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Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Phoenix,

We are just back from shopping at our small local stores and these are the mattresses that we preferred:

1.European Sleep Design: Baltic IA
Components Latex foam over bi-level interactive coils High-grade German honeycomb nested pocket coils 2" top layer of natural Talalay latex cushioning Organic cotton and organic Merino wool cover Four firmnesses Eco-certified components - made from natural materials free of harmful chemicals – (we liked the softest of the four firmness choices)

  1. Bed in a Box: the Serenity :
    Top layer: 2" cover with Outlast technology
    3" coolrest gel infused memory foam
    Bottom: 8: High resiliency support foam

  2. Bed in a Box: Natural Silk Elegance Gel:
    2" natural silk cover
    3: Coolrest gel infused memory foam
    8" high resilency support foam
    (note: we both preferred the Serenity to the Silk – it felt cushier to us. My husband felt the Silk was too firm for him and doubted he would feel comfortable overnight).

  3. Pure Latex Bliss: Pamper
    2" activefusion fast response natural talalay latex top layer
    6" natural talalay latex support core
    Note: we only liked this with the 3" topper on top of it. The higher end model in the store was better, but we nixed it because it was so much over our price. I think it was the “Nature” which added a 2" talalay pressure relief middle transition layer)

  4. Englander Hotel Collection Beverly Plush:
    2 sided
    805 pocket coil
    High carbon double temp stell
    Foam encase
    Gel infused mem foam
    Soy based HD foam

  5. Spring Air – Ellenton Elite
    1" latex
    2 1/2 " plant based foam pillow top
    2 ½ " convoluted foam
    1" fiber pad support base
    884 5 zone coil
    (comfortable, but worried that this pillow top would fail down the road on us)

  6. Stress-o-pedic: Barcelona Visco P/T
    We could not get layer info from them. This is a innerspring with high density foam.

The qualities that are important to us:

  1. initial cushion/comfy without sinking
  2. not being completely cradled (ie. memory foam that sinks)
  3. bottom layer that is not too firm for my husband

The above seemed to fit these qualities, however the majority of them were too expensive for us (except the New Englander and the stres-o-pedic)
We are purchasing 5 beds for a vacation rental home. We’ll be using one of the beds ourselves when we stay there and we would like all to be comfortable for the majority of people who stay there. We are on a budget; we’d prefer to keep the 2CK’s under $1300 and the 3Q’s under $1000.

My husband and I really like our all latex Flobed (too pricey for the rental) and we liked the feel of the above beds. Here’s the big question: would either of these beds have any similar feel to them?

  1. Dream Foam - Dream Foam
    2.http://www.latexmattresscompany.com/king-natural-7-zoned-latex-mattress.html

The price is right for these.
Any other models you might suggest based on the above and with our budget in mind?
thank you!
~Melinda

2

Hi MelindaCA,

The first place I would start your research is the tutorial post here which has all the basic information, steps and guidelines you will need to make meaningful comparisons and good choices.

As you will see … outside of your personal testing for PPP … the most important part of making the most suitable and informed choice is knowing the quality and durability a mattress which is only as good as its construction and the materials inside it. Knowing the specifics or all the layers and components in a mattress is one of the most important parts of a successful purchase. I’d be happy to make more specific comments if you can provide more specific information about the quality of all the layers in each mattress you are considering but I can make a few more general comments …

European Sleep Design:

All of the Berkeley Ergonomic mattresses use high quality materials and there are no “weak links” in any of them. Their staff also tend to be very knowledgeable about all their mattresses and can provide good guidance to their customers. There are no low quality materials or components in any of their matresses.

Bed in a Box:

You would need to know the density of the memory foam in a mattress to make any meaningful assessments but BIAB tends to use 3 lb memory foam which is a low quality material. You can see more comments about them in post #2 here.

Pure Latex Bliss:

You can see the specs of all the PLB mattresses here. None of their mattresses have any “weak links” in terms of quality either. The Pamper is a very firm mattress by itself and most people would need a topper over it. I would also keep in mind that their topper is in the range of 14 to 15 ILD which is a very soft version of talalay latex and I would make sure you do some very careful testing for alignment on this combination and if you are in a heavier weight range I would consider a higher ILD topper.

5. Englander Hotel Collection Beverly Plush:

You would need more information about this mattress to make any kind of assessment about it. Specifically …

805 pocket coil: I would want to know the coil gauge.
Foam encase: I would want to know the density of the polyfoam in the foam encasement.
Gel infused mem foam: I would want to know the thickness and the density of the a gel memory foam.
Soy based HD foam: This is also polyfoam and I would want to know the thickness and density of this layer as well.

A good retailer should be able to provide you with all of this information or call the factory to find it out if they don’t know it already.

6. Spring Air – Ellenton Elite:

This is normally a brand that the links in the tutorial post suggest avoiding because it can be very difficult to find out the information you need to make a meaningful assessment for most of their mattresses but the same comments would apply here as with the Englander. The information you would need specifically is …

1" latex: This is a good quality material but I would want to know the type and blend of the latex.
2 1/2 " plant based foam pillow top this is polyfoam and I would want to know the density.
2 ½ " convoluted foam: This would also be polyfoam and I would want to know the density.
884 5 zone coil: I would want to know the gauge of the wire.

7. Stress-o-pedic: Barcelona Visco P/T:

If they (or you) call the factory they will be able to provide you with any information you need about any of their mattresses. They are committed to providing any information their customers need (see this thread). Once you have this information you would be able to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.

You can see some of the information about this mattress on their website here but you would need to know the specific density of each memory foam or polyfoam layer. Any good retailer should be willing to call Stress-O-Pedic to find this out for their customers … especially from a manufacturer that is happy to provide it.

The two online choices you linked are both members here and compete well with the best in the country. Both are good quality/value options but of course to make meaningful comparisons you would need to look at the specifics of each mattress (the type and blend of the latex, the density of the polyfoam, and the cover and quilting material) and decide which of them was the best match for your specific preferences and personal value equation. The Ultimate Dreams uses Talalay latex over a 1.5 lb base foam and has a bamboo cover quilted with polyfoam and the Arizona Premium has 3" of Dunlop over polyfoam (I would want to know the density) and has a wool quilted cover.

Once you have all the missing information you need and have eliminated any of them that have any “weak links” in the mattress and are down to two or three (or so) then you would be choosing between “good and good” and would be ready to make meaningful comparisons between your finalists and make your final choice.

Phoenix