I recently purchased a Dreamfoam Ultimate Dreams bed, unfortunately I guessed wrong when it came to the comfort level, a 5 was too firm for me. I did prefer a firmer bed though, so I can get a topper if need be. This began my quest to find a latex mattress topper. I found a couple of items but Iām not sure which one will be good quality. I found this āErgoSoftā latex mattress topper on Amazon with positive reviews, but I was wondering if 16-18 ILD would break down too easily. I guess, does less ILD equate to less ability to stand the test of time? I was also worried that it would be too soft that I would just sink right into it. I also found this Seven Comforts latex foam mattress pad to be interesting, but I donāt know if this would be in place of a topper or along with a topper more like a 2 inch sheet of latex. I believe this has shredded latex sewn into squares so they donāt bunch up. How about them bunching up in the squares themselves though, after a few hours of sleeping on my side, wonāt these shredded latex pieces disperse from where i am laying and flatten me into the firm bed underneath? I also have found this latex topper from mattresses.net which i am currently leaning toward. I am not too sure of the ILD of that particular latex topper, Iām assuming itās plush, most toppers are. Also, in general, what is the expected lifetime of a latex mattress topper? Any input toward the subject would be great. ADMIN NOTE: Removed 404 page link | Archived Footprint: Amazon.com
I canāt speak about all the toppers that you mentioned, but I got the Seven Comforts mattress topper for my own Ultimate Dreams mattress and love it. I did a review of it here on this site and also on Amazon. I got the king sized one so my review doesnāt show up on the queen sized one.
Iāve owned it for about a month now and purchased a second one since I liked it so much. I also got a pillow by Seven Comforts that I just finished my review on and posted here. There are also pictures of the latex āmicro-rodsā that are used in the topper in the links on the pillow review.
Since the squares are pretty well packed with the foam (most of the pieces are uniform), they compress more than disperse under your weight in my experience. Also, squares are not very large so the latex rods donāt migrate around too much. I think my king size one is about 7x7 squares. Itās hard to count them through the sheets.
Iāve had my topper for about a month now and still love it. There has been some softening where we sleep (the squares on the edge feel a bit springy-er) but I feel this is pretty normal. When I change the bedding, I rotate the topper and all the squares spring back to a pretty uniform loft. My husband loves it since it softens the pressure point on his shoulders when he sleeps on his side.
This topper is very very soft. I use a body pillow for support under my hips/back when I sleep on my tummy. I like it when Iām on my back or side. If you are looking for cushy softness this topper is really great.
Anyways, there is my 2 coppers. Iād love to hear your experience once you purchase a topper. I almost got one of the mattress.net toppers myself but took the chance with the Seven Comforts one. Good luck and I hope you get something that works perfectly for you.
Thereās not much I can add to Coventryās comments about the Seven Comforts topper except that with her reviews I also plan to buy one in the next few days or so and Iāll add my own review when I receive it.
The Ergosoft is a dunlop topper which works out to be about 75 kg/m3 which would normally translate into an ILD in the mid 20ās. Dunlop also gets firmer faster than Talalay so it feels firmer even in the same ID with a topper. I believe that like many other sites that have confused Asian ratings with ILD ā¦ the listed ILD on Amazon is not likely to be correct.
As you probably know ā¦ mattresses.net is a member of this site (meaning that i believe they are among the ābest of the bestā in the country) and they sell great quality products with great value. They have both Talalay and Dunlop toppers.
I would probably give them a call and ask them which may be most suitable for you in terms of softness and they will tell you any difference between them. Most people that are looking for some added softness would tend towards talalay ā¦ unless of course they are looking for an even softer shredded or āmicro-rodā version like the Seven comforts. The thickness you will need would depend on how far away from your ideal you believe you are but I personally wouldnāt go past 2".
