I haven’t been happy with a mattress since I don’t know when, but my current journey began about 8 years ago when I decided to upgrade to a Saatva mattress.
We started with the Luxury Firm (because, well “support”). I was NOT happy with it at all, WAY too firm! We exchanged for the Plush Soft (yeah, right…“soft”), their softest mattress at that time. This was still too firm for my liking and I told them so. They were kind enough to send out a topper (foam, not latex) for no charge. The topper helped immediately and I could finally sleep without massive pressure points and an achy back.
However, after a couple of years, the topper lost it’s supportive qualities and I was back to where I started. I contacted Saatva, and they were kind enough to send out another topper for no charge! This kept me happy for another couple years, but when I called this time, no more free toppers…they wanted $325!
I then purchased a 3" “soft” latex topper from Sleep On Latex (due to recommendations from this forum) and I have been pretty happy with the latex over (admittedly worn out) Saatva foam topper over Saatva mattress for the last 2 years or so. But now, the mattress itself is breaking down and there is a definite divot on both sides (can’t be flipped). So I am now in the market for a new mattress.
We have a King bed and would want to stay with that size. My wife doesn’t care about any of this…she could literally sleep on anything. lol I am 6’5" / 250# and she is 5’9" / 160# and we are both side sleepers for the most part. We are considering one of your “split” mattresses, mostly for the isolation but the different firmness of both sides is probably handy considering our vastly different weights.
I am a very hot sleeper, I suffer from terrible night sweats (have seen my doctor about it multiple times, and there seems to be nothing wrong with me). I do plan on purchasing some sort of active cooling pad regardless of which mattress I purchase (currently leaning towards the Eight Sleep “Smart” mattress cover).
I have read the tutorial here on the forum, so I consider myself fairly educated in the basics now, but would like to know after reading my story what your recommendations would be!
What say you, Sleep EZ?!
Thank you in advance!
Hello Alan P and thank you so much for the inquiry! Based on the information you’ve provided, I don’t think you’ll be happy with a latex mattress unless you order it as a mattress and topper. Having a top layer that is not encased with the rest of the mattress will allow that top layer enough spatial freedom to move upwards when you lay on it, making for a very plush and enveloping feel. This is what I recommend to customers that are used to pillow top mattresses, memory foam mattresses, or people that are looking for a softer or plusher mattress in general. Aside from that, most toppers have our organic cotton topper cover, which is a thin, stretchy cover instead of the cotton & wool cover that’s on our mattress. As far as the cotton & wool cover goes, please keep in mind that anything you have between yourself and the latex affects the way you contour into the latex, making for a much firmer feel. So having a topper on top of the mattress makes for an even more plush and enveloping feel, not just because it’s not being restricted by the mattress cover, but also because you no longer have an inch of wool impeding how much you contour into the top layer of latex.
As such, my advice is to order the 7" natural latex mattress and order a separate 3" Talalay topper to go on top of that. I recommend medium Talalay glued to soft Talalay for the topper (medium for your side and soft for her side). For the 7" mattress, I recommend firm SPLIT with medium Dunlop for the second layer, and extra firm SPLIT with firm for the bottom layer. The top Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3" of Talalay latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The remaining Dunlop layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. Please keep in mind that our initial recommendations have a 90% success rate (we only have a 10% layer exchange rate and a 3%-4% return rate) so there’s a 90% chance that the above recommendation works perfectly for you.
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Thank you for your response!
So, in your opinion, a 7" mattress with a 3" topper would be supportive enough given my 250lb weight? That would be excellent because it could potentially save me a bunch of money!
Speaking of saving money, how do you think your Talalay topper compares to the 3" topper I already have from Sleep On Latex? Their topper is not Talalay…they describe it as an “enhanced version of the Dunlop Process”. I have no complaints with it, but I also haven’t experienced Talalay, so…
My thought is I could try your mattress with my current topper to save a bit more money, but if you think there would be a night-and-day difference, I would rethink that approach.
Thanks again!
A 7" mattress by itself isn’t something I’d normally recommend to someone at 250 pounds just because it’s difficult to get the right combination of pressure relief and back support out of one 7" mattress. It’s normally all pressure relief or all back support. However, you can make the 7" as supportive as you’d like, and if you add a 3" topper that really should give you the pressure relief you need, so I think this is an ideal combination! Aside from that, I think it would be a great choice to continue using the topper you have now, in fact I recommend it, that way you’re not spending more money than you need to from the start. If you get the mattress and realize you need to replace the topper, you certainly can, but hopefully that won’t be necessary. One last note on the 7" mattress - if you start with the 7" and find that you want a 10" mattress with 3" topper instead (I’m not saying that will happen, this is just an example), you can ship us the 7" cover and we’ll alter it to a 10" cover and send it back with a 3" latex layer, thereby turning the 7" into a 10". We would charge anything for the alteration, we would just ask that you pay the cost of shipping for the cover. And you can either buy a 3" layer of latex from us, or from another company, whatever you prefer, of course.
Thank you so much! I love it when a plan comes together. 
I also love the options you are giving me for an easy swap to 10" (if needed)! Good stuff! I will start with the 7" plus my old topper and see how it goes.
Thanks again!
Oh certainly thank you as well! If I can be of any additional assistance please just let me know.