Hi, I spent a few hours going through your site and following links, which helped me decide that I care most about a “safe” mattress that doesn’t necessarily have to be organic or all natural. I have 3 kids, 6 and under, and I really need at least one mattress, but ideally I would love to purchase 2 to replace one that is ruined and one that is 14 years old and was previously owned by growing kids as well (meaning possible soiling), so with that, obviously price would be a concern. I live in Southern Utah (St. George), we are about 2 hours from Vegas, I don’t know if there are stores close by you would recommend or online places. I want these to last a long time and obviously my kids are growing. I’m not sure if you have kids, but if you do/did, what would you buy for your children?
Hi cabruce3,
I have two grown children and while I can certainly help with “how” to choose … I don’t make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or combinations of materials or components because each person’s criteria, budget range, and individual preferences or lifestyle choices may be different from someone else (including me).
There is a great deal of information in post #2 here and the topics it links to about mattresses and children and “suitable” and “safe” materials including a link to some general guidelines for children in post #2 here. It also includes a number of links to the better forum posts and topics about mattress and children as well which have more information about many good options for children which would be well worth considering.
Phoenix
Thanks! Those links were exactly what I was looking for, more than anything I just needed some places to start looking and compare. For reference, my 6.5 year old is 60 lbs (he isn’t overweight but he is very broad shouldered, and is just very solid/thick), if that will help for firmness recommendations. These are the ones that I am interested in:
One of the twins from here:
https://www.latexmattresscompany.com/budget-priced-latex-mattresses-1/
Which, one person mentioned that the Arizona mattress company does one for kids using scraps, is it the same company as this link? And is that the same or similar to this one:
Which price wise would be fantastic and would allow me to buy 2
But then would this be better for a little
bit more money:
Or then there are these last two:
sleepez.com/latex-mattress-sale.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Dreams-Latex-Mattress-Ultra/dp/B006FLVK3O/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=APCUWEOU23BHI#productDescription_secondary_view_div_1459276464519
I realize that is a lot of links and different options. Can you help me narrow any down? Are any of them the same mattress? And then my zip code is 84790, is there anything close (even to Vegas) that would be worth considering first? Thanks for any help!
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Hi cabruce3,
Yes … this is the mattress that uses what they call “fall off” which is strips of latex that are glued together.
These are all latex/polyfoam hybrid mattresses which use a layer of latex on top of a polyfoam support core although they each have different designs.
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These are “all latex” mattresses.
There is more about some of the general differences between a latex/polyfoam hybrid and an all latex mattress in post #2 here.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for your child based on the information you provide them, other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other children that are similar to yours. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
All of the mattresses you listed use good quality and durable materials and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in any of them that would be a cause for concern in terms of durability so in a suitable firmness level any of them would be a good quality/value choice.
Subject to confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list you wish to deal with is completely transparent (see this article) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here … the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the St George, UT area are listed in post #3 here.
The Las Vegas/Henderson list is in post #2 here.
Once you have narrowed down your options to a list of finalists that are all choices between “good and good” (which you have) and none of them have any lower quality materials or “weak links” in their design (which they don’t) and if at this point there are no clear winners between them (which is usually a good indication that you have done some good research) then you are in the fortunate position that any of them would likely be a suitable choice and post #2 here can help you make a final choice based on your more detailed phone conversations about each of them, the firmness and suitability of each one, their prices, your preferences for different types of materials and components, designs, or types and blends of latex, the options you have after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or exchange or return the mattress or individual layers and any costs involved, any additional extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Phoenix
Perfect, thanks for breaking them up for me. I know that the Arizona mattress one is on your list so can I assume that I could call there and get the counsel you suggest? And I don’t see mattresses.net on your list, but that one has 3 of the choices I listed. Do you know much about their knowledge if I called them to compare some of those as well? I guess I don’t know who my sources should be regarding the ones I posted.
Hi cabruce3,
mattresses.net is the main URL for Arizona Premium Mattress and they are the same company but all of the manufacturers that you mentioned are members of this site which means that I think highly of all of them and that I believe that they all compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency. They would all be good sources of guidance.
Phoenix
Thank you! This site has been time well spent, I feel confident going forward now, I’ll give them a call to get my “fine tuning” for our specific needs. Thanks for all your quick replies, I have been very impressed with your care and knowledge!
Hi cabruce3,
Thanks for the kind comments … and I’m looking forward to finding out what you end up deciding 
Phoenix
I called over to the Arizona mattress place and I didn’t feel like I could get a lot out of the person I talked to unless I mentioned something specifically. I still think I am going to go with this one:
I like that it is still all latex, even if it is scraps, and he said that it has wool in the cover, which I like. But I couldn’t really get a for sure recommendation for firmness, he said he wouldn’t do firm, but maybe medium. I am hoping my kids can use these for the whole time I am raising them. On that link, the person (Ken) says this:
The “soft” configuration works best for children and on into their late teens and is my personal recommendation based on use with my own children. Soft is still very supportive especially for children. The “soft” rating is actually based on adult sizes so it will feel firmer to a child. Soft is #28 ILD, medium #32 and firm #36.
Any insight from you? It mostly just comes down to that now.
Hi cabruce3,
I don’t know the specifics of what you asked them or whether you provided enough information for them to make an “informed guess” in your conversation but they would generally be a better source of guidance than I am because I don’t have any personal experience with their mattresses.