Latex is the most durable of all foams and while itās not possible to know how long a particular topper will last for any particular person (it depends on care, use, activity and movement on the mattress, the weight and body shape of the people on it, and someoneās sensitivity to foam softening among other things), you can at least be comfortable knowing that it will last longer than other choices you could make. Softer materials will wear faster than firmer materials although this is a secondary factor to density in the case of polyfoam or memory foam or the type of latex that is being used. Blended talalay will tend to be more durable in softer versions than all natural talalay. 100% natural is the best choice in Dunlop. Toppers will also wear faster than layers that are inside a mattress but they can also be more easily replaced. One of the most important things for the durability of a latex topper is that it has a high quality cover because light and ozone will cause it to become ācrispyā and break down much faster. A mattress protector or sheets are not enough to prevent this.
Hope this helps and a call to mattresses.net will give you any information you may need about the relative softness of the toppers they sell.
Thanks for all of the info so far. I called mattresses.net and spoke with someone and he recommended me a 3" dunlop mattress topper. I remember your advice not going past 2", so I guess I just wanted to confirm what to buy before ordering it. The bed I have now is too firm for side sleep, feels like my shoulder hurts every morning. It is also strangely enough too firm for sleeping on my back because the firmness of the mattress makes it so that the mattress doesnāt support the curvature of my lower spine, essentially leaving it in a gap of air as the mattress supports everything around it. I just wanted to confirm, given this description, does a 2" or 3" mattress sound most optimal? Also, should I be aiming for their talay latex 2" topper, or will it be too soft and end up not supporting my lower back, thus going for a dunlop topper?
Thanks for everything!
-Netengineer10
*Edit - Forgot to mention the only other variable I gave him over the phone that I forgot to add here. I am about 5ā10" and weigh approx. 225 lbs. Not sure if that also was why he recommended the 3" topper.
Your weight and body shape and circumstances makes a big difference and higher weights generally need a little thicker and possibly firmer material than lower weights because they will compress the topper more.
Generally my suggestions are based on āaveragesā and on āless riskyā choices because there is no way to know for certain how each person with their unique body types and sleeping styles will interact with a mattress or topper. Given what you have mentioned though ā¦ and given that there is already high quality foam in your mattress with only a small amount of softer polyfoam ā¦ I would tend to think that 3" would be OK.
Both Talalay and Dunlop can either be soft or supportive depending on their firmness level or ILD (they both have a range of choices) although Talalay comes in softer versions than Dunlop. Dunlop also has a higher sag factor which means that it gets firmer faster than Talalay when it compresses which can also be useful for greater weights to help āhold upā the heavier parts of the body and prevent their tendency to sink in too far past the āsofterā part of the material. It will feel firmer than an equivalent ILD Talalay for most people who compress the material more than 25% (where firmness levels are measured). It also has a different āfeelā than Talalay which can be more āspringyā (although this too depends on how a particular person interacts with a specific firmness level and type of latex) which means that different people will have different preferences even though they are both high quality materials.
While of course only your own personal experience on a mattress and/or topper can know for sure ā¦ your greater weight and your description of what you are experiencing on your mattress ā¦ and also given that the better manufacturers like mattresses.net tend to give good advice ā¦ the odds are in your favor that it would be a good choice.
sigh, sorry to beat this subject to death, but Iām still stuck and I guess most places not allowing returns of mattress toppers doesnāt make this an easy choice & I have resorted to sleeping on my sofa which hurts my back less. Before this current bed, I did have a memory foam mattress that was considered plush. It was very comfortable but it did start to sag rather quickly. I guess my question is that since I was rather comfortable with a memory foam mattress, should I aim for a lower ILD such as a 3" Rejuvenite 19 ILD Talalay latex topper? I was recommended either the 3" 25 ILD Dunlop latex topper, or the 3" Rejuvenite 28 ILD talalay latex topper. I mean I know all of this is personal preference, but being a side/back sleeper, will the 3ā 25 ILD Dunlop topper be too firm and not comform to the curvature of my back when side-sleeping due to the higher sag factor? How about my girlfriend who weighs much less than me, will it be too firm for her? I was told the 28 ILD Talalaly latex topper will be softer than the 25 ILD Dunlop topper. Unless Iām incorrect, I believe my Dreamfoam bed at a firmness level of 5 should have about a 30ILD rating, and its way too firm for me. Considering all of this, I guess since I felt comfortable with a memory foam mattress, should I get the 3" 19 ILD Talalay latex which would be closest to the ILD of a memory foam mattress? Of course, then I run the risk of it not being supportive enough to relieve the pressure points that I feel killing my back. Iām still lost with my options.
