Didn’t find out all about the layering. Just that the top is 1" latex, and Dutch Craft said the lower layers were I believe the mid-grade foam. I believe they said or the salesman said that Dutch Craft doesn’t use any of the crappy foam in their mattresses. It had more coils than the other Dutch Craft mattresses beside it and the salesman said the coils were 12 gauge.
I know the info sheet on the bed and salesman mentioned they used furniture grade foam instead of mattress grade foam. Or something like that. It also has some bamboo cover or something.
The mattress looks like is around $600, so a budget mattress. The salesman said he sells alot of that particular model, and it had the 1" latex that I liked better than all just regular foam. And with it being more like a medium like I was looking at, decided to just go with it since I didn’t want to spend more money on gas anyways driving around to different mattress stores. Most of the Dutch Craft they had were the super plush that I didn’t like since I sank so deep in the mattress.
The other problem is that Dutch Craft makes several different models, but the retailer only had like 5 in the show room. So don’t have many to try out.
They did have a mattress by Sterling and Thomas that was in the same price range. They had brochures on the mattress and I believe it used the high grade foam. It had some numbers posted, but I can’t find the brochure I took with me. Only thing is the salesman said this brand had a “latex” mattress that they said they sent to have torn into and was told it had no actual latex in the mattress. So they quit selling it.
The details of “mid grade” foam depends on who is describing it but it’s likely that their mid grade foam is better quality/density than the “mid grade” foam used by larger manufacturers. Only the specific density though has any real meaning. One manufacturer’s mid grade could be another manufacturer’s low grade foam and could be high grade for another depending on what they are comparing it to so these kind of descriptive terms don’t really mean a lot.
I also haven’t seen low grade foam used by Dutch Craft who as your salesman mentioned normally doesn’t use any poor quality foam in their mattresses but of course I don’t know the details of all of their mattresses.
Generally furniture grade foam is 1.8 lb density and higher so if this is the case then it would be at lower end of the high quality range of polyfoam density.
I doubt that the coils are 12 gauge but they may be 12.5 gauge which are the thickest wire that is generally available and are very strong and firm.
Having even an inch of latex in a low budget mattress is not that common so that’s a bonus as well even though the latex layer is thin.
Overall the odds are good that you did well although it was still a blind purchase so there really isn’t any way to know for certain.
Again the words “high grade” don’t really mean much because they are used differently between different manufacturers. Sterling & Thomas was a brand name made by American Bedding which was recently purchased by Corsicana. They did use some higher quality materials in their mattresses but I don’t know if they have changed since their purchase.
If the mattress would fit your needs dreamfoam has an innerspring with 2 inches 19ild latex. It is in your price range and might be worth considering. I was looking into it but I need to go with something different based on my needs
Is that an online only mattress? I was reading some reviews on Amazon where they said they went from using high quality foam to now using the cheap stuff.
Yea it’s online. I think what you are reffering to is their hybrid latex and memory foam mattresses. The do use a 1.5 lb base but I believe it its a higher quality than some ( would ask Phoenix ) and the top layers are usually what goes first. Regardless I was referring to an innerspring with latex at a reasonable price since you had said you wanted an innerspring. The 2 inch latex layer in the bed would outlast polyfoam.the bed I suggested does not use the foam as a core it uses pocketed coils. As far as other materials in the pillow top I am sure if you call then you could easily get the info
The new foam is actually about the same price as their previous foam and is certainly not “cheap foam”. It’s a lower density but has higher performance.
You can read some comments about it in the first part of post #4 here, some comments from Dreamfoam in post #4 here, and much more detailed comments in response to one of the members here who changed their “review” in post #14 here but as Everready mentioned this change was in connection to one of their lower priced mattresses that used polyfoam in the base layers.
Their pocket coil / latex mattresses use a pocket coil in their support layers (not polyfoam) and they would be able to tell you any of the other specs you wanted to know about any of the other layers.
Post #13 here also has some comments about reviews in general which can be quite misleading if they are written by customers that aren’t familiar with all the many variables involved with foam specs or aren’t knowledgeable about the “quality” of the materials in a mattress they purchased.
Ok, thanks. Would be nice if they were at retailers to try out.
But I’m pretty certain I’m going with the non-flip Dutch Craft mattress I was looking at. I’ll have to call them to get all the specs of the mattress. But would have probably liked it better if it cost a little more and had the higher end foam in it. But it’s got 1" of Talalay Latex in the top layer, which I believe will help it last longer.
Problem is you are rather limited to trying out what the retailer has in their showroom floor.
How well does the Latex withstand damage from heat? That mattress I’m pretty much going with has the 1" Talalay Latex on top. I lay down on a heating pad alot on my mattress, and wasn’t sure if the heating pad would affect the mattress foam any with regards to breaking down the foam?
Was going out of town and decided to check with a few different independant mattress retailers and learned the first 3 I called no longer sell the Dutch Craft mattresses. They had some kind of problem or something, but didn’t tell me much. Sounded like a problem with the company or something. Maybe warranty problems? Was also looking to try out some Jamison mattresses, but I believe some mattresses that Jamison make use convulted foam, where as Dutch Craft claims to not use any of it in any of their mattresses.
Re Jason’s question about heating pad atop latex, wouldn’t the heat from a small medical type heating pad, which is what I thought he meant (though I could easily be wrong) be more concentrated than the heat from a heated mattress pad? Would that make a difference putting it on latex or would your response be the same? I’ve been trying to find an answer to this also.
Also, do you happen to know if there would be an issue with a medical type heating pad on a waterproof mattress cover? I wrote to Gotcha Covered, but they never responded.
