Getting closer to diy mattress build, need some advice please

[phoenix]

Hi Alpharalpha,

Do you know of any resource that would have detailed information on Radium and TG’s Blended Talalay? Here’s the “knot:” I’ve read a lot about TG having quality control issues in the past but that’s not as much of an issue lately. Tied into that is people saying how much softening TG Talalay goes thru, and people saying that the TGT was more conforming than the radium and others saying the Radium was firmer than the TG, that TG uses fillers where Radium doesn’t.

This question is brought up every so often. Both Talalay Global and Radium make very high quality Talalay latex in both blended and 100% natural versions as well as various specialty formulations. Talalay Global has a bigger market share in North America and Radium is more common in Europe although you will find Talalay latex made by both manufacturers in North America.

Some of the manufacturers I know tend to lean towards Radium because their latex has been more consistent and had fewer quality control issues back a few years ago especially in the softer ILDs (see post #2 here ) but TG appears to have addressed the sporadic quality issues that they have had and this doesn’t seem to be an issue any longer so in “real life” terms I would treat them as equals.

They are both available in either 100% natural or in a 30/70 blend (NR/SBR) and in practical terms I would treat them as being comparable in terms of durability.

The firmness of each would depend on whether you were comparing the same ILD’s

Talalay Global blended Talalay comes in target ILD’s of 14, 19, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, & 44. You can see the approximate density of each of these in post #2 here .

Radium blended Talalay comes in target ILD’s (rounded to the closest whole number) of 11, 15, 19, 22, 25, 29, 34, & 40.

Talalay Global uses a filler in their latex formula while Radium doesn’t.

Talalay Global 100% natural Talalay comes in N1 (14 - 19), N2 (20 - 24), N3 (25 - 29), N4 (30 - 34), & N5 (35 - 42) with nominal midpoints of about 17, 22, 27, 32, 38.

Radium 100% natural has ILD targets (rounded to the closest whole number) of 9, 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, 39, and 44

You can see a chart for Radium’sILDrangehere.

Most of the manufacturers that I’ve talked that work extensively with both say that they have a comparable “feel” although of course this is subjective. The difference between them would be relatively small and would probably reflect the different ILD’s, amount of filler, and any other differences in compounding formulas and pincore patterns they have.

I even found some info that one company more recently had a 6% warranty issues (indentations, compression, etc) with TG, but 16% with Radium, and much higher with Dunlop latex.

I couldn’t speak to the veracity of any return rates of any foam or products, and the accurate numbers (the ones kept by the actual foam manufacturers) are not shared publicly, so I would treat such data with an appropriate level of caution.

Technical data on the two blended talalays would really help me out.

The actual makeup of all of the components used to make these foams would be proprietary and closely held secrets of each manufacturer, so that data wouldn’t be available.

Oh and when I went to put the kd frame together there was one of those whorled knots that formed a crack right across one of the bed rails and I feared the worse since I bought it 3 months ago you know how these things can go, sometimes they can’t get a single part so you have to ship it all back or it has to break then you pay return shipping, but Decor and more were an A1 pleasure, I showed them some pics of it and they said they’d have one shipped out from the manufacturer and that was Sat and Mon I got the tracking number and it’ll be here tomorrow. It’s very easy to put together and I’ll show pics once I get it done.

I’m glad you they took care of you so well with your frame!

Phoenix