I’m a Canadian consumer looking for a new mattress. I had previously gone the “bed in a box” route (with a Leesa), now in the market for a new mattress I’m debating making the jump to a latex hybrid but am concerned with some of the trade offs. I was pretty happy with my bed in a box aside from some firmness so I COULD see myself going for another BIAB but was wondering about splurging on a Latex Hybrid.
My profile is:
Couple - two sleepers
1 Back, 1 Stomach
Medium-Firm
I’m a little concerned about both motion transfer and bounce with a latex and while I plan on visiting a store to test latex vs. memory foam, I’d like to get some opinions to take advantage of some holiday deals. If I were to go with a Latex Hybrid bed, would that alleviate my concerns?
Additionally, in the case of the Luma (which I’m interested in), can anyone help explain the difference between these two mattresses? Specifically in regards to practical differences as I can see that there is essentially a pillow top layer, but what does that equate to as part of the sleeping experience, is it worth the extra $400 CAD and will it help with my concerns about motion transfer?
First I am not an expert but have spent countless hours trying to figure out the answer myself. Here’s my takeaway. Memory foam remembers depression over time. It doesn’t return. The “bounce” in latex prevents it from having a permanent depression. For example, companies with a guarantee on memory foam will do this when returning. They will let it set 48 hours and then measure the depression made. If the depression is less then their “spec percentage” they won’t offer a refund or replacement. If you lay on memory foam long enough or often enough, you will feel it depressed within minutes of lying down on it. It rembers and returns to your body shape depression. I have a memory mattress that is 5 years old and it has a hump in the center and slopes off of each side where my husband and I sleep. So we sortmof roll downhill from the center.
The latex holds its support which results in the bounce back trait.
If you think you like firm support, I would go with as firm as possible and consider a softer latex topper. That said, I am not a luma customer so I don’t know their products. I opted for flobed extra firm and just set it up in our new house yesterday. Moving in today so can share my sleep experience later this week. But fist impression was the topper over the firm talalay latex was perfect for my short nap yesterday. Nothing bounced. Tonight I will be able to describe my experience with motion transfer on a Flobed king.
Sandi
We ordered a layered talalay latex matress from Flobed. It is composed of 3 layers. An extra firm layer on the bottom, a firm layer in the middle and a top layer that has sections of firm, medium and soft in different areas. (We are side sleepers and the soft is under our shoulders so they sink in and mitigate aggravation to worn out rotator cuff tears.) Topping all that is an “eggcrate” talalay latex topper.
So now to answer your question on motion transfer: latex vs memory foam. I found no difference on a king size bed. We have a cat that approaches us between 3:30 and 5 am. When he gets within 5-6 inches of me, I could feel his gentle footsteps via motion transfer on our previous memory foam topper over our traditional coil mattress. Last night we had the new latex mattress. I felt the exact same thing. Very gentle motion transfer when he was within a few inches of me.
I have a better concept of the bounce. With our old coils and memory topper bed it was a sink in feeling when rolling from side to side. It took energy to try to get out of bed. I was “enveloped” in the memory foam.
When I got into bed on the latex it reminded me of camp cots with tight springs. I didn’t sink into the mattress like with memory foam. I remained on top of it and the latex matress molded itself underneath me. Moving around from side to side and getting out of bed was not a struggle like with memory foam. Sort of like being assisted to move around and to get out. With the memory foam it was a struggle to get out of bed.
Of course not everyone wants their mattress to react that way but in my case of aging it was quite helpful. It was easily to settle into a comfortable sleeping position. The latex supported all of my curves at the hips, waist and shoulders quite well. I had no shoulder, hip or back pain waking up and I can now read on my side in bed and my shoulder and neck doesn’t hurt.
All in all, I much prefer the firm support, “bounce” and comfortable cushioning aspect of the latex over my previous experience with sinking in comfort of the memory foam that required a lot of effort to move around and get out of bed.
Luma is a great company with quality products so it’s really a choice between great and great.
SandiMacD has offered quite a lot of valuable insights. I will just add that most people do feel (if they prefer a firmer mattress) that a hybrid better suits their needs. It also allows for better “breathing” under the mattress which helps to sleep cooler. However, if motion transfer is your biggest concern, an all foam configuration is excellent in that regard.
Another option would be to get a split comfort layer mattress on a hybrid (in regards to reducing motion transfer).
Nikki’s suggestion is spot on, one of the best ways to cut down on motion transfer is to make sure the two sides of the bed aren’t connected. The most extreme version of this would be to have two completely separate twin XL beds side by side (in the case of a king bed). Beyond that if you have a single mattress then make sure any foam layers are split. Doing this will ensure if you depress the mattress on one side it will have minimal ability to transfer than motion to the foam on the other side. Then of course there are materials that can also help with limiting motion transfer such as pocket coils or memory foam but there’s also alot of personal preference involved in how those materials also feel (remember there’s alot more than just motion transfer involved in getting a good night’s sleep). Latex mattresses can have different feel depending on if they are made with dunlop or talalay and also the construction, support base and a host of other factors. I would definitely urge you to try out beds with different constructions in the showroom before dismissing them since you may be surprised at what you do or don’t like.
