Optimum Dreams vs online latex for long time mattress seeker

[phoenix]

Hi brosen72,

A little background, my old Simmons mattress from 1998 recently died. I loved that thing. It was a very simple firm innerspring mattress that didn’t have all the junk the companies put in innersprings today. But a few months back, I began waking every morning with back pain, and it was clear the mattress was cooked. I would have loved an exact copy of the same model, but they don’t make them like that anymore.

You’re right that the major manufacturers don’t make the same type of mattresses any more both in terms of the quality of the materials they use in their comfort layers and in the fact that they don’t make two sided mattresses any more. There are still many smaller manufacturers around the country though that still make two sided more “basic” mattresses using higher quality materials.

When I got the mattress home, I realized a problem: it sleeps hot. I never had a problem sleeping warm before, but I found myself awaking throughout the night due to being too hot. I’m still within the 90 day return window, so I plan to return it. Thats unfortunate because it truly is amazingly comfortable.

Memory foam tends to sleep warmer than other types of foam but the type of foam in a mattress isn’t the only factor that can affect sleeping temperature and sometimes even changing the type of mattress protector or sheets you use may make “enough” difference in sleeping temperature, especially if the memory foam is one of the faster responding more breathable types such as yours. Post #2 here has more about the many interacting factors that can affect sleeping temperature that may be helpful or give you some ideas about some of the other things that may be possible solutions outside of exchanging your mattress.

I’ve read what you’ve said about that line of beds in other posts, and you seem to say that it may not be a bad choice for someone with very limited options, such as what occurs when they are returning a mattress and must select another from the beds in the showroom.

Yes … it uses 3" of continuous pour Dunlop latex (they don’t provide the blend) over a polyfoam support core. The latex would be a durable material and would sleep cooler than memory foam and this could be a reasonable choice for someone in more “average” weight ranges but I would be a little cautious if you are in a higher weight range because I believe the base layer is 1.5 lb polyfoam and if you are heavier weight range that will compress the base layer more then this could become a factor in its durability.

I’ve thought about purchasing a latex bed from one of the online retailers you tout, such as dreamfoam, but I’m a little reluctant. When I was testing beds in the Healthy Back Store, I tried their all latex bed and found it very bouncy. This has sufficiently scared me from purchasing a bed that I cant first try out.

Their latex mattresses use Talalay latex (top to bottom) which is a more “bouncy” or “springy” version of latex than Dunlop (post #7 here has more about the general differences between Talalay and Dunlop). Their support core is also Talalay latex which is also more resilient and “bouncy” than the polyfoam support core in the Optimum you tried. There are many versions of latex and many different designs of latex and latex hybrid mattresses and the amount of “bounce” you feel would vary widely between them but overall both Dunlop latex and polyfoam would be less “bouncy” than Talalay.

So, after that long dissertation, my question for you is what am I missing? What else should I try? Was the bounciness of the latex at the Healthy Back Store unusual such that I should feel okay about pulling the trigger on one? Any help you provide is appreciated!

These are fairly open ended and very broad questions (much like asking “what should I eat” when there are hundreds or even thousands of choices available) but if you are looking at latex then it may be worth considering Dunlop vs Talalay in either an all latex or latex hybrid mattress and it may also be worth considering a more basic innerspring/polyfoam mattress that is similar to the one you slept on for many years.

There are several options available in the area where you could test both to see how they compare for you. Both Dunlop and Talalay are good quality materials but the choice between them would be a personal preference.

Phoenix