What do you think of this mattress?

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi Phoenix,

I may have come across a little disruption to my original plan to return the soft BME and get the medium or try something else I had in mind first. Getting back to the basics for a moment, I wanted to see what you thought of this mattress- the “LazyCat 10.5 inch with OpenCell foam”- it appears to be new on Amazon and they also refer to it as the “Dynamic Support Mattress” further down in the description. Here’s the dets from LazyCat:

“The density of the base foam is 1.872 pounds per cubic ft and the density of OpenCell foam is 2.808 pounds per cubic ft.The OpenCell foam is similar to latex, fast-response”

I’m intrigued by the construction because it incorporates some really interesting/high quality materials such as the “HeiQ” cover (which I think is also incorporated into the Bear Mattress Protector) and collapsible columns in the support layer… not to mention the latex layer (likely some kind of continuous pour) and high performance polyfoam, both of which are hole-punched. Overall, it appears the mattress would likely “sleep cool” and I like the design of the cover vs. a tack and jump style.

I’m trying to confirm what they use for the FRB and they only came back with “glass fiber” so far (I of course asked for clarification). There’s clearly a little bit of a language barrier, possibly depending on who in particular is on the other end, but was wondering if you thought they meant a hydrated silica sock or some other type of material (aside from silica/rayon I only remember coming across Kevlar thread in regard to inherent fire retardant materials).

All the polyfoam is Certipur certified and they’re listed on the Certipur site. That said, I don’t like that the mattress is made in China, although that could help account for the low price (only $500 for a queen)… and there are decent factories in China much as I hate to admit it. Still, it brings me to an ethical dilemma and I wouldn’t mind any thoughts/opinions on that as well.

*Update (they responded this evening): “Thank you for your email.We use this glass fiber between the foam and mattress cover.The glass fibers are made of various types of glass depending upon the fiberglass use. These glasses all contain silica or silicate, with varying amounts of oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. To be used in fiberglass, glass fibers have to be made with very low levels of defects. You can also find the introduction of glass fiber on wikipedia for your refrence.”

I’m really not sure what to make of this but not crazy about the sound of it… can’t tell if they’re simply using a silica infused fiber (like many other online mattresses) and attempting to give more information or if it’s potentially more of a “controversial” material. I want to be fair but frankly, the rather poor grammar along with Chinese manufacturing only adds to my concern about the material.

Brooklyn Bedding’s description of their FRB (available in the FAQ section on the site) is far more reassuring in my opinion: “We will never use any chemical fire sprays or chemical retardants in our mattresses. Brooklyn Bedding only uses the highest quality fire retardant socks material is made of Non-Woven Silica/Rayon/Polyester/Cotton Blend. For more information regarding FR fibers, feel free to research Jones Fiber.”

Thanks,
Manimal

2

Hi Manimal,

I believe this is a mattress offered from Zinus, as many of the other Lazy Cat mattresses advertise “Green Tea”, which is commonly used by Zinus. Zinus has a Chinese factory and owns many brands which are often sold through big box stores and through various outlets under many names. These include Spa Sensations, Night Therapy, Vivon, Mattress in a box, Keetsa, and others. They are often lower density foams, but some like Spa Sensations and this particular Lazy Cat seem to use some better materials.

The base is 7" polyfoam that has channels/pads engineered into the top of it. You stated the density is 1.8-1.9 lb, so this would be a density appropriate for most individuals. This layer is not listed as CertiPUR-US certified on the Lazy Cat site, but it is listed as being certified on the amazon page. On top of that is 1.5" of Natural Dunlop latex (they don’t state if it is 100% NR or a blend, nor are any certifications listed). This would be a better material. On top of this is 1.5" of what I believe to be a “high-performance polyfoam” that is 2.8 lb in density, which is CertiPUR-US certified. There is more information about these “high-performance polyfoams” and their characteristics in post #2 here.

I would also read post #6 here about mattresses imported from Asia or China and which may have been compressed for long periods of time in either shipping or storage before being purchased and a forum search on Zinus (you can just click this) will bring up more information and feedback about some of their brands and mattresses. Being sourced in China make this somewhat of a risky purchase IMO.

This is a fabric treatment that has been around since 2013 from HeiQ and used in mattress ticking by Bekaert. It uses body heat to assist with humidity control. As with many mattress fabric treatments, the efficacy of such technology can be diminished by the use of top-of-bed products placed on top of the mattress.

