Its is time to buy

[phoenix]

Hi Jdavis37,

I also noticed the box springs under the mattress are very springy and bouncy. I have to assume a firmer support system would be preferred. When walking on the existing box springs it is very bouncy and springy, almost enough to give one a sea sick feeling!

This would depend on the type of mattresses that was on top of it. You can read more about the types of foundation or box spring that is suitable for different types of mattresses in the foundation thread (and the two links in the second paragraph of the first post) but with an all foam mattress then a rigid non flexing foundation vs a box spring is usually the best choice unless the mattress is thinner and was designed for use with a box spring and you have specifically tested it with the mattress/box spring combination.

If I were going to buy a non latex throughout bed it would be the BB Aloe Alexis which of course has the 2 latex comfort layers. I am kind of hell bent on having 2 comfort layers. There may not be any research to go along with my gut feeling but my gut simply says have 2 providing a total of 6 inches of comfort on a firmer base than eithe rof the top two. Whether or not I need 6 inches of total base or 3 I guess I can think on that.

All the layers of a mattress affect each other and interact to different degrees (layers that are further apart have less effect on each other). The thickness of the deepest layer is only part of how it affects the mattress though and the type of material and the firmness/softness of the layer and any of it’s other characteristics (such as resiliency) also play a role in the overall feel and performance of the mattress so it’s not just a matter of the thickness of the layer. As you are mentioning the Alexis has more latex in the top layers and having a comfort and transition layer with latex would be closer to the feel and performance of an all latex mattress that had similar layers on top than a latex/polyfoam hybrid that only had a single layer of latex on top.

Just trying to determine in my own head if I had 2 identical comfort layers and made an Aloe Alexis type bed with them and subsequewntly made an EZ Sleep 13000 type bed with them, would I know the difference. Cost is over $800 difference.

I think that most people would notice the difference between a bottom 6" of latex and a bottom 6" of polyfoam even with 6" of latex over it although it would also depend on the person (some people don’t really seem to notice any differences between mattresses that other people would say have a night and day difference). the difference between a bottom 3" layer of latex and a 6" polyfoam base may be less noticeable. Matching the height of a mattress is also not the most important part of matching the feel and performance and when you are using different materials then the types of materials and their other characteristics and how they interact together can play a much more important role than the height of the base layer. In most cases a latex mattress in the range of 8" - 9" would work well for most people although there are certain designs or circumstances where less or more may be preferable (see post #14 here).

Phoenix