There is one latex mattress company that covers body impressions over just 1/2 inch, another over just one inch… All the rest are 1.5 inches or more to be covered. The biggest reason I want latex is to avoid having permanent body impressions in my mattress and from my research, latex seems to be the best option.
My question is - what kind of impressions are normal with latex? I understand that softer densities will wear more rapidly, and that Talalay will also wear more rapidly, but I’m just trying to get a general idea because I don’t want to base my purchase decision on the warranty if it is unlikely that even a half inch or an inch of body impression will form over the next 10 years. In my experience, any impression of even more than 1/2 inch creates discomfort (for me). I only have experience with innerspring and memory foam and even the cheapest ones of those that I have had have never even had a permanent body impression of over 1.5 inches, but if the warranty was for just 1/2 inch or 1 inch they would have been covered.
Any feedback is appreciated - I’m just trying to get realistic expectations!
Doing any due diligence based on a “realistic expectation” is the best safeguard to ensure you get the product quality and longevity you “signed up for”. I am glad to see more and more people pushing back against misinformation, lack of transparency, and undue marketing.
While you have great durability questions you also have a bit of unusual sensitivity to being misaligned and your discomfort threshold when sagging is past 1/2". FIY ½" is considered normal wear in the mattress world and usually this does not affect the performance or comfort for most sleepers.
While much less than other foams, latex too will soften and compress over time especially in the areas of most mechanical stress and/or if they are not properly protected against UV exposure and ozone exposure. Typically, latex is estimated to have a “virtual” or even visible sag between 12%-20% and the fatigue is dependent on many factors such as the latex type (NR, SBR/Synthetic, or Blend of the two), the process used for fabricating it (Talalay vs Dunlop), temperature, humidity, mechanical stress. Most of the foam softening takes place within the first 4-5 years and the layers closest to the body are those that would most fatigued and in time can lead to the sleeper bottoming out to the layers below.
You are correct that softness (lower ILDs) is also a durability factor and softer materials (which are much more common with blended Talalay) will be less durable than firmer materials of the same type. In the lower ILD’s in an apples-to-apples comparison … blended Talalay will be more durable than all-natural Talalay (see post #2 here ). In the lower ILD’s the natural elasticity of the Talalay and its thinner cell walls along with the greater inconsistency of natural latex works against it and it will be less durable than a blend. This will start to even out as the ILD’s get higher.
With Dunlop, it’s the other way around because of its higher density, greater firmness in most cases, and the properties of natural latex itself (see post #2 here for a comparison between natural latex and synthetic latex). While overall natural latex has many desirable qualities… synthetic (SBR) latex is less elastic but it does have some advantages over natural in some areas that can add to its properties and it will last longer than natural rubber.
Overall (balancing all the competing factors that I’m aware of) … I would rate 100% NR Talalay, blended Talalay, and 100% NR Dunlop about equal in terms of durability in the higher ILD’s with a slight edge to Dunlop and blended Talalay as the ILD goes down … but how long each lasts would depend more on the use it was put to than on which type of latex in most cases. The difference in real life is likely to be rather insignificant in the higher ILDs. This being said I would focus more on your comfort and how each feels to make my choice. Then I would focus on finding solutions and a good routine and set up to slow down any foam softening that may occur.
Also, the layers that are never moved around and given a chance to “rest” will suffer more fatigue. The same layer deeper in the mattress will fatigue less, this is why some rotating and moving layers around are often recommended. For this, you may wish to consider a latex mattress that has two comfort layers of the same firmness instead of a solid one, or a flippable product.
Given your special sensitivity to being even slightly misaligned, you may want to consider purchasing a customizable mattress with a zippered cover so that you can rotate and over time replace the uppermost layer of fatigued rubber when you reach your discomfort threshold. I’d also make sure that the support system under your mattress is solid and non-flexing as unlike other support layers such as springs, latex will transfer some of the exerting force to the supporting system.
At a quick glance, I can see that Spindle mattress one of our valued Trusted members has a warranty that covers 3/4" compression for their latex mattress that you may want to consider. You may wish to peruse our directory for more options.
I hope this information is a good springboard to finding a good solution as you move forward.