Small differences between latex options - HELP my head hurts! :)

[phoenix]

Hi cprice,

So Royal Sleep and City Mattress are one and the same?

Yes (see the names at the top and bottom of this page)

And is it safe to assume Royal Sleep all talalay mattresses are of good quality? How else would we assess the quality other than just making sure it truly is all talalay (which it appears to be)? How do we compare the quality of this company’s talalay to the other online retailers?

It’s never “safe” to assume that any mattress uses high quality materials until you find out the specific type and quality of the materials inside it (see this article) but if the only material inside a mattress is Talalay latex and there are no lower quality materials or components inside it then all Talalay latex is a high quality and durable material and there would be no weak links in the mattress regardless of the name on the label.

All manufacturers have access to the same types and blends of latex which they can choose to use in their mattresses and in the case of latex the type and blend of the latex is the information you need to know to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses. There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here and there is more about the differences in “feel” between Dunlop and Talalay latex in post #7 here but the best way to know which type of latex you tend to prefer would be based on your own personal testing and experience. If the type and blend of the latex is the same then they would be directly comparable in terms of quality and durability regardless of the name of the manufacturer that uses it in their mattress. Of course there is a wide range of different latex mattress designs and firmness levels so if the materials are the same in two mattresses it doesn’t mean that the firmness or feel of the mattresses would be the same because one may have softer or firmer layers in their mattress than the other.

It seems like we will end up with IRL finalists and online finalists that meet our personal value equation in all objective/measurable ways. But the online ones seem like they will be a better value price wise. We are ok with some risk of having to return/swap pieces of the mattress, but we’d like to get as close as we can to understanding the right thing to order in the first place.

Once you have narrowed down your choices to to a list of finalists that are all choices between “good and good” and they are all a good match for you in terms of PPP and there are no “weak links” in any of them and if at that point there are no clear winners between them 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 local testing and experiences or online conversations with each of them, your confidence about the suitability of each one, the options you have before and after a 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