Hi bddog,
My own personal preference leans towards Talalay (at least in terms of comfort layers) but this is strictly a preference issue and not a “better worse” issue and other people may have very different preferences than me. My daughter for example prefers the feel of Dunlop after testing both and that’s what she purchased and sleeps on. I haven’t done extensive side by side testing with continuous pour vs molded Dunlop but based on the testing I have done I don’t have a personal preference between them. In “theory” the continuous pour may be a little more consistent in terms of ILD variations across the surface but in practice this is unlikely to make a significant difference that most people would actually feel. The continuous pour is also available in lower ILD’s than you will usually find with molded Dunlop (the bottom of the 40% ILD range for Mountaintop continuous pour Dunlop for example would be the rough equivalent of the 25% ILD range for Talalay and would be very similar to the softest Talalay … see post #8 here). The continuous pour Dunlop has a “feel” that is somewhat in between Talalay and Dunlop but closer to Dunlop. Both are very high quality and durable materials and in terms of quality and durability they would be very closely comparable. I would treat the choice between them as a preference issue.
The Pure Green is molded Dunlop that is distributed by Latexco but they don’t manufacture it. It’s most likely made by Latex Green which is a very high quality product (Latexco also distributes latex from other companies and their 100% natural Dunlop is usually made by Latex Green). SleepOnLatex used to sell a synthetic/natural blend (80/20) that was continuous pour Dunlop that was made by Latexco in the US but they currently only sell the 100% natural molded Dunlop.
100% natural means that 100% of the rubber in the latex core is natural rubber (NR) vs synthetic rubber (SBR) but it doesn’t mean that 100% of the core itself is rubber because there are other substances that are needed to foam, cure, and manufacture the latex (see the first part of post #7 here).
No … it’s synthetic rubber not natural rubber. There is no specific standard that defines defines the percentage of natural rubber though that can be called “natural” so you will find that some blended cores are called “natural” latex (but not 100% natural) even though they contain some percentage of synthetic rubber. For example you will often find that the blended Talalay made by Talalay Global (previously Latex International) is called natural even though it’s only about 30% natural rubber and 70% synthetic rubber and their 100% natural Talalay is called “all natural” to differentiate it so many retailers confuse them and some will believe that their “natural” Talalay is actually 100% natural Talalay when it’s not so I would ask for the specifics of the blend rather than trusting the word “natural”. GOLS certified organic Dunlop latex would have at least 95% natural rubber content (and the rest would be the substances used to manufacture the latex) so it also uses 100% natural latex that is certified organic).
Oeko-Tex and Eco-Institut are both testing standards that test for harmful substances and VOC’s (see post #2 here). All the latex you are likely to encounter will have been tested by either one or the other though so I would consider any type or blend of latex as a very “safe” material. Eco-Institut also certifies whether a latex core is 100% natural latex but this is based on the declaration of the manufacturer.
The two main ways to differentiate latex are the type (Dunlop or Talalay) and the blend (the percentage of natural and synthetic rubber).
There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here and there is more about Dunlop vs Talalay in post #7 here.
Phoenix