Have you ever been to a mattress store?
There are a few categories of mattress stores: the shady-looking bargain shop that always has a “going out of business sale” going on, the mid-tier brand name shop like Mattress Firm, Serta or Beautyrest, and then there are the super fancy high end boutique stores where everything costs a year’s rent for the average middle American civilian.
While different in many ways, they all have the same energy. Every mattress store feels like a car dealership. You’re immediately accosted by a salesperson the moment you walk in, they guide you around the store, watching their coworkers to make sure you don’t get poached, and you can tell they all work on commission by the manic gleam in their eyes. It’s not fun, mattress shopping, not fun at all. The pressure is high, the prices are insane and no amount of perceived discount will make you feel like you didn’t get ripped off in the end. Add to that the feeling that you are taking money out of the salesperson’s hand if you don’t buy and you have the perfect combination of anxiety, frustration, indecision and guilt for a truly awful experience. Honestly, I’d almost rather go to the DMV than shop for a mattress. So let me tell you about how I ended up sleeping like a baby on a brand new Novaform mattress.
Imagine my despair one day when I realized that a recent bout of crippling morning back pain might not simply be a symptom of my relentless march toward old age, but the result of the center of my old mattress slowly collapsing in on itself like a dying star. If I wanted any chance of climbing out of my bed without crackling and popping like a bag of tin foil and bubble wrap, I’d need to suck it up and get a new mattress. I did a few rounds at the usual places but quickly realized that prices had absolutely EXPLODED in the 10 years I had my old bed. If I wanted to spend any less than $1200, I’d need a horrid budget mattress or I’d need to buy a clearance item, which means “used and returned…” Eew.
I left the sales floors, leaving my sellers destitute and unable to pay rent and went home to think about it. Two more nights of reading and sleeping in the bed-shaped hammock I had made for myself passed, and I was at a loss. It was while hunched over an over-sized cart shopping for gallon tubs of peanut butter and barrels of pretzels at my local Costco when I found the answer.
The Novaform Memory Foam Mattress
Costco is a funny kind of place. It’s a store that deals in wildly oversized bulk packages of everything from trail mix to batteries (Their deal on Duracell batteries is worth the cost of the membership, by the way). They sell massive trays of prepped meals, briefcases full of macarons, sleeves of sausages that unfold like photo wallets and comically oversized bags of frozen fruit and vegetables. Food isn’t all they sell though, not by a long shot. They’ve got electronics, kitchen wares, bounce-houses, toys, clothes, over-the-counter drugs, eyeglasses, shoes, garden tools, generators, home siding, solar panels, patio furniture and of course… mattresses.
I’ve been to this massive church of capitalism so many times that I totally forgot they have had the same Novaform brand memory foam mattress for sale there since forever. I walked right past it and had to double back, the product and the price finally registering. Here was a king size mattress, apparently well reviewed and good enough to stay on their shelves for so many years and it was only $699.99!!
Now I will admit that I was initially wary of buying a “bed-in-a-box,” but I was quickly persuaded to try it out after not one, not two but three people stopped their carts and struck up conversations about that mattress while I was looking at it. Turns out the Novaform is something of a legendary product at Costco. It’s kind of like people who own a Jeep. If they spot someone even glancing at a Jeep, they’ll stop everything they are doing to tell you how wonderful their Jeep is. The Novaform is the Jeep of the mattress world, only not cripplingly expensive. The unsolicited enthusiastic testimony was enough for me, and the fact that I could just walk out with it in my cart was a big plus too, and walk out with it I did.
The Setup
Something about compressed products like foam mattresses and pillows is that you need to let them fully expand before you can really get a feel for them. This bed came in a fairly large box, and was pressed and vacuum sealed in a big plastic sleeve. Once I carefully cut the plastic open it immediately started to suck up air. It said in the box to give it a day to fully expand and I’m going to be honest here, I didn’t really wait the full 24 hours like I should have. I got a strong whiff of something very “factory chemical” once I had it open, but that thankfully completely went away before I started setting it up that evening. I would recommend opening it up on your bed frame if you have one because this thing is very bulky and hard to move once it’s out of the bag.
Once I had it opened up, I tossed a mattress protector on it and got everything set up. (I highly recommend a protector for any mattress, but especially a memory foam one since some liquids can really affect the foam badly) I plopped down on the bed and immediately felt the difference. I’ll give you the feel from the second night, not the first, since I was a silly goose and didn’t give it a full 24 hours to expand and that really did make a big difference. By the second night it had become a pleasantly soft-yet-supportive affair. The top is a super soft fiber cover. Then there is a layer of something they call “phase change gell” that keeps the bed from trapping tons of heat, then a nice soft layer, all on top of a big chunk of super firm base foam. The result is a bed that is soft at the top while remaining supportive. It’s all contained in a nice dark blue canvas that makes it look very high-end while giving you fabric straps to grab when trying to move the whole thing around.
TL;DR Specs
- Profile Height: 14 inches
- Comfort Level: Medium
- Construction: Cooling cover, Gel-infused memory foam comfort layer, Phase Change Material (PCM)
- High-density support foam base
- Motion Isolation: Excellent
- Pressure Relief: High
- Edge Support: Moderate
- Foam Certification: CertiPUR-US® certified
- Available Sizes: Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, California King
- Best For: Side sleepers, Back sleepers, Combination sleepers, Couples
Is it Worth the Money?
I have been getting absolutely amazing sleep ever since I picked it up. It’s really stable when moving around on it and the smooshy foam keeps me from tossing and turning. The pressure relief is no joke, either, as I no longer have sore shoulders from side-sleeping, which is huge. The edge support isn’t that good, so if you sleep really close to the edge you might need to build yourself a little pillow wall to keep from rolling off the bed, but that’s really the only major complaint I’ve got! Like I said, the $699.99 price tag for a really good king size mattress is insane so in my opinion, yeah, this is absolutely worth the money!
George Berger
Ever since a young George was disappointed with a toy that did match up to the advertising, he became a tireless advocate for consumers. He’ll review anything that folks have to spend their hard-earned dollars on. George is grateful that he gets to use his skills as a writer and an artist to help connect with consumers and help them make the best decisions possible.
This article is for informational purposes only and reflects the author’s independent opinion. Readers should verify details directly with the manufacturer or retailer before making a purchase decision.
