I have been reading posts on this board on and off for over a year. I knew I needed a new mattress but did not have the time or energy to do the requisite field research. A recent painful bout of sciatica forced me to give this decision the attention it deserved.
After some preliminary testing, I narrowed it down to Berkeley Ergonomics and Pure Latex Bliss. I loved the quality of BE and thought the layering of coils and latex produced a sturdy product. Yet, I am 5’7" and 200 lbs and my body felt better laying on the PB Nature set. It was very close but my husband, who is about the same height weight, felt a vast difference and overwhelmingly chose the PB over BE. I am a back sleeper and he is a side sleeper, and he felt the coils through the latex on the BE.
I live in NYC and went to Sleepworks in Massapequa and Joe originally quoted me $2,500 for the mattress and foundation. I told him that someone had posted that they paid $2,300 on The Mattress Underground and he matched it! I did have to pay tax and $99 shipping but Joe was such an honest and accommodating salesperson that I felt the difference was worth it. He mentioned he has helped other The Mattress Underground users and is very willing to provide competitive pricing. I will post again once I receive the bed and will confirm if the good service follows through in the delivery.
Thanks to Phoenix and many others for illuminating this murky acquisition process!
Thanks for sharing your experiences and you were certainly down to some very good choices. It also seems like you also did some good specific testing which is great to see.
Best of all you ended up with a very good quality mattress that was the best "value"for you and it’s also nice to see that the forum (and of course Joe) was able to help with a better price as well.
Most of all … congratulations on your new mattress and I’m looking forward to your feedback when you have the chance to sleep on it for a bit
Fern3520,
Congrats on your purchase. Even with tax and delivery, you got a great price on the PLB Nature. I’m assuming that it’s a queen size. The cheapest price I could find from a brick & mortar retailer was $2600. for the Nature queen set, but they are ~120 miles away from me in Asheville, NC, Sleepworld of Asheville The closest PLB retailer to me, the Bed Store, does not carry the Nature model.
Most etailers (Urban Sleep Store, Amazon, Sears) were charging $2670. for just the mattress. Not sure if this is the MAP (minimum advertised price) since the price on PLB’s website is $3299.
I purchased my PLB Nature queen set online from The Mattress Expert for $2499. delivered, post #1 My wife and I have slept on it for a few days to try it out. She has found it a bit too firm. She had a hip replacement about 5 years ago. I found it to be perfect. I have sciatica also caused by arthritic growth on a disk in my lower back pressing on the nerve.
My only complaint is the cheap PLB matching wood foundation. The tag on it says it’s 100% wood and manufactured in NC. It is just a wooden frame with the same fabric on its sides as the mattress. Underneath the foundation, besides the 1" x 3" sides and front and back wooden pieces, there are also 2 -1" x 3" wooden pieces that run from head to toe, neither of which is in the center. On the top side of the foundation under a piece of fabric is a ~1/2" thick layer of some type of fiber board that covers the whole top of the foundation. I purchased the PLB matching foundation because I thought that the mattress manufacturer should know exactly which foundation is suitable for their mattress, and it may be, but I would have saved some money by purchasing just the mattress and getting this foundation. This steel and birch slats combination frame and foundation would have also worked. It comes with 13 birch (not pine) slats, 7 extra slats if needed, and 2.5" high legs. When I chatted with them they offered me free shipping and a $25. off discount.
I was worried that the foundation would not sit properly on my steel frame, post #1. The 2 head to toe wooden pieces of the PLB foundation are sitting flat on the 2 cross beams, but there is no head to toe wooden piece sitting directly on the center beam.
I am sorry to hear that your wife is finding the mattress too firm. I anticipate my husband might as well and I have a twin size latex topper he can use. Hopefully, that will work.
Thanks for the excellent feedback on the foundations and frames. I was surprised at how little information there was online and at the store regarding the PLB foundation. They had the Nature mattress sitting on it and a regular steel frame and it felt right, so I ordered it.
I had actually looked at the steel frame with flexible wood slats but was afraid that it was intended for thinner mattresses and people. I like the idea of a wood foundation but wish the better options were not so expensive.
I will probably order the 7 leg, 3 cross beam, steel frame that you mentioned in the other post. Thank you for being so diligent and providing this information. This process is truly more complicated than I originally imagined.
Fern3520,
The PLB mattress is in our quest bedroom, so my wife’s assessment of it was just a trial. She likes our Sealy Reflection Newport hybrid latex mattress better. It is a bit softer than the PLB Nature.
Before you purchase a steel frame ask Sleepworks to check if your PLB foundation is the same construction as mine. If there is no wooden center support piece than its construction is probably identical to mine.
The 7 leg steel frame from Amazon has a lot of positive reviews, but also negative ones claiming it is not as heavy duty as advertised. I would also look at other 7 or even 9 leg steel frames.
You can find links to frame manufacturers that Phoenix has posted here: post #10
Update on the PLB foundation: I spoke, (they do not reply to emails) to one of their customer service reps this morning about their foundation construction. All she knew was that it is constructed of #2 spruce wood, and that the top of the foundation is completely covered with a piece of high strength corrugated cardboard. I asked her if that would impede ventilation of the mattress and her reply was that Latex International, PLB’s parent company, approved it. Not sure what that answer means.
