Questions from MN

[phoenix]

Hi carmutt,

The Talalay Latex at OMF “may be” less quality from what it is the World’s Best Bed (and I know there is less of it in the OMF bed).

They would be exactly the same material in terms of type and quality. The blended Talalay they supply to other manufacturers is exactly the same as they use in their own PLB mattresses and they come off the same production lines. Of course as you mentioned there is more latex in the World’s best bed and the ILD’s (softness firmness levels) and design of each mattress would be different.

Overall, it seems any of the OMF Orthopedic Line of Pillow top beds use the 1.5 density foam for the comfort layer, and you have stated that is not quite up to pair, so perhaps we need to eliminate those.

In a one sided mattress I would be cautious but with a 2 sided mattress this would be a more durable material (a 2 sided mattress would be about 60% to 70% more durable) but there are also other risks to this mattress and all mattresses with that much soft foam will soften and impress to some degree. I have a friend who is a local manufacturer that makes a two sided mattress with a high quality offset coil that uses 2" - 3" of 1.5 lb polyfoam on each side. He stretches the polyfoam over the border wire and hog rings it to the springs (one per coil) which increased durability and prevents shifting and uses a good quality insulator pad to make sure that the foam doesn’t work its way into the coils and these will typically last 10 or 12 years and have no issues with durability if they are regularly flipped. With a two sided mattress though he won’t go above about 3" because of the additional risks of foam softening and alignment issues. For those who like a very soft mattress then the OMF could make a good choice … especially relative to other similar one sided mattresses … but the expectations of foam softening would need to be reasonable.

So this brings us back to Rest Assured Mattress. Overall, we liked the 704 Body Print Pocketed Coil support layer(Cirrus line) over the firmer 918 and 1575 pocketed coil versions. He had the Cirrus beds with both a Marshall Micro Coil Pillow top with a Bamboo Cover ($1499) or a 2" Talalay latex 32 ILD Pillow Top with a Bamboo Cover ($1699). If both of these were equal, which would outlast the other?

Both of these are very durable components and wouldn’t be a “weak link” in the mattress. There is no way to quantify durability because of all the variables involved and how the specifics of each layer and component of each mattress interacts with each person and all the other layers and it’s more of an art than a science but I would put them both in the range of “very durable” comfort materials. In most cases durability is connected to how quickly the loss of comfort and support goes over the line for the range of needs and preferences that are suitable for each person not because the materials actually wear out so a mattress that is “on the edge” of being too soft for someone will be less durable for that person than a mattress that is more in the middle of their range and has more “room” for the softening of the materials and components before the gradual loss of comfort and support puts them over their line. Latex and microcoils and higher density polyfoam and memory foam are all durable materials in a one sided mattress abnd making a mattress one sided allows for the use of thicker or more sophisticated comfort layers that don’t risk alignment when they are on the bottom of the mattress.

[quote] Do Legget & Platt offset coils last longer or provide better support (like on the OMF beds) than Legget & Platt pocket coils (like on the Rest Assured Body Print line?) Appreciate your thoughts.[/quote].

This depends entirely on the specifics of the coil and innerspring design and on the design of the mattress and of the components above the coil and on the person using the mattress. In almost all cases (with a very few exceptions) an innerspring is not the weak link of a mattress and within reason (assuming that the coils aren’t very poor quality which they don’t use) the choice of innerspring is a matter of preference. In theory a pocket coil will be less durable than an offset coil or other types of coil that uses helical wire to join the coils together which can then share the load but in practice it will almost always be the upper layers that are the weak link of a mattress. For someone that was very heavy for instance most manufacturers would recommend an innerspring that used helicals rather than a pocket coil.

You can read a little more about the different types of innersprings in this article and in post #10 here but the best source of information about relative durability when you are dealing with a knowledgeable and experienced manufacturer is the manufacturer themselves because they can tell you what the “theory” translates into in real life and the better ones like Chuck at Rest Assured will give you accurate information because they put your satisfaction above their desire to make the sale.

I have read all your overviews and detailed informational pages along with your tips and direction on how to pick a quality bed. I will agree I tend to get too technical when the tech specs are available instead of just focusing on PPP, but I want to make a good choice. I already got burned by spending $3000 on a Select Comfort bed, so I want to make sure I do not make the same mistake again.

You certainly aren’t likely to make a mistake in terms of quality and value if you are testing carefully and are dealing with an experienced and knowledgeable local manufacturer that sells higher quality and better value mattresses and will give you accurate and meaningful information about every mattress they sell.

Phoenix