New to Latex

[phoenix]

Hi wowthisindustryiswack,

I like your username

Leaning towards sending it back given the blatant oversight. But now store is telling me they can get me the version I want/bought while PLB is telling me they don’t make non-AF mattresses anymore. Not sure who to believe at this point.

As far as I know one of their manufacturers http://www.wgrfurniture.com/ is still making the old style. There may be others as well but most areas of the country seem to have made the switch.

Phoenix, I cannot get a straight answer on the real utility of active fusion. Both the bed company and PLB tell me the same story in the AF helps regulate body temperature but I’m left concluding this is a marketing gig to ride the wave of all the other blue “cooling” layers being added to memory foam mattresses all over. Bottom line is latex shouldn’t need it given it breaths much better than memory foam and other alternatives.

I personally think it’s a bit of both. The latex (and the cover) contains microcapsules which contain a phase change gel (similar to materials like outlast). Different materials have a different temperature range where they change phase from liquid into solid. When the gel warms up it becomes liquid (at temperatures below body temperature) and absorbs heat. When it cools down and becomes more solid it releases heat.

As you mention … latex and especially Talalay latex … is already the most breathable category of foam but all foam is also an insulator and there are many other factors involved in the sleeping temperature and microclimate of a mattress besides just the foam that is used (see post #2 here and post #29 here).

So the gel has an effect to some degree in regulating temperature in both directions (rather than just cooling) but having said that I think the biggest reason for the change is to compete with all the other “gel materials” that are on showroom floors everywhere. Latex International has made Celsion latex for years (since 2008) for those that sleep particularly warm and need every extra benefit they can get. Now though Celsion has been re-named toTalalay GL fast response (there is also a slow response version) and Pure Latex Bliss calls it Active Fusion fast response.

So the material does have some temperature regulating benefits but I think the emphasis on it is more about marketing and market conditions.

Secondly, I continued to research this mattress and was disappointed to learn from PLB directly that the “Natural” mattress is only 40% botanical or all-natural latex while 60% is synthetic. I knew there was a blend in the Natural versus the all-Natural but I naively assumed the ratio would be majority of botanical or all-natural and a smaller percent of the fake stuff. So now I’m thinking of returning this thing and get the all-natural without AF (if still available that is).

My understanding is that the blend is actually 30/70 SBR/NR but this could have changed. Either way it’s in the same range with approximately a 1 - 2 ratio and they may even vary the blend to some degree to create a more consistent product.

Lastly Phoenix, you’ve mentioned on other links that all-natural or botanical latex (assuming those terms are synonymous) breaks down faster over time and/or more readily allows body impressions versus the Natural blends. True?

Yes and no. As a broad statement and comparison between NR and SBR the way you’ve phrased it then it’s not accurate. If you are only talking about a comparison between 100% natural Talalay and blended Talalay in lower ILD’s then it would be accurate in this specific instance. You can read more about this in post #2 here and post #2 here but in general terms NR is more durable than SBR by most definitions of durability (depending on which property of latex you are measuring) but the natural version of Talalay latex in low ILD’s is likely to be less durable in real life than the blend.

Hope that helps.

Phoenix