When I upgrade to a king, which I’d like to do pretty soon, I am looking for a modular mattress with components that can be switched out for comfort or wear. I like the idea of not just tossing the whole mattress when one element is worn out. I’ve come up with Sleep EZ, sleepworks.com, sleepdesign.com, and a company called Elements of Rest that has a mattress with pocket coils and various foams that can be flipped and reordered for comfort. It sounds nifty but there is exactly one review on their website and that’s all I can find. Does anyone own one or can anyone comment on the quality of the components? I also know about Savvy Rest and Flobeds but they are substantially pricier than the others above. I’ve been sleeping on a sleep number for 16 years and have liked the ability to adjust it but after reading Phoenix’s article on airbeds, I realize it’s really just a padded vinyl hammock with adjustable tension. So, thoughts on component beds in general and this M8 specifically?
Hi Amity,
I’m not familiar with the type or quality of the materials inside the Elements of Rest mattress and there hasn’t been any feedback on the forum about it but hopefully any of the forum members that have purchased it and see your post will share their comments and feedback about it.
I would also keep in mind that while other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be helpful … I always suggest being very cautious about about using other people’s experiences or reviews on a mattress (either positive or negative) as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you and in many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (see post #13 here).
There is more about the 3 most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or the exchange return options that are available to you).
Component mattresses certainly have some advantages because they allow you to “fine tune” the comfort or support of a mattress both before a purchase and after a purchase (either by rearranging layers or exchanging layers or components) and if one of the layers softens or breaks down before the others (usually one of the softer upper layers) or if your needs or preferences change over time you can just replace a single layer or component instead of replacing the whole mattress. There is also more about “finished mattresses” that have glued layers vs component mattresses with unglued layers and zip covers in post #15 here and post #2 here.
While I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) so I would always make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
The Elements of Rest site doesn’t list the type or quality of the materials and components in their mattresses so if you can find out the specifics of the type and quality of all the materials and foam layers in their mattress that are mentioned in the article I linked and post it on the forum I’d certainly be happy to make some comments about the quality and durability of the materials and the mattress “as a whole”.
Phoenix
I contacted the sales and marketing rep for more specific information and got some info.
The pocket coils are 14 gauge, the foam overlays are 1.65lb reflex urethane foam, the edge support side rails are 1.8lb urethane foam 55 ILD, the quilting material includes 1.5lb 15ILD urethane foam with a polyester blend of FR barrier material. No word on where the coils were manufactured. but he said the foams are all American made. So, I’m eliminating it as an option, partly because it’s got too much chemical stuff and partly because it’s kind of gimmicky really. I’m leaning toward Arizona Premium Mattress’s hybrid latex mattress which they have said they are happy to customize for each side. SleepEZ has a similar hybrid mattress but they only sell it locally and I am no where near AZ.
Hi Amity,
I’m not sure why you are thinking that the mattress is "gimmicky because this is a fairly typical construction for an innerspring mattress and if the foams are US made then they would almost certainly be CertiPUR certified which would be “safe enough” for most people but the specs you listed are missing the layer thicknesses which are important so that you can confirm that there isn’t more than “about an inch or so” of lower quality materials in the mattress and so you can confirm that the thickness of the layers adds up to the thickness of the mattress and make sure that all the layers are included.
Arizona Premium’s latex/pocket coil hybrid is certainly a good quality/value choice that would be well worth considering and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress. As you probably know they are also a member here which means that I think highly of them and I believe that they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency. Of course if you decide to go in this direction I would make sure that you talk with them on the phone about the thickness and firmness of the latex comfort layers that would have the best chance of success.
Outside of any local options that may be available to you … some of the better sources for innerspring/latex mattresses (including pocket coils) that I’m aware of are listed in post #2 here. Sleepworks and Sleep Design (which sells Berkeley Ergonomics mattresses) also use high quality materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in their mattresses either.
There is also more about innerspring/latex hybrids vs all latex mattresses in post #13 here and the other posts it links to.
These are both “all latex” mattresses which are different from latex/innerspring hybrids and since latex is a more costly material they will also be in a higher budget range. Flobeds is also a member of this site that I think highly of and they also have a component latex mattress that is somewhat unique that includes customizable zones in addition to customizable layers.
The mattress shopping tutorial also includes a link to a list of the members here that sell mattresses online and many of them also sell latex and latex hybrid 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 that would be well worth considering as well. Post #3 here also includes a list of the ones that sell component latex mattresses and many of these are very similar to Savvy Rest except they are in much lower budget ranges.
Phoenix