Flexus Mattress Configuration

Hi,
I want to first start by thanking everyone on this forum, especially Phoenix, for the vast amount of resourceful information that proved useful during my mattress hunt.

So my wife and I settled on a 13" (four 3" layers) all latex mattress from Flexus Comfort. Henry, the owner, was a great help, aiding us in exploring the perfect split configuration tailored to our individual needs. From top to bottom, I settled on soft/firm/firm/x-firm and my wife with soft/med/med/med. These configurations felt the best in terms of pressure relief and support; each of us had a perfect cradle.

Here are our stats to help in answering the question I am about to pose in the next paragraph. I am 5’8", 200 pounds with average build, and a side sleeper with occasional back sleeping. My wife is 5’1", 115 pounds, petite, combination sleeper of back and side, with more back sleeping.

After the Flexus purchase, I started to second guess myself thinking that the top comfort layer may be too soft. A mistake of mine was that I did not bother to try a medium or firm top comfort layer. So my question is, with the configuration I have are there any foreseeable problems? As a side sleeper with my specs, can a soft top comfort layer lead to pain? I know a hard comfort layer can cause pain. Henry said that because I have firm support layers, even going with a medium could seem too hard of a comfort layer. Maybe I should have tried med/med/firm/x-firm.

I know I am able to exchange 1 layer during my 90 day trial, but I wanted to gather as much info as possible ahead of time. This way I can make the most of that 1 layer swap.

Thanks for all your help!

Hi thinkTwice,

There is more about the different ways to choose a mattress or layering combination (either locally or online) that is the most suitable “match” for your specific needs and preferences and how to identify and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for that are involved in each of them in post #2 here.

It sounds like you did a good job of local testing to find a layering combination that has a high chance of working well for you. You are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing or personal experience … hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Beyond a certain point then any further combinations that you tested would likely have begun to blur together anyway so I would trust the testing you did and use your actual sleeping experience to decide whether you need to make any further changes to your default layering.

With the layers you have you would have a number of options available to you to change the comfort or support of your mattress by rearranging the layers if you need to without needing to exchange a layer. For example it’s very unlikely that your wife will feel much if any difference if you replace her bottom medium layer with one of your firm layers so you would have the chance to try (from top to bottom) medium/soft/firm/xfirm which would give you a little firmer sleeping surface or you could even borrow a second medium layer from her side (and replace it with your soft for long enough for you to test it) and try medium/medium/firm/xfirm which would give you a firmer sleeping surface yet. There are also other combinations that would be available to either one or both of you as well so at this point I wouldn’t second guess your choices and I would use your actual sleeping experience to decide whether you need to rearrange any layers and how to rearrange them and your experience with different layering combinations would also give you the experience you would need from actually sleeping on the mattress to decide on whether you need any layer exchanges as well.

For now … the best thing you could do would be to actually sleep on the mattress with the combination of layers that you chose :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Thanks Phoenix, I appreciate the feedback. We will test out different configs and post our findings.

If you don’t mind, I have a couple more questions. I’ve been reading on the forum that typically a person wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between 3-layer and 4-layer all latex mattresses (each layer being 3"). Thing is, while testing out both mattress thicknesses at the store, both my wife and I were able to feel a difference in comfort between the two. From to top to bottom, the 9" was soft/firm/firm, and the 12" was soft/firm/firm/x-firm. For some reason I felt that the 12" provided more support, although I barely break 200 lbs. Was I just imagining this? Cause I really could opt for the 9" mattress since it’s $300 cheaper.

I have also been reading that if I created two identical mattresses, say both having 3-layers of soft/firm/firm, but the only difference being that the comfort layer is either a separate topper or is integrated into the mattress, that these two would feel different. I have read that the topper configuration has the benefits of a pillow-top like mattress, yet still offers better support. I am a side sleeper so that extra pressure relieving comfort layer would be nice. But once the topper bottoms out would I feel the firm “2nd layer” immediately, with no transition? I know this wouldn’t be the case in the integrated mattress, as all the layers move with each other in one smooth movement within the cover.

I have been contemplating in getting a 6" mattress of firm/firm, and a soft 3" topper.

Thanks again for your help!

Hi Thinktwice,

You can read a little more about the effect of mattress thickness in post #14 here. Assuming that the top 3 layers were exactly the same and the only difference was the X-firm on the bottom … depending on body type, sleeping positions, and individual sensitivity some people would feel a difference and some wouldn’t . While you aren’t in a weight range that would “need” 12" of latex … there are certainly some people that would notice a difference and would prefer it.

You can read more about the differences between having a separate topper and having the same layer inside the mattress cover in posts #3 and #4 here and in this topic. Again this would be a preference choice not a “better/worse” choice.

There are too many unknowns and variables involved for me to know whether you would feel “too much” of the firmness of any specific layer in a mattress or how the transition between different firmness levels would feel to you whether it was inside or outside of the mattress cover and the only way to know this would be based on your actual testing or sleeping experience on a mattress. Different people can have very different experiences on the same mattress or mattress/topper combination.

There is also more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel”.

In the end you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and again there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to be able to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict how a combination of layers will feel to you or to make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing or personal sleeping experience … hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Phoenix

So we have slept on our Flexus for about two nights now. The layer arrangement I finally decided on was xfirm/xfirm/firm/soft (bottom to top). I have been experiencing lower back issues during the night, but this might be part of the new mattress adjustment process that my body is going through. And I have read through various threads on this forum that the adjustment process could take several weeks, so I"ll take it slow before rearranging the layers.

But it could also be that my top 3" soft comfort layer is too thick and too soft. Sad to say, I am overweight for my height and have developed bad posture from sitting in front of a computer all day. So the lower back pain that I’m experiencing could actually be pain from my body not being used to laying in correct alignment. Who knows, I’ll just have to wait and see.

I did have one question though. I know that natural latex inherently has small imperfections (such as void, small rips and tears). Is the edge rip of the top layer in the attached photo considered a natural imperfection? Or this an obvious defect?

Thanks.

Hi thinkTwice,

Thanks for the feedback … I appreciate it.

I agree that I would give things a little more time before rearranginig or exchanging the layers.

It doesn’t look like either a natural imperfection or a defect to me but more like a rip or tear that can happen from handling the latex. Could it have happened when you were assembling the mattress?

It shouldn’t affect the feel or performance of the latex since it’s right on the edge but I would send a picture to Flexus and talk to them and see what they say.

Phoenix

Since I’m local the bed was delivered pre-assembled. I just happen to spot the tears when the cover was opened to verify the firmness of the layers.

I will see what Flexus has to say. Thanks!