I’ve read through most of the articles and searched the forum, but I haven’t found any reference to what I was told at a local mattress store. This is a place that has been mentioned here on MU as generally having high quality goods.
When I said that I was leaning toward an all natural latex mattress including a Dunlop latex core, the owner there said that the natural latex core wouldn’t be as durable as pocketed coils, and that it would be especially susceptible to dry-rot due to the dry Colorado climate here. He brought out a sample of a crumbling piece of latex.
That seemed odd to me since in my research I haven’t heard of a dry climate being particularly bad for latex. I wondered if the latex he had there was indeed all natural, but who knows. He said that he used to manufacture beds with latex as the core, but switched to pocketed coils as they last longer. I can imagine that some pocketed coils could last longer than some latex, especially if there are fillers, etc, but does this really make sense as a general rule? I’m strongly considering an all latex mattress from SleepOnLatex and I’ll certainly ask them directly as well. Oh, and the store owner also said that the motion transfer would be “zero” on his hybrid beds due to the pocketed coils, which sounds like hyperbole from what I’ve read, so I’m wary of taking what he has told me as fact.
On a slightly related topic, how necessary is a mattress pad on top of the cotton & wool mattress cover that comes as part of the mattress? Some places seem to suggest I’d be crazy not to put a mattress pad on to protect the latex and have it last much longer. Other places suggest it’s not necessary at all and that it’s better to just put on sheets so that you get the benefit of the wool and the feel of the mattress. How much difference would it make if our 5-year-old occasionally slept with us? He rarely has an accident at night, but you never know. Might the included (partly) washable cover be enough?
I wish we could “tag” people here like we can on Facebook. LOL. If no one responds here you may want to ask one of the “experts” on here. Ken from Arizona Premium Mattress has been super helpful with me over the last couple of days. He’s in Arizona with very dry climate so he can definitely answer this question. I found him super honest.
We live in Colorado and had bought an all natural talalay latex mattress, maybe 2005, from a latex store in Boulder. It didn’t dry rot too bad. It did develop impressions after just a few years that weren’t warrentable because you couldn’t see them, just feel them. Rotating a king size latex mattress is no small feat due to the weight. It also developed a strange odor any time there was humidity around. There was some crumbling and when we contacted the store to replace it they said that after 13 yrs or so it should be replaced as it would be crumbling.
This time around we avoided latex and went with microcoils on coils with organic wool and organic cotton. We went to the Denver Naturepedic store. We got the pillowtop EOS. All the elements are replaceable due to the zipper cover. Also, everything I read said it isn’ the coils that wear out, only the foam comfort layers. This one has no foam. I fully expect it to be the last mattres we buy. The only real problem with it is we went from a king to two twinXLs since we got adjustable bases. The twinXLs are not as long as the king and it is annoying to sleep on a short mattress if you are tall. We tried a number of different mattresses and they were all short in the twinXLs. Only one company was upfront about the short length in their specs and that was My Green Mattress.
I bought their Pure Echo for my mom and she loves it. I could see buying that as a base and then putting your own latex comfort layers on top so that they can be replaced when they go bad as a very economical solution. Their Pure Echo is organic wool, organic cotton and coils. It is advertised as being very firm. My mom loves a firm mattress and says this one is plenty comfortable and soft for her.
Such amazing info you have provided. I hope this is ok to interject here. I have had a number of Talalay, Dunlop, and mixed layer beds. I am now looking to buy a bed with microcoils. Your pillow top EOS sound nice, plus I too need an another bed or a family member. I’ll check out the Pure Echo too. Thank you!
Sleepytime, the Denver Naturepedic store is advertising 20% off. I wish they had that discount when we ordered. I don’t think you need to live here to take advantage of it. Just call them and order through them. You still get the ability to exchange layers etc because nothing is done at the store, it is all through the mail.
Thank you so very much. If you don’t mind me asking…are you a side sleeper? I too have an adjustable base, and both my husband and i are very tall. Stilll thinking, but this is wonderful info.
Yes I am a side sleeper as is my husband. But we both like soft beds so got the following configurations.
For me: Plush coils with two layers of medium microcoils. This is slightly more supportive.
For my husband: Firm coils with two layers of soft microcoils. I found this to be too soft but my husband, who has never met a bed that is too soft, loved it.
We ordered a Joybed twinXL. Came and was 75". We complained. They send another. It was 78". We returned both.
Ordered a MyGreenMattress and it was 78" or 79". But they advertise theirs as 79" so at least they were more honest. We didn’t like the zoned coils. Much too firm so we returned it.
Then the Naturepedic store promised theirs were a full 80". And for the price I believed them. First one came twinXL = 75". And I was mad. I paid a fair amount for twinXL and it came twin sized. So they sent another. 77" or 78". I was still mad but at this point I decided everyone was doing short twinXLs.
So unfair to short the mattresses this way. It is very uncomfortable to sleep diagonally on a twinXL mattress when you are used to a king sized bed that is a full 80".
I completely agree. I measured one of ours and it’s a full 80". Didn’t bother with the other one because I know by eyeballing it for a year it’s the same size. We have a Beautyrest Black and a Nest ASH. There is NO excuse for sending a regular twin size bed when you buy a XL. I’m not sure I’d be able to accept anything smaller than 79". You should get what you pay for.
April,
I’m glad you chimed in. It is good to know some manufacturers make them to the right size. I was so discouraged with my mattress shopping experience that I figured they were all made short.
I was trying to avoid latex this time around and after the Naturepedic turned up so short I spent some time trying to find who to try next but couldn’t find anyone beyond those I’d already tried that made an organic foam free mattress so just settled.
What is a Nest ASH? I looked on the Nest website but couldn’t figure out which mattress it is.
I’m embarrassed. Should have been easy to figure out. So I went back to their web site and looked at the pull down mattress menu. Phew, less embarrassed because it doesn’t list the Alexander part of the name and that is all the further I went in taking a quick look.
