Latex Mattress Retailers near Downsview (Toronto)

[phoenix]

Hi sb,

[quote] At the store the information the younger sales person (in his twenties?) gave me is different from what I read in Mattress Underground.

1. Sales clerk says there is just a narrow range of firmness that natural latex provides. This range is in the ILD 26 range. New Dawn Mattress said basically the same thing, that natural latex comes in just one firmness.[/quote]

This appears to be a common belief in the Toronto area (and has been the subject of discussion on the forum before in other Toronto threads) but it’s completely untrue even though a wider range of latex firmness levels is less common in the Toronto area. Latex comes in firmness levels from ultra soft to ultra firm even though many of the Toronto retailers don’t use (or have access to) the full range.

2. A soy-based synthetic latex called Koosh is what provides the core-support for Foamite mattresses. Their website says Koosh is a foam - I did not read that it is a synthetic latex, but the sales clerk clearly repeated many times that it is a synthetic latex.

As far as I know … Kush is a high quality polyfoam not synthetic latex. If you look at the law tag on the mattress is will include the types of materials in a mattress based on weight and if it’s synthetic latex then the law tag wouldn’t have any other material listed. If it’s “soy based” (see post #2 here) then it’s polyfoam not latex … although some very high quality HR polyfoam materials can have many of the properties of latex.

3. Natural latex softens over time, but it takes a while - it will be ten years before it begins to soften, and it will remain usable for long after that still.

All foam materials soften over time but latex softens more slowly and to a lesser degree than most other foam materials. softer latex will also be less durable than firmer latex (you can see some of the factors involved in the relative durability and useful life of a mattress in post #4 here).

Am I misunderstanding what Mattress Underground says re: firmness options for latex mattresses? Or are the sales people simply wrong? Maybe these particular merchants only provide latex at one firmness level and that is why they say what they say. Perhaps I can try the main foamite outlet in Vaughan at a later time - they may have more expertise there.

The sales people are simply wrong … and are confusing what may be available to them from their suppliers with what is available in the industry (and from other manufacturers or retailers in the Toronto area).

While I was there I tried their 26 ILD Latex mattress (with 4" Koosh core) for about 15 minutes and later their 34 ILD mattress (again with 4" Koosh core and for 15 minutes). Then I returned to the 26 ILD for one minute. When I moved from 26 to 34 ILD I didn’t like it - the 34 was too firm, but after 15 minutes it was good. Similarly, when I returned to 26 ILD I found it too soft, I liked the firmer option better. So based on this, I’ll look for a 34 ILD - especially if it will only get softer over time.

A big part of the PPP of this mattress would be the specific design and the Koosh material not just the ILD of the latex so I would keep an open mind about the firmness levels or mattress design that works best for you and use your personal testing for PPP as the criteria or “target” rather than a single specification (out of many that can make a difference) of one mattress you have tested as your “target”. ILD by itself is only small part of a bigger picture and when you are testing a mattress in person the ILD is not nearly as important as PPP.

Phoenix