They just received a newer version of the mattress in and the new one has a larger foam topper. Iāll ask about the quality. The rest of the mattress is 100% talalay( I did not spell that right) latex. I did look at the Jamison and it was plush on one side and firm on the other. Iāll go back and see what the top layer is made of- will let you know how this all turns out.
Below are the specs on the Jamison mattress- does this tell you anything. I am going to get the specs on the Restonic. I wasnāt very impressed with the help I received at the dealer that carried the Jamison. The dealer that carries the Restonic has been very helpful and honest - Iāll see what he tells me. Thanks again for all your help
Comfort Choice Mattress
Comfort Layers
Firm Side - multi-quilted to Safe SlumberĀ® fire retardant protection system and Cashmere Blend
Soft Side - serpentine horizontal quilted to Safe SlumberĀ® fire retardant protection system and Cashmere Blend
Mattress Unit
Firm Side - 6" Talalay Latex Core 40 lb. Compression
Soft Side - 2" 19 ILD & 1" 24 ILD Talalay Layers compression
Box Spring
Power Stack
Durable, welded steel
Enhanced stability
Maximum Support
Uraburr,
Glad to hear you enjoyed talking with and working with Mike and Design Sleep. From my conversations with him, he seemed most helpful.
We just ordered the Berkeley Ergonomics āWillowā bed from Sovn here in Dallas. Itās the same bed as the Riviera at Design Sleep. We got the āCā firmness. It should be here in the next week or so! Time will tell, but Iām very excited and hopeful!
Let us know how your Riviera is when you get it!
Hi Jmbramblett,
The Jamison specs donāt include any polyfoam and this is the type of construction that I would certainly prefer. Some of the Restonics are made in this way as well in some areas of the country but in other areas they have the polyfoam you were mentioning and for me at least ā¦ depending to some degree on the quality of the polyfoam and on the price ā¦ I would tend to avoid a mattress that had 2" of softer lower density polyfoam.
And you did spell ātalalayā correctly 
Phoenix
Hi - Iāve spent several hours reading the posts on this topic (Serta iComfort). Two Questions:
Price aside, is there a national brand whose mattress products you are supportive of and would recommend?
Do you know of any local manufacturers/retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area that you support/recommend?
Thank you very much!
Hi patcarrol,
In a word ā¦ no. The only way to tell real value is by knowing what is in the mattress rather than the brand name and most of the largest brands donāt publish this to prevent meaningful comparisons with other brands ā¦ or even in many cases versions of their own mattresses. Some of the smaller or second tier national brands do make some mattresses which tend to have higher quality ingredients in a given price range but this isnāt a ābrand recommendationā as much as it would be a preference for a specific model in those instances where the materials are known (which most often isnāt the case). In general though ā¦ while the smaller national brands tend to have better value than the larger ones, they are not in the same league as most smaller local or regional factory direct manufacturers or smaller wholesale manufacturers who sell through sleep shops.
Every large manufacturer makes some mattresses that use higher quality materials but even then, in almost all cases, even the sale prices (which are mostly fake) still puts them out of competition with smaller manufacturers who use the same materials but sell these mattresses every day at a much lower price. If you were to find one of these with a substantial discount over the best āsaleā price ā¦ then they may compete.
While some of the smaller national brands do make some mattresses that may have better value than the larger ones (depending on who is selling them), because some of these are made differently by different factories in different areas of the country or make a dizzying array of models sometimes specifically for a store ā¦ even with brands in this next tier down itās important to go by the ingredients in each mattress rather than the brand. They would not be in the largest brands (Sealy, Serta, Simmmons, Tempurpedic, Comfort Solutions (King Koil), Select Comfort, Kingsdown) or any of the brands that are owned by these. These second tier would include names such as Englander, Restonic, Therapedic and others and as you get into even smaller brands from here (Such as Jamison, Gold Bond, Pure Latex Bliss and many others) the value can become better yet. There can sometimes be good value among these if the materials and the price is right. This group (smaller national brands) in other words would include some mattresses that are better value than what most people buy but not as good as most local or regional manufacturers. Most of the best ābrandsā are ones that the vast majority of people wouldnāt recognize except perhaps in a local community.
