Recently, I bought a Brooklyn Bedding Aurora in Medium, after doing as much research as could be useful here and elsewhere, before needing a bed for my new apartment. It basically came down to ruling out other brands for either being the less transparent traditional mattress brands, or for being “mattress marketing shell companies” with little regard to material quality, consistency over time, or transparency either - which led me to Brooklyn based on their transparency and making their own components. After providing them with my body specs and sleep preferences, they recommended going with the Medium Aurora and then adding their free 2" memory foam topper if it was too firm.
Unfortunately, the Medium Aurora ended up being much too firm for me, with noticeable pressure points in my shoulders each morning, primarily, and just feeling fairly uncomfortable. Weirdly, the mattress slopes down a full inch all around the corners starting nearly a foot in, and I often feel like I’m falling off. For context I am a slim 5’8" 120lb younger male, mostly side sleeper but occasionally halfway on my stomach (as I think a lot of side sleepers are in reality), and I also recently had some neck and upper back issues due to working too much / sitting posture, and potentially from sleeping on an old worn out twin bed for a few months recently. I should say that my neck and back pain are definitely helped to some extent (versus a 20yr old twin with 5 yr old topper), but even with the free 2" memory foam topper Brooklyn sent, it’s still too firm as indicated by my waking shoulder pain.
I’ve decided I’d like to take a shot at building my own mattress for the fine-tunability and cost-savings relative to something with comparable materials, and because I’m generally a fan of building your own things when the market doesn’t fit your needs accurately enough. I just have a couple of questions / areas of concern, which I’ll then follow with my current build plan:
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Should I go with the Quantum Edge Elite [these only come as Bolsa inner coils?], or the Quantum Edge Elite Combi-Zone? (For some reason I was under the impression that the Quantum Edge Elite was a coil unit separate from the Quantum Edge Elite Bolsa, as in the Bolsa was a separate, purportedly less supportive version of a regular firmness coil unit, but it seems Bolsa has been the standard all along?). For the purposes of longevity, in response to many a thread I’ve read indicating that the Bolsa may not be supportive enough, I’m leaning slightly towards the Combi-Zone to combat middle-sag, which could potentially really mess up the bed’s spinal alignment long-term in a way not solvable via layer swaps. I’m also built broader at the shoulders and thinner at the hips, so my shoulders probably need to sink in more than my hips anyway, and I did have some lumbar pain on the 20yr old twin, presumably due to middle sag.
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I have this 2" memory foam topper from Brooklyn Bedding already, which I’d like to use for the top layer. I do not know what ILD it is, but it’s somewhere between 2.5-3lbf density per FAQ in the comments on their website. I’d like to put a 2" Talalay Latex layer below it, and possibly a 1" HD-HQ36 Polyfoam transition layer if I end up needing better support from the coils. However, I’m a bit lost on what ILD of the latex I should aim for. Brooklyn support reps told me the Aurora Medium’s top two polyfoam layers are 3.5lb 12ILD and 2.5lb 18ILD, which I absolutely cannot believe – this bed is seriously firm, and 3.5" of those ILDs should be a lot softer. So now I’m thrown off; I was planning on getting 2" Talalay underneath the 2" memory foam as somewhere between 20-28 ILD, but now am thinking I might need something like 14 ILD for adequate pressure relief.
So here’s my potential build plan, with variables in a few of the layers:
(Top-to-Bottom)
A: 2" Memory Foam - Brooklyn Bedding Gel Swirl Memory Foam Topper (3lb)
B: 2" Talalay Latex NR - APM NR Supersoft 15-19 ILD or Soft 20-24 ILD vs. APM Blended Soft 19 ILD vs. Latex Mattress Factory Soft 19 ILD vs. Sleep on Latex Soft 20 IFD - (not sure whether Natural Rubber or Blended Talalay, or any brand has any physical advantages here?)
C: 1" HD Polyfoam Transition Layer (optional) - HD36-HQ Foam 2.8lbf 35 ILD
D: 8" Quantum Edge Elite Coils - Bolsa vs. Combi-Zone (or if there was a firmer or more durable non-zoned / not Bolsa version between these? Just based on qualms from other posters about Bolsa)
E: 1" Polyfoam Foundation Layer - Lux-R Foam (is this 50 ILD?) or High Density Foam (45-55 ILD)
[Cover]: Expandable Knit Ticking (12-15") from DIY Natural Bedding (In case I add/remove layers – but do you think this will sleep hot? Made of Cotton Doubleknit)
If you have any knowledge on anything here that you’d be willing to share (esp. about choice of coil units & Talalay latex options and softness), I would very much appreciate some words of wisdom. Hoping to start ordering this week so I can put the full mattress together before I have to return my Aurora.
Let me know what you think – thanks so much!
