Puralux is their continuous pour Dunlop and it’s also a natural/synthetic blend (usually about 20% natural and 80% synthetic) and Naturalux is their tradename for the 100% natural Dunlop they sell (usually Latex Green).
No … they sound more like 100% natural Dunlop designations. Latexco is also a supplier for Latex Green (their 100% natural Dunlop) and you can see the Latex Green density and ILD numbers here which is more likely what they are selling.
The easiest way to differentiate latex is based on the type and blend (as well as the ILD or density depending on how the firmness is rated).
The listing I saw from Latex Sleep Therapy just says “pure talalay latex, made in the u.s.a.” and this was my question and their answer:
Q: This says pure talalay, is it blended? Who makes this latex, latexco, latex international? is it produced in the u.s. or imported and cut here? thanks
A:This latex topper is made by LatexCo and manufactured in the USA. Talalay Latex, according to industry experts, is always a blend of natural and synthetic latex – despite claims by some that their product is 100% Natural. Truly Natural Latex is manufactured where the rubber trees actually grow, and that is not in the USA
This was the place listing it as 55k, 70k for firmness with the corresponding ild ranges associated with those xxK designations. If it’s dunlop, not talalay, might explain why a 3" full/dbl layer is priced around $235 for a medium (70k). Most everywhere else that sells talalux is closer to $300-350 for 3". Maybe not the deal I thought it was.
Good to know that talalux is Radium. The nicer sample I got from Savvy was Radium talalay I believe, although what they sent was natural not blended I’m pretty sure. Either way, nice stuff.
[quote]Q: This says pure talalay, is it blended? Who makes this latex, latexco, latex international? is it produced in the u.s. or imported and cut here? thanks
A:This latex topper is made by LatexCo and manufactured in the USA. Talalay Latex, according to industry experts, is always a blend of natural and synthetic latex – despite claims by some that their product is 100% Natural. Truly Natural Latex is manufactured where the rubber trees actually grow, and that is not in the USA[/quote]
I think they are sadly/badly misinformed.
If the topper is actually made in the US then the only product that Latexco pours in the US is the Puralux (which is neither talalay or 100% natural Dunlop).
What then is Purolux? If not talalay nor natural dunlop. Is it in the dunlop family? Latexco’s site doesn’t give much clue, just says it’s 100% latex (doesn’t claim to be talalay) available with or without perforations from quilting rolls up to 3" - they (Latexco) say without seams, which sounds like dunlop since talalay is typically seamed together due to smaller molds. Durolux as I understand is a 50/50 dunlop blend. Naturalux is natural latex (non blended - dunlop?) so where does Puralux fall into the spectrum? If it’s not natural (blended), then how does it differ from Durolux? Just a higher natural blend, like 60 natural/40 synthetic vs the lesser expensive 50/50 durolux?
It’s their continuous pour Dunlop that is made in a thickness up to 4" (usually less) and can have holes punched in it after it’s poured or left as a layer with no holes. As I mentioned in my earlier reply … it’s usually a 20% natural and 80% synthetic blend.
Phoenix, thanks again as always. Sorry about that, you actually did answer that before I even asked. Apparently my eyes jumped over it, maybe when I was scrolling the screen.
[quote]Q: This says pure talalay, is it blended? Who makes this latex, latexco, latex international? is it produced in the u.s. or imported and cut here? thanks
A:This latex topper is made by LatexCo and manufactured in the USA.[/quote]
They make a big deal on their site distinguishing Talalay from Dunlop. Good return policy for a topper. Their site doesn’t claim made in the USA as they do on eBay and Amazon.
BTW if you Google “latex sleep therapy topper,” several sites are bogus blogs with what sounds like machine-generated or machine-translated text. At first I thought this reflected on the brand, but after seeing that one of the “buy now” links goes to some game site, I realized it could be someone swiping text from a legitimate product and trying to trick people into following their links.
Phoenix, with those links/pictures, can you tell what they are actually selling? Are the prices too good to be true for Talalay?
sdmark, yes. That was the listing I had seen, the one you linked to (both amazon and their website). Found myself going in circles a bit, checking prices and happened across ultimate sleep brand yet again. Might have to re-evaluate them and I agree with Phoenix not only do the density ratings not seem to match up, but the statement about ‘drilling’ the pinholes bit. Far as I know, talalay or dunlop (either one) made in molds aren’t drilled after the fact. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think the ‘holes’ aren’t a design feature for breathability or firmness control like some say rather a key feature to evenly and more efficiently curing the latex. I can only imagine it would be much more risky burning or over curing the edges, or risking an uncured center of a ‘core’ without them and probably take significantly longer. I think in some cases, the hole patterns might be variations (mix of smaller/larger) to simulate zoning.