*edit I also found this Rocky Mountain mattress topper interesting since the ILD is between 16-18, and its a Dunlop mattress topper so it should be a bit more supportive and yet soft. Would this be softer than the 3" 28 ILD Talalay Rejuvenite latex topper offered by mattresses.net. Maybe this rocky mountain mattress topper is a good middle ground for myself and my 130 pound 5ā6" girlfriend?
I can understand your frustration and I have no problem with ābeating a subject to deathā if there are remaining questions that I am able to answer or that may help you make a better decision
This is difficult to say because all memory foam (no matter what variety it may be) is very different from all latex (no matter what variety) because one is slow response and one is fast response. ILD has little practical meaning with memory foam because it will vary with temperature and humidity and time spent on the mattress. It will also vary with the speed of compression (just like water can be very firm if you slap it but very soft if you put your hand in slowly). For example some higher density and slower responding memory foams may have an ILD of 15 or less but will feel very firm to some people because they are more sensitive to how it feels initially or when they move rather than how it feels when they have been still for a few minutes. Latex doesnāt require any ātimeā to soften and isnāt affected by heat humidity or time on the mattress.
Even softened memory foam may have an ILD that normally ranges from under 10 to 15 or so and there are a few that may be in the high teens but in ālatexā terms these would all be very soft.
Having said that ā¦ the 19 ILD Talalay latex would certainly be a closer approximation to memory foam than a higher ILD and you would sink in more than with a higher ILD latex layer. Because of the wide variety of āguessesā with Dunlop ā¦ I would hesitate if I saw an ILD in the teens. While it exists ā¦ it can also be misleading because even this will be firmer than a talalay layer because it will get firmer faster. To give a rough example ā¦ Dunlop has an approximate ācompression modulusā in the range of 4 while Talalay is usually a little under 3. This means that Dunlop will be 4 times firmer at 65% compression than it is at 25% compression while talalay will only be āaboutā 3 times firmer.
So Talalay at 19 ILD will take 57 lbs (or less) to compress it by 65% while ā19 ILDā Dunlop will take 76 lbs (or more) to compress it by 65%. What this means is that the depth of the pressure relieving cradle will be less with Dunlop and it will feel firmer on the pressure points because it doesnāt re-distribute weight as evenly over the body surface in an āapples to applesā comparison.
This is the reason that a 25 ILD Dunlop topper (which doesnāt really exist because Dunlop has a range of ILDās over the layer surface) will be firmer than 28 ILD Talalay because you will compress a topper more than 25%. The difference in feel will also alter the perception of softness/firmness with Talalay being more 'springy" because of a different cell structure and lower density while Dunlop will be less āllivelyā.
If you are going for a more sinking in feeling (which would still be different from the slower and deeper sinking in of memory foam), then 19 wold be a better choice but you may be risking alignment because the comfort layer of your mattress (3" of latex and the quilting foam) would become a deeper ātransitionā layer which in combination with the topper could allow someone that was heavier to sink in too far in their heavier areas. Of course I canāt see you lying on a mattress so I canāt say how evenly you would sink in for certain and only give you an idea of all the different āmoving partsā involved. The Dunlop topper that I think mattresses.net recommended also has āpillowsā which act to soften the surface in the same way that convoluted foam is softer than the same foam that isnāt convoluted.
I should also mention (and the mattresses section has more detail about this) that back sleeping needs firmer thinner layers than side sleeping because there is more risk of āhammockingā in this position than on the side.
This would depend on body shape to some degree but it is unlikely that with your weight this would be an issue with softer foams. Of course you may be outside of the āaveragesā (most people with your weight would be OK with the mattress you have). For your girlfriend with side sleeping this may be a little on the firm side depending on what she is used to (most ātraditionalā mattresses have some supersoft foam in the comfort layers or quilting that are very soft).
For most circumstances this would be correct because you would be sinking in more than 25% of the layer.
The Talalay is either an average of 28 (which I believe is their 6) or an average of 32 (which I believe is their 4) but they likely made some other adjustments that gave your mattress a rating of 5 (adjusting the ticking or quilting to make it āin betweenā the two ratings). I donāt know if the latex in a 5 rating is 28 or 32.
