After a lot of research, I just bought a queen latex mattress online and I want to report on the excellent experience I had with Spindle Mattress.
My wife and I started out with a six inch thick, fairly dense polyurethane foam mattress that we put on a homemade 3/4" plywood platform bed. It worked fine for eight years, but it had no bounce or spring to it and we wanted to try out a good innerspring mattress on a box spring.
We bought a good quality firm innerspring mattress and box spring. It felt fine for about six years, but then it began to develop very pronounced depressions where we each slept. After about eight years we bought a brand-name firm “latex” mattress and a compact five inch box spring. It had a top latex layer above a polyurethane base layer. It worked fine for about ten years, then it also developed depressions where we slept. We thought the depressions where we slept were partly due to the box spring.
I have had my eye on several companies that sell custom layered latex mattresses for several years. I had extensively researched all the different types of latex and the different manufacturing processes. I noticed some companies offer a lower price for a mattress with a simple cotton cover, with higher prices for covers with thicker wool top padding. After reading a favorable review of Spindle mattress in post #21 at The Mattress Underground I researched their mattress design, including their latex from Mountain Top Foam. Their mattress only comes with one cover, which is a very high quality zippered cotton cover with fairly thick wool padding on top. I was very impressed by Mountain Top Foam’s Dunlop latex manufacturing video. Spindle’s mattresses come with three separate three inch layers. Due to the Dunlop manufacturing process, each layer has a slightly firmer bottom side (with holes) and a softer, smooth top side. There are no vertical glued seams down the middle of the latex in the queen mattress layers, which sometimes happens with Talalay latex.
When I called Spindle I spoke to Neal. I told him we were looking for a firm mattress. He explained that their mattresses are all made up of three medium or firm layers. I knew from my previous research I should not expect to compare ILD numbers across different types of mattresses and different types of latex. Neal explained their soft mattresses are made up of three medium layers, their medium mattresses have a firm layer on the bottom and two medium layers on top, their firm mattresses have two firm layers on the bottom and a medium layer on top, and their extra firm mattresses have three firm layers. He also explained the layers arrive in separate boxes and you arrange them in the zippered mattress cover yourself, so you can rearrange them to get a wide range of variation in the feel of your mattress.
I initially suggested we might want three firm layers, but after asking about our height, weight and sleeping positions (both tall, with average to low BMIs, me a back sleeper and my wife a side and back sleeper) Neal recommended we should start with a firm, firm, medium mattress, which Spindle calls firm. My sense is that they will work with you to assure you are happy with your initial mattress, and they will send you an extra firm or medium layer for up to $200 if you decide you want to make a firmness change after you have had the mattress for a while. They do not offer a free return of the whole mattress after a trial period, but they will give you a full price less $200 refund if you are ultimately not happy with your mattress and donate it to a local charity.
I was sure we would like the mattress if we could get the firmness right, so I was not worried about their lack of a free return. Since my wife and I were concerned our box spring was sagging where we slept, and because Neal said they strongly recommend placing their latex mattresses on wooden slat platforms with the slats spaced about 1/2" apart, I used this opportunity to donate our previous latex mattress and box spring to a local charity and I built a box spring “replacement” with 3/4" x 3" pine slats and a 3/4" x 5" plywood frame with two 3/4" x 5" plywood supports down the middle. Our bed frame also has two center legs down the middle, to keep everything level.
When the mattress arrived the individual layers were exactly as Mountain Top and Neal described them, with holes on a firmer bottom side and a softer smooth finish on top. The individual latex layers felt very high quality and luxurious. First I put the two firm layers in the mattress cover, smooth side up. I laid on the bed and it felt just about right to me, which made me worried that the medium top layer would make it too soft. With some concern, I called Spindle and ended up speaking with Kim. Kim said I should not worry, that Spindle would definitely work with me to get the right firmness, and I should go ahead and put in the medium layer and see how the mattress felt after a few night’s sleep. He said if I felt the mattress was too soft I could rearrange the layers as medium, firm, firm, or even put them all in with the firmer (holed) side up, which would give us a firmness that was even firmer than their normal extra firm mattress.
As it turned out, Spindle’s recommended firm, firm, medium arrangement, with the smooth side up on each layer, felt perfect for my wife and me. The total nine inches of pure latex feels very luxurious. The medium top layer supports us comfortably, with no noticeable pressure points, and the two firm layers provide a good base of support. With the new slat platform underneath, the whole bed feels perfectly flat side to side, with no variation in support down the middle or near the edges.
We are completely happy with our new Spindle latex mattress!