Many, if not most smaller local and regional manufacturers have a consistent pattern of using higher quality materials in every price range and and as a group offer consistently higher quality and value than any of the larger brands including most of the āexceptionsā I just listed. Most of these are family owned and have been in business for several generations. This is especially true for those who sell factory direct to the public or through local sleep shops that are close to where they manufacture. This doesnāt mean that every local or regional manufacturer offers great value because there are exceptions here as well but most of them will tell you what is in every layer of their mattress which makes it much easier to find the exceptions.
Post #2 here should help
Phoenix
Patcarroll -
I am having a bed made my Patrick at Community Mattress and I have to say he has been amazing throughout the whole process and really knows his stuff and has been in business for a long time. It took me a couple weeks of testing different mattresses(due to work schedule) and he was never pushy in trying to get a sale and made sure the bed I was ordering would be the best for me. Heās absolutely amazing and works around your schedule as far as coming to see his shop and testing and if needed to pick up the mattress. I pick up my mattress next week and I cannot say any bad things as I have my share of horrific stories since I have been on this mattress voyage. Hope this helps
Phoenix,
One place I would definitely not recommend for anyone in Sacramento is Sleep Well. I went there to get that Natura Crown come to find out the it was really the Natura Cloud with a wrong label on the mattress. I had to actually call Natura personally and find out that the mattress wasnāt definitely the wrong mattress and that the pictures on their website shows exactly what the mattress looks like and that is how I knew that the Sleep Well in Sacramento was definitely trying to get one over on me. I hope this helps anyone in Sacramento know where to buy and not. Since then I have been talking to patrick and community mattress in concord and he really know his stuff and has great customer service. Since Iām in the sales game which is also customer service I have to say he was a pleasure to work with and I canāt wait to get my bed. The only thing is that it takes a little bit for the bed to be made since he has to order the material but the wait will be worth it and if I have any problems he assured that he will get it done without hesitation.
Hi 22bmarsh,
Thanks for your report and the feedback ā¦ I really appreciate it
Phoenix
Phoenix,
I got the latex bed made and am wondering if i need a break in period for it to loosen up
Hi 22bmarsh,
Latex doesnāt have the same type of breakin or initial softening period as other foams so not to any significant degree no. There is usually an initial adjustment period for any new sleeping surface though ā¦ particularly if itās fairly different from what you were used to sleeping on.
Were you just asking a more general question or are you finding some discomfort?
Phoenix
Phoenix,
The bed is giving me major discomfort and I have no idea what to do. I got a foam topper but that has made it a little worse. Granted Iāve only had the bed for a couple days but it has been a major problem and I have been losing a lot of sleep.
Hi 22bmarsh,
Do you know the specs of your mattress and the type of topper? It would be helpful too if you could describe the type of discomfort youāre experiencing (the symptoms and where they are) because different symptoms would have different āremediesā.
Phoenix
In my twenty years in the business I can tell you it is not unusual to be uncomfortable for the first week or two when switching from one type of sleep system to another. If fact I would call it normal. I have a few suggestions.
- donāt add a topper, that will only change the feel again and restart your bodyās adjustment period.
- donāt worry, contact the store you got it from and tell them you are having problems. They will probably tell you to give it more time, which is the right answer. If after a couple weeks you arenāt seeing at least some improvement then you may have to look at having the mattress changed. If after a couple weeks you see some improvement then give it a couple more. I have had lots of customers that swore at there new mattress in the first week or two and then after a few weeks swore by it as the best bed they ever had.
- If you donāt adjust to it, go to the store you got it from and work with them to have it changed. Most stores will work with you.
