Stearns and Foster Mattress -- Best In Mattress Comparisons Or Unnecessary Luxury?

The Stearns and Foster mattress collection is considered a mid-luxury brand, not as high-end as say, Duxiana, but a bit above the more commonly known brand names such as Sealy, Serta and Simmons.

Since most of the big-name mattress companies now offer a one or two luxury product lines, the gap is quickly closing in mattress brand comparisons. An expensive Simmons may now outrank a mid-range Stearns and Foster mattress in deluxe features. It does seem that mattress companies are competing with each other in just about every possible category -- innerspring, natural latex, memory foam -- and with just about every possible component, such as pocket coils, variable support, deluxe Euro pillowtop, firmness levels, and so on.

Stearns and Foster is now owned by Sealy, so it is common to see these two solid brands together in the same retail outlets.

This mattress comes in three main product lines, or as they call them, collections:

• The Luxury Innerspring Collection, which starts at a suggested retail price of $1199 to $1599 for a queen size. Firmness levels are Ultra Firm, Firm, and Plush.
• The Estate Innerspring Collection, with a starting price range of $1499 to $2299. Again, firmness levels are Ultra Firm, Firm and Plush.
• The Latex Collection, which starts at $1999 for a queen size bed. Firmness levels are Firm, Plush and Ultra Plush.

The variation in starting prices is determined by added features such as pillowtop style, memory foam padding or what they call Smart Latex foam padding.

The Estate collection gets up to maximum thickness of about 17 inches, a bit less than similar mattresses which can reach ridiculous heights over 20 inches.

Keep in mind, of course, that if you go into your local mattress store looking for the Luxury or Estate Collections, they will be called something else. It's the same story with all mattress brands, unfortunately. But inner construction will still be unique to Stearns and Foster. More on how to deal with frustrating mattress brand comparisons here.

How It Stands Out

So what makes a Stearns and Foster mattress stand out from other similar brands and models?

One notable feature of the Estate collection (more expensive) include the IntelliCoil type of spring. This is a spring that has another smaller spring nestled inside the larger one. This special double-spring design is supposed to give you a bit of extra support -- the theory being that your body is cradled by the larger outer spring, while the little inside one offers more firmness as your body sinks into the mattress.

It sounds logical and quite comfortable. But nearly every mattress brand has some exclusive features of their own, and whether they truly add up to more comfort and better sleep can only be determined by you, the sleeper, testing it out and experiencing the results.

The lesser-expensive line, the Luxury Collection is no slouch either, as it features individually wrapped (pocket) coils.

Both collections offer a choice of either memory foam or latex foam padding and either Smooth Top Construction or Euro pillowtop.

As we have discussed elsewhere, pillowtop mattresses are not recommended by most experienced mattress buyers and experts. They have a tendency to cave in quickly, giving you the feeling that your mattress is worn out when in fact it's just your pillowtop layer being too squishy and "plush" for its own good. Adding your own separate mattress toppers gives you flexibility in comfort without having to put up with a crater in an otherwise perfectly good mattress.

So the answer to the question, is the Stearns and Foster mattress worth the price? It certainly is if you are comparing their innerspring collections to comparable product lines from other companies. This is a well-constructed, quality mattress that holds its own against similarly-priced competitors.

If you are looking for the best mattress at the lowest price, you might consider the Simmons Beautyrest World Class, another pocket-coil type of mattress... but then again, you may want to try out both. The Stearns and Foster line uses tempered steel coil in their mattresses, which adds durability. How long a mattress lasts determines its cost over time. The cheapest mattress may turn out to be the more expensive one in the end.