Shopping for a Latex Mattress

[phoenix]

Hi KDVF,

You are certainly looking at a good quality/value choice that has many good options after a purchase to fine tune the comfort/pressure relief or the support/alignment of your mattress.

When you can’t test a mattress in person though then the best source of guidance that can help “talk you through” your firmness and layering choices will always be a more detailed conversation with the manufacturer (SleepEZ in this case) who will know more about their own mattresses and “matching” the options they have available to different body types, sleeping positions, preferences, and any local testing you have done based on the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you than anyone else (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Thinking it might be best to order the his/hers configuration of six individual pieces for flexibility in case we need to make adjustments. Our thought is that if the middle layer isn’t firm enough, then we can swap it with the bottom layer, or make exchanges as needed.

Q - Do you know if there are any gap issues in the center of the bed where the two latex pieces meet? If someone sleeps in the middle of the bed (with equal firmness on each side), will there be any noticeable disruption of the continuity of the mattress given the six individual pieces of latex?

I think that individual layers is a good idea because it provides you with more options to fine tune each side of the mattress. There won’t be an issue with any gaps between the layers although of course if each side has a different firmness level then you would be able to feel the transition between the sides to different degrees depending on how different each side is from the other (see post #2 here).

1.) Pure Latex Bliss Beautiful Mattress, Blended Talalay
3" Top Layer: 19 ILD
3" Middle Layer: 24 ILD
6" Bottom Layer: 36 ILD

This would be softer than the SleepEZ layering you are considering and depending on body type and weight distribution could also be more risky in terms of good alignment over the course of the night … especially for stomach sleepers. The current PLB specs are here and the Beautiful also has 3" of 15 ILD Talalay GL fast response in the top layer (not 19 ILD).

2. Essentia Beausommet Matresss, Their brand of “memory foam” and Dunlop
   2" Top Comfort Layer: ?? ILD 6.25 lbs per cubic ft. Density (gentle touch layer)
   5" Middle Support Layer: ?? ILD 8 zoned latex reflex layer
   1" Bottom Support Layer: ?? ILD 5.25 lbs per cubic ft. Density (adjustable recovery layer)

3.) Essentia Dormeuse Matresss (a bit soft….) Their brand of “memory foam” and Dunlop
2" Top Comfort Layer: ?? ILD 6.25 lbs per cubic ft. Density (gentle touch layer)
4" Middle Support Layer: ?? ILD 8 zoned latex reflex layer
2" Bottom Support Layer: ?? ILD 5.25 lbs per cubic ft. Density (adjustable recovery layer)

Q - Our favorite is the Pure Latex Bliss Beautiful Mattress. The Beausommet a close second, but a little firmer I think and the Dormeuse a little squishier on the comfort layer - maybe too squishy. I don’t have the ILD firmness levels for any of the Essentia mattresses. They gave me densities and I’m not sure how they equate to the ILD firmness of the PLB Beautiful mattress. We want to make sure what we are ordering in our Sleep EZ layers is comparable to what we liked in these two other mattress (Beautiful & Beausommet).

You can read some of my thoughts about Essentia and some of the misleading claims they make and some forum discussions with them in this thread and this thread and posts #3 and #4 here) but these are both very different designs that use different materials and layers than any of the SleepEZ options so it’s more of an apples to oranges comparison that really wouldn’t be directly comparable or particularly useful as a reference point outside of much more generic “soft/medium/firm” comparisons (which can be very subjective).

Q – Lastly, what do you think of the foundations for Sleep EZ? We were thinking about getting a platform bed with slats, but now see that they seem to have a pretty good box form with 3" wooden slats that breathe. Assuming for the King size, there are two separate boxes (?) and we can use our existing bed frame, which is metal and has a center bar and two center supports.

There is more about the different types of support systems that are suitable for different types of mattresses in the foundation post here but the SleepEZ foundation is one of the listed suggestions and are specifically made to be suitable for latex and would make a very good choice for an all latex mattress. The king size includes two twin XL foundations.

Phoenix