I am 5’11" and weigh 240. I sleep on my side. I am on an older Select Comfort Pillow Top now. I prefer it somewhat firm. I sometimes have my arm go asleep at night and force me to switch sides. Also happens with hip pain as well.
I am thinking of a Sleep on Latex Mattress that is 6"/2" medium or firm
Then a topper made of 2" Medium Dunlop and 1" Soft Dunlop from SOL as well
Total of about 12" with the covers
These will be (2) Twin XLs on my Select Comfort base
I might be of some help here. I’m also primarily a side sleeper but even bigger than you at 6’4"/300lbs and recently tried the SoL Standard Firm mattress which is a 6" base of 44ILD and 2" topper of 30ILD in a cotton/wool encasement. It is a VERY firm mattress with what I believe most would call a hard feel. SoL has great and responsive customer support via phone or email so you should probably discuss your specific needs with them.
In their Standard Firm configuration the SoL mattress is definitely a sleep on it mattress rather than having any feeling of sleeping in it, even given my size and weight. It’s so firm that I first felt there was no way I’d be able to sleep on it as it almost feels like sleeping directly on a carpeted floor. I thought that with my weight I’d require a thicker mattress of at least 12" of height but that turned out to be no concern at all. It provided plenty of support and I had no issue at all with feeling as if I was bottoming out or that I needed additional height for more support. It definitely took a few nights to get used to the firmness and then I found that its support was excellent although I was having some pressure point pain and discomfort.
I then contacted their CS and decided to try adding an additional medium 2" topper of 30ILD for pressure relief. When you contact them to add a topper to their mattress they consider it a comfort adjustment and offered it to me at half their normal price, and you may need to ask for that as an accommodation. I believe that discount would only apply for a single topper. When I added the topper it did add some comfort and pressure relief but I immediately experienced lower back pain due to hammocking. This was due to having too thick of a comfort layer with the combined 4" of 30ILD latex on top of the extra firm base. So I was unable to find sufficient support with the layered combo and found the Standard Firm mattress on its own to be too firm for comfort.
SoL customer support was exceptional through the whole process and I wouldn’t hesitate dealing with them again or recommending them. Unfortunately the products I tried didn’t suit me and my specific needs but they are clearly high quality products. The latex is very uniform and only has the typical latex rubbery vanilla like smell which does dissipate in time. I did have a problem with the smell from their mattress cover and I’m sure it was from the wool they use which has a farm like barnyard odor which wouldn’t dissipate. This seems to be a pretty common complaint if you read the mattress reviews on their site and they don’t seem to have a solution to eliminating it.
With your weight being lower than mine you may be better served with their medium mattress and I’d suggest you discuss that with them directly. I think your initial plan of adding 3" of medium/soft topper to their standard mattress would result in too thick and soft a comfort layer of effectively 5", and that could result in hammocking. Also soft latex of ~20ILD is generally not recommended for those over about 220 lbs since we’d tend to go right through it, so medium of 28-30ILD is more suitable as a comfort layer. Again you can discuss this with them before ordering.
One other thing to note is regarding their return policy, which allows you to return one item per year in each product category. So that would allow the return of one mattress and one topper within one year, so if you bought more than one topper you would only be allowed to return one if the setup didn’t work out for you. Just something to keep in mind and they were very up front about this during my communication with their customer support. They are very responsive and courteous both before and after the sale. A great company to work with which I recommend highly!
Hope this was helpful, and please let us know what you end up getting and how it works out!
@Bill,
Thanx for the detailed post. I had called SOL first before posting here and they were not helpful at all. Basically they wouldn’t make a recommendation to me about anything which I thought was strange.
Did you end up returning both your Standard Firm mattress and 2" topper to Sleep On Latex? Did you find another setup that worked better for you? Thanks.
Since I couldn’t get a comfortable configuration I ended up returning the mattress, but I previously had returned one of their toppers within a year so I couldn’t return the topper which they made clear in advance. Still working on finding my ideal match… it’s an ongoing venture! :unsure:
Welcome back to the Mattress Forum! Thanks for your question. Thanks too @Sweet Dreams/ Bill for your excellent insights, you are a great TMU consumer advocate .
[quote]I am 5’11" and weigh 240. I sleep on my side. I am on an older Select Comfort Pillow Top now. I prefer it somewhat firm. I sometimes have my arm go asleep at night and force me to switch sides. Also happens with hip pain as well.
I am thinking of a Sleep on Latex Mattress that is 6"/2" medium or firm
Then a topper made of 2" Medium Dunlop and 1" Soft Dunlop from SOL as well
Total of about 12" with the covers
These will be (2) Twin XLs on my Select Comfort base
Here’s my questions:
Should I get the Firm or Medium mattress?
Does this setup sound ok?[/quote]
Shopping for a new mattress is a personal journey based on our sleeping history and preferences, hopefully you’ve already read the mattress shopping tutorialhere which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
What’s key is to find a mattress company that will work with you, not only to answer your questions but also to help find a bed for you that will last many years. Here at TMU, our trusted member retailers/ manufacturers carry a wide variety of choices, including dunlop latex mattresses which you have indicated interest in. Hope this helps with your research, let us know how things go.
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