Thank you, Phoenix, for the response! I just wanted to give you a quick update. We ended up purchasing the PLB Beautiful from the local retailer who was able to give us the best price plus extras. After a few rounds of negotiating (I thought we were buying a mattress not a used car!) we took them up on their price match guarantee over the lowest price we found in our area which was a 53% savingsā¦ $2499 for the king size set which included the bases, free delivery, no tax, and he threw in the recommended mattress protector and a couple of latex pillows! It was still about twice as much as the Ultimate Dreams online mattress with the exchangeable layer option, but by the time you add in the cost of the bases, mattress protector and pillows, we only really paid about $500 more. This local retailer, Famous Tate, also had such a great comfort exhange policy (90 days and if you exchange for a lower price mattress you get the difference as a refund not a store credit like most places). The salesman was so nice and knowledgeable and and not pushy at all. He answered or researched all of our questions and really went out of the way to work with us on price. Plus I love their policy on all of their foam mattressā¦ they will sell it to you tax free with a doctor or chiropractorās note stating that you need to sleep on a pressure relieving mattress. I feel really good about the purchase, and now I just canāt wait for it to be delivered next week! Maybe Iāll post again after we try it out. We also decided that when the need arises, we are going to replace the guest room mattress with an Ultimate Dream. AND if we like it, will go ahead and replace the kidsā mattresses in twin sizes with latex from UD. I do, agree, its probably still the best value, but I guess, ultimately, the on-line ordering risk factor was too high for us for our master bedroom bed, but will give it a try for a āless riskyā room! Thanks again for maintaining such a helpful and informative site!
Hi candcsmom,
Congratulations on your new mattress 
It sounds to me like you did really well and you ended up with a ābeautifulā mattress at a great price. Iām impressed!
Thanks for your feedback and it would be great if you could give us a report when youāve had a chance to sleep on it for a while.
Phoenix
Great siteā¦ Iāve already learned a lot. Starting to shop for an adjustable bed (likely memory foam) in St. Louis MO.
Hi Chris M,
Thanks for the kind words
You may have already seen this but in case you havenāt ā¦ some of the better options in the St Louis area are in post #6 here.
Phoenix
Thanks to the great info on this site, weāll probably be ordering an Ultimate Dreams mattress in the near future. Really good stuff here.
Glad I found this place. Just started looking in Los Angeles and found this post. Thanks for all the hard work!
Hi prylex,
Iām glad you found us as well
There was an extra http:// in your link so I edited it to make it work so that others that read your post in the LA area can link to the same list.
Good luck ā¦ and feel free to post with any questions along the way.
Phoenix
Wanted to follow up on what I eventually did.
Purchased from sleepez.com and talked to the owner. Very friendly and knowledgable. Purchased the 8 in. special with two 3" Layers of 100% natural āDunlopā latex + one 2" Layer of 100% natural āTalalayā latex encased in 4 way zipper cotton cover plus 2 free pillows for $1245. Great deal! We just got the standard firmness setup and it works great for my wife and I.
The only āsurpriseā was that it came in 2 big boxes and we had to put it together ourselves. Itās tougher than you think since the latex is surprisingly heavy and we had to stack them correctly on our bed and then zip it up, which is a very tight squeeze! So, I never thought I would be putting a mattress together, but I did, and would do it again. Not as difficult as some Ikea furniture:)
Definitely recommend these guys, not local, but who cares. With a great guarantee, good service and great prices and product, no wonder these guys have been in business so long and do so well. Thanks for the website and help in choosing this mattress.
Edward
Hi FavoriteHOMEboy,
Congratulations on your new mattress
It can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to put a latex mattress together (because as you mentioned latex is heavy) but once you get the hang of āwavingā the layers into position it goes fairly easily. Itās also great to know that you can exchange layers if it ever becomes necessary down the road instead of buying a whole new mattress and a DIY mattress is a small āprice to payā for the kind of quality and value that SleepEz offers.
Thanks for the feedback
Phoenix
Thanks for all the information you have collected and shared here. It has been a great help in the research towards a new mattress!
As the person said before me, thank you so much for the abundant information! I didnāt know much about mattresses before coming to the site but now I feel much more confortable. After going to a Sleepyās to test out some mattresses I found out I prefer plush mattresses. I enjoyed the Carolina Mattress Guild plush there but it was over my budget. Then, from research on Amazon and help from this site I found the Ultimate Dreams mattress. I think Iām going to go for it and purchase that online even though part of me still thinks it is risky since I havenāt tested it. But if so many people out there enjoy it so much and didnāt get a chance to test it out too I am very confident I will enjoy it. Thanks again
Hi dimps5790,
Thanks for the kind words.
While the CMG at sleepys are probably some of the better value there ā¦ they donāt provide any meaningful information about the mattresses and neither of them are latex so they wouldnāt really be an effective guideline except perhaps as an indicator of a general preference for softer over firmer in the comfort layers.
If you want to test some latex before ordering which may be a slightly more effective guideline for an online order and help you āmatchā the comfort layer that you would prefer (or even to get a sense of the āfeelā of latex) ā¦ Iād be happy to point you in the direction of any possibilities in your area Iām aware of if you let me know your city or zip.
Phoenix
Sure that would be great! Anywhere around the 19127 (philadelphia) or 18940 areas would be ideal.
Hi dimps5790,
Post #4 here includes some latex options around the Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton area that should give you a better idea of the feel of latex and some different latex firmness levels. I would make a few phone calls first just to make sure that they will provide you with ILD or layering information (ILD is a ācomfortā spec and many outlets may not supply them because they are not connected to quality and the ācomfortā of a mattress can be felt in a showroom so ILD is not so important in local testing).
Hope this helps
Phoenix
Phoenix, thanks for providing such a great resource. I plan to call SelectFoam later this week to talk about their comparable TempurPedic matresses.
Hi NAMa,
Youāre very welcome ā¦ Iām happy when people find it and make use of it
Phoenix
5% discount for getting educated on mattresses on your excellent siteā¦great deal!
Great site. Iām looking at the Ultimate Dreams mattress. It seems to be a great value.
If I were to order an Ultimate Dreams mattress through Amazon, would I still be eligible for membership benefits from this forum? Would I just add information about my membership here to the comments section of the order? Has anyone else had experience with this?
Thanks,
Brian
Hi Brian,
I placed my order Monday around noon and I was contacted by Chuck about an hour later to go over the firmness level I wanted. I told him my preference and also mentioned that I was a member of this site. He said that he would be sending me a free latex pillow with my order.
I received an email from them this morning (Tuesday) telling me that my order had been shipped. Now thatās great service!
Ron