First off I want to say thank you to Phoenix and to everyone who contributes to this forum!! :lol: All the info that I have stayed up late in the night reading has been extremely helpful 
I have been doing my homework, to a near tireless effort, to learn all that I can about latex/organic latex mattresses.
A few months back we knew that we needed a new mattress. We also moved across town and getting a new mattress lost first priority. Flash forward to hubby having tons of lower back pain, me having neck pain when I wake up, and us not sleeping well at all for the last few weeks. We knew it was time for a new mattress. I knew I wanted an organic mattress, and we had no idea what that entailed.
We visited 2 local stores (Natural Mattress Store and Urban Sleep, Palo Alto, CA) and went back and forth several, several times. If you go to either one, let me say that Richard P. at Urban Sleep is very knowledgeable and helpful. Sharon at Natural Mattress Store is very, very sweet, knowledgeable and helpful, will talk your ear off but she will answer all of your questions, and if she doesn’t know, she will find the answer! We bounced back and forth from each store a few times trying to learn all the jargon associated with natural latex mattresses. At the same time we were both looking at several websites (sleepez, foamsweetfoam, flobeds). I felt like my head was going to explode taking in all the info.
At the Natural Mattress Store, they have “set” beds. You do not customize the layers of latex, the owner has formulated what he thinks is the best, and you lay on them until you find “the one”. I did find one that I liked there, but the idea that one could be better and I didn’t know it lingered in my mind. You can custom order a bed, but you pay big bucks for it. They didn’t offer free delivery, no free pillows, and you have to pay them to take away your old mattress. I didn’t like not having the extra perks so we didn’t go with them. I did buy a side sleeper pillow made from kapok and shredded latex. It’s kind of a funny shape, but feels amazing and even with our old mattress, I don’t have neck pain waking up anymore. Sharon sold me on that one pretty well, and I’m glad she did because I love it!
At Urban Sleep we were looking at the OMI Duo bed. We tried a million different combinations of latex types and firmness levels. Richard P. was very helpful and explained a lot to us about the whole latex mattress world. I felt better the second time we went there because I had done a lot of reading, and I understood what he was talking about a lot more. We tried several combinations until we came out with what felt amazing for both of us. We did not have an even distribution of Dunlop and Talalay between the his and hers side, and there is definitely a price difference between Talalay and Dunlop with the OMI mattresses. I liked that each layer was individually wrapped in organic cotton covers to minimize tearing when the layers are being moved around. One thing that I was not sure about what that Richard told us that OMI uses a “specialized” Dunlop and that there is only one distributor who offers it, no other mattress manufacturer/factory etc uses it, and that they do not disclose where they actually get their Dunlop from because it’s so specialized and secretive. Hhmmm… wasn’t sure what to think about the validity of that. But overall we had a great experience there. He wrote up our final choices for us and gave us the order sheet. We told him that we still had some looking around to do, and he totally understood. He probably invested 3 hours in us, so we are going to go back and give him a nice tip, but ultimately we did not buy an OMI. They did offer free delivery, 2 free latex pillows, free pick up of your old mattress, and 90 days layer exchange as many times as you want with free shipping. If an OMI is in your price range, those are fantastic perks!
The whole time I was also in contact with Shaun at SleepEZ. I called several times and asked him a million questions. He is great, as most have noted here before. He knows his stuff and gives it to you straight, but also makes sure that you understand what he is talking about. I called and gave him the make up of the OMI Duo that we both decided on. He helped me switch around a few things to make it even better for us. For the center layer, I had chosen Dunlop and hubby had chosen Talalay. He explained why you want the same level (top, middle, bottom) to be made out of the same latex. It has to do with the way the Talalay and Dunlop each wear and conform over time. I can’t remember his exact wording but it made perfect sense!
Here is what we ordered, can’t wait to get our organic queen 10000!
Her side:
soft talalay
medium talalay
medium dunlop
His side
soft talalay
medium talalay
firm dunlop
He explained the warranty/comfort exchange policy very well. He said about one in every 100 orders actually do comfort exchanges, and he said give it a few weeks to a month to decide if we want to do any. He was very upfront and honest about everything. We should have our mattress makings by Friday at the latest, woohoo!
Overall we saved about $1300 going with the 10000 SleepEZ over getting an OMI Duo (no tax was a huge plus, it’s so high here in CA). With the OMI, there is a significant price difference between Dunlop and Talalay. I am so appreciative that with SleepEZ there is no difference! At the moment I could not be happier with the choice, and I’m excited to try out our bed. I’ve ordered all our linens on overstock.com (we went down a size from a king to queen, it’s just too big for our small bedroom-it was a clearance mattress when we were first married and in college and didn’t care!) and we are going platform bed hunting tomorrow.
I hope to report back soon about the fabulousness of our SleepEZ 10000!! :cheer: