First - Thanks goes to Phoenix and everyone else who have provided so much information and so many insights into the whole mattress-buying experience.
I recently bought a California King Aloe Alexis mattress from Brooklyn Bedding and wanted to share my thoughts on it.
I will say that Mario and Jacob at Brooklyn Bedding are simply outstanding - they provided a great level of customer service. They are thoroughly committed to ensuring a customer receives the mattress the customer wants.
While like many I was initially reticent about ordering a mattress rather than being able to try one in a store, this forum laid those concerns to rest. I also did try out some latex mattresses at a high end store in Houston, to get a sense of how they felt compared with innerspring mattresses.
With that, I spoke with Mario and described what I was looking for, and with a few questions I settled on a “5” level (medium, but slightly more firm). The “5” translates to a 28 ILD Talalay Latex 3" comfort layer over a 32 ILD Talalay Latex 3" Transition layer, and the firmer base layer below that.
I liked that the Aloe Alexis is a three-layer mattress, with the 7" base layer, a 3" latex medium transition layer, and a slightly softer 3" latex comfort layer. The base is polyfoam, but it’s 2.17 lb. and from all I’ve read, the base layer is likely the last thing to go in any type of mattress (including coil-spring mattresses).
The mattress cover is well-constructed, a nice chocolate brown around the sides and sort of a thick suede-like material. The top layer is quilted cotton/aloe. The base layer is sewn into the bottom of the cover, with a breathable cloth layer sewn across the top. The latex layers are lain inside and zipped up inside the cover. The entire top layer can be removed if needed (360 degree zipper) and the zipper run itself has a wide band of cloth on the interior to prevent the zipper from encountering the latex.
Off-gassing (the initial latex smell) was gone within several hours. The polyfoam never had any smell.
Mine and my wife’s experience with it the last several weeks: simply the most comfortable mattress either of us has ever slept upon - including compared with various innerspring mattresses from the Big “S” firms plus a wide variety of hotel mattresses. Night after night, never any back or neck pain, and sleeping for an entire night or even longer on a weekend doesn’t result in stiff/sore feelings or a sense that one has slept too long. I cannot say the same at all for any of our innerspring mattresses. It’s just “wow” - that much better. And not because of newness. Our last innerspring lost its showroom allure within the first night or two.
I tend to rotate my sleep between side, back, and stomach and any of these positions are always comfortable. Also, there is very little motion transfer between sleepers, so if someone moves around it doesn’t shake the other person. And most importantly - especially in Houston in the summer - the mattress sleeps cool. Our innersprings always built up heat underneath the sleeper. Also, unlike our last innerspring, the Aloe Alexis doesn’t cling when sleeping, so it’s easy and comfortable to change positions.
Sitting on the side of the bed - it has good support, the same as our innerspring did. I suspect it’s a combination of the 7" firm base layer plus the really good mattress cover. So there is not any kind of sinking feeling when sitting on the side of the bed.
Brooklyn Bedding has a very customer-satisfaction-driven aim. I like that they will exchange latex layers until a customer feels they’re right for them - although in our case they’re fine already.
Because the Aloe Alexis is a 14" mattress, we also paired it with the following in order to have a bed that was the perfect height:
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Serta Stabl-Base Ultimate Bed Frame - we ordered ours from Amazon. We wanted a metal frame since really good solid wood frames are tremendously more expensive, and the composition-wood ones are still more expensive than metal and are not rated for much weight. Neither my wife nor I are heavy, but no use pushing it since a latex mattress - especially a California King size - is somewhat heavy by itself. The Serta is also a 10-wheel design in the California King and has a “T” cross bar that really provides a great base. The wheels are heavy duty and the whole frame is well-engineered.
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5.5" Low-Profile wood-slat knockdown foundation - I bought this from Sleep-EZ, and they were extremely nice and highly recommended as well. They are one of the few to carry a low-profile foundation - which is the perfect size when using a 7" height metal frame and a 14" mattress. Their foundations are made by US BoxSpring and are very well-constructed and easy to set up.
We also bought the St. Dormeir Wool Mattress Protector (Deep Pocket) from Snuggledown.com (Laughlin Designs). They were also great to order from and extremely fast (like all the others) at getting it shipped.
No problems at all with the St. Dormeir - it fits the Aloe Alexis very well and is very comfortable. No heat from that at all.
We also bought the Pinzon Hemstitch 400-Thread-Count Egyptian Cotton Sateen Sheet Set from Amazon. These are very comfortable, cool sheets.
And for a comforter, we got the Emerson 4-Piece Pinch Pleat Puckering Comforter Mini Set which is a great comforter - extremely comfortable, just the right weight, and stitched well so the padding stays in place and doesn’t bunch up.
We could not be more pleased with the mattress (and other accompanying items) and very much recommend both Brooklyn Bedding and their Aloe Alexis mattress.
I hope this helps anyone else who is looking for someone’s experiences.
