Considering switching from talalay to dunlop...advice please?

[phoenix]

Hi rockalicious,

Obasan is just one of many brands made by SleepTek which wasfounded and is owned by Corriveau.

Have you heard much about the Naturally Organic mattresses?

They are their house brand … also made by SleepTek

i have a catalog by Obasan and interestingly neither the catalog nor the website specify whether they use dunlop or talalay.

They are Dunlop.

Yet it seems that the Naturally Organic line by Sleeptek is organic, so maybe Sleeptek was just a little behind the curve with organic mattresses?

You can read a bit more about organic Dunlop in post #6 here. There are two latex manufacturing companies (Latex Green and CoCo latex) that produce certified organic Dunlop but it’s not really much different from their uncertified 100% natural Dunlop and carries a substantial premium to pay for the certification process. There are also many manufacturers that call their mattresses organic but only the cover materials are organic and the latex is 100% natural but not certified. If a company is claiming that their mattress is organic (including the latex) you can ask to see the organic certification for the latex. Even organic latex (made by the same latex manufacturer they use) is available through some of the members here at substantially lower prices which in turn has a higher price than 100% natural Dunlop which has the same feel and performance.

Do you have any opinions about either of these companies? It seems that these are very expensive dunlop mattresses, given that talalay is certainly more expensive in general than dunlop, if not necessarily better, as you’ve pointed out

Their materials (Dunlop latex, wool, cotton etc) are good quality and their mattresses are well made but their prices are very high and much higher than many other competing options that use the same latex.

Finally, I tried both the “soft” and the “firm” side yesterday (firm was soft/med/firm layers and soft was soft/med/med, although I have no idea what the ILDs were and will probably call today to find out) - I think I preferred the firm because my hips didn’t feel like they were sinking too far (a problem with my current mattress, regardless of configuration). I’m wondering if the firm would be better, and if I find later that it’s too firm, maybe I could add a soft talalay topper? I think I’d rather go too firm rather than too soft.

When you are testing mattresses locally and carefully and objectively testing for PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) your body will give you much more accurate feedback than knowing the ILD which is not that important. Too soft or too firm is really relative to the overall design of the mattress and how evenly you sink in to it. If you have no ressure points and in good alignment in all your sleeping positions then how soft or firm it is becomes a matter of personal preference.

As you mentioned … if you have choices that seem roughly equal in terms of PPP then it’s usually “safer” to choose the one that is a little firmer because it’s easier to improve pressure relief with a topper than it is to make a mattress that is too soft firmer (which normally requires removing or exchanging layers rather than adding to them).

Phoenix