I have done a bit of research and I am in the market for a split, king size, customizable three layered, all natural/orgainc latex mattress. I am in Tampa, FL and would like some feedback from all of you on my philosophy and buying strategy.
Natural/Organic: One of the major selling points to me for latex is the extreme reduction in all types of toxins within the mattress compared to traditional options. I originally assumed that getting a organic latex would be the best bet but from digging in a bit more on the forum and other places it seems that all natural latex mattress may be a better value and have a very similar outcome due to the process being the same but with organic mattresses you just pay more for the assurance of a certification. Is this correct or is there more to it ? I would be willing to pay more but only if theirs a significant difference between the two.
Split mattress: I am 6’3" 200 lbs and my wife is 5’6" 125 lbs. We are both mostly side and back sleepers. It seems that we would benefit from different component layers to maximize the P’s. Given everyone’s experience can you recommend an average layer configuration based on the our stats?
Dunlop vs Talalay: This is mostly based on personal preference correct? Any advice on the best use of each for our specific stats?
Layers: Is there any reason why 3 layers would not be advantageous for our situation?
Mattress preference: As of now I am leaning toward Sleep EZ’s 10,000 series. I like a lot of the other brands but it seems the value Sleep EZ brings is hard to pass up. Can anyone recommend a similar bed with equal value?
Sleep EZ: I have read many times that Sleep EZ’s materials and quality are one of the best and can be compared to Savvy Rest, FloBed and other high end latex dealer/manufacturers. Is this still the common consensus? I know in some other posts people were saying that other latex dealers were critical of Sleep EZ’s latex source. Have you found any truth to that? What is everyone’s opinion on Sleep EZ’s coverings?
Temperature: I’ve read on and off how some people feel hot while sleeping on latex. Is this a normal phenomenon or am I confusing this with memory foam?
Buying strategy: We are planning on going to a Savvy Rest retail store (2-3 hours away) and trying out some of their configurations. According to the advice of people from this forum Savvy Rest’s layers are similar to Sleep EZ’s. Have you found this to be correct? It sounds like Savvy Rest does’t give out ILD but we should be able to narrow down our layer preference based on the scaling system of soft, firm, ex. firm etc? Once we do that we can talk to Sleep EZ and narrow it down even further? Is there anything else that you all can add to this to help make the comfort selection easier so that we have the most data to bring to Sleep EZ?
Sleep EZ’s bases: Are they of the same value or is there a more inexpensive but good quality alternative?
Is there any other advice you all can give me about Sleep EZ and your experience with them?
Talking to sales people is fine but getting neutral and unbiased information is what makes a good decision…good.
I emailed SleepEZ asking if I could pick which manufacturer of latex but they did not respond to that email… maybe it is a defunct email and not updated on their page. They responded to other similar questions using a different email. They list 4-5 different manufacturers on their page but it’s not clear which one they use for what, or if it depends who has best price at the time.
I’d rather they just use one quality source like Radium or LI for more piece of mind, though maybe all their sources are considered top notch, looks like they are pretty good.
Despite this still probably going with them in about a month. Seems like Flobed is maybe a smaller more personal operation with possibly better product, with the 2 inch topper layer but not sure its worth the price difference…
It’s been a while since you posted here … and welcome back
That’s a lot of questions so I’ll keep my replies to each of them brief. Some of them would be preference choices or “best judgement” choices rather than better/worse choices.
I know you’ve seen this before but just for reference the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the Tampa area are listed in post #143 here.
There are different levels of organic certifications that include the raw materials, the latex cores, and the mattress as a whole (see post #3 here) but in terms of the latex cores or layers there would be very little difference between 100% natural Dunlop and 100% natural Dunlop that has an organic certification (see post #6 here). There is no organic Talalay but there is also 100% natural Talalay. All of the latex you are likely to encounter (either synthetic, natural or blended rubber made with either the Talalay or Dunlop process) would be certified by either OekoTex or EcoInstitut using the same or very similar testing protocols so by any objective standard would be “safe” materials.
There are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to choose or recommend a mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress) and the most effective way to choose the layers or components that are best for you are either your own careful and objective testing using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post or a more detailed conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced online manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and will know more about their own specific mattresses than anyone else (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). What works well for one person (even if their body type and sleeping positions are similar) may not work as well for another.