As for the bogus sites, I don’t think that’s ultimate sleep doing that. I’ve seen it with other items as well (unrelated to mattresses) and have some dealing with online retail places where they have affiliate or referral programs. Others will advertise a product via a blog, include a link to a product and when people clink through that link there’s a referral id that gives the person doing the write up a kick back percentage. A tradeoff for advertising. Although (I know the type of machine output looking pages you’re talking about), doing it that way is a bit ‘gimmicky’ and spammy. A more respectable way to do it would be if someone like Phoenix were to write up a blog similar to his introduction pages with some quality info and had a link or two to related items rather than just some incoherent generated keyword spam.
Being on a tighter budget than some, I’m constantly looking for a decent deal. Not trying to say a lot of respectable places don’t sell good product, but the price variations are all over the map. Some 6" cores I’ve seen range anywhere in $200-$400 difference for the same product which is a healthy chunk of change to most anyone. On a lighter note, given the high demand and what seem like massive profits on latex, anyone want to give the old ‘victory gardens’ another shot with rubber trees? lol
Also looking for a quality product at a budget price, I decided to try a 100% synthetic continuous pour topper made by Mountain Top Foam.
Mountain Top uses yet another grading measure, detailed by Phoenix here. The Mountain Top site has some good info on their process–you can see exactly where their holes come from. I found the video pretty interesting.
Spindle (www.spindlemattress.com) sells these toppers quite reasonably, and Neal is great: he knows his product and I really appreciate his approach–he will go into as much detail as you want, you just stop him when it gets too deep. He recently explained the need for ventilation based on the first law of thermodynamics! (i.e. to avoid condensation). When I asked about the holes being shallower on one side than the other, he explained that is due to the way the 3" layers are split from a 6" core. I don’t think he allows returns of opened products, but I was willing to risk $200 (queen) to try one of these, and though I’ve only had two nights on it, so far I’m quite pleased.
If you have an Ikea nearby, you can try mattresses containing the same foam (Matrand and Myrbacka), though as best I could tell, it’s all the firmer C3 (see this post and this post) and of course feels quite different when thicker and on a polyfoam base.
So, more options to be confused by ;).
As for the rubber trees, I would of course jump at the chance but alas, San Diego isn’t the rain forest so I will have to pass!
You’re right that the only latex that would have holes punched after manufacturing would be continuous pour Dunlop made by Latexco.
You’re correct about this as well. The main function of the pincores is to help with vulcanizing the latex and they are necessary in thicker cores but they also affect ventilation, firmness, and as you mentioned they can be used for zoning as well.
Some of the alternative sources for latex (such as Russian Dandelion or Guyale may be a bit easier to grow
I’m not sure which latex manufacturer you are referring to (each manufacturer can have their own way for designating firmness) but if it’s Radium you mean then their W designations are the firmness ratings and ranges for their blended Talalay latex.
Note the “W” ratings have now been replaced with “S” ratings which you can seehere.
Phoenix[/quote]
I have come across this W rating with the blended radium, is it old stock or have they went back to using the W rating?
Hi, I am sorry i have a question related to Radium or Vita Talalay. I recently tested Savvy Rest Dunlop and Talalay latex and i liked following : Firm dunlop 3" bottom layer, medium is Talalay 3" in medium firmness and soft Talalay on the top. I am planning on purchasing separate layers and building my own mattress. I know that their Talalay is from Radium and it is firmer than global talalay. I would like to know retailers for Radium with same firmness i tried. Can any one help please? I looked Sleepez and their prices higher than from mattress.net which is Arizona premium mattress but they sell Global Talalay. Flexus comfort prices are great, but they don’t sell them in firmness i was looking which is 30-40 lld(medium in Savvy rest) i believe
Does any one know if savvy rest Talalay is 100% natural or blended? (I wanted to ask before I buy because as i learned that Pure Talalay Bliss is not using all natural talalay but blended talalay.
some some new vita talalay with the “WS7” stamped on the side. Can anyone confirm that they have resumed using the “WS” designation for their superior/blended line? From earlier posts I was under the impression that they had dropped the W and were using the S only?
still looking for info on my previous post. Has Vita Talalay gone back to using “W” designations for its Superior blended product such? For example, “W8S” ?
I contacted Vita Talalay and they said that while they have moved to the shortened “S” designation, to reference their superior (blended) product, the older “W” designations is still used in production when marking the latex itself.
