I went with their standard medium-firm king sized mattress. When I did the chat and asked, I was told that the firmness level would be more a 7, with the medium being a 5.5. I don’t know if talking to someone would have been more helpful, but I was at work and went with the chat option, and they were really short and blunt with responses.
I was hoping for quick shipping based on your experience, but I still haven’t gotten any sort of shipping confirmation yet so I’m still waiting.
Hi poetailor,
Thanks for the added information.
I’ll always recommend a phone conversation, as so much more information can be exchanged within the timeframe, with more complete answers being provided. But as you were at work, the chat was better than nothing. The customer support people for chat are usually attempting to be concise with their replies, but will usually expand to the best of their abilities if you have specific questions. I’ve been able to get good replies from their chat services before, but I’m sure they have more than one person handling this, and I did have to ask follow-up questions.
Phoenix
Poetailor,
Sorry you seem to be having a communications problem with Eco Terra. Call this guy:
Corey Philips @ (805) 415-3809
I think Cory is one of their managers and was super helpful to me, answering question after question and substituted to Talalay in place of the Dunlop. He’ll help to track down your shipment. Unless there’s a problem with production, you should have gotten FedEx shipping info by now.
I’ll be interested in your comments about the “7” level medium firm. Mime may be a bit too soft with it’s ILD 24 - 26+ which I’d like to get Phoenix’s take on it below. Good lucK with the bed.
Phoenix,
Like your take on some perceived issues I “think” I’m having with this mattress. As I’ve stated I was able to get 3 inches of Talalay, ILD 24 -26+ (?) on the Quantum Edge pocketed coils by Liggett and Pratt which I think puts the firmness around a 5.5. I’m beginning to think it’s too soft for my 6’2", 200 lbs frame but the wife (5’ 3", 110 lbs) thinks it’s “firm”. We’re both side sleeper. I like the bedd, nice and soft and and I kind of sink into it, maybe to soft and I’m sinking in to far. Fortunately, it’s not at all sleeping hot. Problem is I’m waking up with stiffness in the shoulder I’m sleeping on, some neck stiffness (always a problem) and some “sleepiness/tingling” in my hips and legs. Maybe this is all just the old body with previous/continuing back and mild arthritic issues getting use to a 2 week old different kind of mattress. Maybe this is as good as it gets. I’m very hesitant about going to a 7 level firmness like Poetailor and others since we did try a Bentwood Home Sequoia (very nice bed) that was a 6-6.5 and but way to firm.
Attached is a poor photo of 25 lbs weight on the bare mattress. I roughly measured deflections of 1 3/8 on the mattress. Maybe you could comment on my symptoms and the apparent level of softness/firmness my redimentary home weight test might reveal.
Regards,
Phil
Hi Phil P,
Thank you for providing that contact information for poetailor. 
You and your wife are a good example of how seemingly small differences can make a significant differences in comfort perceptions to some people. 
Unfortunately, it’s not possible for me to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because they can be very complex and there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP or any “symptoms” they experience. However, there is more good information about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here .
Starting with your shoulder/neck region, I would make sure that your pillow is appropriate in thickness for your new mattress. As you stated, you’ve always had some issues here, so it’s important to double check this, as you don’t want your head to be too elevated, or not elevated enough. This is especially important when sleeping upon your side, as research has found that the majority or lower cervical / upper thoracic issues tend to be pillow related.
As for the hip tingling, this could be from either the upper comfort layers being “too soft” for you and you’re “feeling through” to the innerspring unit, and the pressure there is enough to cause discomfort, or capillary blood flow issues. Or there may not be enough padding on top for you to create enough of the “comfort cradle” that you desire. Or, the support of the spring unit could be allowing you to sink in too much when you are on your side and could be allowing for some alignment issues. This is a good innerspring unit, so I’m guessing that it’s not an issue of the support unit, but more of the comfort layers and also your adjustment to the new mattress.
