Any good 3Z coil/latex hybrids?

Mattress Talk
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Going back down the rabbit hole of searching for a new king-sized mattress. We’ve never slept on latex before, but keep hearing how comfortable and durable it is, so want to try some out before committing.

We do have a Sleepare store about an hour away, so thought that would be a good place to start to at least get a feel for what we want. Our thought is that if we find a comfortable mattress, we would likely go ahead and order a similar configuration from one of the mail-order trusted members since I’ve heard not-so-great reviews about the long term comfort and quality of the 3zs.

But I also don’t want to completely write them all off. If we do find a mattress that we fall in love with, are any of the 3z brands recommended?

I should add that I’m 5’6” 145#, side sleeper with occasional aches and pains from rheumatoid arthritis; hubby is 5’9” 165#, side/back sleeper with lower back and shoulder pain. Neither of us are fans of the memory foam feel or durability

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Hey kardut,

Welcome back,

3Z is actually one of the better quality bed-in-a-box manufacturers. They pour their own foams, manufacture their own pocketed coils, and build their mattresses in their Arizona facility, giving them a high level of control over materials and production consistency.

They are also a Trusted Member here at The Mattress UnderGround, which speaks to their transparency, quality, and willingness to disclose meaningful specifications. Ultimately, though, finding the right mattress is less about the brand and more about the construction, quality of the materials, and how well it matches your PPP’s, pressure relief, posture and alignment, and personal preferences. Trying different configurations at Sleepare to learn what feels best to you is a great approach, whether you ultimately choose a 3Z mattress or another quality manufacturer.

Remember, a 10-20 minute showroom test is not a complete diagnosis to the best mattress combination. You will certainly be able to eliminate mattresses that you deem too soft. Firmer mattresses are a bit tricky, as you have to understand the mattress, construction and components to know how they will perform over the trial and adjustment period and long term. That is why working with a mattress professional who understands all the elements is crucial.

Search our some options, and ask more questions. We are here to help.

Maverick

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My bad! Thank you, Maverick…for some reason was under the impression that they were not well respected within the industry. Im sure I’ll have some more questions after we get up there and try some out!

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3z owns so many companies but Birch is their main company under Helix for latex mattresses. I really like their Birch luxe model. If you look on Facebook marketplace I’ve seen many of those discounted heavily

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Kardut,

I think you’ll find the mattress world has changed quite a bit over the years. The old “S brands” (Sealy, Serta, Simmons/Beautyrest, Sterns & Foster and even Tempurpedic, etc.) built their names a long time ago, but the landscape has changed. A lot of independent manufacturers and quality online brands have really stepped up their game with better transparency, better materials, and more value for the money.

That doesn’t mean every online mattress is automatically better, or that the big manufacturers can’t make a good mattress. At the end of the day, it still comes down to what is actually inside the mattress and whether the design works for your body and sleeping style. Try asking any of these S brands to tell you what the density of their foam are or the gauge of their springs…Silence.

3Z is one of the companies that has earned a good reputation because they control much of their own manufacturing, use quality components, and are willing to disclose what goes into their mattresses as are some other BiB companies. There are also some excellent independent manufacturers out there, many available though Trusted Members of the Mattress UnderGround, and one of their biggest advantages is having someone knowledgeable walk you through the process and help narrow down the choices.

I think your plan to visit Sleepare is a good one. Use the trip as a learning experience. Try different latex builds, different firmness levels, and different feels. Just keep in mind that lying on a mattress for 10 or 15 minutes can tell you what you immediately dislike and one that is certainly too soft, but it doesn’t always tell the whole story of how it will feel after sleeping on it for months.

Given your sizes, side sleeping, and the shoulder/hip pressure concerns, latex is definitely worth trying. Pay attention to the feel you like, ask what is actually inside the mattress, and then you’ll have a much better idea of what direction to go when you compare options.

Maverick

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Thanks again…one question I do have is that in my rabbit hole exploration, I’ve found several latex mattress manufacturers that offer the option of swapping out layers if needed via a zipper cover. That really appeals to me as needs and comfort levels may change over the years. Do you know offhand if any of the 3Z mattresses offer this?

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Not to the extent that @Sleep_EZ , @Arizona_Premium, @EuropeanSleep, @EuropeanSleepDesign and @CST can do. Other brands like Naturepedic, Williams Company, offer a certain level of swapping layers. Others like @DLX and @EngineeredSleep have designs that are partly swappable.

While 3z offers the Helix Elite Line and the ThermoBalance Elite and Elite LX, all of which have swappable comfort layers, they are not intended as a fully integrated modular system and not latex based mattresses.

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Thanks @Maverick for mentioning DLX. We really appreciate it.

