Like many folks that have posted here I made the mistake of purchasing a Stearns and Foster Harbor View Villa luxury latex pillow top mattress. I bought it last year and while comfortable, it has already developed 3 inch impressions. I had the inspector come out and we are approved for a replacement. Like many I’m stuck picking from an “S” brand. Reading through other posts of similar circumstances, it appears that going with a S+F River View Villa model and adding a talalay latex topper is the way to go. I’m a 6’2 250 lb side sleeper and my wife is a 5’9 165 ffilb side sleeper. My question is has anyone else gone with this combo and if so would you care to share your thoughts/opinions on it? Thanks in advance.
Hi Fiddler,
As you already know … the comfort layers of this mattress has 4.5" of polyfoam in the top 6" of the mattress (and some descriptions say it’s more because most of the listed specs don’t equal the thickness of the mattress) which is usually a recipe for foam softening and impressions.
The good news in this case is that the impressions happened earlier and you are approved for a warranty exchange. Not everyone is so fortunate.
While I have no personal experience with this combination, there are some topper guidelines in post #8 here which can give you some insights into the thickness and softness of the topper that may work best for you on a River View which only has an inch of polyfoam (which they call “high performance” which may indicate better quality/density) in the comfort layers. Because you are heavier and a side sleeper I would tend towards a little thicker (3") and a little firmer than “average” but not so firm that your wife who is also a side sleeper would also have pressure issues. 19-24 ILD is generally considered to be in the “soft” range and 28 - 32 ILD is in the “medium” range. The odds say that the lower end of the “medium” range may be your best compromise but of course your own experience, judgement, and intuition is also an important part of your decision.
Hopefully others that have tried this specific combination will also see this and share their experiences.
Phoenix
Thanks for the response Phoenix. We went back to Bernie and Phyl’s today to take care of the exchange. They didn’t carry the River View Villa. Long story short, I had them call their Sealy rep to order it. This retailer gets that model of mattress as the Private Vineyard Villa, same spec’s different name. Not a pleasant experience explaining to salesman and then his manager why I didn’t want anything they had in stock. We then went to Gardner mattress to check out toppers. They had both a 19 and 28 ILD talalay 3 inch toppers to try out. They were rejuvenate brand, the salesman said they were made in CT. The 28 felt best. So in a few weeks we should have the new mattress and topper. I will report back with impressions once I have some quality sleep time on them. Thanks again for the advice. I wish I had found this site last year but live and learn I guess.
Hi Fidder,
That’s great and I’m glad you got to try it. Rejuvenite is the name for Latex International’s toppers so this would be right in the range that I would suspect has the best odds for your situation.
I’m looking forward to your feedback once you get to sleep on the combination.
Phoenix
We got the mattress and topper and have been sleeping on it for a week now. I ended up ordering the topper from Ken at Arizona premium because they were $150 cheaper than Gardner. Gardner wanted $650 for the topper while Arizona was about $500 with shipping. When I called the Woburn MA location to see if they would price match they refused to budge and told me I was making a huge mistake buying online. I told him it was the same exact topper as the one they sell but he basically said I was throwing my money away buying online. I was pretty shocked but they have a business to run I guess.
We are definitely in the adjustment phase with the new sleep system. My wife thinks it’s like sleeping on a board. I don’t feel that strongly but is is much firmer than the pillowtop Stearns we are replacing. We are going to give it some more time but if she is still unhappy I think I’m going to buy a cheap polyfoam eggcrate topper from Walmart for $30 and see if that helps. This will obviously be much cheaper than experimenting with different firmness latex toppers. I’ll report back after some more sleep time. Thanks again for the great advice you give on this site.
Hi Fiddler,
I certainly don’t understand the logic in that when as you are mentioning the material is the same.
It may take some time to get used to sleeping on latex because it certainly isn’t as soft as most pillowtops and I can also understand your wife who is lighter feeling it as firmer than you do but it also wouldn’t surprise me if she grew to like it a little more over a few weeks because it has a different kind of softness because of its combination of elasticity and support… Either way as you mentioned there are still lots of options to add some softness if she needs it and you would have a more suitable combination for your higher weight (some softness over a little firmer layer) and she would have the extra softness that she wanted. As you can see from post #2 here this kind of layering is one way to accommodate different needs and preferences between couples.
I hope you have a chance to let us know how things work out over the coming weeks.
Phoenix