is there any difference from having a solid base compared to a bed frame with slats? is it just personal preference?
These days not much (except the price). Mattress and base used to prolong the mattress longer, but with the new gel/memory foam/coil technology in matresses, it's largely pointless.
We went solid slats (not pokey plastic or thin timber), and it sits fine.
A few things:
+ Pillowtop mattresses cannot be flipped, only rotated 180 degrees.
+ Many modern mattresses with coils can't / shouldn't be flipped because of how the springs sit.
+ Most new mattresses will have a smell when new. This smell can take months to dissipate.
+ With HN, etc, their ranges will differ depending on your location. E.G In an area with lower income earners, their "top of range" might be a $1500 King Koil Magicoil (example name). In a higher income area, the King Koil Magicoil might be the $1200 entry / mid entry level mattress, and the high end a $10,000 King Koil Lord of the Beds.
We actually found our mattress was only available in mid - high income earning areas, and ironically was cheaper at Castle Hill than Auburn. Given they all come from the same factory (AH Beard in Padstow).
Don't scrimp on the mattress - you spend over 1/3 of your life in it.
But there are savings to be made, especially buying direct from the manufacturer. Most people know whether they are a soft, medium or hard sort of person, so IMO laying on one in the store for a few minutes doesn't really do much. I think mine cost only about $1300, and its brilliant.
Absolutely... with matresses it's one of those "pay for what you get" things. Bigger brands (and price tags) have longer warranties.
You can belt down the price on them pretty easily, given the high markup (never pay ticket price).
Besides, if you are paying $50 in physio a week because your backs borked, its a false economy to buy cheap.