Hate my Tempur Rhapsody, replacing with Aireloom or Prana

[phoenix]

Hi FAUguy,

I got an email back from Prana. The only difference between the 4th and 5th generation is that they are now using a denser 2.5 IDL foam on the top instead of 1.5.
“The fifth generation has a 2.5 density foam instead of a 1.5 density foam in the quilting layer of the mattress. The higher density foam will give more resiliency and less body impression. The ILD of the foam is the same in each generation allowing the same comfort in both.”

I’m glad to see that they finally removed the lower quality materials in their previous generations and replaced them with a higher quality/density and more durable version of polyfoam which would no longer be a potential “weak link” in their mattress in terms of durability and the useful life of their mattress.

When I asked about the price increase, I was told
“The price increase would include the difference in pricing of latex and other materials over the past couple of years since the last price increase.”

And when looking at the increase, it is about $1500-2000 depending on the model and size!
The Super Vinyasa 4th Gen Cal King with base had a MSRP of $5600, which I could get on sale for $4700. The Super Vinyasa 5th MSRP is $1500 more. The Samadhi 4th Gen was MSRP $6500 and the 5th gen is $8400, $1900 more.
Those are pretty big price increases.
But even the Jordan’s site now lists the 5th Gen Super Vinyasa, and lists it with a 3" foam top at 2.5 lbs, 1" soft latex, 2" medium latex, 6" latex core, and 1" 1.45lbs foam bottom, which equals the 13" total. But out of it only 9" is latex, which is surprising at these prices. The Samadhi only adds one more inch of soft latex at the top for 14" total…which is probably why it felt the best to me between the Prana models.

With the change in foam quality/density of their 5th generation then there would be no cause for concern with the durability or useful life of their mattresses and if you have done some careful testing to confirm that the mattress you are considering is a good match for you in terms of PPP then you would have covered two of the three most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase that are listed in post #13 here (suitability and durability).

Of course I would still make some very careful “value” comparisons between the Prana and other mattresses or the other “finalists” you are considering that use similar types, thicknesses, and quality of materials based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you including the price and the options you have available both before and after a purchase to customize the mattress or exchange the mattress or individual layers if the choice you make doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for. I would always be very cautious once you are above about $3000 (queen size mattress only) or the equivalent in a king size (about $3500 - $4000 mattress only) so that you have a compelling reason to buy a mattress in this price range that makes sense to you and that would make the additional cost vs the other options you have available “worth it” to you.

For the Beautiful model, your link says it is 3" 15 IDL, 3" 24 IDL, 6" 36IDL. Do you know what the different IDLs are for the latex used by Savvy and Sleep EZ? You say that is softer than the Savvy…but to me when I was on the Savvy that had all 3 layers of soft, it felt softer than the Beautiful.

Savvy Rest doesn’t provide the ILD’s for their layers but the general range is in post #2 here. The ILD range for SleepEZ is near the bottom of this page.

Softness/firmness is very subjective and relative to each person and a mattress that feels soft for one person may feel firm for another depending on how their body type, weight distribution, and sleeping style interacts with all the layers and components of a mattress and their own individual sensitivity. There are also different types of softness/firmness that some people may be more or less sensitive to (see post #15 here). The comfort and transition layers in the PLB Beautiful would be softer overall than the Savvy Rest but for some people the softer bottom layer (in spite of the alignment risks involved) may “translate” into an “all soft” Savvy rest feeling softer to them even though it may not feel softer for other people.

One concern about the Sleep EZ is that you have to assemble it yourself. I has surgery a couple month back, and can’t really so that, so my friend would have to. How involved is putting it together, since the foundation shows it has wooden slats?
Edit: After watching the assembly videos, I see the latex mattress is easy to put together, but the bottom wooden support seems that it might be a “weak link” as it is just held together with bolts and wing-nuts with velcro on the top wooden slats.

Assembling a component mattress such as SleepEZ or Savvy Rest is generally a fairly simple process but it would be much easier with two people. The foundation is easy for one person to put together and is made specifically for latex mattresses and would certainly be suitable and strong enough for an all latex mattress and it wouldn’t be a “weak link” in your sleeping system.

Phoenix