Let me start with Thank you! As I have not been able to sleep in my bed for a couple of weeks now, and have been on the floor, I am so grateful that I have been able to find so many answers here.
So let me say Thank you for:
Saving me tons of money by showing me the tools to realize it would have been very foolish to buy the Sealy Optimum with it’s HD grade memory foam used for support.
Showing me the amazing small companies in my town that came in several hundreds (and in one case a $1000 less) with higher quality latex foam for support.
Always answering people questions quickly and throughly so that we can all benefit from your answers.
So here is where I am at and trying to decide:
I found the Denver Mattress Co in Omaha, they don’t carry the Aspen nor the Snowmass. I had to drive to Lincoln to test these in the Twin size. (disappointed I think there is an advantage to being able to test a bed with your spouse in it at the same time). Out of the two we like the Snowmass better. You know all the specks for this and it has been discussed many times.
We also stopped at Lebeda Mattress Factory where we found the Latex. Here are the stats:
100% natural (although I did not enquire more to confirm their definition)
8" thick latex =
6" Talalay 28 ILD
1" Talalay 24 or 26 (I don’t remember which he said) ILD on top and bottom (mattress is flippable)
Bamboo ticking
Fabric content: 61% polyester, 37% bamboo, 2% spandex
10 yr non-prorated warranty
The guy at Denver mattress says they both purchase from Latex international (or something close to that) so if that is true, then how much difference is there between the 28 and Snowmass’ 32 ILD?
I felt the Lebeda was more comfortable…a little more “snuggly”, but I it was $400 more.
So…What more do I want to know to try and help narrow this down? Or am I just down to personal comfort at this point?
You were probably fortunate to find the Snowmass because they are apparently discontinued and I’m guessing only a few stores have them.
My goal is always to help people eliminate all the worst choices and then focus on the better ones so that all their final choices are between 'good and good" which is exactly where you are. At this stage it’s really a matter of deciding based on all the tradeoffs that are part of each person’s “personal value equation” which are all the objective, subjective, and intangible parts of a mattress purchase (not just the mattress) that are more or less important to you. There is no real “better or worse” at this point only preferences and tradeoffs.
I would first make sure that any comparisons are mattress only to mattress only and exclude any foundation or other accessories. From a commodity or “raw materials” point of view the Snowmass may have better value but the Lebeda is also two sided which is also a “value” bonus and will be more durable than a mattress that is one sided. It’s also more costly to finish a mattress on both sides.
The ILD’s of each mattress are “comfort specs” and have no bearing on quality of value except to the extent that a mattress that provides you with better PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) is more “valuable” to you than a mattress that doesn’t match your needs and preferences quite as well. Layer thickness and ILD work together in terms of softness so the Lebeda has a thinner comfort layer but a softer support layer which together produce the feel and performance that you seem to like.
They both use latex from the same supplier and both are blended Talalay.
So overall you are looking at two good choices and I would go through the list in the earlier link so that you can take into account all the benefits and differences between each purchase (including the mattress and also all the other benefits and options that come from purchasing from each manufacturer) and then decide which is the best value based on your personal value equation. I also believe that in a decade or so down the road you will remember much more about how well you slept on a mattress than you will about how much you paid (although of course the price you pay is also an important part of “value”)
You are in a better position than the vast majority of consumers that by this time would normally be choosing between “bad and worse” in terms of quality and value
So while I can’t tell you what to choose … hopefully this will help you with how to choose between them.
So I tried to by the Snowmass, at which point they said…“Oh, I didn’t know it wasbeing discontinued. Sorry, we can’t get it for you.”
So back to lebeda. As my husband and I lay on the latex mattress he asks, “If latex is the best, why aren’t there more of them?” So I ask you, "Why is it so hard to find a latex mattress?
So I want this mattress, but I am bothered by how thin it really is. A total of 8 inches. This is less than half the depth of my old mattress. The core is 6" of 28 ILD. They customize…would there be value in changing this to 8" of either 28 or 32?
The simple answer is money, marketing, profit, and the ability to claim “proprietary” designs that use lower quality and less durable materials which can’t be compared to other mattresses and which need to be replaced more frequently that drives the larger companies which control the majority of the industry (whew … hows that for a single sentence :)). Latex is much more common with smaller manufacturers that recognize its value and are more focused on customer satisfaction than profit margins or shareholder or investor returns.
This would be a preference and depend entirely on whether the mattress provided you with the PPP (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, or Personal preferences) you need and prefer. As you can read in the first overview here … the two basic functions of every mattress are pressure relief and alignment and everything after that is preference. The marketing that has led people to believe that thicker is better has allowed the larger companies to put a lot of inferior materials in their mattresses and sell them at inflated profits based on this single belief. It’s the same belief that has led people to buy so many pillowtop mattresses over the last decade that “feel” good in a showroom but that fail so quickly because of the low quality foams they use in the comfort layers or buy mattresses that are overkill in terms of what they need and then wonder what happened when they develop soft spots that lead to the loss of comfort and support but the impressions are still “just below” the warranty exclusions. If you need some extra softness in the mattress to provide you with better pressure relief then you could always add 2" of softer latex over a firmer 6" core but with careful testing your body will tell you if this is necessary.
If you test the mattress carefully on the same or similar foundation or box spring that you would be using at home then the answer to whether you need more latex would depend on whether it provided “enough” pressure relief, “enough” support/alignment, and had a “feel” that you liked. If it doesn’t then you may need to look at a different design that has thicker comfort layers to provide more pressure relief. If it does then there is no need to use more latex. You can read more about the potential benefits of a thicker mattress in post #14 here.
My husband says I am just having commitment issues, but really I just want to make sure it’s a good bed for both of us and I really don’t want to be disappointed in 2 months/years.
Thanks again. I will check it out one last time and I am sure I will make the plunge…he might be right with the commitment statement (but don’t tell him).
I’m looking forward to hearing about your choice.
The best “advice” I can give you is to test carefully for PPP with your long term needs and preferences in mind … and trust what your body and your “educated intuition” tell you in conjunction with any guidance and experience from the people you are working with.
