Advice on Pure Latex (Tallalay( Bliss

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi, Phoenix.

First of all, I want to express my admiration and gratitude for the amazing and hard work you’re doing with this website! It’s been incredibly informative and necessary! It’s so helpful to customers and I imagine so important to manufactures off the beaten path also. Really impressive!
I wondered if you might offer any guidance on a latex mattress. I am interested in buying a latex mattress on an adjustable base. This is a very expensive proposition! But I have found a great deal on Amazon through a company that has been wonderful to work with – very helpful and informative. The brand they sell is PLB. Sadly, they are not local. I am in Chicago and they are in the south. Worse, the one place listed on the manufacture’s website as being here no longer seems to exist – AND the company does not return my voicemails asking where else I can try. That is very frustrating to me and, frankly, if it weren’t for your website and the seller I’m working with suggesting that this is a reputable company (he says they are fantastic with warranties), I would give up on them. Going to a different brand would also mean losing out on the great deal I’ve found, which will safe $2-$3,000. So, despite the fact that I can’t try these beds, I’m hoping I can figure this out.
I have historically been a side sleeper, but am trying hard to convert to a back sleeper and think the adjustable bed could help with this effort. I struggle a bit with a fascial pain issue that makes my hips and shoulders sore. Therefore, I’d like a bed that has some cushion on the top. However, given that I hope to sleep on my back a lot, I don’t want the middle of my upper back to sink in, leaving my shoulders to “hunch horward,” and throwing off my alignment. I want my shoulders to go back, even with my spine.
SOOOO, in an effort to gather data, I went to a local store and tried out what they had. My bed of choice from the Natura line was the Eco Sanctuary Plush – 1" quilt with tallalay, 2" tallalay soft, 2" tallalay medium, 6" dunlap firm. The eco sanctuary was too hard – 1" quilt, 4" tallalay firm, 6" dunlap firm. Strangely, I found the Natura Eco Revive too “saggy” in my upper back though it’s supposed to be firmer – 1" quilt with tallalay, 1" soft tallalay, 2" medium tallalay, 6" firm dunlap. The salesman suggested that the Eco Sanctuary Plush may be more supportive (though it’s softer) due to having more latex overall. Unfortunately, he did not have exact numbers on the density. They also had a Madera mattress in all dunlap (specially treated for softness apparently) that I liked – 6" firm, 2" pressure relief.
The fellow with the PLB mattresses is suggesting either the Beautiful (his top suggestion) or the Nature. The Beautiful seems structurally similar to the Eco Sanctuary Plush – 3" soft, 3" medium, 6" firm. It’s mainly just 1" more of medium, though the firm foam is tallaly rather than dunlap, which may throw things off, leading the Beautiful to be much softer? He doesn’t like the Nutrition because the soft and pressure relieving layers are flipped. He claims it’s the least popular PLB bed nationally. However, I have a friend who tried the mattresses out in Arizona. The guy there was recommending the Nutrition if I was worried the Beautiful might be too soft (that my spine would sink in). She seemed to like the Nutrition best of all, though we are different people with different bodies.

I guess my biggest questions are
•Do you have a sense for whether a firmer mattress than the Beautiful would be important in keeping my shoulders back if I lie on my back (btw, I am 5’2" and weigh 125 lbs).
•Do you think the Beautiful would be more “sinky” for my upper spine than the Eco Sanctuary Plush?
•If you would suggest a firmer mattress than the Beautiful, do you have thoughts on the Nutrition versus the Nature?
•If you have suggestions for where to look in Chicago, I’m all ears!
-Finally, though I’m leaning toward the PLB for financial reasons, I’d certainly love to know if you think this is a suboptimal choice!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this message!

2

Hi Shelby,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum! :slight_smile:

You’re welcome and thanks for the kind words.

[quote]I have found a great deal on Amazon through a company that has been wonderful to work with – very helpful and informative. The brand they sell is PLB
[/quote]

I would be very cautious about purchasing a discounted Pure Talalay Bliss (they changed their name from Pure Latex Bliss in March, 2016) on amazon. Pure Talalay Bliss has a strict dealer pricing guideline, meaning that there is a minimum price that all dealers may advertise their products at, and any advertised discounted price would send up a “red flag”. I would want to find out that any retailer you’re considering is an authorized retailer of the product you’re considering, which may mean in this case a direct phone call to Pure Talalay Bliss.

The Pure Talalay Bliss site lists the Eco Mattress Store in Buffalo Grove as the closest to your area.

The response rate of the customer service department of Pure Talalay Bliss has unfortunately been the source of many complaints. I don’t know if it still works, but you may try 203-924-0700, x 341 and see if Roland Brown is still there – he was a nice senior customer service rep. Otherwise, I would continue to phone their customer care number at 404-260-7421 until you reach a real person.

