Help in selecting a new mattress

[phoenix]

Hi Janny,

1320 Zoned IWC (not sure what that stands for) Pocket Coil - 13 gauge with foam encasement. The comfort layer is 1" cool action 5.25 gel memory foam and 1" of 1.8lb polymer base foam. Quilt top is 2 layers of comfort fibre and 1 1/2" comfort foam. It has a 25 yr warranty and 120 day trial period for $1299. I should find out what the comfort foam is in the quilt layer but I was wondering if the 1" of 1.8lb foam in the comfort layer is going to be a weak link in this mattress. Is this probably the layer between the coils & the memory foam?

I don’t know what IWC stands for either (except the last “C” probably stand for “coil” and the first “I” may stand for independent but these are just guesses)

If the specs are correct then 5.25 lb memory foam is a high quality material and the 1.8 lb polyfoam (which as you mentioned would likely be between the coils and the memory foam) is also a good quality material. My biggest concern would be the 1.5" of comfort foam (which will soften) in combination with the fibers (which will compress). Together these top layers are more than 2" and would be more than I would be completely comfortable with but they are also thinner than the lower quality materials in most mainstream mattresses made by the major brands. The pocket coils are good quality but the coils in a mattress are not normally the weak link of a mattress.

The warranty of course means little and is about marketing more than anything else because it doesn’t cover foam softening or the loss of comfort and support and has nothing to do with the useful life of a mattress (see post #174 here about warranties).

I like the idea of the natural latex mattresses but the only one I have been able to find in my hometown of Woodstock, ON is the Stearns & Foster Zenbody. I don’t even know if this is a pure latex or what kind - Dunlop or Talalay - but I did really like the feel of it. I’m very leary about ordering online when you cannot first test the mattress out. Is there any retailers of natural latex mattresses in my area - say London, Kitchener, Cambridge - where I can test drive a mattress first before I buy or custom make a mattress on site?

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The Zenbody is mostly synthetic Dunlop latex which is a lower cost version of latex but is still a high quality material. You can read more about it in this thread.

Some of the better options I’m aware of in your area are listed in post #8 here.

Another factor is price. The $1299 I can handle if the mattress is a good one & will last me a few years. The natural latex I understand is much more expensive & then I would also have to buy a support base for it as well. The Zenbody was a good price at 1K, I think, because the store told me it was regularly 3K. But is it a good mattress for the money?

If it’s new and not a floor model and if it matches the criteria of your personal value equation and is suitable for your body type and sleeping positions then from a materials point of view I think would be good value yes (assuming it’s queen size or larger) but I would make sure that you know the specifics of the layering (or at least check the law tag to make sure there isn’t anything else except latex) to make sure it’s the same mattress as the earlier thread was referring to.

Hope this helps.

Phoenix

PS: I just figured out what IWC means with some google searching … it’s “individually wrapped coils”