Hi Phoenix,
I know you are familiar with White Lotus. They are offering 30% off on mattresses today (11/28). I’m wondering about their latex mattress. They offer a 6" mattress plus 1" wool/cotton wrap by itself, or in combination with a 3" topper. Looks like they use Dunlop.
I’m wondering if some people would find that the 6" mattress is sufficient without the topper? I’ve been sleeping on a 10" talalay mattress that I find a little too soft - feels like I sink in a little deeper than I would like. I only weigh 150 lbs and am a side sleeper. I do need enough softness so that my bony hips don’t get sore.
I suppose I could order just the mattress and then get a topper from them or someplace else if it proves too hard. But is it reasonable to think I might be comfortable on just the mattress?
The 6" White Lotus Natural Latex Mattress uses 6" of natural continuous pour Dunlop from Mountain Top. It is rated C3, with a “Talalay equivalent” in the 32-34 ILD range. This mattress uses good quality materials and there are no weak links in this mattress, although it’s significantly more costly than other similar mattresses (even with the discount), so you may wish to make some careful value comparisons.
Without knowing the specifications of the layerings of your current Talalay latex mattress, it would be difficult for me to draw any comparisons between the two for you.
Mountain Top uses two different methods to test their ILD ranges. One of them is the amount of force it takes to compress the material by 25% and the other is the amount of force it takes to compress the same material by 40% (which of course would produce higher numbers).
The closest ILD approximations to Talalay for each of their different firmness levels for individual layers would be somewhere in the lower end of their 40% ILD range. You can see that the C3 is in the “firmer” end of this spectrum. While Dunlop does have unique properties of an initial plushness and then “firming up” as more weight is applied (a higher compression modulus), this would still be considered by most as a product on the medium-firm to beginning firm end of the spectrum. While it certainly could work well for someone sleeping upon their side, only through your initial personal testing would you be able to determine if you needed a topper or not.
That’s certainly an option, and if you do decide to order this product it wouldn’t be a bad idea to order the mattress first to test it, knowing that you could always add a topper should that prove necessary.
Phoenix
P.S. – I slightly changed the title of your post as well as deleting a link within your post, as it appeared to be advertising a sale (which I know was not your intention), but which is against the forum rules.
Hi Phoenix and TMU - Thanks for the great info as always. I didn’t get the White Lotus mattress, but still have the same unfortunate situation of owning a mattress that is too soft for me. (I would start a new topic but can’t find a way to do that on the forum??)
The mattress I own is a PranaSleep Organic. The good news is I got a great deal on it - it was a floor model at an Urban Mattress store in Denver. Paid cash and rolled it into my Prius. They told me it was a bit of a prototype for them. The label just says Super Plush (queen size) - doesn’t seem exactly like any of the models on their current website. But I believe it is all Talalay and 10" thick.
I know many of your recommended companies are able to exchange layers. I will contact Prana and find out if they can do that. But from what I’ve read here, I believe I would be happier with Dunlop, which they don’t seem to carry.
I’m 6’0", only 150 lbs, side sleeper. So its surprising that when I lay on my side I feel like my hips sink in too much, putting my spine in a curve that I don’t like (I have mild scoliosis so need to pay attention to lower back issues.) Laying on my back is comfortable but I can’t sleep that way.
If Prana writes back and say they could replace some layers and make it firmer, I’m still wondering if I’ll like it. The mattress seems so bouncy. It will need to have a lot more support. So wondering about other options.
Do you know if any companies you work with would consider having me ship them my mattress and modifying it with layers that are more suitable? There is no zipper or any obvious way to get into the mattress, but there must be a way to open it up and replace layers! The outside material and wool topper is quite nice. I like to reuse and recycle rather than buying new when I can!
Or could someone ship me some Dunlop layers and perhaps I could find someone locally to do the job? I’m in western Colorado but have heard there are a couple of companies that make latex beds in Boulder/Denver.
Of course by the time I pay for this I might be able to just buy what I want new and sell the one I have. Maybe I just have to accept the fact that I bought this at the end of a long day of shopping (so it felt great) and made a quick decision based on it being a good deal and wanting to be done with the search! I guess I could try to sell it - do you have a forum for selling used latex mattresses?
Just a quick note regarding a rebuild of this mattress. This item wasn’t designed as a component-style system or exchangeable layer system, so I don’t think you’ll have much luck with Pranasleep modifying it for you. But it never hurts to ask.
Your best luck would be to find a small, local mattress manufacturer who may not mind undertaking a mattress deconstruction. This particular item has a perimeter wrap around the layers which would be troublesome, and additionally the interior layers may be glued to some degree, which could make disassembly a bother, or could damage some of the layers in the process.
It would be common for most mattress manufacturing facilities to eschew requests for rebuilds of products other than their own, as they would be unfamiliar with the specifics of construction and wouldn’t know for sure if they would be able to salvage all of the components. In addition, there may be issues that they would be uncomfortable with regarding FR regulations of a modified product and potential liability, and even introducing a used item into their facility. So it will have to be something where you’d want to do a bit of online surfing. In the past, the places I’ve heard of offering such service were smaller volume hand-crafted manufacturing facilities, often more “old school” in their designs and production.