Yes … this would be a preference choice rather than a better/worse choice. There is more about the differences between them in post #7 here but the best way to know which one you prefer would be your own testing. It really does boil down to personal preferences since both types of latex can be used successfully in suitable firmness levels in either comfort or support layers.
More layers that can be rearranged or exchanged allow for more customization both before and after a purchase so it would have an advantage over a 2 layer mattress in terms of fine tuning or adjusting the feel or performance of a mattress if the extra degree of customization turned out to be necessary or desirable. There would would be little advantage if a two layer mattress was a either a good match for you or the degree or customization that was possible with less layers was “enough” for you.
There are many factors that are part of the “value” of a mattress purchase and each person’s criteria for value may be very different. The tutorial post includes a link to some of the members of the site that sell online (in post #21 here) that compete well with the best in the industry and many of them make or sell latex mattresses with a wide range of options, features, types of latex, and price ranges. Which of them is the best value for you would depend on which one you believe would be the best match for you in terms of PPP and all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Yes … SleepEz offers blended Talalay, 100% natural Talalay, and 100% natural Dunlop in different combinations and choices of firmness levels and covers (quilted or unquilted depending on the model you are considering). They would be directly comparable to any other manufacturer that used the same types and blends of latex.
I’m not sure which posts you are referring to but their sources for Talalay include the only two manufacturers of Talalay latex in the western world (Radium or Latex International) and their source for their 100% natural Dunlop is Latex Green which is high quality manufacturer of 100% natural Dunlop that would be the equivalent of other reputable manufacturers of 100% natural Dunlop.
They have different covers depending on the model of their mattress that you choose but they are all high quality covers. They would be comparable to other high quality similar covers used by other manufacturers although there will always be some differences between the covers they use and the covers used by other manufacturers. You can see some comparisons here and here for example about SleepEz’s wool quilted cover and the Savvy Rest wool quilted cover. I believe Savvy rest uses a heavier cotton twill in their ticks which is very high quality but is a little thicker and stiffer and may take a little longer to break in.
While latex in general is the most breathable and most temperature regulating of all the foam categories and memory foam in general is the least (and is generally the type of foam where there will be more comments about sleeping warm) … any foam material can insulate to some degree and sleep warmer than natural fibers (which are more breathable than any type of foam). Whether any mattress sleeps warm for a particular person would would depend many factors (including the person themselves) including the softness of the latex (how much you sink into the mattress), the type of cover and quilting materials over the latex, the type of mattress protector you are using, and the type of sheets and bedding on the mattress. There is more in post #2 here about the factors which in combination with each other can affect temperature regulation. In most cases, sleeping too warm is not an issue for most people with a latex mattress.
I think most people seem to agree that they would be reasonable approximations of each other yes. You can see the rough ILD range that Savvy Rest uses in post #2 here (this was when they were using Talalay from Latex International but it would likely be similar to what they are currently using from Radium). They have firm, medium, and soft layers and SleepEz has X-firm, firm, medium, and soft.
I don’t know the specifics of how they compare based on any personal experience but the SleepEz foundation would certainly be a suitable choice for a heavy all latex mattress and has spaces between the slats that are less than 3". There is more about foundations in the foundation post here.
While they are certainly there to sell mattresses … the “best” salespeople will educate and inform more than “sell” and will put your best interests above their profit. In most cases they will also be able to provide more accurate and specific information about their mattresses than anyone else.
I called Sleep EZ and they recommended (top-bottom) Soft-Med-Firm for my wife and Med-Med Firm for me. Shawn also highly recommended for me to try out the Savvy Rest components and then get back to him. We will be doing that soon.
In another post someone was going to try a layer configuration like Soft-Firm-Med ? When does having a firmer layer over a softer layer help? When does a softer layer at the bottom make sense?
I also noticed in a recent post that someone recommended Flexuscomfort. How do they compare to SleepEZ? They seem almost the same in a quick comparison? But Flexuscomfort’s website doesn’t seem to give as much info as Sleep EZ’s. What are your thoughts?
I just called sleep EZ and they comfimed Pheonix’s info in his responce to me. You are right though, it seems on their website that they have a whole bunch of different sources of latex but when I called them they said they use Radium or Latex International for Talalay and Latex green for Dunlop. Shawn at Sleep EZ did say that Radium was producing a cleaner, less blemished product as of late.
Hope this helps, Thanks for responding to my post!
