What an informational forum! I have been reading for hours and hour about the valuable information regarding mattress. Then I decided to get a latex mattress topper to my six year old son’s extra firm Palm fabric mattress to add some comfort. He sleeps on his side, back and help with his allergy and asthma.
I have narrowed down my choice to a 2" medium firm Talalay Latex topper .
After reading numerous posts about the toppers, I am looking at the toppers among the following sellers:
Arizona Premium Mattress- good reputation and price, but the 2" all natural talalay topper is 21IDL, on the soft side and durability might not be great. Also the topper is not returnable.
Select Foam has the toppers with good price and my ideal IDL of 28, as well as trial period They claim the latex is 100% natural talalay latex of 5lb density, without more information. I am a little hesitated since they are a member of this forum, but not listed in Phonix’s list of good latex topper providers. Are they new to Latex toppers?
KTT has various thickness and IDL to choose, still waiting for the price quote.
Natural comfort has good price and a medium IDL of 22-24, return policy is not ideal. Since the latex is from Radium, it might be more durable even it is soft, right?
Anybody in this forum have bought toppers from the above providers can share some advices?
Their latex is from Latex International and if it’s 28 ILD then it would be blended not 100% natural. They tend to specialize more in memory foam than latex so this may not be listed correctly. If it’s 100% natural then the firmness should be listed as N1 to N5 (N3 is in the range of 25 to 29 ILD so it would be closest to the 28 ILD for the blended Talalay).
All latex is a durable material relative to other types of foam but Radium has told me that their softer 100% natural latex (even in the mid teens or so) is virtually identical to their blended Talalay in terms of durability although even with latex softer ILD’s are less durable than firmer ILD’s. At ILD’s above 20 or so durability wouldn’t be a particular concern for me with any version although my sense is that blended will probably still have a slight edge in “real life”.
If you compare the type and blend from each manufacturer (and their source as well) then you can make more meaningful price comparisons. Outside of clarifying the type of latex from Select Foam … I have talked with all of the merchants you mentioned and they are knowledgeable and reliable and will give you accurate information about what they are selling IMO.
Their latex is from Latex International and if it’s 28 ILD then it would be blended not 100% natural. They tend to specialize more in memory foam than latex so this may not be listed correctly. If it’s 100% natural then the firmness should be listed as N1 to N5 (N3 is in the range of 25 to 29 ILD so it would be closest to the 28 ILD for the blended Talalay).
I recently purchased and am awaiting delivery on a King All Natural Talalay mattress from Arizona Premium Mattress. ( “our best selling Adjustable Ultra Plush mattress made with 100% natural talalay latex”) Their description of this product states that it is 100% natural Talalay latex. I ordered the mattress with the 3" topper that comes in ILD of 28. Also I ordered the core on one side that is ILD 28 as well. Greg assured me that this was pure latex with no synthetic. The receipt states that the latex is from Latex International. Is this blended Talalay or all natural as I was led to believe?
I have been reading and researching latex for about 6 weeks now and have spent considerable time on this site. I did get the mattress underground discount–thank you for that! I appreciate all the time and effort you put into this site. It is very educational. Thank you!
I think Phoenix was talking about KTT’s latex toppers, not those of Arizona Premium Mattress. APM has very clear information about the materials and have different categories for all natural talalay toppers and blended ones.
I hope you’re right. I took what he said to mean that if it came from LI and was ILD 28, it must be blended. I thought he meant that LI doesn’t make an ILD of 28 in anything other than blended. I have been impressed with AZPM so far and believed that what I was ordering was 100% natural Talalay. I would be disappointed if it was not.
Latex International makes both100% natural Talalay and blended Talalay but they have different firmness rating systems. Both of them are measured in 9 different places across the surface and then are given an official rating. The blended is rated with one of 8 actual ILD numbers that is closest to the average while the 100% natural is rated from N1 to N5 (you can see the LI ratings here). Because the “N” ratings don’t have a specific number … there are many manufacturers who will provide an approximate ILD so that their customers have a better idea of the ILD range even though the “official” rating doesn’t have one.
28 ILD is one of the “official” ratings for blended Talalay so you will most often see it referring to blended Talalay but you could also have a 100% natural Talalay layer that averages out to 28 ILD (which would be N3). You can see a picture here of an N2 layer which shows the 9 different measurements which average out to about 20.8 ILD. This could either be described as an N2, as 21 ILD, as “about” 22 ILD (which is the midpoint for N2), or as 20 to 24 ILD (which is the ILD range for N2). N3 layers will generally average out to between 25 ILD and 29 ILD so 28 ILD would be “in the range” of where a layer that was rated as N3 would fall.
All of this is to say that a layer that averages out to 28 ILD could be either 100% natural or blended Talalay but one would normally be officially “rated” or listed as 28 and the other one would be “officially” rated or listed as N3 but the retailer or manufacturer may call it 28 ILD for the convenience of the customer so they can make better firmness comparisons. In some cases the tag will still be attached to the layer (depending on which part of the original core the layer was cut from) but in many cases it’s not so you would need to check with the retailer or manufacturer to ask them whether you have an N3 and they just provided you with an approximate ILD or whether your layer is actually “rated” as 28 ILD (regardless of whether the actual average ILD was slightly different) and was blended. If the retailer understands the rating systems for each then they would readily acknowledge that you received an N2 but that they described it as 28 ILD as a convenience for their customer.
For reference … Radium has a rating system that is slightly different from Latex International that uses different numbers or ranges which you can seehere.
In the case of Arizona Premium they are well aware of the differences between them but if you are in any doubt about what you have they will confirm whether you have an N3 100% natural or a 28 ILD blended layer.
Hi Foxlj - I recently purchased the 28 ild topper from SelectFoam. For me the topper is too firm. I am going to have to return it. They have been very good to work with and I am so sorry that it is not going to work. I also have a 2 and 3 inch 15 ild topper that I alternately put over the 28 ild topper. I have used the topper for 30 days. My upper back and shoulders hurt.
