Hi mark_in_sf,
[quote]I just got a 32 ILD talalay layer today, deciding side sleeping was actually pretty good after all. I put the layers on the bed frame without the mattress cover (“hard” polyfoam, 32 latex, 24 latex), threw a thin cotton quilt over it an lied on it to test it out. This is the way I had tested out latex before, since it was so much trouble to put on the mattress cover, protector, sheets… It felt great! I even dozed off for half an hour before I knew it.
Then I actually assembled the mattress. Put it in it’s cover, put a mattress protector on it, and a fitted cotton/poly blend sheet. And then lied down on it again. Much of the supportive feel of the latex was GONE! It never occurred to me that the thin layers covering the latex could significantly affect the feel, but it certainly seems to be the case.
It seems to me that there is not enough stretch in these coverings, and so depressions on two points cause tension in the fabric, causing the latex between the two points to depress. Is something like that maybe going on?[/quote]
Different types of mattress covers and quilting materials can have a significant effect on the feel and performance of a mattress (for better or worse depending on each person’s preferences). Some people will prefer a more stretchy cover and others prefer a quilted cover to reduce the resilience of the latex and to add some surface softness to their mattress. There is more about the effect of different types of quilted covers vs unquilted and more “stretchy” covers in post #12 here and the posts it links to.
Mattress protectors, mattress pads, and even your sheets can have a similar effect and this is certainly a source of surprise and many comments from the members here because most consumers don’t think as much about the effect of the cover or the bedding they use on top of the mattress and focus more on the materials inside the mattress. There are also some comments about this in the mattress protector post here.
Brooklyn Bedding doesn’t have a Trybed model and it’s probably just a name for the cover they use on the 12 in 1 customizable and possibly the Freedom mattress as well which also has a similar design except it uses synthetic latex instead of polyfoam.
Phoenix