It’s that time again… Time to get a new mattress. My search began with memory foam in mind. There are some great options available on Amazon with great reviews and low prices. My only concern is the toxicity and longevity of memory foam mattresses. I’m not a health fanatic who needs organic everything but when it comes to a mattress where I sleep for 8+ hours a day I would prefer a solution that doesn’t emit carcinogens or other toxic gasses or materials.
My search has now moved to latex. Thanks to this site I have been able to narrow down my search to 2 possible solutions.
Ultimate Dreams King Freedom Customizable Latex Bed - Dreamfoam Bedding
Adjustable Ultra Plush - Arizona Premium Mattress Company
Zipcode: 32303
Sleepers:
Myself - side & back sleeper - 170lbs
Wife - side & back sleeper - Less than me
Preference: Medium/Firm
I’m headed to a few local mattress stores to try out some different options, but I am pretty sure I won’t find anything comparable to the price or quality of the above options.
I don’t see many comparisons of products in this forum but i’m still going to ask. If it’s impossible to write up comparisons of different products (both site members), perhaps it would be possible to get a comparison of the materials? 100% Dunlop Latex vs 100% Talalay Latex.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the Tallahassee area (subject to the guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.
Post #13 here has more information about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase that can help you make meaningful comparisons between any mattresses based on their suitability (PPP), their durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Post #2 here has more about the different ways to choose a mattress (local or online) and how to minimize the risks involved with each of them.
You can read more about the different types and blends of latex in this article and in post #6 here and there is more about how Dunlop latex compares to Talalay latex in post #7 here. There is also more about the synthetic continuous pour Dunlop used in the Freedom Mattress in post #2 here.
When you are down to finalists that are between “good and good” and there are no clear winners between them then you are in the great position that any of them would likely make a suitable choice and if there are no clear winners between them then your final choice (see post #2 here) will be a matter of “best judgement” based on your local testing and material preferences, your conversations with each online manufacturer or retailer you are working with, and all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
You are certainly looking at two great quality/value options but they are also very different from each other and for most people the main differences would come down to …
Your preferences between blended Talalay latex used in the Adjustable Ultra Plush and the synthetic Dunlop continuous pour latex used in the Freedom mattress and your preferences between a wool quilted cover (used in the Adjustable Ultra Plush) vs a polyfoam quilted cover used in the Freedom mattress. There is more about different types of covers and quilting in post #12 here and the posts it links to.
The options you have before and after a purchase to fine tune your mattress and the costs involved. The Freedom mattress has a standard layering with soft, medium, and firm layers which gives you the option to rearrange the order of the layers to customize the pressure relief and support of the mattress. The Adjustable Ultra Plush has many options to customize the mattress before a purchase (by choosing the firmness of the 6" core and the thickness and firmness of the comfort layer) and after a purchase with a layer exchange (with shipping costs involved) to change the firmness of the layers.
The return policies and trial period. If you order the Freedom mattress from the Dreamfoam site then you would have a 45 day return/refund policy that has a $99 cost involved. The Adjustable Ultra Plush has a 60 day trial period and return/refund policy with shipping costs involved.
4 Differences in pricing and shipping costs. If you order the Freedom mattress from the Dreamfoam site then you would receive an additional 10% discount (see their facebook page here) and the shipping is free. The Adjustable Ultra Plush would have an additional 5% discount for being a member here and would have additional courier shipping charges (you can calculate the cost on their checkout page).
Hopefully this will help with your final choice between two great options
One more bit of information. Went with my wife to a mattress shop and she wasn’t too impressed with their latex mattresses. They only had Pure Latex Bliss mattresses. She said they were too mushy.
She did try a TEMPUR-Contour Supreme mattress and said it was perfect. I’m wondering if there is any way to take the data I know about that mattress and find something similar. Base on what I found on here (See post 13). I realize that there’s no 1-1 comparison, but as far as materials i’m wondering how I could come close.
The mattresses we tried were all Talalay Latex. I’m wondering if a Dunlop mattress would provide a similar experience.
This may be from the firmness of the latex layers (PLB uses some very soft latex in some of their mattresses) or it could also be her thoughts about Talalay latex in general (although it certainly comes in firmer and less “mushy” versions).
There is more about the different ways that one mattress can “match” or “approximate” another one in post #9 here but the mattress shopping tutorial includes a link to a list of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) and some of these sell memory foam mattresses that are designed to be close approximations to many of the models in the Tempurpedic line that may be worth considering. Because these types of comparisons can be somewhat subjective in terms of softness/firmness and “feel” (different people will have different opinions about how closely two mattresses approximate each other) … most of them also have good exchange/return policies so that you have good options available if the choice you make doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for.
There is more about the differences between Dunlop and Talalay latex in post #7 here and more about the differences between memory foam and latex in post #2 here but the best way to “translate” all of this into personal experience or to know which type of mattresses or materials you tend to prefer is by testing a range of different mattresses in different firmness levels with each of them.