While the types of mattresses you’re considering certainly contain durable and higher quality materials, all I can offer is help with “how” to choose. It’s not possible to make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress or combinations of materials because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). The Beautiful is one of the softer models in the PTB lineup and in general is popular with side sleepers with the use of a 3" softer Talalay layer on top, but that is a general statement.

There is more information in post #9 here about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one. Every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover and any quilting materials) will affect the feel and performance of every other layer and component and the mattress “as a whole” so unless you are able to find another mattress that uses exactly the same type of materials, components, cover and quilting, layer thicknesses, layer firmnesses, and overall design (which would be fairly unlikely) then there really isn’t a reliable way to match one mattress to another one in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) based on the specifications of the mattresses (even assuming that you can find out all the specifications you would need for both mattresses you are comparing in the first place).

Unfortunately, there would be no way for me to determine what may or may not feel more “sinky” to you based purely on specifications. Your personal preference when trying out a product would be the only actual indicator. The layers closest to your skin will have the most dramatic impact upon initial comfort impressions, and the Natura uses a different cover than the PTB, it has a wool layer (the PTB has none), and the upper 3" of latex are a split of Dunlop and Talalay which are of a slightly higher ILD than in the PTB. So while it may be in the same “range” of softness, it certainly isn’t the same, and the degree of similarity would only be able to be determined by your own personal testing.

Both of those models have a different feel, with the most obvious difference being that the Nutrition uses a bit of a firmer layer of latex on top of a bit of a softer layer of latex for the two upper layers, what I term placing a “dominating” layer on top. The Nutrition isn’t just a “flipping” of the top two layers of the Nature – they are different ILDs and thicknesses. The Nutrition in general will present a bit more of a “firmer” surface comfort as compared to the Nature, and both models would feel firmer than the Beautiful.

The quality of componentry is certainly high with the PTB product, but they can be in a bit of a higher budget range and may not be in the best “value range” when compared to other manufacturers who use similar materials in lower budget ranges. If you are interested specifically in latex then this link in the tutorial is to a list of the members here that sell mattresses online and many of them sell latex mattresses that use different types and blends of latex that have a wide range of different designs, options, features, return and exchange policies, and prices that may be worth considering.

Phoenix

3

Hi,

I’m just checking back into this forum after 3 years of “Pure Latex Bliss” with my mattress & topper.

Hopefully this link to my previous thread works:

https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/latex-topper-helplimitstart=0

my posts start at #11, with some details in subsequent posts. YMMV.

(I will update that post shortly, but the mattress and topper have been GREAT)

4

Hi Ken83,

Thank you once again for taking the time to update us and provide feedback on your mattress. After three years, I’m glad you are still happy with your purchase!

Phoenix

5

Hi, Phoenix and Ken.

Thank you both for your thoughts.

Good idea to check on the retailer. Thanks! Yes, I do see them listed (same address in FL, though they probably use a different name, New Rooms Direct, for their Internet sales). The great price is because I’d be getting an adjustable base also so it’s a bundle. For both the king Beautiful plus a Leggett and Platt base, it’s $5699. I love that base, which alone runs around $4000 at full price.

The place in Buffalo Grove that supposedly sells PTB doesn’t seem to exist anymore. There’s never an answer and I have driven way out to the suburbs to try and visit and couldn’t find it. I really appreciate the contact’s name there and the new number for PTB,. Sadly, I continue to get nowhere. I cannot seem to find a living human on the other end of the phone no matter what I do. I left another message today, still unanswered. I’m pretty darn frustrated with this company and wish I didn’t want to buy one of their mattresses so much!

Again, I appreciate your thoughts! I’ll certainly let you know if I find something.

Shelley

6

Hi Shelby,

The addresses listed for this business go to a UPS Store (probably for the mailing address), and then there is a physical address in an “executive park” that may or may not have a retail showroom (I’m guessing it does not). This seems to be a part of JGK Marketing and they sell waterbed and RV mattresses, along with other mattresses, online. It appears to be more of a “click and ship” operation, as opposed to a sleep shop with a brick and mortar location where you can go test out mattresses. I would unfortunately cross them off of your list (even if they do still exist).

I share your frustration when a company is slow in responding to legitimate customer inquiries. I’ve reached out to another one of my contacts on the component side (Talalay Global) to see if they can get someone to respond to your inquiries. I understand that there is a point where you’re simply trying too hard to give someone your hard-earned money, after which you may need to readdress your priorities and go in another direction.

Please keep me updated with your progress!

Phoenix