As you mentioned, you’ve only had the mattress for a few weeks, and I would suggest that you try the mattress a bit longer and see if your body adjusts better to the new mattress and loses some of its learned alignment.
I wouldn’t use the “softness designations” of the two different brands as a reliable relatable scale of how one will compare to the other, or how the firmness of the Brentwood would predict how the firmer Eco Terra might feel, as they are different products using different materials. I would only compare what you currently have to the firmer version, which would use 29-31 ILD latex (versus your current 24-26 ILD).
I appreciate the creativity of your photo, but unfortunately the placement of a weight upon a mattress can’t provide any meaningful information about the appropriateness of the mattress for anyone, and your own personal use of the mattress would be the most reliable indicator you can have.
I hope that you’re able to try out the mattress for at least a few more weeks and I’ll be interested in learning about your perceptions of the mattress after that time, and I hope it becomes more comfortable for you.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
Thanks again for the timely feed back and references. Messed up the pic as it wasn’t the one I wanted to send. Definitely agree that the 2 week trial is not nearly long enough. We’ll be keeping the mattress for a lot longer, probably the whole 100 days before deciding if this is the one. I have been trying out different pillows as I think we touched on before. I think 3 - 5" elevation is recommended for my body type. I also think I’m going to add a thin, but stiff piece of plywood to give a flat surface tot ne mattress and even out those flexible slats on the bed frame. In certain positions I’m still feeling slightly tilted and pushed to the edge.
Regards,
Hi Phil P,
I’ll look forward to your updates. Thanks for taking the time to provide such good detail of your actions and thinking process.
Phoenix
I had something come up financially and had to cancel my order, which I was able to get cancelled before it shipped thankfully. I hope to be able to reorder it soon. I too am hoping to see Phil’s experience with the mattress.
Hi poetailor,
Thanks for your update. I hope you’re able to take care of your mattress needs soon, and I’ll look forward to your comments when that time arrives.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix,
Hope all is well and I see you’re keep up you great work. Here’s my long overdue follow-up on the Eco Terra king latex mattress with 3" of Talalay latex at an IDL of 22-24/26 on Liggett & Platt’s Quantum Edge pocket coils with the mattress sitting directly on bowed slats 3" apart but supported in the middle. if you remember both my wife (5’3" - 107#) and I (6’2" - 210#) are back and side sleepers.
I look back at my comment of 14 & 15 Mar, and before, about thinking the bed was too soft and waking with various aches and pains and not sure if it’s the old body or the bed. I’ve concluded it’s 40/60 and the bed it too soft based on the picks below compared to your “Too soft, Too firm, Ideal straight spine diagram”. However, I did finally put a 1/4" piece of plywood between the bed and the slats to take out any possible over flex of the slats caused by my heavier shoulders and butt and that did give me the feeling that the mattress firmed up a bit. The before pic is me in the Red PJs and after pic is the Green PJs. My wife just floats on top. While the last pic looks pretty good and the spine not bad, I still have the impression it’s soft. That’s a problem because my wife thinks it’s just fine and really doesn’t want the hassles of ordering a new bed and not knowing what we’re really going to get. I agree with her, the thought of going through a 4th iteration, especially for a whole new company leaves me cold.
From a quality/price standpoint I think Eco Terra is an excellent bed think padding on the side rather than a thin layer of material and nice top cover or organic materials. Customer service with Corey Phillips has been outstanding. Pretty good edge support but could always be better. So it’s a quandry. Anyway, I contacted Corey about returning it and he offered a couple of options: box it up and eco will pick it up or maybe have me donate it; he can send me a firmer topper and one for my wife with same ILD we have now so we’d be on the same level or maybe a new bed also with 3" of either Dunlap or Talalay at an ILD of say 32.
