cn1ght, I can SO identify with being burned out looking for mattresses. And you’ve been apartment and job hunting at the same time?? Yikes!
In terms of price range, I keep vacillating on that. I really would like to be under $1000, but most of the things that I find that sound the most appealing are in the $1500 - $2000 range or higher. I just really have a hard time justifying spending that kind of money. Some days I think I should go ahead and find a way to take the plunge (hey, if it’s a great bed, it will last awhile, right?) and part of me says to forget about durability and go with a cheaper mattress – if it lasts 5 years or so, then I can afford to get another later. Then another part of me says I don’t want to have to go through this again that soon! Or maybe I should do a DIY and buy it in pieces … Having looked at my finances, I think I need to squelch the urge to get something expensive and focus on being a bit more frugal. It’s just hard to “settle” when you see that there are some really nice looking options out there.
Like you, I’m now considering online options, and maybe latex instead of memory foam, though I think a combination would be perfect. Or maybe something like Dreamfoam. Or maybe I’ll get the Country Bedding memory foam, or go back and check their latex bed. (They have a queen size two-sided latex euro-top mattress/foundation set for $963, or the mattress only for $799. I didn’t get the specs on it when I was there, though, so I’d have to make another trip down to Apple Creek to check it out. And they don’t take credit cards, which is another limiting factor.) Update: I just remembered that the latex bed is a hybrid with coils … so not an option after all, since I don’t want springs.
Another part of me is thinking I should forget traditional beds and just put some cushions on the floor.
FWIW … and you will see this in many of the reference posts I link to … when you look back on a mattress purchase when the time comes to replace it you will remember much more about how well you slept and how long you slept well than you will about the price you paid for it (although price of course will always be an important part of “value”) and since a mattress can have a bigger effect on your overall wellbeing than almost anything else you can purchase … I would generally suggest the highest quality mattress you can comfortably afford and where you can notice a meaningful difference in terms of PPP and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are important to you.
Sweet, we are both in the same boat in terms of price. Now if only we knew which boat we were in that might be useful.
Just to throw 2 things out there: I personally think there is nothing wrong with just grabbing some good quality comfort level (maybe a 3" memory foam topper) and placing that on the floor. I suspect a reason this is not more mentioned is that you really are unable to test this strategy out until after you have purchased it and for most people this would be too firm, they would try to cheap too much and get a poor quality topper, and it would be too awkward for most to get into and out of. I have been switching between a blanket on top of carpet and my air mattress lately, and pathetically enough the blanket on carpet is more comfortable as often as not…
The second thing, some people love sleeping in a hammock. You can buy a stand or punch holes in places and support it that way. I actually own a hammock and I intended to sleep in the hammock. I really did intend to. Problem being that it is my personal experience if you do not sleep on your back then you are not going to sleep on a hammock for more than a an hour or 2.
The only other thing to mention, as I suck at short messages and must make them longer when possible, is about the price. If you spend $1,000 and need to replace it in 5 years or spend $1,500 and replace it in 15 years one of those ended up being cheaper than it originally seemed. This ignores the fact that you would probably have slept better on the $1,500 one. I am trying to retire early and so am cutting costs where I can (is why I am changing apartments), even so I figure if I can talk you into getting the more expensive mattress then you can return the favor and talk me into paying a healthy amount also.
Interestingly enough there is a hammock forum here that is amazingly active and it seems that there are many people who like sleeping in a hammock as their primary sleeping system
I completely agree with your reasoning here. While I know there is a strong pull to the logic of choosing a mattress that costs half as much as another one in the hopes it will last half as long … this rarely works out in “real life” because there are so many variables involved and many of the lowest budget mattresses use such low quality materials that for many people it may only be a very few years (or in some cases only a few months) before foam softening and breakdown takes its toll and the loss of comfort and support means that are only “tolerating it” at best and at worst they may no longer be able to sleep on it at all and may need to replace it much sooner than they expected.
Just to give an update: I just got off the phone with Shawn from SleepEz. He was friendly over the phone. There were only a few questions about which mattress specs. I ordered an 8" Queen mattress currently on special for $1,245. 2" Talaly, 3" Dunlop, 3" Dunlop. The firmness for these in same order will be soft, medium, firm. I was told it will be shipped tomorrow and it should arrive by no later than Friday, Oct 10. I mentioned that I am a member of this website and since the mattress is already on special instead of the 5% discount I will receive a free pillow. I did not order a cover nor a support for the mattress at this time. Due to moving apartments there are a huge amount of costs hitting at once: deposit+normal rent, AT&T charged $99 for installation and $100 for the modem which I am required to use, renter’s insurance needed to be renewed, the list goes on actually… Point being that were it not for the fact that the air mattress is clearly not the best sleeping choice I would have put this off for another month, but my sleep is a bit more important right now hah. I do suspect that I will purchase a support in the future as I noticed in a posting made elsewhere that while good airflow is less important for latex mattresses relative to other types, it is still helpful to have and I do not think the wood floors allow for much airflow…
Somethings I perhaps should have asked over the phone and did not:
Is buying some sort of bug/sweat protection cover a good idea for latex?