Like any other layering combination … it’s a preference and a firmer layer on top over a softer layer in the middle would be attractive to those who liked a firmer sleeping surface with some additional softness and pressure relief underneath. You can see more comments about dominant layers in post #33 here.
Assuming you mean a soft layer at the bottom … then rarely if ever (outside of a finished two sided mattress where it is a side effect of the design … see post #3 here). Having a medium layer on the bottom with a firm in the middle and a soft on top would be one of the ways you can rearrange the layers so that the firm layer is closer to the top of the mattress to improve the firmness of the support layers. Medium on the bottom would be fine if that was the arrangement that was the best match in terms of PPP.
They are both members here which means I think highly of both of them and I believe they compete well with the best in the industry. How any of their mattresses compared would depend on the specifics of the mattresses you were comparing. If you were to choose one of the mattresses from either or both of them among your “finalists” they would both make good final choices and I personally wouldn’t hesitate to buy a suitable mattress from either of them.
Do you know off the top of your head the sources of latex they use in the Flexus? Is there any huge difference between the 10" Sleep EZ and 10" Flexus?
If not I’ll just give them a call…
I believe that Flexus uses Latex Green for their 100% natural Dunlop.
I’m not sure who they use (Radium or LI) for their Talalay.
If the type, blend, thickness, and firmness of the latex layers they have available are the same and the specifics of the cover is also similar then they would both be very close in terms of their design so the differences between them would be in the other parts of your personal value equation that may be important to you including any differences in their exchange or return policies.
[quote=“Adidas” post=35589]… Is there any huge difference between the 10" Sleep EZ and 10" Flexus?
If not I’ll just give them a call…
[/quote]
SleepEZ you can choose Dunlop or Talalay for base layers. It appears that Flexuscomfort uses Dunlop only as a base layer and Talalay latex for the comfort and support layers with their 10".
As we had discussed in my previous post, I went to a savvy rest dealer and checked out all of the different combinations of mattress configurations. This was done in order find a configuration that we liked so that we could use the info to buy from a more inexpensive vendor. We spent quite some time at the savvy rest dealer and it seems that both my wife and I liked the softer combinations of Firm Dunlop on bottom, Soft Dunlop in the middle and Soft Talalay on top. I am just concerned that because of my height and weight (6’3 215lbs) that I am setting myself up for disappointment down the road due to possible alignment issues. I have read that the softer beds feel good at the time but once you sleep in the bed overnight it doesn’t feel as appealing? Especially, when Sleep EZ recommended Med-Med-Firm.(I did try that and it felt much to firm for me) Will getting that soft of a mattress (Soft-Soft-Firm) cause me problems down the road? (The lady at savvy rest did say because of my height that I might not sink down as much, Do you agree?) Should I try Soft-Med-Firm just in case due to my measurements? I do understand that it is very personal equation but I was hoping to get some opinions and insights on averages with my measurements in mind so I can get a better understanding before I purchase a mattress.
This can certainly be the case depending on how carefully and objectively you tested the mattress in the showroom and how accurately your testing approximates and predicts your actual sleeping experience.
The only way to know this would be your actual experience when you sleep on the mattress over the course of the first few weeks or so. Depending on body type, weight distribution, sleeping positions, and many other factors … Some people may have alignment issues on this combination and others would be fine.
Your weight distribution would certainly be a factor in which combination of layers would work best for you yes. Someone that was a certain weight but had more of their weight concentrated in their middle could certainly need a different combination than someone that was the same weight but their weight was more evenly distributed. Different body shapes would also make a difference because someone with wider shoulders relative to their hips or a smaller waist for example may do better with a different design than someone that had a body type that was less athletic with a smaller differential between their hips, waist, and shoulders.
I would make your choice based on a combination of your local testing and a more detailed conversation with the manufacturer (SleepEZ) where you can “talk through” your choices in experiences in more detail but based on your testing this would seem like a reasonable starting point and if it doesn’t turn out as well as you hope then you have the option to exchange a layer if you need to. I would also keep in mind that soft Talalay will be less “supportive” than soft Dunlop of the same firmness level so this would also be a factor that I would include in your initial layering choice. In the end it’s always important to remember that your actual sleeping experience will always “trump” theory because no matter what theory at a distance or even the “best” guidance may suggest is best for you or whether a specific layering tends to work best for others that have a similar body type and sleeping positions to you … there will always be exceptions which is why the ability to exchange layers can be an important part of the process that gets you to the final combination of layers that works best for you in your actual sleeping experience.