A topper or comfort layer is primarily responsible for pressure relief and āsupportā is the ability to āstopā the heavier parts from sinking in too far. In other words ā¦ pressure relief āallowsā sinking in and support āstopsā sinking in and are opposites. Supportive firmer foam has less pressure relief. The secondary function of the softer layers are to fill in the gaps and provide a more gentle support to the more recessed areas but the cause of most back issues is that the middle or deeper layers of the mattress donāt āstopā the hips/pelvis from sinking in too far. This rotates the pelvis which is the main cause of back pain. Comfort layers that are too thick or soft may āhold upā the lighter parts of the body which also have more surface area but still allow the heavier parts which also have less surface area to sink in too much so that the sinking in isnāt āevenā which leads to alignment issues.
The āart and scienceā of mattress construction is always to balance pressure relief (mainly upper layers) with itās opposite which is support (mainly lower layers) so that both can fit the person and co-exist in the same mattress or sleeping system.
So for your girlfriend ā¦ 3" of 19 Talalay would probably be a good choice ā¦ especially for her side sleeping and the latex below it (Iām assuming 32?) would be a good transition layer. This would be a "soft/medium/firm combination which the odds say she would like better especially for side sleeping.
For you ā¦ this would be a bit more risky because the āaveragesā say that most people in your circumstances would need firmer foams such as medium/firm/extra firm with possibly a thinner layer of softer stuff on top for some extra surface softness to keep you closer to the firmer support layers and in better alignment. If your body shape tends to sink in more evenly into a mattress (your hips and shoulders stay in relative alignment) ā¦ then softer layers may work OK for you as well and allow for more sinking in without risking alignment.
It may boil down to who gets to take on the āriskā ā¦ you or your girlfriend.
The āoddsā say 19 would be better for her, especially if she spends lots of time on her side and that thinner and/or firmer and/or and higher sag factor material would be better for you ā¦ especially if you spend more time on your back.
So hopefully this will help sort out the various āinfluencesā in your choice. I would also always talk to a manufacturer that sells a topper and ask them how the āratedā firmness of a topper they sell compares to other materials and I wouldnāt go by what is listed on their site ā¦ just to be on the safe side.
FWIW ā¦ in our family in these types of situations ā¦ there is of course always some compromise but the āmiddle groundā tends to be closer to her needs and preferences (by choice) than mine
Thanks a lot Phoenix. I did make an edit to the post, probably while you were typing up the response. I was just curious, since I havenāt found a single post on the forum mention any details regarding the Rocky Mountain Dunlop Latex Mattress Topper, if you can elaborate as you so eloquently do, a bit further if this would be a good fit as well? Iāve seen you evade questions such as these many times because iām sure you donāt want to steer people into the exact product they should buy, but you would rather educate the public to make better decisionsā¦butā¦given what you know about me and my situation, which mattress topper would you go with if you were me?
I hope it doesnāt come across as evasive because the truth is that neither I or anyone else can know the absolute answers to the āwhich is bestā questions when there are so many variables I donāt know and I canāt either see or feel what someone looks like or feels on a particular material or mattress. All I can do in these cases is to help them know all the various factors that āconnectsā with their experience so they can weight the pros and cons of each choice and make their best decision knowing how each particular choice may affect them. Of course if there is a more black and white choice where one side has almost all the advantages and few disadvantages then I will usually chime in with a āpickā but in your case each of your choices has benefits and risks and only you can decide which of these are best for both of you. I personally call that āeducationalā and helping people make better choices but āevasiveā is also fine if people see it that way. I donāt make choices for other people. The choice I would have made for you with the Dreamfoam based on averages for example would have been the same or similar to the one you chose.
