First off, this site/forum is tremendous, what a resource!
Second, quick specs on me:
Physical: 5’9", 170lbs (wife 5’6" 120lbs). Both side/back sleepers (sometimes on my stomach…shhh don’t tell, horrible I know…)
Budget: Up to $4k is fine w/ me
Current bed: 14 yr old 1-800-mattress kind with big lump in middle given depressions on each side. I don’t think I have a clue as to what I may be missing out on…but my wife is DONE with it! Nuf said.
I have spent MANY hours combing through the tutorials, posts, and main site pages. From just the readings alone, I was determined to get a well-made coil mattress, surgically remove the top, and replace with my own latex over the springs. On the way back from a vacation, I made a brief detour to Gardner mattress as I read on this forum that they had well-built offset coil mattresses (which I thought I wanted because of the firm support).
I tried out several and they definitely felt solid. I got a few price quotes for a queen w/ a talalay topper, just under $2k, seemed reasonable.
However before I took the plunge I wanted to check out a few stores in NYC. I tried 3 per one of Phoenix’s posts of NYC retailers. Room & Board, Essentia (found on my own), and the Clean Bedroom. Unfortunately there are none near where I live so I am/was limited to those near where I work.
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Essentia:
-Tried them all. Classic 8 felt best. I never liked Tempurpedic because I don’t like sinking into my mattress. Right now I’m typing on my laptop on my bed and the last thing I want is to feel like I’m sitting on quicksand where every move takes effort. However the Classic 8 felt like the right mix. Nice firm dunlop core and the slight slow response on the top to cradle my body, but not to the extent where I felt like I was knee deep in muck. I was impressed and also surprised at how a non-innerspring mattress could feel so supportive & good…I started having doubts about my inner(spring) desires. -
Clean Bedroom:
-Tried all of them (NYC location). OMI, Savvyrest, Oyasumi II (aka Sleeptek I believe Euro 2), and I think Greensleep but I can’t recall. Need to go back one more time…so many!..
-Savvyrest: Was all Dunlop, firm, then medium, then soft. It was ok, but felt a bit firm and didn’t feel like anything “special” (too bad they didn’t have Talalay at all - they had a topper which I tried on it but the sales rep said it’s not really the same thing as if I tried Dunlop firm/medium and then Talalay top layer. Although he said he’s tried that and doesn’t think it would feel ALL that different than the Dunlop soft on top).
-OMI - at least the configurations they had in the store, none passed my personal preference test here as well. Nothing stood out or felt like something I wanted to try over & over.
-Oyasumi II - was almost like love at first lie. It was firm, then medium, then soft, the 8" version (I believe 2, 4, 2 - all Dunlop - Sleeptek.ca Euro 2 has the specs). It had that nice comfortable cushioning feel on the top and then felt plenty supportive for me underneath. Rep showed how each layer is individually wrapped so can always replace down the road and also how it won’t rip/tear over time like some unwrapped latex layers can sometimes do.
- RoomandBoard:
-Only one all latex mattress was there and it wasn’t even close to the comfort/support/feel that the above stores had. I left after 15 minutes of trying to make it work (given the long subway ride to get to the store on a frigid day) to no avail.
So what did I learn?
–>I immediately ruled out anything with an innerspring, I knew I wanted all-latex (which completely surprised me, never even considered it). I do not want any petro (so memory foam is out, plus I never liked Tempurpedic so the desire to go that route wasn’t there either) in my mattress and the latex just felt a lot more comfortable than any spring mattress I have tried out.
–>Based on what I tried, it was either Essentia Classic 8 (hold your memory foam comments for a minute) or Oyasumi II
So I went back to each store again, tried them both out again, this time using the lessons in the tutorials about support, feel, and then the scientific analysis of spinal alignment (side, back, etc.). I actually had the sales reps take pictures of me on my back & sides otherwise I wasn’t sure how I could visually see my spinal alignment otherwise… Unfortunately, I can’t really tell from the pics if I’m aligned or not…really tough to tell, maybe there’s a trick to this? I can privately sent the pics to an admin here that has expertise in the area…I know “feeling good” on the mattress doesn’t necessarily equate to proper alignment so I just want to be sure. I “felt” aligned (no spaces when running hand under body either), and I think I “look” aligned in the pics, but I’m just not sure how if I’m doing it right…
Anyway, after trying the Essentia & Oyasumi, the Oyasumi once again just felt so “right” to me. This was before I spent about 5 hours the past 2 nights reading all the Essentia posts here (re: memory foam, mktg tactics, lack of disclosure, etc.)…which basically helped me feel more comfortable in my decision to not go with them (but isn’t the specific reason why I decided against them). Still good to have tried them out, gave me more basis for comparison, more knowledge to make an informed decision based on personal preference.
So this leads me to a few questions before I go for it:
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Should I spend a weekend going to any other latex-focused stores within a 1-2 hour drive of me? If the Oyasumi feels fine, is it because I don’t know what may feel even better? Should I not make a decision until I try out an all-Talalay mattress or at least something with a Dunlop/Talalay mix configuration? (I know there is a Latex Bliss store in CT, I saw all the links Phoenix posted of stores in the CT/NJ/Long Island area (just none in Rockland County or northern NJ it seems!)…)
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Oyasumi II w/ foundation is $3629 (+ $200 for “white glove” delivery)…reasonable given quality (from posts here it sounds like quality of Sleeptek is pretty solid)? Overpaying by $1k? $500? Maybe worth that premium to me since I need a retailer to try the beds and don’t feel comfortable buying online just based on configurations since, as my tests have shown me, lying on the mattress gives me an instant decision typically…last thing I want is to buy online and lie on it and ask myself why I didn’t buy the “sure thing” that I tried and instead bought the “unknown” based on what I thought would feel good…
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Should I PM my spinal alignment pics or is there an easier way to figure out if I’m aligned properly other than visual pics, running hand under my body, etc.?
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Oyasumi foundation is $730…how much of a premium is that (as I’m sure it is…) vs. looking online for a foundation instead?
Thanks in advance, I’ll keep you posted on whatever I end up doing (and I will TRY and convince my wife to make the trek to actually try the bed herself…although she keeps saying she trusts my judgment…yikes!)