Novosbed vs DIY Mattress

First and foremost, I want to thank Phoenix for the wealth of information found on this site. This site has helped to persuade me from well-marketed ‘bed in a box’ brands and to take a closer look into what is right for my wife and I.

My wife and I are looking to upgrade to a king sized mattress. We’re on a Lucid 14" memory foam mattress that is:

  • 1" Quilted bamboo charcoal memory foam top
  • 3" Memory Foam comfort layer
  • 2" Memory foam support layer
  • 8" HD base foam

I have no idea what the densities are of any of the foam on this mattress. It was purchased as a low-priced replacement mattress (~$500) about 5 years ago. I very much dislike this mattress, which is pushing me forward to obtain a replacement. As mostly a side sleeper, I tend to have shoulder and hip pain from this mattress, so I switch to my back quite a lot throughout the night. It is a very hot mattress, in that if the room is above 70 degrees, I wake up sweating. We both sleep hot and need a cool mattress. Because of this, we tend to sleep with the windows open in the winter, getting the room down to 64-65 degrees. But once you do that, the mattress below the topper becomes rock solid. So I’ve basically got a hot and squishy layer on top of a rock. The wife has no problem with the mattress when the room is cold. Once the baby comes, the house won’t be getting that cold, so I’ll basically be laying in a pool, awake all night.

Me: 5’ 7", 145lbs, 75/25 side/back sleeper
Wife: 5’ 2’, 135lbs (when not pregnant), 65/35 back/side sleeper

Our budget for a mattress is $1300 and I’ve been comparing and contrasting bed in a box brands for weeks now. I am the type of person who typically buys things that are “best bang for buck”. After all of the research and all of the reading, I’ve decided I can’t trust any of the lower priced brands that I’ve picked (Muse, #BestMattressEver, Amore Bed, Zotto, Voila) to be the bed I need it to be. The hassle of returning a mattress just seems far too much. At this point, I’ve decided between these two:

  1. Buy a Novosbed and trust that if uncomfortable, Comfort+ will resolve
  2. Build my own 12" mattress

With Arizona Mattress and DIY Mattress Components, I’m finding it really easy for a one-stop shop to source all of the materials. I was originally hesitant to build, but after seeing ‘bed in a box’ brands like Spindle literally ship you 4 boxes of materials for you to put together, I thought, well, why the heck don’t I just do this and cut out the middleman? For my budget, a full latex bed isn’t feasible and quite frankly, doesn’t seem to be needed.

These are the three options I’m toying around with:

A

  • 3" Soft Blended Talalay (ILD #19)
  • 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
  • 6" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs density, ILD #31)

B

  • 2" Soft Blended Talalay (ILD #19)
  • 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
  • 7" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs density, ILD #31)

C

  • 2" Softish Blended Talalay (ILD #22)
  • 3" Medium Blended Talalay (ILD #28)
  • 7" Foam Base Core (1.9lbs, ILD #31)

Now, I’m not looking for you to pick and choose a build option for me. I plan to go to a local organic mattress store and test drive some Sleep EZ and other full latex models. But I do want input with the following:

  1. Why is building a mattress not right for me? It seems so obvious; what am I missing?
  2. By not going full latex and instead using a foam base core, what difference am I going to feel in the bed itself? I’m a little weirded-out by not finding beds online that are of the 12" variety and are 5-6" latex on top of a foam base.
    [li]What perceived difference in support or comfort would I see from changing the comfort layer from 2"
    to 3", with no change to comfort layer’s ILD or any change to the support layer?[/li]
  3. Will 3" of a comfort layer allow me to sleep “in” the bed more, instead of “on top”?
  4. Does it appear correct to not introduce Dunlop latex in my situation?
  5. Any advantage to going with pocket coils as a base for two layers of latex?
    [li]Are there zippered mattress covers for purchase online that aren’t so basic? Any padded wool options?
    Or should I stay away from those types of options in order to take full advantage of latex?[/li]

Thanks in advance for all of the help!