I did see this which is why I suggested ācalling the manufacturerā ā¦ in this case Rocky Mountain ā¦ to ask them to make a more direct comparison with other materials. I am always skeptical with Dunlop ratings in this low a density unless the density is in the range of 60 kg/M3 or so. Latexco does make a Dunlop material in this range and if this is what it is then it would be in that ILD range but would still be firmer in practical terms than 19 ILD Talalay. (see the math in my previous post and remember that you will be compressing the topper more than 25%). It would likely be softer than 28 ILD talalay though although this would still depend to some degree on the person on it and the specific compression moduli of the materials. For example ā¦ assuming that the dunlop is a little more than 4 and the Talalay is a little less than 3 compression modulus ā¦ then 4.2 x 18 = 75.6 and 2.8 x 28 = 78.4 so at 65% compression they would be roughly equivalent in firmness and with more compression than this would make the Dunlop firmer.
I also answered this when I mentioned that in our home ā¦ the middle ground is always towards my other half which means that if I personally had the choices you were facing I would be the one taking the greatest risk. This means that I would choose either the 19 ILD Talalay or if I wanted to shift the middle ground more towards me I would choose the Dunlop topper which had the lowest density (which the odds say will be softer regardless of the ILD).
Let it be known from this day forward, if you want to unintentionally irritate Phoenix, āevasiveā is the word to use. =)
Update on my current situation. I spoke with the little lady and she told me that Iām definitely the more picky of the two of us regarding mattresses, and I should get the one that better suits my needs since she is fine with most mattresses. I ended up getting the 3" plush natural dunlop latex mattress topper from Rocky Mountain. From the tag that came with the mattress topper, the firmness is āMediumā and the density is 80-85KG/m3 Made in Thailand. To be honest, its very soft but the tag worries me. I was hoping that my mattress setup would be 100% complete with this new addition, but unfortunately it is not. My lower back sinks in too deeply into the 3" latex topper, I donāt feel any support whether I am sleeping on my back or my side. I guess I should have gone with a 2" topper to allow my back to get some support from the firmer mattress underneath. Is there any place I can bring it to to cut off 1" off the top of the latex topper in the NY area? I donāt even know if something like this is doable, but Iāve slept on it for about a week now and its not getting any better. Is there anything I can do with this current topper? Did I end up getting the wrong mattress topper from the manufacturer, does that density level make sense for a 16-18 ILD dunlop mattress topper? Also, I was just curious, did you ever end up buying that Seven Comforts Latex Foam Matterss Pad?
Well I must say that your experience is somewhat confusing to me because some of it I can explain but some of it I canāt. There are some ācontradictionsā that I canāt resolve. To give you a sense of all the competing forces (and being an engineer you may relate to this) for something as seemingly āsimpleā as a topper Iāll start from the beginning and go step by step ā¦
Your mattress was a ā5ā which would be āin the rangeā that I would have chosen for your circumstances. This would have been based on averages though because I donāt have the personal experience with a customer database or know the exact details of every layer in that specific mattress (such as the ILD of either the base layer or the quilting foam that was used). Your feedback though shows that these āaveragesā are not your individual experience ā¦
This is āpointing toā several possibilities. First that there is not enough thickness/softness for your shoulders to sink in enough. This normally points to a little more thickness and/or softness in the mattress. This could also indicate that your shoulders are either wider or lighter than the norm relative to the rest of your body (you carry relatively less weight there). Because I canāt see you on the mattress ā¦ it could also be personal perception and you may be sinking in enough but still feel the layer as too firm (and this may be because of the difference between latex and memory foam which you were used to). It could also be a pillow that was too thin or soft and allowed your head to sag which can increase pressure on your shoulders.
You also mentioned though that there is āairā under the small of your back. This doesnāt make a lot of sense to me because with someone of your weight/height and with the firmness level and thickness of the comfort layer (28 - 32 ILD talalay and some extra quilting foam), I donāt understand how there could be āairā under the small of your back. āFilling in the gapsā in the recessed areas of the spine and providing the light support that it normally requires (deep and firmer support is normally under the pelvis which is heavier) is the job of the comfort layer and with your height/weight and the ILD of the comfort layers ā¦ normally it would easily fill in any gaps. What this could mean though is that it āfelt like airā but that it was actually filled in (someone sliding their hand under the small of your back would feel resistance and not just air). If it really was just āairā ā¦ this would indicate that your pelvis/hips were also lighter relative to the rest of your body and not sinking in enough to fill in the gaps. This ā¦ like your shoulders ā¦ would indicate a need for a thicker/softer comfort layer.