Yes, I’m talking about a heating pad. Though not sure if the mattress I get will will latex on the top layer. I haven’t gotten a mattress yet. Just picked the best Dutch Craft in the store, which there wasn’t much to choose from. But would have liked it having better foam so it would last longer.
But ended up needing to go out of town a few more times, so figured I’d try some other mattress stores I didn’t get to stop by last time. And maybe check out some other brands. One thing I noticed about Jamison, is it looks like they use alot of convulted foam. At least that is what I usually see when reading info on one of their mattresses.
Was concerned how alot of retailers have dropped selling Dutch Craft due to some sort of problem or something. Sounded like it was something with them not taking care of problems.
It wouldn’t matter either way. Temperatures above about 120° or so would be too hot for the skin anyway and it would still be fine for the latex.
I’m not certain about the temperature limit for the mattress protector as each manufacturer may have different guidelines but the care instructions say to avoid high heat in the dryer which could blister the membrane. Some quick google searching suggests that low temperature drying (which is fine) is around 120° - 125° and high temperatures are much higher (in the range of 150° or higher) so this also suggests that a heating pad would be fine for the protector as well.
Convoluted foam can be fine depending on the type, density, thickness, density, and position of the convoluted layer.
With Dutch Craft I would go by the specifics of the mattress materials. Many retailers switch manufacturers from time to time so by itself this would mean very little. If there was a problem many retailers will also tell you specifically what it was (at least in my experience in talking with them).
The waterproof cover I’ve got is by Fabrictech Advance. It says to wash and dry it on HOT. So, that should be find. My encasement is cotton, so should be fine.
The problem I see with the convoluted foam is I was looking at buying a budget mattress. i.e. in the $500-$800 range or so. And I’d guess in this range Jamison wouldn’t be using HR convoluted foam, but probably the lower grade. I believe Dutch Craft uses 1.5+ sheet foam from the mattress I was looking at. Also going to see if I could get one made with no fire retardant chemicals. Maybe the locals don’t use it if they don’t see in California?
I was watching this guys’s videos and wouldn’t mind checking out his latex mattresses. Looks like he uses a base and a top. To where you could later on swap your top out if need which would be cheaper than buying a whole new bed.
You’re right that in the lower budget ranges that lower density foam would be more likely although I would still want to know the specifics rather than speculate. I would also doubt that most of their mattresses used actual HR polyfoam and it’s probably HD (HR is a specific grade of foam that uses a different chemical formula and is 2.5 lbs density or higher, has a compression modulus of 2.4 or higher, and has a resilience of 60% or more). Many foams that are listed as HR (High Resilience) are actually HD (meaning High Density although they are still good quality in most cases).
If lower density foam is also convoluted and there is more than “about an inch or so” in the comfort layers then it would be less durable than a solid layer and could certainly be the weak link of a mattress.
Sleep Essentials is certainly a good quality/value mattress and I also think highly of Lee (the owner) although I would take some of the information on their videos with a grain of salt because some of it is somewhat inaccurate or misleading. Mattresses that have individual component layers that can be exchanged are also a very flexible design and similar designs are quite popular because it gives you the chance to make comfort adjustments if necessary after a purchase and as you mentioned it can also allow you to change out the comfort layer if it softens faster than the other layers or if your needs and preferences change over time. They also are sold without a fire retardant (you need a prescription from a health professional to purchase it but this is normally a simple matter that they will help you with if necessary). They would be well worth a visit and you can see some comments about them in Clawdia’s posts in this thread and a forum search on sleep essentials or on perfectlatexmattress (you can just click these) will bring up more comments about them as well.
Thanks much for the detailed temperature info re the mattress protector. It’s very helpful. I’ll just put a towel under the heating pad for extra protection.
Sorry to tag my questions on to Jason’s mattress inquiry, but since he had asked about the heating pad as well, it seemed to make sense.
I went to another mattress store that had some different Dutch Craft mattresses. I tried out that non-flippable one again that I was looking at getting that had the 1" Latex on top. But noticed there was some pressure on my shoulder when laying on my side.
They had another Dutch Craft mattress that was flippable Plush, and felt better on my shoulder. Though I don’t think it has as many springs in it as the non-flippable one I was looking at. They both are the same price. But I’ll have to get the specs on the flippable mattress.
There’s another mattress store that has a different Dutch Craft flippable plush that I plan on checking out to compare to the other flippable plush. I’ll stop by next time I’m in that direction, but I’ve got the mattress names so I’ll find out the specs of both before hand.
If you can list the specs I’d certainly be happy to make a few comments about them or help you identify any weak links.
The only way to make meaningful comparisons between the quality of innersprings outside of how they “feel” (different innersprings have different properties) is based on the weight of the steel inside them and this isn’t a spec that manufacturers normally provide. I wouldn’t worry too much about coil counts because they are not really meaningful unless the type of spring, the gauge of the wire, coil diameter, the number of turns, and some of the other specs are the same in which case a higher coil count would indicate more steel (see post #10 here and this article). The innerspring in a mattress isn’t normally the weak link of a mattress.
On that Sterling and Thomas mattress that I also checked out that had that brochure. I found the info on the net. Not sure if these specs are used in all of their mattresses. I do like how they have springs all the way to the edge of the matters, vs. just having foam.
Forgot to mention that this one mattress store I went to. They said they had a Sterling and Thomas “latex” mattress that they sent to Dutch Craft to tear apart. And Dutch Craft said there wasn’t any “latex” in the mattress.
The foam they list is high quality and I also like the inserts they use for edge support vs a foam surround. The innerspring is also very good quality. The descriptions are only generic descriptions of the materials they use though so I would still want to know the specifics of any mattress I was interested in to make sure that there weren’t also other materials inside it.
It would have been interesting to see what was on the law tag but of course you never know if these are just stories meant to sell a mattress or put down a competitor or if they are actually true.