Sunday 22nd June 2014: 10.55pm. Link shared: http://www.factory-beds-direct.co.uk/mattress-sho/double-mattresses-categories/artisan-1500-double
So next month after money comes in my next step in improving the RSI will be a better mattress to sleep on than the current one which came with the house rental, something Megan also sorely desires. Unfortunately, I am in a pickle as to what to choose as I haven't much cared for most of the mattresses I've tried in this locality, and the mattresses which I've researched as being likely very good are rather pricey.
There are actually only a handful of big UK mattress manufacturers (Ireland and the UK use different mattress and bed sizes to the Europeans) each of which make many brands, which are:
1. Silentnight Group, which include Layezee, Sealy and Rest Assured.
2. Highgate Beds, which include Healthopaedic, Sleepwise etc.
3. Simmons, which includes Sleepeezee.
4. Steinhoff, which includes Dunlopillo, Slumberland, Staples, Relyon, Bensons etc.
5. Kaymed, which includes King Koil.
6. Breasley.
7. Hypnos, who make the bed the Queen sleeps in, they're considered a top quality British bed that you won't go wrong with and are therefore quite expensive, though with double tempered springs they will also last a lot longer. Interestingly, most of their production is actually contract beds for upper end hotels like the Marriot, Premier Inn, Sheraton etc. something I'll come back to in a minute.
What I'm sure would be good mattresses would be this shortlist:
1. IKEA Hesseng 600 pocket sprung medium firm @ €565 plus you need to collect it somehow from Dublin, and it is both very heavy and not roll packed. About 40% natural fibres with latex comfort material, plus it is believed it is actually manufactured for IKEA under contract by world renowned Hastens Beds Sweden. I had a roll around on this and other IKEA mattresses, this was the only one I liked (and typically it's the most expensive IKEA does in Europe). It does have a 25 year non-stepdown warranty though, something which is VERY rare nowadays.
2. Hypnos Premier Bedstead 1200 pocket sprung medium firm @ €700 incl delivery from mattressman.co.uk. Unknown amount of natural fibres. This is the absolute cheapest Hypnos retail mattress (see below though). 10 year step down warranty i.e. useless after year 3.
3. This Artisan 1500 mattress at http://www.factory-beds-direct.co.uk/mattress-sho/double-mattresses-categories/artisan-1500-double looks good: 1500 hand stitched calico pocket sprung medium firm @ €1000. About 53% natural fibres. The guys who make this mattress are internet-based mattress enthusiasts, and basically set out to create a top end mattress similar to the VI Spring normally starting at €5000 upwards at reasonable prices. From what I've read, this mattress is of a similar quality and sleep to matresses costing four times more. 5 year non-stepdown warranty.
4. Now, I'm sure Megan and my sister are reading this and are feeling appalled, so here is an interesting fourth option: it turns out that Premier Inn will actually let Hypnos sell you the contract mattress they use in their hotels which is called the "Evesham", in fact you can find the page at http://www.premierinn.com/en/faq/your_stay/Buy_Our_Bed.html and its details are at http://www.hypnoscontractbeds.com/beds/contract-mattresses/evesham. The Hypnos Evesham 1000 pocket sprung firm @ €650 is mostly man made fibres. 5 year non-stepdown warranty.
It's looking awfully like that IKEA mattress is the one to get, but IKEA Dublin charges €120 to deliver a mattress to Cork which is excessive :(