Hi Phoenix,
In the interest of time, I have to get to the point… long story short, I’m considering three options at the present time- the one I may be leaning towards is getting a “complete” mattress from Dixie Foam. When I was there recently speaking with Mark, he didn’t have a complete “CloudRest” mattress but he had the base/middle layers (2.25" or so 1.8lb soft foam on top of 5" HR foam) with the 3" ~15 ILD Radium all natural topper separate. Not surprisingly, this felt too soft and Mark actually mentioned he’d been thinking about making a firmer version of the mattress (not to say that it would generally be categorized as “firm”). He suggested an alternative setup for me- 2" 27 ILD HR foam as a transition layer on top of 5" 35 ILD HR foam with 3" of Talalay as the comfort layer. The bottom 7" makes a lot of sense and I think that would work… the question is now the ILD and type (blended or natural) as well as the manufacturer.
Going by the link to the Radium chart that’s been posted in the forum, I think the “15” ILD all-natural that he currently has is probably technically “13”… so I’m trying to decide what might make the most sense as a “step-up” (or 2) in firmness (Mark was understandably hesitant to make specific suggestions and we both thought it might be worth a post here). The Radium 19 all-natural might be a logical step-up but I’m somewhat partial to the TG blended and think I can actually feel the additional pressure-relief when compared to all-natural. If I went with the TG blended, the question would be 19 or 24… a lot of manufacturers seem to promote the 19 for weights below around 250 lbs or so (I’m about 6’ 225, primarily side sleeper) and I’am afraid to go too firm… that said, I’m not sure if the 19 would be supportive enough. I’ve also heard that TG has been making certain adjustments in the production of the latex to help ensure consistency and durability, so maybe the 19 would be the way to go (to reiterate, I’m very apprehensive about the 24 in case it felt too firm since the overall mattress would still be too soft for a topper).
If I went with Radium, another option may be to go with a Radium 19 blended instead of the all-natural. I have a 2" Radium 22 ILD blended (from this year) and it’s very difficult to distinguish from my 2" 28 ILD Talalay Global blended, hence my thought about the 19 from Radium.
I don’t think I’d consider an all-natural TG “L2” (20-24 ILD I think) because frankly I don’t trust their all-natural, especially with respect to consistency/ durability and resistance to softening. As mentioned, I would consider the 3" Radium all-natural “19” since it would be a step-up from the 13, but as you can probably tell, I’m leaning towards the TG blended 19 or 24.
I’ll try to post more about my search and experiences but wanted to see if you had any particular thoughts/advice on the above. I realize it’s “theory at a distance” at least to some extent, and there are multiple variables, but the decision regarding the top layer is an estimation based on testing and discussion with Mark.
One other thing- Mark had mentioned he uses a “water-based adhesive”… in theory, I like the idea of using a latex-based adhesive, as a few MU members disclose (and Pure Latex Bliss)… the adhesive is one of the details/preferences that I pay attention to (along with the fire barrier for example… I know Dixie uses Ventex)… and I do wish Dixie used a “latex-based” glue as well, so was wondering what you thought about that. There’s obviously plenty of nasty adhesives that are water-based and it seems the latex-based glues are widely considered very “safe”. This may be somewhat similar to a mattress that used a fire-barrier sprayed or dipped in Boric Acid… in reality, it’s probably not going to affect someone… but I wouldn’t buy a mattress that used it, although I do feel comfortable with the rayon/silica products that are now widely used.
Thanks,
Manimal