Hi Folks
I just had the opportunity to see and briefly try a Samina bed (I slept on it for about an hour). It’s quite expensive but very interesting. I was particularly struck by their active slat system. It uses latex “springs” to let the slats conform to your profile.
Anyone have any experience with this? The bed has been around for 20 years so I’m surprised this is the only place I’ve seen this system employed. It felt very good for that hour. 
Hi joesh,
[quote]I just had the opportunity to see and briefly try a Samina bed (I slept on it for about an hour). It’s quite expensive but very interesting. I was particularly struck by their active slat system. It uses latex “springs” to let the slats conform to your profile.
Anyone have any experience with this? The bed has been around for 20 years so I’m surprised this is the only place I’ve seen this system employed. It felt very good for that hour. :-)[/quote]
I don’t have any personal experience with their sleeping system but I can make a few comments that may be helpful.
The Samina mattress certainly uses high quality and durable materials (latex, cotton, wool, and wood) and they also have an earthing pad (see here and here) and magnets (for those who wish to sleep in a north south magnetic field) which are also fairly unusual to see in mattresses.
Their slat frame is also an “active” part of the sleeping system that would have a similar function to some of the other flexible slat support systems (some of which can also be adjusted for firmness in different areas) that are listed in the foundation post here. These are most beneficial with thinner mattresses on top of them because thicker mattresses can reduce the effect of the flexible support system. There is more about the pros and cons of these types of “active” and flexible support systems in post #2 here and the posts it links to.
There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here and while they could certainly make a high quality and durable choice and in some cases a higher priced mattress may be “worth it” for a particular person that has specific or unusual criteria that aren’t available in lower budget ranges … if you are looking at mattresses in these higher budget ranges I would make sure that you make some careful comparisons based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you so that you are satisfied there is a compelling reason and “enough” of a difference between the Samina and other similar mattresses or sleeping systems that may be just as suitable in terms of PPP and just as durable that are in lower budget ranges to justify the higher cost.
Phoenix
Hi Phoenix
Thanks for your reply. I indeed have read most of your articles including the ones on value. I understand the difference between support and comfort layers. I’m very curious about the active slat system as the support layer. I’m actually interested in trying to make one for myself. I was and am curious if anyone has tried to do so before and what their experiences might have been. Also what ILD might be good for the “springs.” I’m assuming, given the very small surface area, that I’d be best off with the highest ILD I could find. Something in the 40s I think? I’d be looking for some strips of latex - 6 at about 3"x3"x80" but half-length strips would do as well. In those small sizes I’m thinking there’s probably someplace I can get very good value as they’d probably be able to come out of scrap bits.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Cheers!
Joe
Hi joesh,
I would agree with you that one of the highest ILD’s would probably work best. There is a similar idea here (without the wood slats on top and with more latex strips) and they use the highest ILD of blended Talalay latex available (which would be 44 ILD).
I would probably check with some of the suppliers listed here to see if they have any 3" thick odds and ends that you could purchase and use to cut the strips you need.
An electric carving knife works very well to cut latex.
Phoenix