If it was a matter that it was filled in but not providing firm enough support in the recessed area in the small of your back ā¦ this could point to a relatively lighter pelvis area and upper body area which points to the possibility that your weight is being carried in the middle in which case you may actually need a comfort layer that was a little thicker so that there was firmer support in this area (you would have more foam to sink into and the small of your back would compress the foam more so that the foam resisted more and better āsupportedā this area). As an example ā¦ if you were lying on your back on the floor and there really was āairā under the small of your back and there was more weight above forcing the curve of the lumbar to flatten out and tilt the pelvis forward, this could put the spine out of neutral alignment which can cause pain. Your hips and upper body would need to sink in more to bring the recessed curve into contact with a layer that was more supportive than just āairā.
If you put a 4" layer of firmer foam on the floor ā¦ then your hips would sink in more and bring the lumbar curve into contact with and compress the foam under it and the resulting support under the lumbar curve would be firmer than just āairā. It would transfer pressure (support) to the lumbar curve but the floor or the very firm compression of the 4" layer would still āstopā the pelvis. If the pelvis only sank in the ācorrectā amount ā¦ you would have a neutral alignment with enough support under the lumbar curve to āhold upā the weight above it.
If the pelvis was āallowedā to sink in too much you could have the opposite problem where it could sink in too deeply while the firmer compression under the lumbar curve would hold it up and your pelvis would then tilt backwards and you would be out of alignment in the opposite direction. If 4" was still not enough to allow for enough sinking in of the pelvis to firm up the support under the lumbar curve ā¦ then a softer foam under the pelvis and firmer foam under the lumbar curve would allow the pelvis to sink in even more and transfer even more pressure to the lumbar curve. This would also typically require a softer foam under the upper torso and shoulders as well so that they were also āallowedā to sink in more instead of being held up and creating an alignment issue in another area of the spine. This would be what I have called āreverse zoningā which can be beneficial for some people who are heavier and carry more weight in their middle.
So the best āfixā for the original symptoms you were facing (too firm for the shoulders and either too firm for the pelvis or too thin for the pelvis) would depend on the specifics of what you meant by āairā and whether this translates into actual āairā or just āfeels like airā. It would also depend on your body type and weight distribution and also on the amount of curvature and flexibility of your spine that created the range of āneutral alignmentā that was normal for you (this varies between different people).
It could mean that the firmness of the comfort layer was just fine and that you just needed a little more thickness for your hips/pelvis to sink down more to bring the lumbar curve into firmer contact with the mattress. In this case if you went too soft ā¦ then even though your lumbar curve would come into contact with and compress the foam underneath it ā¦ it wouldnāt be firm enough to āhold upā the weight above it. In other words ā¦ the topper would need to be the right thickness to allow the hips/pelvis to sink in a little more until it reached the āstop pointā which is the support layer below but also be firm enough to transfer more weight to the lumbar curve and āstopā it from flattening out (caused by a forward tilt of the pelvis).
Because your top layer is already 3" plus a bit (the quilting) and is already allowing your pelvis to sink in somewhat and because you donāt want to create the opposite problem (pelvis tilting backwards) ā¦ then a topper which is ājust enoughā in terms of thickness to let the pelvis sink in more but still firm enough to hold up the lumbar curve and the weight above it so it doesnāt flatten becomes the ābalanceā you are looking for. this thickness that is ājust enoughā was the reason behind the maximum 2" recommendation. If you use a firmer topper ā¦ then choosing thicker may still work depending on how evenly you sank in (your weight distribution compared to the surface area of any particular position) and whether your pelvis ended up tilted backwards. The extra thickness would tend to āallowā the pelvis to sink in more (increasing the risk or tilting backwards) but the extra firmness could compensate for this and in combination with the support layers help āstopā the sinking in before the pelvis became tilted and still be compressed enough to transfer pressure to and āhold upā the area of the lumbar curve.
