Hi idlewild,
The option to have a different design on each side of a mattress is a significant benefit to many couples that have different needs and preferences and in no way lowers the quality or durability of the mattress. As you can see in the first part of post #2 here it is one of the most effective ways of designing a mattress that a couple doesn’t have to compromise on their firmness choices in terms of PPP.
No … it’s not true and it would be the other way around. It would be an option that for people who need it would increase the value of the mattress. There is also more about the pros and cons of split layers in post #2 here but the salesperson you were talking to was giving you some misleading information (probably because they don’t offer a side to side split mattress).
It depends on the type of latex you are talking about. All Talalay is made in either twin XL or queen molds so other sizes (such as king) would be two pieces glued together. The glue that is used is an elastic latex based glue that is very strong and durable and is undetectable (see post #2 here). Molded Dunlop on the other hand often is often made in larger mold sizes (such as king) and the layers won’t have a glue seam. Continuous pour Dunlop also is made on a belt in larger sizes and also wouldn’t have a glue seam although both of these will usually have a glue seam in cal king sizes. In king sizes they offer either split layers for those who would prefer it or a single layer.
As you can see in post #13 here I pay very little attention to mattress reviews (either good or bad) because they will tell you little to nothing about whether a mattress is suitable for you or the durability or useful life of a mattress. I took a look at the yelp reviews you linked and since there are only 5 of them (out of many thousands of mattresses they have sold with an exceptionally high percentage of satisfied customers) I will share some more detailed comments about them.
Two of them are 5 stars and are happy with their mattress (which would also be the case with an unusually high percentage of their customers but other people experiences also won’t tell you whether any mattress would be the “best” match for you).
One is 4 stars and is happy with the mattress but is complaining about a legitimate policy that is there to prevent fraud (the deposit required to replace the mattress and to protect a manufacturer from shipping out a replacement and the customer keeping the original mattress which happens more often than most customers would suspect). They probably aren’t aware that most of the industry requires that a customer pays for shipping costs to return a mattress for warranty issues and that they are only being asked for a refundable deposit. Had they purchased from most other manufacturers they would be out of pocket for a warranty issue.
Two of the reviews are 1 star …
One of them is completely unclear about what their issue really is because it’s certainly not true that their mattress would be a “sagging mess” because latex is the most durable foam material in the industry no matter which manufacturer uses it in their mattress. In the unlikely event that it was true then it would be a legitimate warranty issue (all materials have occasional defects) and Brooklyn Bedding would replace it. It is much more likely that it is some type of comfort issue that they are misrepresenting as a quality issue either because they don’t know any better or because they actually have the intent to do so. They are also complaining about not being able to return the foundation when it was clear when they purchased it that it’s not returnable (which is also common in the industry because it can be used under another mattress as well). If for some reason they decide that it would be best to return the entire mattress for a refund then that is also an option they had (unlike much of the industry which only allows comfort exchanges and not refunds) and there would only be a $200 shipping charge which was also clear when they purchased the mattress (you can see their exchange and return policy here) and would have or at least “should” have been part of their personal value equation when they made their purchase decision.
The other 1 star review is just plain ridiculous and the reviewer is saying things that are patently absurd. There are only two sources of Talalay latex in the world which is Latex International and Radium. Both of them are high quality and durable materials and there are no “lower quality” sources of Talalay latex. Their law tag they themselves linked makes it clear that the mattress was manufactured in Arizona (and the cover in Utah) and for some reason they are implying that the address of the mattress manufacturer needs to be the same as the address of their material suppliers (which is in Connecticut for the latex and Utah for the cover) which of course is nonsense. All latex has an initial odor which dissipates fairly quickly to levels that most people wouldn’t notice and for most people it isn’t an issue at all even at the beginning (see post #2 here). Like all latex (Talalay or Dunlop) it has also been OekoTex certified for VOC’s and harmful substances. Some people are just more sensitive to the initial odor of latex or to other smells than others and there are also some differences from batch to batch. I have no idea about their zipper issue because their latex hybrid mattresses all have a zipper which is how you can access the latex layer if it needs to be exchanged. The bottom line is that this reviewer is very “confused” to say the least.
Normally I wouldn’t go into this much detail about individual reviews but since there were only a few yelp reviews I thought I would use them to make the point about why mattress reviews (good or bad) can be very misleading and are among the worst ways to choose a mattress.
Phoenix