I asked her to clarify their warranty since it would seem to imply, to me, that you could use another foundation and the warranty would still be in effect. Not so she said. You must purchase the mattress with the matching PLB foundation or the warranty is null and void. She said the only exception was an adjustable bed base.
Here’s their warranty:
“Structural damage to a mattress caused by using an improper bed frame or foundation. The mattress must be continuously
supported by a Pure LatexBLISS matching foundation, a platform bed, a slatted foundation, or adjustable bed base with
an appropriated bed frame. An appropriate bed frame must completely support the foundation. This Limited Warranty
applies to queen and king mattresses and foundations only if they are used on an appropriate bed frame with a rigid
center support having at least 5 legs or 5 cross slats”.
I asked her how the foundation is constructed since the cardboard on top and fabric on the bottom prevents you from seeing inside the foundation. She said she would try to get some pictures of its innards and email them to me. I will post them when and if I receive them.
This is a scan of a picture of the inside of PLB’s foundation that they emailed me. They apologized for the quality. I think you can still see its basic construction. There appears to be only 7 - 1" x 3" slats on top, plus the 2- 1" x 3" end pieces. The foundation is 79.5" long. The actual width of a 1’ x 3" is 2.5". I measured the bottom end 1" x 3" on my PLB foundation and it is 2.5"W. If my math is correct, 9 x 2.5" = 22.5", 79.5"L - 22.5" for slats = 57" space left, 57"/8 spaces = ~7" between the slats. Not good.
Compare that to this foundation where the slat gap is only ~2.5".
The delivery guys commented on how heavy the PLB queen size Nature mattress is, and that mattresses do not come with handles anymore. This is our guest room mattress so it will get less use than our master bedroom mattress. Hopefully my 320 lb brother-in-law does not visit us often.I don’t think the PLB foundation could support him.
I greatly appreciate the wealth of knowledge you have generously shared regarding the frame and foundation for the PLB Nature Mattress.
The photo you attached is not making me feel very comfortable about the PLB foundation’s sturdiness. I have not received my delivery yet but will have to live with my choices for the time being. I spoke with the sales staff at Sleepworks and they said they have not had any complaints about the foundation not holding up.
Also, my husband convinced me to use our existing metal frame which has seven legs and is in good condition. At this point, I am going to wait for the mattress and foundation to come in before I make any additional purchases. I do regret not being able to buy the foundation separately but foolishly assumed that the proprietary version would be better than that purchased separately. Hopefully, it will all work out for the best, at least for the time being.
Thanks for all of your continued research and support and I will provide an update once the purchase arrives.
I didn’t notice this part of your post previously. That’s certainly surprising to me because I know of several retailers I’ve talked with that supply other foundations with the PLB because they weren’t happy with the one that was supplied. They seem to think that it’s fine for the warranty.
I’ll have to check and see if they confirm this with me as well because it certainly contradicts what seems to me to be clear language in their warranty that indicates otherwise.
Fern3520,
Even though I am still not pleased with PLB’s foundation construction, I believe it will be adequate. My son and his wife visited us over the Labor Day weekend and slept on the pure LatexBliss Nature mattress. My son is 6’2", ~230 lbs and his wife, I dare not ask her weight, is 5’7" and, I’m guessing, ~150 lbs. Before they arrived I measured the distance from the frame to the floor in several different places, and again after they left. The measurements were all the same. There was no sagging in the foundation or frame. I am using this steel frame. It does not have a center cross beam but it’s extra heavy duty.
They liked the feel of the mattress, so I think the Nature model was the right choice.
I will call PLB again to further clarify their warranty about which foundations are covered.
I spoke to another PLB CSR this morning about their warranty and foundations. This is from their warranty:
“Structural damage to a mattress caused by using an improper bed frame or foundation. The mattress must be continuously
supported by a Pure LatexBLISS matching foundation, a platform bed, a slatted foundation, or adjustable bed base with
an appropriated bed frame. An appropriate bed frame must completely support the foundation. This Limited Warranty
applies to queen and king mattresses and foundations only if they are used on an appropriate bed frame with a rigid
center support having at least 5 legs or 5 cross slats”.
The first CSR I spoke to gave me bad info, see post #5. The second CSR told me that you can use another foundation with their mattress, if it is suitable, and the warranty is still valid. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PURCHASE THE PLB MATCHING FOUNDATION.
Knowly this now and how their foundation is constructed I would not have purchased their matching foundation.
An August 2014 on the Pure Latex Bliss foundation which appears to be adding to the failure of our 3 month old beautiful.
Our foundation looks like your photo BUT there is NO corrugated cardboard or anything else on the top of the foundation! Nothing… a thin piece of fabric! And we cannot believe the few narrow slats are 9" apart! No wonder our mattress is going wonky!
Don’t know if in all their bankruptcy and “reorganization” someone forgot to nail the top on or what, but I was shocked when we figured this out.