One thing I’d add is that our Premier Hybrid and LatexLux both have a zippered cover that gives you access to the 3" comfort layer. While they aren’t fully modular mattresses where every component can be swapped, the comfort layer has big impact on how the mattress feels. That gives you the flexibility to make the mattress softer or firmer down the road instead of being locked into the feel it had on day one.

We also put a lot of emphasis on using durable materials. For example, we use 1.8 lb density foam in our quilting, whereas many traditional mattresses use foams in the 1.0–1.2 lb range. Density isn’t the only factor in durability, but there is a strong correlation between higher-density foams and longer-lasting performance.

Based on what you’ve shared so far, I think either our 14" LatexLux Medium or 14" Premier Hybrid Medium would be good options. Both provide a supportive pocket coil with enough cushioning that most side sleepers of a similar height and weight find comfortable.

One thing that would help narrow it down even further is knowing what mattresses you’ve owned or returned over the last 5–7 years. What did you like about them, and what didn’t you like? That history is often one of the best predictors of whether our mattresses would be a good fit for you.

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Thank you, @DLX . Our old mattress was from a small company called Urban Mattress, Silver Lake Plush model. It was a hybrid — I had posted on here years ago when we were buying it that it had a layer of talalay latex, but now when I Google it shows as being HR cold foam, so not sure if I was just imagining things back then or if they changed the specs over the years.

We actually liked the bed, though over time it developed the sagging and middle ridge. Really the only thing I didn’t like about it was the quilted cover, which had tufting that was too pronounced for my Princess and the Pea tastes! I had to position myself just right so that my feet didn’t float above the indented surface! Regardless, the Urban Mattress store near us has since gone out of business, and not ready to fly out to Colorado to test them now!

I was looking at the DLX line, and once we figure out whether latex is our thing or not I’m sure I’ll be reaching out

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I think you would like the dlx latex because they do have that polyfoam underneath as a transition layer and the 1.8 density foam in the cover. Latex is buoyant and having the polyfoams helps to relax that feel some

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It is very common for any king-size mattress to develop a ridge in the middle over time, no matter how well it is built or how supportive the foundation is underneath even if the support is as sturdy as a subfloor that you could comfortably walk on.

The challenge is uneven wear. Most people don’t sleep in the middle of a king-size mattress, so that section stays almost like new, while the areas where you sleep gradually soften. As a result, the middle remains firmer while the sleeping areas become more broken in, creating the feeling of a ridge.

The issue is that a king-size mattress measures 76" x 80", so it isn’t square. Because of that, simply rotating the mattress 180 degrees only does so much to even out the wear.

We often suggest an uncommon mattress maintenance method: rotate the mattress a quarter turn for a couple of weeks so the head and foot become the sides. The mattress will overhang the foundation by about 2" on each side, which isn’t an issue as long as you avoid sleeping right on the edge. This can make a noticeable difference by helping to even out the wear across the mattress doing this for a couple weeks a year.

Some of the older Urban mattresses appear to have a similar construction, with a pocket coil for support, latex in the comfort layer, and foam in the quilting to help mellow out the feel of the latex.

We do have a quilted panel above the latex. The stitching, which you referred to as tufts, is something we very rarely receive complaints about (I’ve probably just jinxed ourselves since I can’t remember a complaint about the quilting in the past two years but now we’ll probably get one).

We only use about 1.5" of quilting foam, so it isn’t overly thick and doesn’t create the deeper quilting impressions that you can find in some other mattresses.

If you don’t like the feel or appearance of quilting, you’ll probably want to look for a mattress with a smooth, flat cover, similar to what most Tempur-Pedic models use. I’m not necessarily recommending Tempur-Pedic just that style of cover. I also believe that Pure Latex Bliss used to make a latex mattress with a non-quilted, smooth cover.

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Hi there, Your instinct about the zippered cover is a good one. Most mattresses fail from the top down, and the comfort layer is usually the weak link that gives out years before the support system does.
There are so many little nuances with feel, comfort, and support, and being able to make small iterations over time is huge. Most of our mattresses have that zipper top in there now for that reason.

That said, the fundamentals still apply, even with a zipper top. The overall design matters a lot. You don’t want a bunch of layers stacked in there that can break down. You want to stay close enough to the support layer to get that deep-down support.
You want to make sure that you have an adequate support layer underneath, because as I mentioned earlier, a mattress is only as good as the weakest link.
Also, not all zipper covererd mattresses are created equal. We’ve been doing this a while and learned some hard lessons from our own mistakes along the way. We actually did a whole video on it you can see here https://youtu.be/-i38N5b1EbA?si=y23zZ2xt6hjudXRd

A couple of tips for your Sleepare visit:

  • Write down the ILDs and firmness levels you like.
  • Test on your side for at least ten minutes. With Rheumatoid Arthritis, the shoulder and hip stuff usually shows up after a few minutes, not right away.

Happy to answer any construction questions, whichever way you go.

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