This may be an analysis to a level that paralyzes and may still not answer the ultimate question of āwhat would work bestā but it may help you identify what may be happening in which ādirectionā
In addition to this ā¦ I donāt know of any Dunlop in the 80 - 85 kg/m3 range which would truly be in the 16 - 18 ILD range. This may be because of the limits of my knowledge or because it doesnāt exist (at least in 100% natural Dunlop). While this may be the listed ILD of the supplier of the Dunlop and the ILD rating has been passed on based on this ā¦ it just seems wrong to me. The problem is that your experience seems to confirm itās softness and here again the ārelativeā and multiple reasons for the perception of softness may be the issue. Softness is a function of how far you sink in and different people can be more sensitive to different areas than others. For example ā¦ if someone related āsoftnessā to how far their hips were sinking in then they may rate softness by this method. if someone else related softness to how far their shoulders were sinking in ā¦ then even if they were the same body type and sleeping style ā¦ they may rate the same layer differently. So your āsense of softnessā may be more of a function of the thickness of the top two layers (6" of latex plus some quilting foam) and how far they are allowing you to sink in rather than the actual ILD rating of the layer itself. Softness and thickness in other words go in the same direction with thicker being softer in the same ILD material.
So the bottom line is that I sincerely doubt that if the ILD is measured with the standard method (25% compression of a 6" layer of Dunlop latex with a 50 sq inch compressor foot) that it would measure out to 16 - 18 ILD. There are many other ways of measuring softness though (to make things even more complex and frustrating) and this method is not standardized around the world either in terms of how the softness is expressed (metric, imperial, pascals, kgf etc) or or in terms of the actual testing methods used (standard thickness of the tested layer or the percentage of compression which is standard in a particular area of the world).
One possibility is that your experience indicates that the choice was not suitable for you for whatever reason (whether too soft or adding too much thickness) regardless of whether any āaveragesā say it could be suitable for anyone else. This is just a matter of an āunsuitable choiceā in spite of best efforts all around.
The second is that it is not the correct ILD and is actually firmer than you thought you ordered. If you meant to order āplushā though and it is actually firmer and just too thick (creating the perception of softness) ā¦ then āfixingā this by replacing it with a topper that is even softer (what you thought you ordered) may cause an even bigger issue (even more softness/thickness). It seems that the ālack of supportā may have shifted in other words from a ālackā under the lumbar curve to a ālackā under the pelvis and your pelvic ātiltā has gone from forward (original mattress) to backward (mattress with topper). This would indicate that a thinner topper is the right direction. I would call a foam shop if you know of one or can find one or perhaps a call to Dixie foam may be an idea to see if they can cut a 1" layer off the topper.
Yes ā¦ I ordered it on Tuesday July 14th and it was scheduled to arrive somewhere between July 19th (last Thursday) and Tuesday the 24th (tomorrow) and I havenāt received it yet. Iāll add to the existing review as soon as Iāve had a chance to āexperienceā it.
I know this was long and involved but Iām āassumingā and hoping that an engineer would prefer a more detailed analysis than less and that this can help you ātranslateā the competing possibilities that lead to your best solution.
Is that true what you say above about the Ergo 16-18 ILD? They are an American company and have their own website called āUltimate Sleepā. They sell the exact same Dunlop topper on their site as well as on Amazon. Not meaning to sound incredulous I chose that wording for emphasis because it is information that could be very helpful to me. Thanks!
Iām not quite clear what you are asking but if you are asking about the ILD relative to the density of the Dunlop latex then either the density or the ILD range wouldnāt be correct. There is more information in post #2 here can help you translate the approximate density of 100% natural molded Dunlop into an approximate ILD range.
I was asking about the following statement you made above:
The Ergosoft is a dunlop topper which works out to be about 75 kg/m3 which would normally translate into an ILD in the mid 20ās. Dunlop also gets firmer faster than Talalay so it feels firmer even in the same ID with a topper. I believe that like many other sites that have confused Asian ratings with ILD ā¦ the listed ILD on Amazon is not likely to be correct.
I am asking then does the 16-18 Frgosoft actually feel like an ILD in the mid 20ās?
I havenāt tried it so I donāt know how soft it would feel to me (or to someone else that may have different perceptions of softness/firmness than I do) but I can certainly say that either the ILD or the density is incorrect. If the density is correct then it would be firmer than the ILD they list and if the ILD is correct then it would be a lower density than they include in their description.
