We live in the Burlington Vermont and we’re having a very difficult time finding any local stores carrying latex mattresses. We found one carrying the Nature’s Rest Progeny which, in our quick stay at the store, felt quite nice to us. The salesman was not very knowledgeable about latex in general, nor was he able to find the ILD numbers for the makeup of that specific mattress, other than the sign saying it was a “firm” latex mattress.
We have two personal recommendations to do business with Ken @ Arizona Premium Mattress Company, but he was not able to recommend a firmness level of his beds compared to Nature’s Rest.
Does anyone from Northern New England have awareness of any other mattress stores selling latex around the Burlington area, ideally to purchase from locally, but also to compare to the online value Ken provides?
-or- does anyone have numbers on the Progeny series?
Thanks in advance,
Jeff
Hi jaicovt,
Post #4 here should help 
The “quality specs” of mattresses are of course important to know because this will tell you about the quality/durability of the materials in the mattress and the value of the mattress. What I call the “comfort specs” though have to do more with the softness/firmness (ILD) of the layers and because this can be tested with a local purchase … it is often not as easy to get and is not information that determines quality. Of course this can make it more difficult to use a local mattress as a model for an online purchase but this is also part of the reason this information is not as easy to find. In many cases as well … smaller differences in layering and ILD can make a much bigger difference than people may realize and providing ILD information can sometimes lead people to believe that it is easer to “duplicate” another mattress than it really is.
ILD information is available for the PLB mattresses though and some of the other options listed (such as Gold Bond) may also provide this. These may give you a sense of general preferences even if they have different layering than the options that are available for an online purchase and can’t be “duplicated” exactly.
Hope this helps.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
Thank you so much for the quick response, and also for the link to the other thread (I’m not sure what I did wrong when searching to miss that recent one, whoops). I agree with the other thread in that it is very hard to find a quality latex mattress around this area. That pulls online outlets to the forefront, but without even much to try out locally to see what we really like, we’re still in the pinch — and if we had enough selection to find one we like locally than we’d prefer to buy from the local shop. Hmmm… Thanks for all your insight on this topic – one I had no idea was so complex before I started researching!
jaico
Hi jaicovt,
I never mind doing some searching for the members here because I’m usually familiar with the search terms that will bring up the best options … and it also gives me a chance to add to any posts with any new outlets or further research I’ve done in the area.
Pure Latex Bliss are high quality all talalay latex mattresses with better than average value and their Natural line has known specs (which you can see in post #1 here). They can be helpful in providing some “latex guidance”. Gold Bond also tends to be more open about their specs and can be good value as well (depending on the outlet).
Even without local testing … most of the manufacturers that are members here and sell online … including Ken … do a very good job in helping their customers choose the layering that has the best odds of success but local testing can still be a helpful guideline that can help them help you more effectively. This depends on knowing the layering of any mattresses you are testing though and also realizing that they are usually only rough guidelines or “pointers” rather than mattresses that can be duplicated exactly because of differences in construction. They are all informative, helpful, and easy to work with on the phone.
Phoenix
Phoenix – thanks to your advice here, and on the parallel thread about local dealers in Burlington VT I was also involved in, we decided to order a mattress from Arizona Premium Mattress ( www.Mattresses.Net ) . Thanks to you getting the specs of the Nature’s Rest mattress we liked, we worked with Greg in Arizona to get the perfect bed for us. We’re actually upgrading from a 2" comfort layer to 3" for a relatively small upcharge. We’ve heard great things on your mattress forum as well as a personal recommendation for mattresses.net, so we have our fingers crossed! We’ll post back here when we get it in about 3 1/2 weeks. Thanks again for your help!
Hi jaicovt,
Congratulations on your new mattress
As you know I think highly of Arizona Premium. They are a great choice with great value.
I’m looking forward to your “report” in a few weeks. Thanks too for your questions and feedback along the way.
Phoenix