Hello, this is my first post. Nice site you’ve got here.
My name is Dave. I’m 31 and from northern NJ. About 20 miles west of NYC. I’m 6’4", and weigh 280lb. I’m looking into getting a queen size mattress. It will be only me sleeping in it for now at least. I sleep randomly on my back, stomach, or side. I can’t stand heat while trying to sleep. I need it to be in the 60-65 temperature range to sleep comfortably on an average latex or innerspring mattress. I’m looking to buy a new mattress. I have a pretty low budget. For one, I don’t want to spend more than $150/year of good use. Preferably no more than $100/year. I don’t like dealing with warranties and all that, so I’m hoping to just get a mattress that will just last. Also, I’d like to spend relatively little on it because it’s just not practical money-wise for me to spend $1000’s of dollars on a mattress. I have a platform bed. Just solid wood. No slats of springiness to it at all.
I’ve owned two mattresses in my adult life. The first was a king size coil mattress - probably mid range quality from one of the major manufacturers. I bought a complete mattress/boxspring/frame set, so it was with whatever it was designed for. That only lasted me about 5 years before it was pretty messed up. It was just horribly sunk in and gave no support anymore.
The second was a DIY 9" Talalay queen size mattress I got on ebay from some seller who had a store located in Florida. I actually went to Florida for vacation that year and tried one out in the showroom, then ordered what I liked best from ebay and had it shipped to me. It came as three 3" talalay latex layers, a 1/2" or so really soft top non-latex layer, and a zip cover. I’m not 100% sure, but i believe the three layers of latex were 35, 32, 28 ILD. I believe this has lasted me about 10 years, but I’ve had to replace to zip cover twice. It was a terry cover, and they always tore eventually, then latex crumbs would start falling out so I’d need to replace it. It always seemed to happen in the area by the middle of my back (about 70-80% of the way up the bed, starting from the foot). Now that the latex foam is about 10 years old, it’s kind of falling apart. It’s still very supportive. If it were contained, I don’t think it’s performance is even hurt by the fact that it’s getting brittle. But every time this happens, I order another zip cover, but end up losing alot of foam and it makes a mess of my bedroom until the shipment comes in.
The all talalay mattress was really comfortable. No complaints at all as far as comfort or heat. It does have alot of convenience-type problems though. For one, the layers weren’t glued or sewn together, so over time they would always end up “pyramiding” (the higher up layers always shifted left, so the right side of the bed was like a pyramid). Also, the 1/2" soft top layer would always just bunch up under the zip cover. The problem with the cover ripping may have been caused by this. Maybe the foam layers were stretching it too far when not neatly stacked. One other strange problem I had was fitted sheets would always end up tearing roughly in the middle of the mattress. This never happened to me with traditional mattresses. I don’t think I ever had a fitted sheet last more than about 6-9 months (of actual use). I wonder if this is due to the mattress top material not being smooth and slippery. Mattresses I’ve had in the past were always made out of that slippery material. Maybe this allows the fitted sheet to slide around when I move in the bed. A terry cover maybe grips the fitted sheet and puts too much stress on it. I’ve never had any of the problems mentioned about this with any other mattress. Only complaints I have about past mattresses was comfort, and longevity. Any thoughts?
So with the most recent tear of the zip cover, I’m starting to get tired of dealing with this. The latex foam is falling apart now worse than ever, and I might rather get a new mattress that (hopefully) won’t have the problems this one did. I’m currently using a $30 inflatable camping mattress temporarily, but I got busy and didn’t buy a mattress, so I’ve been sleeping on it for about a month now. It’s not bad for a $30 air mattress, but it’s certainly not comfortable compared to a real mattress. My main problem is how hot it is. At 60 degrees in my bedroom, I still sweat wherever I’m touching the mattress. We recently have had a heat wave, and the AC can’t keep up. At 70 degrees, I can’t even sleep.
I was looking at the Ultimate Dreams latex top mattress on Amazon. It has all insanely good reviews. And looking around here, it seems you guys have no problem with it. I’d like to know first of all, if you guys think it would be an upgrade or a downgrade to the latex mattress I’m used to. The one I have is all Talalay, so I would think technically better. But being DIY, 10 yeas old, and all the problems I mentioned, the Ultimate Dreams would probably be at least as good. I’m hoping it won’t have the problems my old DIY one had. I’m hoping it will last at least 4 years, 6 would be better, 10 would be awesome. I’m hoping it will be comfortable for me, and last decently long considering my weight. I know an all latex mattress doesn’t crush down like springs or memory foam do. But how will the regular foam base of this mattress do over time? Also, will the temperature feel like sleeping on latex since it’s 3" of latex? Is that enough to help with heat before the support layer starts? This mattress just seems to good to be true for the price. But considering that no one who reviewed it was anything but completely happy with it, I’m pretty convinced. Although it’s pretty new, so there’s no long term reviews yet.
If I do get this, what would you recommend as far as the firmness? My old mattress always felt best to me when the zip cover was off. It was softer without the top, and I’d sink in more. But I don’t know if it would have actually been good to sleep on every night. I know initial impressions of conforat aren’t always the same as long term.
Also, I searched this forum and the internet for info on this Eco-Lux 13" Florence Latex Foam Mattress - LATX3000 mattress, but couldn’t find much info. I like the fact that it’s thicker. Makes me think it would handle me better. But it seems all the terms they use are their own marketing terms, so that makes me wary of it. It does seem to have good overall reviews though. Any thoughts on it?
Any other recommendations of good bang for your buck mattresses in the lower price range? Thanks for the excellent site. Hope to hear back soon.