The Latex goes into a cotton covering. Does this covering need to be washed or only the bed-sheet on top?
I will give updates after I get the mattress and try it out for a few days.
Thanks for the update … and you certainly made a great quality/value choice!
Congratulations on your new mattress
Yes … a mattress protector is a good idea for any mattress regardless of whether it is latex or any other material. There is more about the pros and cons of the different types of mattress protectors in post #89 here that can help you choose the type that is the best “match” for your criteria.
Generally it doesn’t need to be washed if you have a mattress protector on top of it that can easily be removed and cleaned and which will protect the mattress from stains and accidents along with the body fluids and skin cells that we release each night so you can keep your sleeping surface in a clean and hygienic condition. It will also protect the warranty because most warranties are voided if there are any stains on the mattress. For the most part … mattress covers only need to be spot cleaned when necessary or vacuumed once in a while but if the care instructions indicate that it can be washed or dry cleaned without damage then you can clean them once in a while as well if it becomes necessary.
I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve received your new mattress and have had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
So the mattress arrived today. I am actually a little confused by this as I thought the UPS site said that a signature was required, but when I got home from work it was sitting there waiting for me. Works out better this way, do not need to somehow fit it into my car.
So silly me spent like 15 minutes getting the 3 layers (3" Firm Dunlop, 3" Medium Dunlop, 2" Soft Talalay) to fit semi well only to realize that I forgot to put the covering down first… I spent another dozen or so minutes trying to cram the layers into the covering most of the time thinking that they must have sent a full size cover or something as the layers did not want to fit.
As I was finally about to zip close the cover I noticed something which I am not thinking is good.
The 2" Soft has an area maybe 6" X 6" or so where the layer has tears. I failed to take good pictures I now see, but the first image shows that there are very rough spots between the holes, the second image shows one a few tears where the latex just pulls apart maybe an inch to and inch and a half deep. This is not something which is consistent through the top layer so I suspect that either maybe I tore it or more likely (I think due to all of the “defects” near the holes) that the latex was not manufactured properly. I also did not check the other 2 layers and I do not know how much of an issue this is and honestly as this point me sleeping on an actual mattress for the first time in more than 6 months matters more. I do not recall this being mentioned elsewhere on this forum, is this something I should contact SleepEZ about?
Initial impression: S,M,F is too soft. I think that my thighs/hips are sinking too much, my shoulders are fine. I am not about to screw around with it and will leave it be for a few days as my body gets used to a real mattress instead of the air mattress which I was only to happy to deflate, hopefully forever.
Other details, I bought a mattress protector from MattresMatters, it is the basic “Protect-a-bed”. I was going to buy the $99 one but the salesman told me that it would not make much of a difference for a latex mattress? I will admit that the samples he had out I could not tell the difference between the $99 and the $39. He insisted that the $99 was better at transferring heat, but who knows. I then made up for this immediately followed as I bought a Sheex Queen mattress sheet set for $161.99… I did glance through the forum and this was a very highly rated sheet in one of the other threads. On the other hand, I really probably should have spent like half of this on the linen one right next to it.
After the fact I now see that I could have added the pictures directly to this site instead of using imgur. Today is not a good day for doing things correctly it seems.
This is fairly typical and most people that are putting together a latex component mattress go through a period of time that they don’t think that the layers will fit … until they do
Judging by your pictures this seems to be in a very normal range and there is nothing to worry about. Latex usually has small tears, voids, imperfections, or discoloration that is a normal part of the manufacturing process and in many cases there are more than your layer which looks fine to me. There is more about this here.
Latex can also be fragile if you tug or pull it and can tear easily so it’s important to lift and “wave” it into position when you are positioning the layers but this also isn’t something that will affect the performance of the material if there is a small rip or tear. There are some assembly instructions on the SleepEZ site here as well.
There will always be an initial break in and adjustment period with any new mattress and your body will need to get used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to and I would generally wait at least a couple of weeks before considering any changes unless for some reason there was no other reasonable alternative (see post #3 here).
I am about your weight and looking at a firm, firm, medium or firm, medium, medium layering.
I am leaning towards the firmer mattress but a sales agent cautioned that after a full night sleep it may feel firmer than simply laying on it for a short time at the store. Transitioning from a pillow-top I realize it may take some time for my body to adjust (and I am okay with that), however I am concerned that the more time I spend on the mattress it will break in and feel softer - I like the firm, medium, medium but don’t think I would want the resistance to lessen.
So I am curious if you have adjusted and become comfortable or if you think you will exchange any of your layer?
I’m not Cn1ght of course but I thought I would chime in with a comment :).
I would agree with the person you talked with and if you are used to a pillowtop then even F/M/M latex will most likely feel firmer to you than the pillowtop you are used to. I would also be aware that the type of latex, the thickness of the layers, and the type of cover that you use will all make a difference in how firm a mattress feels as well.