- Donāt blame them, it isnāt anyones fault. Sometimes we choose the wrong feel. Stores are often less likely to want to help someone who comes in blaming them. Instead look for solutions to the problem. Usually the mattress can be adjusted at little to no cost too you. Help them by laying on beds again and pointing to what you want it to feel like. You canāt just call them up and say make it softer or harder, they can only guess how much and probably be right.
phoenix,
the bed is as folllow: bottom-
2in cocconut rock hard firm
4 in blended talalay 30% nat and 70% ild of 35
2 in on top medium and ild 26-32
2 in talalay soft and 19-26
1" convuluted latex
Iām having discomfort in the lower back area and am waking up due to these problems. I called Patrick at community mattress and he has been nothing but helpful. He did recommend maybe getting a topper since I had a sleep number bed with no support on a number of 35. I like to sink in my bed and I guess thatās very bad for the back so now I guess Iām not used to actually having support. I donāt blame him at all and know heās going on the specs I gave him from the bed I slept on which felt amazing. Iām just concerned because when I did sleep on the natura crown I had no problems so I donāt know what to do and thatās why I was asking if there was a break in period. Also, does it matter the temp that my room is at?
Hi 22bmarsh,
Patrick is right IMO that it would be a good idea to give the mattress some time if you can. One of the difficulties when you are coming from a mattress with poor support that you have become used to is that your back may have become accustomed to sleeping in an unnatural position and that good posture may be painful. I have talked with several chiropractors who design mattresses that have told me that this is not an unusual phenomenon. While the long term implications of this are not so good ā¦ in the short term it can cause some grief until the ligaments and muscles get used to a more natural position.
Do you know any of the details of the sleep number mattress besides the setting (the foam layers on top of the bladder)? Knowing more about what you were sleeping on may help a bit.
Normally I would suggest that with your 6ā3" 175 lb frame and being a side/back sleeper that this would be a construction that worked fairly well for side sleeping at least. If anything it would be āon the soft sideā for back sleeping with 3" of softer latex on top of a medium transition layer. Do you sleep a lot on your back or mostly on the side? Under normal circumstances I might tend to suggest eliminating the top 1" layer of foam to put you closer to the support layers and ābring upā your pelvis but with your history Iām not sure if the issue is too soft or old āmemorizedā sleeping posture.
What I would suggest for now is to take a thicker blanket and fold it into a strip (in half twice) that can go under the middle third of the mattress under the pelvic area. The goal is to test the results of bringing up your hips a bit to see what effect that has. I would hold off on a topper for now (as Ryan from Beloit suggested) because if the issue is that the upper layers are already a little too thick then it could make it worse and as he also mentioned it could re-start the adjustment period.
One other suggestion if you spend a fair bit of time on your back is a pillow under your knees to ārotateā your hips and help ease lower back pressure. A pillow between your knees on your side may also help a bit but probably not as much for lower back.
There are about 4 different versions of the Natura Crown specs on the internet and it may have changed but the most common ones have 2" of coir on the bottom with 4" of firm Talalay (some say Dunlop) and then 2" of medium zoned talalay, 2" of soft zoned Talalay and then either 1" or 2 x 1" of convoluted convoluted latex (various sites say either Talalay or Dunlop and the Natura site says an inch of each). Your mattress is close to these and if anything it only has an inch of the convolute rather than 2. Most of them do have the 4" of zoned latex which would lift up your hips a bit so this may be the difference and the Natura also has a thick wool quilting which would firm up the upper latex layers a bit.
All in all this is a ātoughā one to diagnose but I would start with the blanket and see if we can move things in the right direction a bit to at least get you comfortable enough to see if the normal adjustment period will improve things as well.
Phoenix
Hey Phoenix
Ivāe been reading this forum for a few hours and would like to say thanks for the valuable information that you have provided.
Last night I put a down payment on a bedroom set and mattress (iComfort Genius) from R&F. After reading the forum Iās going to put the whole deposit towards the set and get a mattress from a local store. My husband is a back/side sleeper and I like to sleep on my stomach.Iām going to take your advice and try out a latex mattress but I have no idea what specifications to look for. Also I live in NYC area and wanted to know what would be the best store to buy from?
Thanks ALot!!!
