual in an era when buyouts mainly by private equity firms, are the norm. Nearly every big name mattress brand in the U.S. is no longer owned by the original entity, and some have been bought and sold numerous times.

Jamison is most famous for its Marriott beds. People who wake up in a Marriott hotel room feeling like a million bucks, having just had the best night's sleep of their life in recent memory, often are inspired to purchase the same bed for home use. The only way to get the exact replica is to buy a Jamison bed, because they are the exclusive suppliers of those thick and luxuriously comfy foam mattresses to the hotel chain. Because of the excellent word-of-mouth exposure through their hotel partners, Jamison does not advertise to the general public.

Unfortunately, Jamison mattress dealers are not easy to find if you live in the western U.S. The company is headquartered in Tennessee, and most Jamison retailers are located in the southeast. You can buy the Marriott bed (also known as the Resort Collection) from Marriott's own retail website, but you need to be very certain that you are buying the exact bed you want, because you cannot try it out and it is not refundable. Also, shipping is $325. This seems a rather risky way to buy a bed... but, if you are one of the loyal customers of the hotel chain and know for absolute certain this is the bed you really, really want... it may be your only option, depending on where you live.

So far very few of the large online mattress stores (such as 1800mattress.com) sell Jamison beds. This may change in the future. If you live in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, etc., you can go to the dealer and try out these beds in person, which is the safest and most recommended way to buy any mattress.

Types of Jamison Mattresses

Jamison offers a wide range of construction options. Their innerspring mattresses come in two coil types: Bonnell coil (least expensive) and Smart Coils, which use an "alternating right-turn and left-turn coil construction" that is supposed to reduce transfer of motion, a handy feature when you share a bed. There are also Inchex Smart Coils, which may be a little different from plain old Smart coils, but this uniqueness is not explained.

Jamison also uses several different types of foam: Talalay latex foam, memory foam, polyurethane foam (in several different styles, including "convoluted") and Omalon foam (a special type of high-quality poly foam). Recently, they appear to be using a particular type of memory foam they call "JGel memory foam" that features gel beads inside the structure of the foam, that they claim provides a "more consistent feel" and a cooler temperature than traditional memory foam.

These basic materials, metal springs and foam, are combined in a wide variety of configurations to make up the seven Jamison mattress "collections" or product lines.

Jamison simplifies its firmness levels with just 3 variations: plush, medium and firm.

Jamison has a few mattresses that may be flipped over to get a somewhat different firmness level (for example, it will be medium on one side, plush on the other), a rather unique feature among mattresses. Other models are one sided, that is, they cannot be flipped. If you like the idea of having more control over your mattress firmness, make sure you get a flip-able one.

Jamison Collections

The Arbor collection features innersprings made from Bonnell coil, which is the cheapest type of innerspring coils, but Jamison does a good job with them, using a 13.5 gauge spring for most of the mattresses, which gives enough strength to last a while. Two types of Arbor beds offer tempered steel coils, which is even better. The coil count ranges from 390 to 416 for a queen mattress, which is about right for the thickness of the spring, and the overall quality looks good for this lower-budget end of the Jamison product line.

The Equalizer collection uses either Bonnell coils (with 2 different levels of firmness) OR smart coil (with 8 versions) plus foam. Equalizer beds are one sided, meaning you can't flip them. The gauge of these springs are thinner than the bonnell coils at about 14.5. The coil count for a queen is 650, a good number. It is normal for a high coil count to be matched with a thinner gauge of steel.

The Resort collection offers either JGel memory foam (4 versions) OR non-spring (essentially stacked layers of good quality polyurethane foam over a 7-inch foam core (4 versions). This collection features the world famous Marriott bed mentioned above.

There is also a JGel Memory foam mattress line which is available in 4 different versions, all of them in medium firmness.

The TLC line offers talalay latex, available with either an all-Talalay foam core or the 7-inch Marriott core, which is polyurethane. It is safe to assume the poly core gives you a cheaper price, at least I hope so.

There is also a Talalatex Conformer line of latex mattresses, which offer plush, medium and firm variations. This is mostly latex, except for a 2" base form, and that would make for a pretty pricey luxurious mattress, designed for people with allergies and other conditions that make latex such an attractive, though expensive, option.

The Vita-Pedic line offers Bonnell coil + foam, smart coil + foam or Inchex smart coil. The unique feature of this line is its two-sidedness, meaning you can flip them for a moderate variation in firmness levels.

Of course the names and features of all of these lines could change at any time, and most likely will, to reflect new developments in materials or at the whim of the marketing department -- a common habit among all mattress companies.

Reasons to Buy

The Jamison brand is a good, well-constructed mattress made with quality materials from a solid, substantial family-owned company in business for 125 years. Whether you decide you like the mattresses or not, at least you don't have to worry about faulty workmanship or cheaply constructed beds.

Jamison compares well with other mattresses similar to its product lines, including Simmons, Sealy, Serta and Stearns and Foster. Jamison mattresses are built with comfort in mind. Their beds are suited to people who are looking for relief from pressure points, pain and muscular stiffness. The mattresses tend toward thick, lavish and luxurious, with lots of padding and cushioning, yet they also offer the firm core support you need for long-lasting durability

Keep in mind that if you are basing your reaction to a bed on a short stay in a posh hotel, sometimes hotel beds don't behave the same way at home as in the resort. For one thing, they get changed far more frequently than you would change your own -- possibly every two years or so. Also, the constant influx of people of all sizes and shapes means that this bed will not wear in the same way as your would at home with you sleeping on it night after night. Also, most hotels do not use the ultra plush styles, and it probably best that you don't either.

Jamison Mattress Reviews

As you hang around various review sites, you will find both praise and criticism of these beds, as is true for all brands of beds. The trick to buying the right mattress is to understand your own body type and how you interact with various types and brands of mattresses.

Like every other brand of mattress, the biggest complaint is about sagging, deep body impressions and sinking in of the top layers of the mattress. Plush layers in mattresses tend to sink in and form an impression or "signature" (as Jamison calls it) of your own body as you sleep on it. This is seen as an advantage by some people and as a defect by others.

Jamison offers a few mattresses in their collection that allow flipping and also have a few that do not yield to body impressions as much as others, so pay attention to the options offered.

If you want continuous resilience, without any sinking whatsoever, you probably need to layer your own firm mattress with toppers. Otherwise you will be disappointed in any plush type bed you purchase, because this sinking in is a nearly universal trait among them.