hi phoenix. thanks for all your advice in the industry. i want to throw a challenge out to you and/or the community on here. I recently purchased a naturepedic eos classic mattress. tried all sorts fromsavvy rest, to flobeds, to berkeley ergo/ european sleep works, to conventional, to casper, to reverie, to memory foam. but the naturepedics in-store comfort and being really impressed with the construction and flexibility that led me to select the naturepedic eos.
one thing that became obvious is that the official naturepedic offerings lacked a goldilocks “medium” their official “cushion firm” was quite firm and the next softer was super plush. nothing “medium”. but because of their design, you have 2 choices of coil gauge (plush and firm), and 3 choices of foam density (soft, med and firm). they let you mix and match and have a 90 day layer swap, so i picked 2 of my own configs to fill that gap in their official lineup
below are the configs i tried in order of firmness. #2 and #3 are the two i chose (left and right), since i couldn’t make up my mind in the store.
[ol]
[li]-naturepedic “plush” – plush coils / soft latex. this was too soft for my liking.[/li]
[li]-my own “medium” – plush coils / med latex. this seemed good in store, but might feel a little soft in practice.[/li]
[li]-my own “medium+” – plush coils / firm latex. this was noticeably softer than naturepedic’s “cushion firm”. but in practice maybe feels too firm. wondering if it/I just needs some break-in time to soften up a bit.[/li]
[li]-naturepedic “cushion firm” -firm coils / soft latex. this felt too firm in the store.[/li]
but as everyone experiences, no matter how much research you do and trying in store, noting gives you the true test other than actual sleep over a long enough time. though i probably haven’t given enough time on either to make a truly experienced decision, my preliminary assessment is that something in between my #2 and #3 would be ideal.
as you know it’s not just the comfort layer that contributes to the feel, the support layer plays a tremendous role in the the overall feel. further evidenced by their “cushion firm” with soft latex feeling significantly firmer than my own two “mediums” which both had firmer foams but with softer coils.
soo…. long story short, looking for ideas to find that in between i want that don’t break the bank and also don’t end up masking the feel aspects that i do indeed like about their mattress. there are obvious options like a topper or a different foam like a MED-FIRM, but they don’t offer that.
i am really fascinated by the effect of the spring’s stiffness on the feel of the soft latex in #4 “cushion firm”, compared to my “medium” with medium latex. so ever so slightly stiffening up the the coil’s contribution in my #2 “medium” config is what i think i want to achieve. obviously i can’t change the actual stiffness, but here are some of my ideas and welcome your feedback or additional ideas.
- put a thin layer of something between the coils and latex. what comes to mind is a ⅛” to ¼” of wool felt. this wouldn’t be enough to significantly compress the springs, but might lessen the spring’s reaction to pressure, thus in my mind might make the overall firmness a little stiffer.
- -or- adding maybe 1” of some sort of foam to the bottom (underneath the coils) to partially compress the springs. I think berkeley ergonomics and/or europpean sleep works in berkeley do this in some of their offerings. my thinking is that if the springs are partially compressed, they will be a little stiffer. i thinnnk there would be enough room in the casing to achieve this, but this might also have other unforeseen consequences if everything in the casing is under greater compression.
your’s or anyone’s input is welcomed.