Okay so after deciding to get a new mattress and wading through tons of information on the subject, we slowly peeled away options until we are now pretty much left with two. First, a little about us.
We are in our mid 30’s. We are both over 220 lbs. I feel quite certain my husband could sleep on just about anything. I have been getting increasingly uncomfortable on our inner spring mattress and my back has been hurting. I don’t sleep well on the bed currently, and I believe loss of support in our 13 year old inner spring from sam’s club has been a factor in that.
We have decided on latex for our new mattress, which has lead us to have some serious problems with trying to figure out what we like. I liked the idea of latex but finding one to look at in real life has been a pain. There are none to be found in our town. I was getting ready to buy the dreamfoam ultimate dreams natural sight unseen based on some information I gathered about it and by comparing it to other things in our price range, but today I managed to find a latex mattress to try out in the next town over.
Thankfully, I found that I do like the feel of latex better than memory foam. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that it has kind of confused the issue further for me.
The UD Natural is 3 inches of dunlop on top of 5.5 inches of 2 lb HD foam with a quilted cover.
The bed I looked at today was (and I apologize for the lack of real technical info here, I totally failed at getting that) about 9 inches of talalay latex comprised of 3 inch layers glued together (I assume they were glued). The top being quite soft, the middle being firmer, and the bottom being the firmest, followed by another 2-3 inch layer of some kind of other foam. I don’t know if it was poly or HD, it seemed about the same firmness as the firmest latex but unfortunately right now I don’t have the specs on that. I realize without knowing exactly what that foam is and the specs on everything, it’s difficult to compare. They had a cutaway model of the mattress and I did see that the bottom latex layer has an ILD listed as 36 then it says density 4.4. That is the firmest layer of the latex. This bed also had a quilted cover. They had 2 identical ones there with different covers, and I much preferred the quilted one. I thought it was strange that just that would make a real difference, but it did.
Both are certified by either centri pure or oeko.
So here is where I am at on this.
My thoughts on the UD Natural:
Dunlop. I still don’t know what that feels like. I read that it’s maybe better for “persons of size” than talalay which is unfortunately something we need to consider. Maybe someday we’ll be smaller people but for right now it’s a consideration. I’m a little nervous that I won’t like Dunlop as much as talalay given that just the different covers made a difference to me. I just have not been able to lay on one and I"m not going to be able to. I am stumped here. I apparently like a bit of cushion over a good support given my preference for the more fluffy cover the bed I liked in real life.
I’m also concerned that I won’t like having just 3 inches of latex over foam. The other bed had more like 9 inches of latex over foam. I am a little worried that I will wish I’d gotten more latex.
the UD Natural has a cover I think I would like, it’s quilted and made of natural fibers that I believe will breathe nicely, so I think I will like the cover. It’s the uncertainty of the feel of dunlop and the smaller layer of latex that I am concerned about.
This bed is $150 less than the one in the store.
The bed in the store
It has no name, they are a store that makes their own beds. Here is their website if you’re interested http://www.thesleepshopappleton.com/
I did not expect to like the talalay, and I did. I liked the feel of this bed and have no idea how a thinner layer of dunlop will compare. Who knows, maybe I would like it better??
It seemed to be “just right” in terms of firmness, and I spent a lot of time laying on it today. I’m a little afraid it will soften up too much over time.
I don’t know what kind of foam is at the bottom there. It was only about 2-3 inches. This bed is almost a straight latex bed. I’m not sure what the advantages are to that, if there are any.
I do not know what kind of return policy they have or warranty. These are questions I can ask tomorrow.
This bed is $150 more than the dreamfoam one, but with the extra latex in it, I believe it’s probably worth the extra and part of that is sales tax I would not be paying for dreamfoam. The actual price difference without considering sales tax is only about $100.
I think what keeps the natural in my mind is the thought that perhaps dunlop might be the better choice for us as heavier people. On the other hand, I have this other one that I checked out and did like - but with us being larger folks, might it soften up a little too much and get too soft?
Without being able to try a dunlop bed and especially one with such a difference latex/foam ratio, it’s a really tough call. I feel like there are pros and cons to both. We are both leaning toward opposite choices but hubby says it’s up to me. I feel a lot of pressure to get it right!
To me it’s a bit of a head scratcher. I know no one can tell me which to get but I was hoping someone could suggest some other angle to think about or point out something I haven’t thought of. I realize I’ve made it harder but not having details like warranty or return info on the store bed but I personally be pretty hard pressed to return a bed once I’d used it.
Any advice is appreciated. I’d like the pull the trigger as soon as possible because I’ve already spent a couple of weeks working on this and I’m ready for it to be over and just relax in my new bed!
Thanks!