I live in Boston and am looking for advice about where to buy a mattress.
Hi Hystoryan,
The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the general Boston region are listed in post #2 here.
You have some great options in the area 
Phoenix
Wow. Great. Had no idea – as, indeed, until last night when I found your site, how involved it is to get the right mattress. Wish I’d known all this three years ago when I invested in my current, soon to be taken away, bed.
Thanks!
I’ve read the whole menu of items (along with many of the internal links), and my head is swimming, but I think I’ve got at least some of the basic ideas, and, after having made calls, visited some places, lay on a lot of beds, and located what appears to be a good outlet (Gardner Beds in Newton, Mass., and spent a lot of time with the salesperson, who’s a son of the owner, worked in the factory, seemed very knowledgeable, etc.), I believe I’ve narrowed things down to two beds. I’m hoping I could get some advice.
1.) All latex (100% natural Talalay), “medium” (32-19 [?]), 9." 2.) Innerspring (pocket coil, three zones, with some kind of reinforced middle [?], with a polyfoam edge) and a 3" latex (same material as above) top (11" mattress).
I got nothing in writing (do I need to?). What else do I need to know?
Hi Hystoryan,
I think highly of Gardner and you can see some of my comments about them at the end of this post and in the Boston list here.
The 9" latex would have no weak links if it was latex from top to bottom.
I don’t know the specifics of the materials in the pocket coil you are considering and if you can post the details here (post #4 here has the information you would need) I’d be happy to make some comments about it although based on my knowledge of Gardner it’s unlikely that it would have any obvious weak links either.
The information you need doesn’t need to be in writing as long as you know it.
Phoenix
I just talked to them and, if I have this right, the only polyfoam in the mattress is a 3/4" in the cotton cover of the mattress itself (over the latex top, as I understand it – one of the beds I liked had a 3" latex top, the other a 2"). He didn’t know the density, but he’s going to ask the factory. Not sure if that’s enough info or not.
Thanks again for the help here. Had no idea all this was so involved!
Hi Hystoryan,
3/4" of polyfoam in a quilting layer isn’t a durability issue.
The density of the latex would be a “comfort spec” and isn’t important (you can feel the softness/firmness of the latex with your testing).
The information you need to assess the quality of a mattress and the materials inside it is described in post #4 here.
An “all latex” mattress that only has 3/4" of polyfoam in a quilting layer wouldn’t have any weak links and would be a very durable mattress.
I would need to know the specifics of all the layers for the innerspring mattress you are considering to make any meaningful comments about the quality of the materials.
Phoenix
As I understand it, the only layer in the innerspring (above the coils) is that 2" (or in another case) 3" layer of 100% Talalay latex, plus the 3/4" of polyfoam in the cotton covering. Does that make sense?
Hi Hystoryan,
I would need to know all the layers and components listed from top to bottom (or bottom to top) that add up to the thickness of the mattress (or close) including the density of any polyfoam and the type and blend of any latex in the mattress.
Phoenix
Sorry, I’m not making myself clear.
As I understand it, this innerspring consists of the pocket coils on top of which is three inches of Talalay latex. And that’s it. (Is that not possible?)
Again, I really appreciate your help with this!
Hi Hystoyan,
Yes … it’s certainly possible and if that’s all that is in it (outside of the cover of course) there would be no weak links in the mattress
Phoenix
Excellent. Thanks again.