Hi T.Haskins,
There are some guidelines in terms of what to look for here (your sleeping positions), and here (your statistics like weight and body shape etc) and here (your preferences).
More important though than the technical stuff is your own personal experience because each person is unique in how they interact with a particular mattress. This is why there is no ābestā mattress in general terms but only best for an individual. Just as important is understanding the different materials that are used in a mattress and their general qualities and how they feel to you, and how to tell good quality from lesser quality in each material. Lower quality materials can make a very comfortable mattress that feels great in the managed environment of many showrooms. the problem is that they wonāt last as long. There is really only a limited amount of materials that are used in mattresses even though the variations in each material is quite wide. In comfort layers the different materials most often used are here. In support layers the different materials generally used are here. Each person can have a different opinion about each of these and which they prefer so its a good idea to spend some time initially getting a sense of the different general feeling of each one.
The comfort layers that you will most commonly see are the different types of foam ā¦ latex, memory foam, and polyurethane foam. The support cores that are most common are innersprings (many types), polyurethane, and latex. So in the most basic versions you would have say a memory foam over polyurethane mattress (like tempurpedic), or a latex over innersprings, or a memory foam over latex mattress etc. Of course they can be mixed and matched in many ways and there are other materials but these are the ābasicā ingredients of a mattress.
Much of this can get fairly technical so I personally believe that the most effective way to find a mattress is to find someone who already knows all of this and is willing to guide you in person in making the best choices. The best of these are almost always local manufacturers who sell factory direct or sleep shops with more knowledgeable staff and who sell smaller brands. Finding one of these and not spending your time and money in chain stores, department stores, on National brands that you hear advertised everywhere, or pursuing the āamazing salesā or ārevolutionary new mattressā that you hear advertised will save you more time and frustration than anything else. Good mattresses using the best materials for a specific budget, that are well built, and that have great value, are available every day of the year at prices that donāt change much and donāt depend on negotiation. Good outlets donāt have āamazingā sales (occasionally they have smaller discounts for legitimate reasons) and they understand the basics of mattress construction and how different types of materials and layering can suit certain people.
There are a lot of options in the New York area and there are also some outlets that offer less common choices as well (such as the old style natural fiber over innerspring mattresses hand built in the āold fashionedā way). What I would do is to first spend time on the phone talking with some of these and letting them know your budget, your preferences in terms of what you like and the types of mattresses you have preferred, and of course your needs (based on height, weight, sleeping positions etc). The better outlets will be happy to let you know the choices that may work well for you and how much they cost. Some research on the phone (and on websites for those that show more information) will save you hours of going āstore to storeā and getting more confused as you try to remember what every mattress felt like and what it was made of. Your phone calls will give you a very good sense of a few outlets that seem the most promising for your own circumstances and are the most knowledgeable and helpful and these are the ones I would spend time visiting.
There is a list of some of the better places in the NYC area in post #2 here. There are also a few general descriptions of many of these outlets in post #7 here.
In essence ā¦ the more the person who is helping you knows ā¦ the less you have to know. The more they are willing to help āeducateā you about their mattresses and how they compare to others rather than āsell youā on their mattresses based on āstoriesā ā¦ the more likely it is that you can trust them. These types of outlets will be more patient, wonāt create a sense of urgency about buying now, and because they are proud of what they make and the value they represent, they will help you make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses rather than making comparisons more difficult. they are what I call āmattress peopleā rather than āmoney machinesā.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
So I got a topper but it was a plush topper and I have to say my bac and sleep has gotten a lot better. This was all in thanks to Patrick who recommended that since I was used to having a pillow top this would give me the best sleep possible as well as having all the support I needed. Hope this helps and thanks to all of your help.
Phoenix- I wanted to let you know that after all the research I finally broke down and purchased the Restonic Latex. The first night I slept on it I only slept for two hours since I was not use to this type of mattress and I was so scared I had made the wrong decision. By the second night I fell in love with this mattress. Itās like laying on a cloud and provides support for all of the pressure points. Iāve now had it for over a month and am so glad I took the time to research.
Thank you so much for your help Jill