Hi atomsapple,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum! :slight_smile:

You’re very welcome! I’m glad the material presented here helped you learn about how to choose what’s best for you and your wife.

[quote]My wife and I are looking to upgrade to a king sized mattress. We’re on a Lucid 14" memory foam mattress that is:
1" Quilted bamboo charcoal memory foam top
3" Memory Foam comfort layer
2" Memory foam support layer
8" HD base foam
I have no idea what the densities are of any of the foam on this mattress. It was purchased as a low-priced replacement mattress (~$500) about 5 years ago. I very much dislike this mattress, which is pushing me forward to obtain a replacement.[/quote]
A forum search on Lucid (you can just click the link) will bring up comments and feedback about them. Lucid mattresses tend to use low quality memory foam (3 lb density or less) which would be a weak link in the mattress in terms of durability. Lucid is from China, and post #6 here is about mattresses imported from Asia or China which may have been compressed for long periods of time in either shipping or storage before being purchased. These generally aren’t the styles of mattresses that I would consider.

As memory foam has a characteristic of “sleeping warmer” than latex or polyfoam, and also tends to be a better insulator and not move as much air, you may wish to look at latex or polyfoam on top of innersprings or a polyfoam core, without any memory foam.

[quote]At this point, I’ve decided between these two:
Buy a Novosbed and trust that if uncomfortable, Comfort+ will resolve
Build my own 12" mattress[/quote]
The Novosbed is offered in three comfort designations and would be considered a memory foam mattress, but it uses higher quality materials than your current mattress. The Comfort+ option is high-density polyfoam. They are also a site member here, which means that I think highly of them.

Not everyone has the “risk tolerance” for building their own mattress, and are prepared for the experimentation and trial and error that may arise. Read option 3 in post #15 here and the posts it links to (and option #1 and #2 as well) so that you have more realistic expectations and make sure that you are comfortable with the learning curve, uncertainty, trial and error, or in some cases the higher costs that may be involved in the DIY process. While it can certainly be a rewarding project, the best approach to a DIY mattress is a “spirit of adventure” where what you learn and the satisfaction that comes from the process itself is more important than any cost savings you may realize (which may or may not happen).

There are plenty of latex options using polyfoam cores both in-store and online (you mentioned the Best Mattress Ever earlier ion your post, which would be one of these options, as well as the DreamFoam Ultimate Dreams, to name two items). A latex support core is more durable, more resilient, more elastic, more adaptable to different weights and shapes and sleeping positions, more supportive (it has a higher compression modulus so it gets firmer faster with compression), more “natural”, and has a more “springy” and responsive feel than polyfoam. It is a higher performance material. Of course, it is also more expensive than a polyfoam core and for some people a latex hybrid which has the benefits and “feel” of latex in the upper layers (the top 3" - 6" which are the most subject to wear and tear and contribute more to the overall “feel” of a mattress) is worth the cost tradeoff. For others it isn’t. The overall feel is always a combination of all of the materials within the mattress working together, so only your own personal testing will be able to tell you if you like the feel of one versus the other.

[quote]What perceived difference in support or comfort would I see from changing the comfort layer from 2"
to 3"?[/quote]
Changes to the uppermost layers of a mattress are the most readily and easily perceived, so, if keeping all other things equal, making the upper layer 33% thinner, you would generally notice a bit less surface plushness.

I’m not sure what you’re comparing this to, so I can’t make any sort of specific comment, except that thicker and softer surface comfort layers will allow you to sleep more “in” the mattress than “on” the mattress, and this will also vary with the material used and the softness and resilience of that material.

The choice of Dunlop or Talalay latex would not be a choice or better or worse, but more of a personal preference of comfort. There is a little more about the differences in “feel” between Dunlop and Talalay in post #7 here .

There are 12 different vendors (certainly not a complete list) in the component post here listing companies who currently have cover options available, and there are vendors offering more substantial styles using wool.

