Hey,
I’ve been enjoying your website and I very much so appreciate the effort, information, and integrity that is put into it.
My wife and I are in need of a new mattress and I’m happy I found this website and waited on buying from the pushy salesman at sleep country.
We are both 24, I am 5’10" and 150 lbs and she is 5’1" and about 145 lbs. She has preferred softer memory foam and I’ve found I like Medium-firm mattresses. But ultimately we don’t feel picky we’re just tired of waking up feeling sore and stiff and tired.
After reading some of the posts on here I very much so want a proper mattress for us that properly supports us as well as is comfortable and pressure relieving. I also sleep super hot and would love to find a mattress I don’t drench with sweat either. Our budget should top out around 1500$ but we also don’t want to sacrifice a good sleep for a few hundred dollars.
We live in Abbotsford, BC close to Vancouver and our next step is going to some quality stores affiliated with your website and trying to find a suitable match. After some research I think I would like a Dunlop core support layer with a talalay topper and preferably the bamboo covering. Not sure what different ILD numbers feel like and where we find comfortable so that’s what we need to go find out.
I’ve been looking at Arizona Premium mattresses and like their adjustable king. My wife would probably like a more soft core and my side a medium firmness followed by a soft or medium topper. I really want to avoid having to purchase and return products because we didn’t choose the correct firmness for us.
Anyways thank you for your help. I will keep you posted.
So actually I guess I am picky… lol
I also forgot to post that I am a side sleeper and back sleeper. My wife sleeps on her stomach, side and back.
Thinking probably a medium Dunlop core and a 28-32 ILD medium firmness talalay topper for my side and 20-26 for my wife’s side.
Would there be much benefit to a 3" topper over the 2" for Arizona premiums mattress?
HI Danmanhoogs,
Welcome to the Mattress Forum! 
You’re certainly considering something using good quality and durable materials (latex). And personal testing will be the most reliable indicator of the comfort that both you and your wife prefer. And as you’re considering a component-style system (like at Arizona Premium that you mentioned), many of these are available with split configurations, as you’re already aware.
As you’re in the Vancouver area, you can perform a forum search on Vancouver and see what other businesses have been discussed in that region which may be helpful to you. There are no site members in Vancouver, but you certainly have quite a few mattress shopping options in your area.
Whatever business you’re considering, I would always confirm that any retailer or manufacturer that you wish to visit is completely transparent (see this article) and also make sure that any mattress that you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here.
If you have any questions about specifications or certain products you discover, feel free to post back on the forum and I’ll do my best to be assistive.
And regarding your temperature concerns, there is more about the many variables that can affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress or sleeping system in post #2 here that can help you choose the types of materials and components that are most likely to keep you in a comfortable temperature range.
I’ll look forward to your updates.
Phoenix
Hi Danmanhoogs,
I would avoid attempting to predict what ILDs of a topper that you might need without actually testing out a product, as all of the layers of a mattress work together, and there is more than the ILD in determining how a mattress will feel.
Compression modulus is even more important because very few people actually sink into a layer exactly 25% and compression modulus is the rate at which a foam gets firmer as you compress it more. Latex has a higher compression modulus than polyfoam. In addition to this … latex is very “point elastic” which means that a smaller area can compress with less effect on or resistance from the surrounding area than polyfoam. This is much like the difference between pocket coils that act individually and innersprings that have helicals that join the springs together so that the compression of each spring will affect the springs around it which makes the spring stiffer.
There are several “specs” that work together that will affect how soft or firm any single foam material will feel (see post #4 here ) and some of these may not be available to you so in some cases a lower density foam with a lower compression modulus and higher ILD can feel softer than a higher density foam with a lower ILD. There are many different “versions” of each type of each type of foam or other components in a mattress and every layer and component in a mattress (including the cover) can affect the feel and performance of all the other layers as well (see post #2 here ).
So what this means in “real life” is that trying to predict how a mattress will feel and perform using only one of many “specs” or variables that are involved can be somewhat risky or misleading and even the most experienced mattress designers that are familiar with and have a great deal of experience with all the many variables and specs that can affect the feel and performance of a mattress can often be surprised at what a mattress was “supposed” to feel like based on specs and what it “actually” feels like in real life so in practical terms the only reliable way to know how any specific combination of materials and specs will feel like for you would be based on your own actual testing or personal experience. Specs can be a very rough guideline that can help you “find the range” but there are far too many unknowns and variables to use them to find the “best” combination or materials or components that would be suitable for any specific person with any degree of certainty.
So overall I would first personally test out items as you mentioned and then use those results as a “baseline” and work forward from there.
There’s also an article here that speaks to different sleeping positons.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
I just got off the phone with sleep ez and they suggested for our weights both being low at 150 and 145lbs to go with a 3 3" layer soft, med, firm. That testing the mattresses in person is not very beneficial as we won’t be able to really tell if we like the mattresss or if it’s suitable till a few weeks of sleeping on it. What do you think? Also was thinking of going with the natural blended talalay. He said don’t worry about using a Dunlop core at our weight we won’t really notice the feel. It’s slightly out of our price range at 1895 plus 150/box for shipping 3 boxes here. Any suggestions? Should we see some Vancouver shops and their options? I’m just wondering if I should lower my expectations to meet our budget.
I just talked with Jon at Vancouver’s discount foam. He recommends a 6" layer of talalay then a 3" polyfoam topper that is better for cooling than latex apparently. All for 1825 and no shipping
Hi Danmanhoogs,
A combination as they recommended would be certainly supportive enough for someone in both your BMI ranges, and the configuration is quite popular. As far as testing a mattress, trying something out using similar latex materials will tell you more than not trying something out, so if you are able to find some all-latex retailers in Vancouver I think it would be worth your time to help provide further guidance to manufacturers like SleepEZ should you choose to go that route.
The Talalay they offer would either come as Blended or Natural. Both would be durable products and if you’re looking to save money, the Blended would probably be your best choice. Using Dunlop for the deepest latex layer can have a bit of a firmer feel (has a higher compression modulus than Talalay at the same ILD), but for a lower BMI it probably wouldn’t make too much of a difference to you trying one versus the other, and all-Talalay certainly could work just fine.
Usually when someone is looking to save money they look at a polyfoam core and then a latex topper, as the materials closest to your skin will have the most dramatic impact upon comfort, and if you were looking for a latex level of feel, then having the latex on top with a polyfoam core would make more sense.
Being in Canada, have you looked at Memory Foam Comfort and their latex items like the Unison?
Phoenix