Just Purchased Berkeley Ergo Bed - Some Follow Up Questions

Hi Phoenix,

First I wanted to so thanks for the site and all of the great info.

After a few weeks of mattress shopping, I was getting a little overwhelmed by the choices. I had narrowed my search down to a couple of Beautyrest Black options at Macys but something in the back of my mind was saying that it wasn’t right.

My current mattress is from a nice little custom place in Southern California and I was missing the idea of quality materials, customer service, knowledgable staff and product longevity.

My search led me to this site, which reiterated what I had been feeling about my misguided Beautyrest options. Ultimately I trusted my gut and paid attention to the reviews, a lot of which were saying the materials were bad and sagged prematurely.

Anyways, I now live in NYC and tried a few of the recommendations today (Longs, Dixie Foam and Scott Jordan).

After making my way downtown, my last stop was Scott Jordan and I immediately knew that the combo of pocket coils and latex in the Berkeley Ergonomics mattresses were right for me.

After some lengthy discussions and testing, I know I purchased the right mattress, the Alpine.

This leads me to my first question about firmness.

I purchased the Alpine Bed in “B” firmness. For me it was between this firmness and the softer version (pretty sure it was the C) on the other side of the showroom bed. The softer version actually felt better initially, and took all the tension out of my back, but at the same time, my hips were sinking a little into the mattress, making my chest open up. It was comfortable in the store, but I could imagine that in the longrun, that might not be the best for my body, so I went with the firm. The salesperson also highly recommended the firm.

There’s a part of me that loved that initial comfort of the more plush version, but I think I should stick with the firmer version for longevity. I know that I can have them switch out the latex top after delivery if I want, but I’d love some piece of mind that I’ve made the right decision right off the bat. Please let me know if you have any opinions on this. I’m 5’ 10" 170lbs and usually sleep on my back, though sleep on my side occasionally.

Second, I’m interested in getting a mattress encasement/protector for allergy/dust mite/bed bug protection. Are there any you recommend given the elasticity of the latex foam top and knit cover in the mattress?

Also, are there any mattress pads or types of fitted sheets you recommend over others that don’t obscure the breathability/movement benefits of the mattress.

Thanks in advance.
Josh

Hi JoshM,

Scott Jordan has seen and worked with you in person and they are very knowledgeable about their mattresses (NOTE ADDED: They are now a member of this site as well). I would never second guess whatever you decided together was best based on any “theory at a distance” when I haven’t seen you on a mattress myself. They know much more about what may be best for you when it comes to their own mattress designs than I would. I would trust what the two of you decided and if it needs to be changed once you’ve had the chance to sleep on it then based on your personal experience you have this option available. Your own testing and your own experience on a mattress will tell you much more than I could.

Post #89 here talks about the different types of protectors. These are top mattress protectors though which I would tend to prefer unless there is a compelling reason to choose the encasement type in which case you would be much more limited to a choice between a very tight weave fabric with a small micron size (@ 6 microns) such as these (less stretchy) or a membrane type encasement (similar to the ones that cover the top surface) but which surround the mattress (less breathable).

Phoenix