I’m not in favor of toppers as I don’t think you can go as easily from soft to firm as you can from firm to soft. That plus the things may move around and the bed gets that much heavier to change the bedding. It would have been great if they made a zippered bed and/or one with different comfort levels for each sides like some other companies discussed here. Zoned springs with stronger edge support like would also be a plus. I’m leaning in the direction of the new bed, with great trepidation, but with Eco Terra we have a known quantity on quality and service but is the ILD of 32 too firm? is that a 6.5 or 7 on a scale were 10 is concrete? And is this so firm my wife will be sleeping in the other room on our old Comfortaire? She has been having some sciatic and coccyx issues and I’ve suggested the “soft bed” is not helping but that goes over like sleeping on a stone. Any comment would be appreciated.
Phil
Hi Phil P,
Thanks for your update.
While no one can tell your alignment unless they’re actually referencing landmarks and comparing those through a standardized reference, it is quite evident that your slat system was allowing quite a bit of travel under your mattress and placing the plywood on top of those slats has made an improvement. I don’t know if the ¼" is enough to stop all of that flexing, but it is something I would keep moving forward.
That would be a question for Eco Terra as to how they rate their mattresses. Going to a new mattress around a 32 ILD will certainly be firmer feeling on top than your current mid-20s ILD. Adding an extra layer on top of a higher ILD to your current mattress will increase the surface firmness a bit, but it will also add more comfort material on top and could result in you sinking in more deeply, which is something you previously didn’t enjoy. So logically, changing to a similar product using a bit firmer latex could make sense for you based upon everything you’ve been describing. But via an online forum, there would be no way for me to tell if this would be “too firm” for you personally. That can only be determined through your own personal testing.
Again, I would have no way of knowing what may or not be too hard for your wife, or what might work best for her sciatic nerve issues. Being lighter, it would follow that the spring unit used in your current mattress would be adequate for her deep down support and alignment, which is important for low back nerve issues. Whether she would enjoy the firmer surface comfort of a higher ILD latex would be something for her to determine upon using the product if you made such a change.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
Thanks for the comments. If I decide to avoid the hassle of getting a new Eco Terra, I’ll probably go to a 3/8" or 1/2" board in lieu of the 1/4". Also understand your comments on comfort. Of course I realize you couldn’t answer those more rhetorical questions on comfort, just thinking out loud. Enjoy the weekend.
Phil
Just wanted to add my two cents since I ended up ordering the medium-firm through Corey that I ultimately ended up ‘returning’ (which I’ll elaborate on briefly). The mattress seems really well built, it was both a little too soft and not support enough for me to keep. The first few nights were miserable but I noticed that coils were landing between slats on my frame and weren’t being supported since there’s nothing beneath them aside from the mattress casing (which also made moving it akin to moving a 120+ pound jello mold). It improved a bit moving it to the floor, but I was still waking up with a lot of lower back pain. My partner couldn’t handle it either, and she’d resorted to sleeping on the couch.
After trying out a few mattresses, I can say that my back is just not a fan of zoned coil systems, although they do sound great.
The return process just involved a lot of back and forth. I was told initially that I could box up the mattress and they would pick it up, but Corey wanted to try to find a local charity to take it, which he was unable to do. In the end, Ecoterra opted to not have the mattress sent back to them and refunded the money and told me I could keep the mattress or otherwise do with it as I pleased. Luckily I did know someone who needed a mattress or I would’ve been stuck with a king mattress that I really didn’t want to keep.
Fwiw-- I’ve since purchased a firm Amorebed and am happy with that decision two weeks in. I went with the firm and requested it with latex layer instead of memory foam (they’d switched to a memory foam for their default but said they were still able to make them with latex). It’s just shy of being hard as a rock which surprised me based on all of the other firm online mattresses I’d tried.
Hi Phil P,
That sounds like a good plan. Have a good weekend as well.
Phoenix
Hi poetailor,
I’m sorry your Eco Terra didn’t work out for you.
How far are your slats apart on your bed? With beds using a polyfoam base, most manufacturers will want 5" or less. The Eco Terra does have the fabric of their mattress encasement under the springs, and there is also a glued non-woven fabric layer on the bottom of the innerspring unit as well.