Yes, it is difficult with the language barrier to discern what is actually being used. There were a few threads here and here describing some sort of a glass FR barrier that seemed to be used in Chinese mattresses, and someone made a complaint to the CPSC here about something similar, but I don’t know if that is the same as what is being described in your conversation. You’d probably want to acquire more accurate information.

Yes, I’d have more comfort in the accuracy and the componentry used in the Brooklyn Bedding BME.

Phoenix

3

Hi Phoenix- thanks so much for that information… not going anywhere near the mattress due to potential issues with the fire retardant material and lack of confidence in quality control/spec accuracy. It’s too bad because it’s a good concept and all the other mattresses I’m aware of that use that style of “buckling column” foam seem to incorporate memory foam, which I prefer to avoid altogether (the Luxi mattress would be an example).

Comfort Sleep in CT may have a mattress that’s similar in that it doesn’t use slow-response foam (and might have some type of buckling columns, though not sure) but the overall feel isn’t really one of “responsiveness” to my recollection… it may incorporate Energex foam which to me, feels like memory foam that recovers right away (but isn’t responsive or “bouncy” like latex). Compared to other higher-end foam mattresses on the market, like the Wright which moved to 1.8 lb base foam (and costs significantly more), it’s a really good value considering they use ~2.6 lb base foam and all the other foams/components are high quality, as expected. They also have a newer foam/latex hybrid that uses the same quality base foam with 2" of latex and some quilting foam with organic cotton ticking- unfortunately, they priced it too high for me to justify a purchase, unless all my other options ended up failing and I was completely focused on “subjective” qualities… I admit it did have a nice feel when trying it in the showroom a few months ago.

That brings me back to the original options I was considering before the LazyCat diversion- switching to the medium BME or potentially spending more and trying Ommage Sleep. With discounts and including delivery, I could get a 10" all Talalay from Ommage for significantly less than the hybrid at CSS… it would still be ~ $900 more than the BME so have to decide if I’d rather save some money and essentially end my search (since the 2nd BME can’t be returned) or go for the Ommage which is a great value, relatively.

One of my big considerations with the Ommage (and apparently with any mattress) is maintaining alignment. I spoke with Tom a little while back and he decided to go with all-natural “24” ILD as the transition layer instead of “28”… he seemed to feel that with the all-natural being denser and with everything adhered and “strapped down” under a smooth cover, it would still provide enough support with adequate cushion at the same time, since the base layer is pretty firm. Since there’s only a relatively thin layer of wool used for fire retardancy and no quilting foam/tack & jump, it sounded logical to me… at the end of the day I know it comes down to how the mattress feels “to me” but wanted to try and solicit some thoughts from you anyway.

I’d also consider Dixie foam as a good “in between” option but have some alignment concerns there as well with the “CloudRest”. I also really wish they’d list some information on the site regarding the fire retardant material used as well. I seem to recall the company is “Ventex” but after politely requesting a little more clarification on a number of occasions (both verbally and via email), they never ended up providing further information which seemed a little odd, so couldn’t help but wonder since Ventex offers a variety of fire retardant materials for different applications. All I was looking for is something like the information posted on the Brooklyn Bedding site for some confidence and reassurance, considering they were using a cotton sock treated with boric acid (which personally I’d avoid) up until a couple/few years ago. It’s also never been something mentioned on their site… in the spirit of transparency, I think it might be a good idea, especially since a lot of people may not even think to inquire about it although they might “care” if they had it in mind.

Thanks,
Manimal

4

Hi Manimal,

As you’re already aware I can’t speak to what might work best for your alignment, but if you spoke with Tomas Eisenberg, he and Steve Russo have decades of experience with latex and I would certainly trust their opinions and designs and reasoning behind them for his line-up.

The Cloud Rest does use good quality and durable materials. I’m not sure of the specifics of their FR layer, but I’ll endeavor to find out and I’ll post back if I’m able to acquire that information.

Phoenix

5

Hi Phoenix- thanks, really appreciate everything and any info you’re able to confirm there. Regarding the CloudRest- no doubt about the quality of the materials… I was mainly referring to the 3" soft 19 ILD top layer (with 2" 27 ILD HR transition layer) with respect to my alignment concerns. Generally speaking, I’ve found that 2" + 2" configurations on top of the base layer lend well to alignment but guess it’s really a moot point, since I’d have to make a decision based on the info available and see how it felt. On that note, I have tried out the mattress in the showroom which isn’t exactly “close” but within driving distance… unfortunately, it was difficult to get a good “feel” for it since the showroom is a little quirky and part of the bed was on a slanted portion of the floor at the time.