Narrowed down to Obasan (Soma) or Dormio - Value?

[phoenix]

Hi Rocket,

The people at Soma have said there there is never a sale on the Obasan that this is the price ($4499) it is always at and that only promotional add ons such as pillows or duvet are ever added. The Stratus at Dormio is currently onsale for the next few days at $2999. In the world of mattress where “sales” happen all the time and paying full price should be avoided…I feel it kind of refreshing to have a firm retail price…paying for what it is worth. But value is so hard to judge.

There is more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses.

The Obasan uses 12" of 100% natural Dunlop latex with an organic cotton cover quilted with organic wool (they don’t mention the amount of wool on the Obasan site) so it uses all high quality and durable materials and there would be no weak links in the mattress. The middle 4" layer can also be customized in terms of firmness and zoning so this would also be a factor in the value of the mattress. They don’t say on the site but it seems that the latex is 100% natural but not certified organic. EDIT: Looking at the Soma site they do say that they use 900 grams of wool and assuming that this would be 900g/meter then this would be the equivalent of 26.5 oz/yd.

The Dormio Stratus has 11" of 100% natural Dunlop latex and also has a cotton cover quilted with wool (29 oz/yd) so in terms of the “commodity value” of the mattress it would be very similar. Their 100% natural Dunlop is also certified organic. It can also be customized for firmness on each side but not for zoning.

In terms of the quality of the latex they would both be equivalent to each other in terms of quality, durability, and performance although the organic certification would add to the cost of the Dormio layers (even though it is less costly overall). There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here and more about organic Dunlop latex in post #6 here.

The name of the manufacturer would make no difference in the “value” of a mattress because outside of PPP … a mattress is only as good as it’s construction and the quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label.

One of the differences between the two mattresses is that the Obasan has each latex piece individually wrapped…SOMA says that this stops shifting that can happen when they are not wrapped. Dormio contradicts this as on the Stratus the latex pieces lay directly on top of each other and they said that this is done BECAUSE there is shifting if they are individually wrapped.

You can see my comments about individually wrapped layers in post #2 here. Dormio is correct and while it’s not likely that the layers would shift in either mattress … latex is very “sticky” and if anything a fabric wrapping would make them more likely to shift not less.

I like that the latex that is sourced for the Obasan comes from their own source and that this ensures consistency of product. I am not sure where the latex for a private label like Dormio comes from for the Stratus…thought they do have another line that is made by the Sleeptex, the makers of Obasan. Could the quality of the latex used in the Stratus vary as they try and pull latex from other sources?

I believe that SleepTex uses Latex Green as their latex supplier and they are used by many other manufacturers as well but 100% natural latex made by different reputable latex manufacturers would be very closely equivalent regardless of the manufacturer. Outside of the organic certification with the Dormio latex which for some people would add to the value of their latex vs the same type and blend of latex that isn’t certified (although it would make no difference in terms of the quality, durability, or performance of the latex) … they both use high quality materials that would be closely comparable to each other and one wouldn’t be “better” than the other.

So the bottom line is that in terms of the “commodity value” of each mattress the only real differences would be the additional inch of latex in the Obasan, any differences in the cover, the organic certification for the latex in the Stratus, and any small additional cost for the individual wrapping in the Obasan. These differences by themselves certainly wouldn’t be enough to justify the significantly higher cost of the Obasan.

Having said that … the most important part of the “value” of a mattress is PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and only you can decide whether any difference in terms of PPP, the additional customization options of the Obasan and any differences between the return or exchange policies at each store and the options you have after a purchase to further customize each mattress, or any other differences between them that are part of your personal value equation that are important to you would be “enough” to justify the significant difference in price since the type, amount, and quality of the materials in both of them would be very similar.

Phoenix