Just to clarify, the innerspring unit in the Eco Terra is not zoned – it just has perimeter coil edge system. But there is no zoning in the middle of the mattress itself.
I’m glad you were able to get your refund, and it sounds like your friend ended up with a nice free mattress.
Did you order the “firm” version of this bed? The Amore Bed uses pocketed springs like the Eco Terra, but the configuration is different and they are only 4" in profile, so hopefully over time that will meet better with your preferences.
Phoenix
Hi, I wanted to join this conversation and get some advice as I just purchased an eco terra mattress in a medium. I’ve only slept on it a couple of nights, but there seems to be a big difference between sleeping closer to the side vs. the center of the bed. Is that my imagination. I know there are springs along the sides, but it’s a king size bed. It doesn’t seem right that dead center would be the most comfortable. Thanks!
Hi ktndesigns,
My Eco Terra is also a king w/ 3" of Talalay at an ILD of about 24/26 which is probably the softer end of a medium. It’s too soft for me and I was arranging for an exchange to something firmer, ILD around 32 but through some misunderstandings that’s not going to happen. This is not a negative reflection on Eco Terra’s customer service which has been very good.
But to your question, I don’t recall ever trying out the middle of the bed and comparing it to the edge. There’s suppose to be a double row of firmer springs at the edges to give it edge support but at 210 lbs get a a bout a 5" deflection. Our bed had flex slats 3" apart and I put a 1/4" piece of plywood on top in an attempt to even out the flexing and firm up the mattress. It helped some. Since we’ve had it 3 months, it’s developed an slight mound in the middle, or slight sleep indentations, and the tendency during sleep is to roll you toward the edge and then back until you’re centered on your half of the bed. I kind of attributed this to a combination of soft latex and/or thickish mattress pad could be causing some indentation as well. But the indentations look equal and my wife in 110 lbs.
Good luck.
Hi ktndesigns,
Welcome to the Mattress Forum!
The Eco Terra uses a pocketed spring unit that has slightly firmer and smaller springs along the edge (two rows of 15 gauge steel) that is slightly firmer than the 16 gauge steel springs used in the rest of the innerspring unit. But this isn’t something that is normally perceived as a “big difference” along the edge, but more something that helps to minimize product roll-off along the edge.
You didn’t mention what your mattress is being placed upon, but I would start by evaluating your bedframe / foundation combination, or your platform bed, and make sure that everything is flat and firm, with no dipping in the center. You can also test out the adequacy of the surface under your mattress by placing your mattress upon the floor and then testing it out to see if you have the same sensation as when it is on your bedframe / foundation or platform bed.
Also, your mattress is only a few days old and there will be some “settling” and loss of false firmness in the product, and being hand-built there can be variations in the joining of the side panel to the top panel and the cut of the top panel, and over time this can even out as well.
I would first investigate everything under the mattress to make sure that isn’t the source of your complaint, and if that checks out then I would see how the product “breaks in” and if this sensation goes away. If it doesn’t, then at that point I would contact Eco Terra directly and receive their advice.
Phoenix
Hi, thank you for your quick response.
We’ve placed the bed on our old king box spring (two twin size pieces). Since it’s a bit old, we did purchase 3/4 inch plywood to increase the support (two pieces placed crosswise to cover the whole frame). It was what eco terra recommended so I figured it would suffice. Thoughts?
I’ll definitely give the mattress some time to settle. Maybe the cushion in the middle will start to spread out.
Hi Phil,
Do the indentations bother you? Seems early for body indentations to be forming already. Do you think it’s a quality issue? Thanks.
Hi Phil P,
Thanks for your comments.
A ¼" piece of plywood might still allow for some sag under the areas where you sleep, so over time you may wish to keep an eye on that. Additionally, the wool used quilted to the cover will compress a bit over time where it is used as the mattress loses some of its “false firmness” (wool can become up to 30% firmer over time). And a mattress pad, depending upon the material and thickness, can contribute substantially to perceptions of “sinking in”.
Phoenix