help with mattress choice

[phoenix]

Hi shawninarlington,

The PLB Elegance at Healthy Back would be similar to the PLB Beautiful which both have 12" of latex. The new versions of the Beautiful also have the Active Fusion Talalay top layer which used to be called Celsion (which is used in the Healthy Back Elegance).

They are very high quality mattresses and if you compare them to mainstream brands they would be better than average value but they are not in the same “value range” as other latex mattresses with similar layering made by smaller manufacturers either locally or online. It does however indicate that you prefer quite soft layers because the Beautiful uses a combination of 19 ILD and 24 ILD in the comfort layers which is very soft and the Elegance would be similar. Of course this is assuming that you have carefully tested for alignment on this mattress and not just chosen it based on comfort.

It would be a good choice in terms of materials IMO but you would a paying a fairly substantial premium compared to other similar mattresses that are available online (the list of members here that specialize in online sales is in post #21 here) and perhaps a lesser premium compared to other similar mattresses that may be available locally at some of the other Washington outlets listed in post #2 here. The premium may not be as big an issue compared to knowing that you have found a mattress that fits your needs and preferences and pro-rated over the years that you will have this mattress it may not be as important but I would personally compare it to some of the other choices that are available in the area or online before pulling the trigger because there are similar choices available for less.

We saw a ‘Mattress Discounters’ near Healthy Back, so we stopped there, too. A Stearns and Foster model felt best in their showroom. They called it the ‘Callie’ and said it was titanium, pocket-coils with a Talalay latex comfort layer. I’m having trouble verifying the latex part. They quoted a price of $1260, including the box spring. I think S&F may be one of the brands not endorsed by this site, but I’m curious if this model is an OK value. I’ve heard stores like this one will also negotiate.

I think you are being sold a bill of goods here. According to their own specifications (which are incomplete) … the Callie Doesn’t have any latex at all and not only that it is probably missing several layers of polyfoam in the description which would be the weak link of this mattress. You would need to get a layer by layer breakdown of the mattress to evaluate it in any meaningful way (and the layers would need to add up to the thickness of the mattress) but this is not a mattress I would normally consider. You can check the law tag for any latex content but this still wouldn’t give you the layering or the quality of the layers which you would need. This is certainly not comparable to the Elegance (or a similar latex mattress) in terms of the quality of the materials. Stearns and Foster also don’t use Talalay latex in their lower end latex models and use a much lower quality and cost type of latex called “smart latex” which is mostly synthetic Dunlop.

If I’m priced out of the market for a truly high quality mattress, I think my next best option may be to get a cheaper, firm mattress and put a nice latex topper on it. I was thinking the IKEA natural latex mattress could work, or perhaps a entry-level innerspring mattress. Have others succeeded with this approach? Any recommendations on the topper?

This would depend on your budget (and there are some high quality choices for significantly less than what you have been looking at) but if you do go in this direction then the Ikea (or a similar online latex choice that had better value yet) would probably be better because an entry level innerspring may still have several inches of softer polyfoam on top and the innerspring may not be great quality. You would also be designing your own mattress which may involve some trial and error (which can be costly if you choose the wrong layers) because you won’t know the details of the foam used in the innerspring mattress. You would need to sleep on it for a while to have a reference point to help you decide on the topper that would work best for you and estimate what extra layers you may need to provide good pressure relief.

While I would consider this direction with a latex core if good value wasn’t available elsewhere … I would hesitate to do this with an innerspring mattress that would add some low quality foam and some guesswork into the mix. Others have succeeded with this approach but it’s usually a choice of necessity (such as with a mattress exchange) rather than a preference. You would normally be better off with purchasing a complete mattress rather than designing your own mattress/topper combination both in terms of value and and in many cases you would also have better exchange options available to you if you made a wrong choice.

Phoenix