Hey!
First off I want to thank you Phoenix for all the help you give everyone here. It’s a massive undertaking and I’m glad you are here to provide us all insight.
First a little background on me and the GF:
Me: 26 year old 5-10 165lbs stomach/back sleeper. Likes a medium/firm mattress.
GF: 25 year old 5-7 120lbs side/back sleeper. Likes a firm mattress
I’m moving to my first apartment and need to buy a bed. Needless to say there are a lot of options. From reading online and trying out beds in stores I have come to the conclusion that I want a full latex bed. The models that we both liked were the Pure Latex Bliss Nature and Natura Sensation. GF liked the sensation because of the 5 layer zoning, but said the PLB was just as good. I liked them both equally (Prolly because I don’t sleep on my side).
I want to go with SleepEZ due to their favorable reviews and price to performance standpoint. They offer dunlop and talalay latex which I think is nice (More options is always a good thing).
I read in a this post that you tried to compare a PLB nature to a SleepEZ 10000. While I found this very helpful I wanted to ask if a SleepEZ 9000 would be better suited for us. Neither of us are that heavy and with the GF liking a firmer mattress I figured having her closer to the support layers would be better. Would using talalay for the comfort layer and then dunlop for the support layers be firmer? I think the PLB nature is all talalay.
While I don’t have the ability to “fit” a particular mattress to each person nearly as well as the manufacturer themselves who has a huge database of feedback about how the specific layers and components of their mattresses interact with different body types or sleeping styles in “real life” I can certainly share some more general thoughts.
As you mentioned, the post you linked has a comparison between the Nature and the 10000 so for those who want to see it they can click your link to the other post. The specs of the Nature and the rest of the natural lineup is in post #1 here (although they are changing the top layer to include the phase change “active fusion” material but the feel and performance will be the same) and it is all blended Talalay latex (which they call natural Talalay latex and their 100% natural Talalay they call “all natural” confusingly enough)
The Sensation (2012 model) is a memory foam mattress and has a completely different construction. It has 3" of 5 lb memory foam then a 6" Talalay latex base (no specific mention of the zoning except that it is 3 zoned but based on the previous version of the Sensation the top 2" may be the part that is zoned). This is a memory foam/latex hybrid in other words and the surface feel would be more memory foam modified by the wool would firm it up and slow down the response of the memory foam underneath (isolate body heat from the memory foam). There is also an earlier version listed which is a different construction and includes a 2" 3 zone layer and an inch of polyfoam on top.
SleepEz does have the option to add a 3" layer of 5.5 lb (high quality) Sensus memory foam in the top layer of their 10000 model though instead of latex which would be a similar construction to the 2012 Sensation (a little less wool and a little higher density memory foam).
Generally a 3" comfort layer works well for side sleepers and as you mention the 9000 would be a preference of many back or stomach sleepers or lighter thinner people who were less “curvy” and didn’t need as thick a comfort layer to fill in the gaps in their body profile or liked a firmer feel that “came through” from the middle transition layer.
In other words I would definitely include a Sensus memory foam top layer (if the general feel of the Natura or memory foam is a strong preference) and/or the 9000 (firmer and thinner top layer) as part of your “design discussions” with Shawn or Jeremy. It would seem like a good option to me as well, especially for those where better support in the “flatter” sleeping positions or a firmer mattress was a higher priority than softer pressure relief for side sleeping.