Although we have seen memory foam and latex mattress starting gaining popularity today, innerspring mattresses are still the mainstream and standard in the industry. These mattresses look pretty much the same from the outside, but you will find huge differences inside. To know the innerspring better, let's explore these terms in detail. Coils Coils are the essence for a innerspring mattress as it provides the main support. Since all innerspring mattresses all uses coils, how to know which ones are better? Generally speaking, what we should pay attention to is the number of coils used, how are coils constructed and what are the shapes of these coils.

Some people argue that the more coils used in a mattress, the better it is as it provides a better support. This is only partly true though. The number of coils - "coil count" is not as important as it once was due to the new way the mattresses are constructed. Nowadays, the way the coil springs are constructed is more important than the numbers. A typical mattress contains about 250 to 1000 coil springs depending on the size of the mattress. As a rule of thumb, the minimum number of coils you should look for in a full mattress is about 300, in a queen about 380 and in a king about 450.

As we said, the coil construction is more important than the number of coils used. The word we need to know about coil construction is "gauge" "working turns" and "tempering". Gauge referring to the thickness of the wire used. The lower the number, the thicker the wire. For example, 12.5 gauge wire is thicker and stronger than 17 gauge wire. Working turns referring to the measurement of how tightly the coil is wound. A higher number of working turns usually result in a softer and durable mattress. Tempering is process used in manufacturing so that coils can retain the proper shape over time.

Other than coil counts and coil construction, coil design is another important factor affecting the quality and durability of the mattress. there are currently three main designs used in modern mattresses: Hourglass, Pocketed and Continuous. Hourglass is one of the most commonly used designs. This design comes in two forms - Bonnell coils and offset coils. Bonnell coils are found in less expensive mattresses while offset coils represents a higher end hourglass coil designed mattress.

Pocketed coils are individually wrapped in a fabric pocket. Pocketed coils provide more motion separation (the degree to which movements on one side of the bed can be felt on the other side of the bed) than other coil types. Continuous coils are made from a single length of wire shaped into a series of loose S-shaped ringlets. This design allow for significantly more coils per mattress, making it difficult to compare coil counts with other types of coil designs.