We live in Ottawa and after having read the overviews on this site my wife and I (early 30’s) went to two regional manufacturer shops mentioned in the Ottawa thread. Our existing queen mattress is 20 years old and we are now both waking up with sore backs.
First I must say that I had a very hard time feeling the difference in pressure relief and posture among the different products tested. Before we left home I tested our old mattress as if I was in a store, thinking that it should not test well. Pressure relief-wise I guess it wasn’t great but I couldn’t prove that our posture was bad on it. This makes me wonder how I’ll be able to know that a new one we buy won’t also result in morning pain?
Anyhow, we went to Matelas Lapensee and the owner helped us out. Our 1st and 2nd preferences had the following specs (from bottom to top):
6" 3lb polyfoam support
2" natural Talalay latex
Quilting (top and bottom) with 3lb foam at 10lb compression (1-2" thick)
Same as above but instead of foam support core it’s 860 pocket coils (6") with edge reinforcement
They make their own quilting and say the top quilting described above is far better than anything else on the market. They also offer a cheaper quilting ($300 less) with 2lb foam at 15lb compression and lesser fabric.
We then went to Matelas Dauphin and our preferred mattress was:
6" 880 pcoket coils with 2.5lb edge foam
1" 2.7 to 3.0lb polyfoam support layer
1" natual Talalay latex
Quilting was foam and wool
Price on this was the same as the one from Lapensee with the cheaper quilting ($1,600-$1,700 queen set).
Any comments on the likely quality of the above options?
Good testing following the testing guidelines is important but it can be difficult for some people to “read” the more subtle cues … especially with alignment. If you are uncertain I would tend to lean towards slightly firmer rather than softer (a mattress that is too firm can always be softened by adding a topper but a mattress that is too soft can’t be made firmer without removing and replacing layers). If you really can’t tell then the exchange policies of the store may become an an important part of your “personal value equation” so you can sleep on the mattress for a period of time and then use your longer term experience to decide if the mattress is suitable for you and still have good options remaining if it isn’t.
[quote]1) 6" 3lb polyfoam support
2" natural Talalay latex
Quilting (top and bottom) with 3lb foam at 10lb compression (1-2" thick)[/quote]
These are all high quality materials (assuming the quilting foam is polyfoam and not memory foam) and there are no obvious weak links in the mattress. 3 lb polyfoam is a very high quality material and of course latex is a high quality material as well.
[quote]2) Same as above but instead of foam support core it’s 860 pocket coils (6") with edge reinforcement
They make their own quilting and say the top quilting described above is far better than anything else on the market. They also offer a cheaper quilting ($300 less) with 2lb foam at 15lb compression and lesser fabric.[/quote]
The choice between pocket coils and HR polyfoam in the support layers would be a personal preference. Both are good choices in terms of quality. 2 lb foam is also a high quality HD polyfoam but it wouldn’t have the same resiliency and performance as 3 lb HR which is more “latex like” in how it feels and responds and they are right that this is a much higher quality material than you would normally see in a quilting layer (or in a support layer). There would are no obvious weak links in either of these choices as well.
[quote]6" 880 pcoket coils with 2.5lb edge foam
1" 2.7 to 3.0lb polyfoam support layer
1" natual Talalay latex
Quilting was foam and wool[/quote]
Once again these are all high quality materials with no obvious weak links except the specs don’t mention the thickness of the quilting foam. If it’s more than an inch or so then I would want to know the density of the polyfoam.
You are certainly looking at choices between “good and good” and in terms of quality they would all make better quality/value choices than most of the mainstream mattress that would be available in your area. The hardest part may be deciding which one is most suitable for your needs and preferences and which one is the best match for your personal value equation. In terms of quality none of these would be a “mistake”.