Having said that … for a child that is heavier or is likely to grow heavier and/or that sleeps on their back or stomach I would probably lean towards the medium because it may be more suitable either by itself or as a base layer with a softer topper if they need it as they develop more adult proportions.
If they are lighter or are likely to remain lighter or tend towards side sleeping or even if your experience with them indicates that they tend to prefer slightly softer mattresses I would probably lean towards the soft.
Phoenix
My basic conversation with him was I said that I had seen some mattresses on the mattress underground site and was interested in them I just wanted to ask some more questions/learn a little more, but that I was leaning towards the kids twin mattress, and then on his end it was just an ok, that one works for kids. There was no initiative from him saying anything about the mattress or any comparisons, I said that I was also interested in the Brooklyn Bedding one and Dreamfoam and he said those are all just chemicals, so I said ok, but you have one like that too right, and he said yea that’s what I am talking about, it’s just chemicals…ok, so he said that the kids one would be better than those since they are all just chemicals (what he said), which is fine, I like that the kid one is latex. I tried to ask about the warranty, and I said it says on the site that it is 10 non pro-rated, 10 pro rated. He said yes it’s a 20 year warranty. I said great, is there anything I need to do on my end for that or to make sure I don’t void it? He said not really. It’s a bed. So then when I gave him my child’s size, the kind of bed he sleeps on and that we haven’t ever used a latex bed so I wanted to know if there was any sort of adjustment to that (he said it’s more comfortable than a spring) I told him about what my husband’s size is and he said he wouldn’t do firm, probably medium (but at this point I just didn’t feel like I had a lot of confidence in him, maybe it’s good that he is not a typical sales person, but when some calls to ask about what you sell, I would think that they would take some initiative when you say you want to know your options). Then I said ok, well I will talk to my husband and then I could go online and order right? He said no, you can’t do that because I need to get the commission. Which, fair enough, my husband works in sales too and I understand that commission is important. So anyways, I may just do a medium, but would you say this interaction is normal from there? I’m typically the type of person that doesn’t get bugged easy and I can let things go, which I still want to buy from there based off of what I learned here, but the interaction was just so different than what I was expecting.
Hi cabruce3,
I normally don’t make too many comments about a conversation that I wasn’t personally part of because I don’t know the complete context or “tone” of what was said but I can make a few more general comments …
In most cases the information that they provide will depend on how much information you provide them and on how specific your questions are. Very general questions will generally lead to very general answers but more specific questions will generally lead to more specific answers (at least to the degree that any question even has a specific answer because many have an “it depends” in the answer). Most manufacturers will try to find a balance between providing too much information and too little information and will let their customers take the lead based on the specific questions they ask to decide how much information they need to make an informed choice. Sometimes they can also misread their customers and end up providing either too little or too much information.
Both of these are mattresses made by a different manufacturer so he may not have been familiar enough with them to make any meaningful comments about how any of them would compare in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP. They will generally be more qualified to talk about their own mattresses than a competitor’s mattress.
[quote]he said those are all just chemicals, so I said ok, but you have one like that too right, and he said yea that’s what I am talking about, it’s just chemicals…ok, so he said that the kids one would be better than those since they are all just chemicals (what he said),
Then I said ok, well I will talk to my husband and then I could go online and order right? He said no, you can’t do that because I need to get the commission. Which, fair enough, my husband works in sales too and I understand that commission is important.[/quote]
On the face of it these comments seem somewhat “odd” to me.
“Chemicals” has very little specific meaning because every foam material including latex contains some type of “chemicals” (even water is a chemical) but if they have a reliable certification then you would have some assurance that they don’t contain any chemicals that for most people would be “harmful”.
The comment about commissions was somewhat inappropriate and it would probably have been better to say something along the lines of “you can certainly order online although I would appreciate it if you could order through me because I get paid on commission” even though the meaning is basically the same.
This seems to be a reasonable answer based on “averages” because it’s something that they can’t know for sure for any specific person.
This also seems like a reasonable answer that “leans towards” what they believe would be the choice that has the best chance of success.
Both of these comments seem to be somewhat general answers to general questions and would be fairly typical because there isn’t much more that they can really say unless your questions are more specific. Even then they may not always be able to give specific answers to questions that involve subjective perceptions (such as “will this mattress be comfortable”) and the answers they provide will generally be the ones that put the odds that they are correct in their favor. A good analogy would be playing poker where you ask someone “will I win” if you have AA in the hole and the answer would be “the odds are in your favor” and if you have 27 offsuit in the hole the answer would be "the odds are against you. In either case the final outcome may not be what the odds "point to.
I would keep in mind that the guidance that a good manufacturer can provide is only based on the “averages” of other customers that seem to be similar and that most manufacturers realize that while they can certainly provide some guidance … they will “inform” as much as possible and then leave the final choice up to their customers. In other words they will help with the process that can help a customer “lean” in one direction vs another but they generally won’t make a final choice for their customers.
Overall though … it does seem that the “connection” between you wasn’t as good as it could have been and it may even be worthwhile talking to Ken to see if you “connect” more with the information and guidance he provides you.
Phoenix
We just received a brooklyn bedding best mattress ever in medium for our daughter. Is is very comfortable, barely had any odor at all, and she loves it.
Hi hereweare,
I switched your last post into your original topic because the topic you posted it in was about different mattresses.
Thanks for the update … and it’s great to hear that your daughter loves her new mattress
Phoenix