Phoenix

Thank you for the thorough response! I’ve done quite a bit of mattress shopping recently and confirmed I’m going the DIY latex route. I’ve tried many latex combinations, including hybrid mattresses, and got my pregnant wife out to test the ones I liked the most.

We both ended up favoring the Savvy Rest Serenity out of 30+ latex mattresses I tried.

She favored:

  • 3" Soft Natural Talalay
  • 3" Soft Natural Talalay
  • 3" Firm Natural Talalay

I favored:

  • 3" Soft Natural Talalay
  • 3" Medium Natural Talalay
  • 3" Firm Natural Talalay

I’m worried about the combination she favored. I feel as if in the long term, it’ll be too soft for me, and as she transitions back to a back sleeper, she’s not going to be happy. Am I right here that 3"+3" of Soft Natural Talalay just isn’t right from a support standpoint? Would making the second layer 3" of Soft Dunlop do anything for my concerns about the lack of transition?

For the base layer, I’ve replaced the 1.9lb ILD #31 polyfoam with 2.8lb ILD #35 HD36-HQ foam. I’ve done this to bring more longevity (additional years) to the mattress and to better match the ILD of the firm talalay from the Savvy Rest. Is this a sound move? I plan for the base to be 6". Could I go as low as 3" or 4" for the foam base layer? Or is that not advised?

Hi atomsapple,

You’re quite welcome. I did provide a lot of information for you, so I hope it was useful.

The Savvy Rest line of mattresses do use high quality and durable materials, and recently became the world’s only finished mattress to have a GOTS certification using Talalay latex inside. They can be in a bit of a higher price point, although you can sometimes find dealers who will negotiate a bit off of their MMAP pricing.

[quote]She favored:
3" Soft Natural Talalay
3" Soft Natural Talalay
3" Firm Natural Talalay
I favored:
3" Soft Natural Talalay
3" Medium Natural Talalay
3" Firm Natural Talalay
[/quote]
Her combination is N5 (15-20 ILD), N5 (15-20 ILD) and N8 37-44 ILD). Your combination is N5 (15-20 ILD), N7 (30-37 ILD) and N8 (37-44 ILD). These are approximations as provided by Savvy Rest.

Her combination is generally not recommended for anyone over 160 pounds, and is definitely for someone who desires to sink in a bit more and have the mattress “hug” them a little. For those desiring a bit more support/transition support, they recommend going to their soft Dunlop (22-30 ILD) in the middle layer. If you still desire a bit more firmness in the middle layer, you would next choose their medium Talalay and then their medium Dunlop (31-39 ILD). Dunlop has a bit of a different feel from Talalay in that initially is compresses at a bit of a softer rate, and then it “firms up faster” than Talalay for a higher compression modulus. While changing the middle layer of a mattress will be less noticeable than changing the uppermost layer of a mattress, you would generally still notice the difference in both comfort and durability making the change in the middle layer to the soft Dunlop from the soft Talalay. Also, as Savvy Rest uses Dunlop poured in 3" cores, you can flip their Dunlop layer over for a change of about 30% in the firmness of the foam. Savvy Rest also has a 90 day layer exchange program (less shipping).

I’m not quite sure of the combinations you’re creating here. Are you considering replicating the Savvy Rest bed but using a 3" polyfoam core instead of latex? The higher density (2.8 lb) would be a more durable material than the 2.1 lb, and the 2.8 lb is also firmer with the higher ILD.

Regarding the difference between latex and polyfoam support cores, a latex support core is more durable, more resilient, more elastic, more adaptable to different weights and shapes and sleeping positions, more supportive (it has a higher compression modulus so it gets firmer faster with compression), more “natural”, and has a different more “springy” and responsive feel than polyfoam. It is a higher performance material. Of course it is also more expensive than a polyfoam core and for some people … a latex hybrid which has the benefits and “feel” of latex in the upper layers (the top 3" - 6" which are the most subject to wear and tear and contribute more to the overall “feel” of a mattress) is worth the cost tradeoff. For others it isn’t. All of this though is to make clear that they are not comparable in overall performance terms.

Phoenix