I am still in the process of transitioning. At the moment I am using (top - bottom)
Bed sheet-Pillow topper-Mattress protector-Cotton covering-Soft-Medium-Firm
The cotton covering is the overall “mattress” part which zips closed to hold the layers together and makes it look like a mattress. I am actually a little disappointed overall I guess and am hoping it is still in a transition phase, the mattress I liked at MattressMatters was more comfortable in my opinion than what I got from SleepEZ, the pillow topper I added helps but not quite there… Actually, it is slightly annoying to know that I bought a $1,200 mattress and had to add a pillow topper, whereas if I had bought from MattressMatters I would have loved it as it came. Having said that, with the price difference I am not about to switch however I not sure this ended much better than a normal spring mattress shrug. We will see what happens in the next week or 2. If I do end up switching it will be either to get an additional Medium or Soft.
Just to throw out other info not related to the question: I currently have (2) different bed sheets. “Sheex” which is a material similar to under armor and “linen” which is 100% polyester if I recall correctly. I prefer the linen one as it has a more “mattress” feel. I also have tried both with and without the mattress protector to see if that was a major cause of my dissatisfaction, the difference with or without does exist, but that is not a large factor in what I want versus what I am getting. I have not tried changing layers yet, so far the most I have done is try different setups with the protector, different sheets, and the pillow topper. The setup I currently prefer is the one I typed out above with bed sheet=linen.
Thank you for your reply. It actually addresses another concern: that the SleepEZ top layer will be a 2-in Talalay instead of a 3-in Dunlop we had tried. The Talalay vs Dunlop firmness didn’t seem dramatic (but I may feel different after 8 hours on it!) and I can’t decide if being a little softer on top of two firms would be a good compromise or if being an inch thinner will make it feel firmer as I would compress it that much easier/completely?
Thank you for the update, cn1ght, and sorry to hear your not more comfortable. Though, I’m surprised to hear you say you are thinking of another soft layer if you feel the bed is too soft now…
Thank you for your reply. It actually addresses another concern: that the SleepEZ top layer will be a 2-in Talalay instead of a 3-in Dunlop we had tried. The Talalay vs Dunlop firmness didn’t seem dramatic (but I may feel different after 8 hours on it!) and I can’t decide if being a little softer on top of two firms would be a good compromise or if being an inch thinner will make it feel firmer as I would compress it that much easier/completely?
Thank you for the update, cn1ght, and sorry to hear your not more comfortable. Though, I’m surprised to hear you say you are thinking of another soft layer if you feel the bed is too soft now…
In general thinner top layers will feel firmer because they will compress to a greater percentage of their thickness faster and will “allow” more of the firmness of the layers below them to “come through”. There is more about the effect of thickness in post #14 here. If you have a thinner top layer that is also softer it can be somewhat “paradoxical” because the softer layer will feel softer with initial compression but you will also sink into it more deeply so you may feel more of the firmness of the layer below it as well so it can have a “combination feel” of being softer and firmer at the same time depending on whether you are more sensitive to the surface feel or the feel that comes from sinking in a little more deeply.
I might as well make another posting since I logged in to read these 2 replies anyway…
The mattress itself is not uncomfortable, it is simply not as comfortable as some of the latex mattresses I had tried at stores. Maybe I was unclear, or rather perhaps I am wrong with the following statement: but it is my understanding that the mattress is currently not soft enough for me. I was hoping to be a bit more IN the mattress and feel too ON right now… maybe? I suspect that is why the pillowtop additional layer helped. I am actually a little surprised that you replied to my thread as I was hoping for a soft mattress whereas you are seeking a more firm mattress.
I am unsure if it is due to the mattress or not, however I am waking up during the night MUCH more than I ever did on the air mattress. Obviously I cannot be 100% as I was trying to sleep, but I believe I woke about a dozen times last night either to turn or fall back asleep. On the air mattress I would do this maybe 3-4 times a night at worst.
I really should note that from what I have seen I am one of the only to complain about SleepEZ. Please realize that this is the exception, NOT the rule. I would very strongly suggest looking at other postings as well as this is the only thread I am aware of where someone is complaining that they do not enjoy the mattress they got from SleepEZ.
Latex has a much more “on the mattress” feel than other types of foam materials so it may be worth considering either a very soft latex topper, a soft polyfoam topper, or for a much more “in the mattress” feel yet … a memory foam topper.
The mattress you mentioned here at MattressMatters has 2" of very soft polyfoam on top of a 2" layer of very soft latex and the support core is very soft as well (softer than you would normally find in support layers) so it would be significantly softer and more risky in terms of alignment and durability than the mattress you ended up purchasing.
It’s a never ending source of amazement for me as well how different people can be in their perceptions of softness and firmness and what feels “right” for them.
Yes … while 100% natural latex comes in a wide range of firmness levels … if the ILD is the same as Talalay then it would tend to feel firmer for most people because Dunlop latex is a denser material and will get firmer faster with deeper compression than Talalay (see post #7 here).
