LOL… yeah they seemed surprised. I told them a few weeks ago I was testing the air in my room because their mattress made me sick. I guess they didn’t expect results. I think I may be blacklisted from buying another mattress from them; they didn’t even ask if I wanted to exchange it this time.
Anyway, I’m thinking about getting a latex mattress from sleepez. I was looking at the 9" organic one vs the 8" special. I called about the differences and basically it seems to come down to the cover. I’m fine with a cotton/rayon cover that isn’t organic as long as it’s not treated with fire retardants etc. I asked if it was treated and they said no but after my last experience I’m not sure I believe anything from a mattress salesman. Do you know if this is true?
I was also wondering if there are any benefits to getting the wool/cotton as far as feel? Is it going to feel very different from the cotton/rayon cover?
The only other difference I could see is that the organic one has the option of talalay as the support layers whereas the special only has dunlop available for the support layers. It seems like if I was getting extra firm/firm as the layers (I like a firm mattress) that dunlop would be fine. is there any advantage to getting all talalay?
Just trying to figure out if the $400 difference is worth it.
They are the source of any information I have about their mattresses and I trust them and the information they give me completely yes. The non quilted SleepEz special uses a rayon/silica inherent fire barrier instead of the wool.
The wool quilted cover will slightly reduce the amount you sink into the latex (make it a little firmer) and will also provide better temperature control and some of the surface “feel” of a thin wool layer which some people prefer over sleeping directly on the latex. It’s really a matter of preference and your own personal criteria.
Both their organic line and their regular line have the wool quilted cover but the regular gives you a choice between blended talalay and 100% natural Dunlop in any of the layers and has a lower cost while the organic line gives you a choice between 100% natural Talalay and organic Dunlop in any of the layers and is more costly. I personally don’t think organic Dunlop is worth the premium for the certification in terms of performance or safety (see post #6 here) but some people do prefer the 100% natural Talalay over the blended even though they are very similar in terms of feel and performance and all of them have the same OekoTex certification.
The Special has 100% natural talalay in the comfort layer and 100% natural Dunlop in the lower layers. It also doesn’t have the 5% member discount because it’s a lower margin mattress and has a pillow bonus instead.
The comparison between Talalay and Dunlop is also a preference of “feel” (see post #7 here) but Dunlop has a higher compression modulus which means that it gets firmer faster than Talalay in the same ILD as you sink in deeper than the 25% compression where ILD is measured so would generally feel firmer and be more “supportive” (you would sink in less) than Talalay.
Ok… I talked to Shawn again and here’s what he recommended. The organic 9" latex with all talalay with extra firm/firm/soft. He said I would not bottom out through the soft layer (which I was worried about). I want a firm mattress after experiencing lower back pain from the soft one (that was supposably firm). Are the extra firm and firm talalay going to feel the same as the dunlop as far as firmness? I’m concerned this setup may end up feeling to soft.
Also, just in case this doesn’t work out (it’s a little nerve wracking ordering a mattress online) is it even feasible to ship a mattress back? I tried looking up rates and it looked like it cost between $500-1000 to ship it back from Utah. If this is the case the return policy isn’t really worth much.
I would keep in mind that Shawn knows more about his mattresses than anyone else including me and that you have also had a more extended conversation with him that would help him give you the best possible guidance so I wouldn’t put anyone else’s thoughts (including mine) above the suggestions of a knowledgeable and experienced manufacturer who works with customers and their specific mattress designs every day.
100% natural Talalay is denser than the blend so it would also have a higher compression modulus and you would sink into it a little less than blended Talalay. In the support layers which don’t compress as much as the comfort layers (depending on body type and sleeping style) there would be more of a difference in the “feel” and overall response between Talalay and Dunlop as opposed to actual support because much of the compression would be taken up by the comfort layer (which is what you feel the most) and then “stopped” by the firmer transition and support layers below them. With shallow compression (less than 25%) Dunlop can actually be softer than Talalay and then gets firmer as you go past 25% compression so it would also depend on how you interact with the mattress.
They offer a layer exchange to fine tune your mattress if this becomes necessary where the shipping cost is capped at $30 and in the large majority of cases either the initial configuration or a layer exchange works out well. If you did need to return it then the individual layers make it possible to ship back with UPS and the shipping would be much lower than the amounts you are mentioning. If you ask them they could give you a good idea of the average costs involved.
I got the mattress yesterday and so far I’ve been happy with it. They called me to double check everything in the order which was nice. It was shipped within two business days of my order and I received it two days later. I thought everything was packed extremely well. The foundations were easy to put together. I had a hard time with the mattress until I actually watched the video on their website and then it was easy (well relatively- king size pieces of latex are heavy- lol). Looking back on it I should have gone with their recommendation to use split pieces even though I went with the same layering on each side.
So far I like how the latex feels. Its doesn’t seem jiggly which is something I was worried about. This may have to do with the wool in the cover - which I also really like. The latex has a slight rubber smell- which I was expecting. Far better than the gas station/mildew smell of memory foam. So far the comfort of the layers seems good but I want to give it a few weeks before making a final decision. I like the firmness of it --I was worried it was going to be to soft and my hips would sink to much but so far that hasn’t been an issue. Usually if that’s an issue with a bed I know the first night. If anything it may be slightly to firm but I’m going to give it some time. It’s def. a mattress I would have picked out after laying on it in the store so I’m glad I took the risk of buying online.
One reason I went with them instead of one of the others was their fast turnaround time. A few of the sellers had turn around times of 3-6 weeks. Since I was without a mattress I wanted something sooner than later. Between sleeping on an air mattress/floor/couch for a month my back was really starting to bother me. Also, I couldn’t really find anything negative about them online. At least not really negative. I saw one review where someone said their layers kept sliding apart. My cover is so tight I don’t see how this is possible. Also, the layers were pretty much impossible to slide into place when I was layering the mattress. So I don’t think mine would slide even without a cover. I saw someone else who said they swapped 8-9 layers and couldn’t find a good arrangement. I think at this point you might just have to admit that you don’t like the feel of latex in general.
The free pillows are nicer than I thought they’d be and I’ll def. be using them.
The only comments I have are the two support layers were cut two inches short of a true king whereas the top layer was cut perfect. I don’t know if this is standard. It doesn’t seem to affect the integrity of the mattress and is not something I would have even known if I hadn’t assembled it myself. Also, I wish the latex had some sort of identifier so you could know for sure where it came from. I trust that they used what they said they did or I wouldn’t have bought it but some sort of identifier would def. bring peace of mind.
Thanks for the great feedback about your experiences so far
Latex is very stretchy and either elongates or scrunches very easily and then “sticks” to the layer below so it’s quite likely that if you “wave” the layer into position rather than pushing (which can shorten it) or pulling (which can lengthen it) that it will reach it’s original cut length. They would probably confirm this with a call as well. It’s fairly uncommon after putting a mattress together that all the layers are completely “relaxed” and are usually pushed or pulled to some degree across the surface making a layer either longer or shorter. This will normally either even out over time or can be “waved” into its correct measurement.
The original identifying label on a core is attached to the full 6" core and is often either removed in fabrication (cutting) or a layer is cut from a part of the core that doesn’t include the original label.
If it really was cut short though … I think they would probably want to know about it but this would be unusual and the odds are higher that it’s part of the pushing and pulling that goes with assembling the mattress in combination with the elasticity of latex.
