My wife and I moved to Lexington Ky last fall and as part of that move she wanted new bedroom furniture, including a new mattress. The furniture proved more expensive than either of us thought and as such, I resisted the new mattress part for a bit. I moved our old mattress here with the intent of using it for a time with the new bed. In moving the mattress I really became aware of how degraded it had become. It is about 16 years old and is a double pillow top Simmons Beautyrest. The sides have broken down and there are very visible body impressions. To compensate for some of this we had been using a thick featherbed topper, which makes a huge improvement.
If a mattress breaks down slowly over many years like mine did, it may be difficult to realize because the changes are so subtle. As part of moving I spent a time living in motels sleeping on beds of unknown quality. I even spent over a month on a newer memory foam bed. None of these still felt as good as my old broke down Simmons when I was home for a weekend. All part of why I thought we could nurse a little more life out of it. Also, as I have gotten older, I wake up at night and I toss and turn for reasons I suspect are not related to the mattress.
As part of my search for a new mattress I discovered this site (many thanks to Phoenix). Many here can attest to the disappointing process of looking at new mattresses. I am a big believer in value, which really has nothing to due with cost, and the national manufactureres and retailers offer absolutely none that I could find. After doing what research the net allows, I decided to take a leap of faith and purchase a latex mattress. There was not a single store I had been that had anything latex to look at. If a sales person was even aware of latex as a material none of them had anything good to say. Some even told me you couldn’t get an all latex mattress. If you purchase a latex mattress and want value you are going to have to accept being somewhat on the fringe of a normal retail experience. It will be on you to research and choose a product that will be delivered sight unseen, personally untested and in pieces requiring you to literally make your own bed.
I choose the Arizona Premium Mattress Co from all of the other member manufacturers here. I can’t stress enough the importance of speaking with someone with years of experience with latex and I found that with Ken Hightower Arizona Premium. Ken’s recommendation was not the most expensive he offered, by the way. I’m a big guy and wanted something to allow for this. Ken recommended a 6" split Dunlop core (all natural in this case, not blended) with different ILD’s for mine and my wifes sides, with a single Talalay top layer. They offer the Talalay in both 100% natural or blended. I chose the blended due to others saying it is more durable than natural. Also, a 3" top layer of blended costs about what a 2" layer of 100% natural does. Bottom line was a king size latex mattress that finishes at 10", with the top quality cover included, for $1660 delivered to Kentucky. I didn’t see another company selling anything comparable for the money. I also can’t say enough about the importance of the input of someone like Ken. Regardless of return policies, latex components are heavy and bulky. If you can nail the layering combination as to types and firmnesses right from the start, you will save yourself a bunch of effort later.
As part of the value equation, I bought a new foundation from an Amazon reseller rather than from Arizona Premium. It was about $80 cheaper and included free shipping. They both looked the same in the pictures but without a true side by side comparison I can’t really say. Initially, when assembled, my foundation had gaps between slates of about 4", which exceeds Phoenix’s recommendation of staying under 3" for latex. More on that in a bit.
The mattress I ordered took about 5 weeks to arrive, which can seem a lifetime once you have committed to the deal. Maybe part of the wait can be attributed to an increase in demand due to this web site. For my wait, I received a product that was made to my specifications and out of top grade materials, no seconds or patched and glued latex layers. Everything arrived in three 60 lb boxes. In hindsight, I can’t imagine anyone delivering a one piece 10" king size mattress in preassembled form. I also can’t imagine trying to assemble it by myself. The bottom split layers weigh over 50 lbs each with the top piece being the same. They also don’t slide around well. Everything made it into the cover but no one cheated me out of any latex- it’s a tight fit. Again, credit to Arizona Premium, as I got what I payed for and every thing was well packaged, to the point of the average person’s inability to duplicate if the need to return arose. Again, the importance of sound advice up front to avoid mistakes.
After having spent a week or so on the mattress, I can definately say I am impressed. It’s hard to describe, but it’s almost like I’m not sleeping on anything. The latex forms so well at all points that you can’t feel the mattress. The tossing and turning seems to be somewhat less also. My wife thinks it’s firm but I think she misses the feeling of our featherbed topper, which I so far haven’t put on the new bed. Featherbeds get lumpy and shift around on a mattress and I’m trying to give the latex a chance on it’s own. At some point we may add an additional 3" of latex as a topper in a very soft ILD.
Our new bed has an internal wooden frame. The one piece foundations have a slip cover that covers the top and sides but not the bottom. This leaves the wood of the foundation directly on the wood in the bed frame and at times a wood to wood situation will squeak. To alleviate this issue, yesterday we tore the whole bed apart to get to the frame. I stapled pieces of a heavy moving blanket to the bed frame in the spots that it contacts the foundation. I also added a dozen 1" X 4"'s to the foundation’s top. There are now only about 1/4" between slats. I also screwed the slates down in three spots each. It was a pain to do but I think well worth it. Whether it’s my imagination or not, the bed felt even better last night than before with the gaps closed and the squeeking is gone.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to relate my experience and give a big thank you to Phoenix for providing this forum and to Ken Hightower at Arizona Premium. Don’t forget the 5% discount either.
