Just discovered your site before making an irreversible mistake

[phoenix]

Hi confused1,

I quite like the feel of the Essentia Dormouse and the fact that it appears to be less toxic than many other mattresses but… I understand that (based on the reading I did here) the company is not quite trustworthy (in their marketing) and… way overpriced. That said… could anyone recommend a company (or companies) available to someone living in Vancouver Canada that offer comparable/better quality at a better price.

While their mattresses do use high quality and durable materials … as you mentioned they make some very misleading claims and they are also in a much higher budget range compared to other mattresses that use similar quality materials.

The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Vancouver area (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here. You also aren’t the only forum member that is looking for an alternative to Essentia in the Vancouver area (see this topic).

[quote]I noticed that the two that I could understand basically required you to build your own mattress from the options provided. Being a layperson I have no clue about how to make these choices. At best I can try something (just like anyone) and decide whether it works or it doesn’t work for me. So the question is…
does that mean that I have to become a do it yourself hobbyist in order to get a decent mattress?[/quote]

No not at all. There is more about the different ways to choose the most suitable mattress (locally and online) that can help you assess and minimize the risks involved of making a choice that isn’t as suitable for you as you hoped for in post #2 here.

When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.

Ps. When I asked the Essentia salesman about the differences in the higher end models he told me that they achieved varying levels of support in the hips vs the shoulders by adjusting the number of holes drilled out of the large support layers. I don’t think I saw any options to adjust different support “zones” in the custom manufacturers I mentioned.

Zoning systems can sometimes be very useful and worth considering for people who have more challenging circumstances or sensitivities, body types that are more difficult to “match” to a mattress, more complex medical issues, or who have a history of having more difficulty in finding a mattress that works well for them. There is more about zoning in this article and in post #11 here.

Like most mattresses that have a zoned design … Essentia mattresses don’t have customizable zoning and any zoning in their mattresses would be “fixed” and built in to the layers in their mattresses. Careful testing will tell you whether the zoning system in a mattress is suitable for you. There are a few manufacturers that do have customizable zoning options but these are less common.

From the other topic you posted in:

The question I have is… are there companies accessible to me in Vancouver (Canada) that make a low (or lower) emission product (in terms of off-gassing) of similar or better quality at a better price?

All mattresses and mattress materials will have some level of offgassing (VOC’s) so it’s really a question of knowing whether any harmful VOC’s are at “safe” levels. The only reliable way to to assess the “safety” of different materials in more general terms is based on lab tests and the certifications they have for harmful substances and VOC’s so that you have some assurance than the VOC’s are below the testing limits for the certification (see post #2 here for more information about some of the more reliable “safety” certifications). If the materials in a mattress or the mattress itself has a reliable “safety” certification then for most people they would certainly be “safe enough”.

Phoenix