Our all latex Restonic which we have loved for about 9 years, is getting replaced. It was the second most firm mattress Restonic had at the time. I have grown up sleeping on firm beds. Now with some recent bursitis and shoulder aches, we are going with a mattress from
FloBeds with a softer custom design. You can configure each side for the softness and support necessary for each person. Generally you want your shoulder and hip to drop down a little bit with support for your head, back and legs; basically trying to form a straight line across your legs and spine. About 6 weeks ago I woke up in the night with burning bursitis on one side that only hurts when I lay down on my side-no pain walking, sitting or standing. Doctor said it should go away and no serious hip joint issue. Currently we are using a 3" memory foam topper to alleviate the pain until the new mattress is deliver in about a week. Using
The Mattress Underground I dove into all the information for a couple weeks. We really liked a Pure Talalay Bliss (all Talalay) at a local store but the cost was $2999 "on sale". Flobeds sells all Talalay latex and you can custom design each side of the mattress with different layers of firmness. There are several companies from The Mattress Underground that offer all latex and a few that offer all Talalay. The deciding factor was the opportunity to get different layers of firmness "forever" for 20 years (at least as long as they are in business). During the first 100 days, its free for the layer plus $75 shipping and total refund if you want to return the bed. The layer replacement cost increases in 5 year increments. The top layer is a 2" "convoluted" (egg crate) layer (effective ILD is 14). The left side progresses with a 3" comfort layer of ILD 22, a 3" support layer of ILD 28 and a 3" support core of ILD 36. The right side progresses with a 3" comfort layer of ILD 22, a 3" support layer of ILD 32 and a lower support core of ILD 40". You can play with the layers or switch layers to the other side to fine tune the feel and support. Cost is $1,950, including shipping, which seems on the high end for this thread. Received an additional 5% off with a TheMattressUnderground discount. The downside is they ship you several boxes of the foam layers (similiar to bed-in-a-box) and you have to construct the mattress, which takes about 15-30 minutes. Then you can reconfigure as you want. Neither of us like the memory foam feel so that is why we are going with latex again. I worked with Dewey at Flobeds to fine tune the layers.
There are several other companies we considered, including
FoamSweetFoam,
Sleeping Organic,
SleepEZ and
Arizona Premium Mattress. I think all of these companies, as well as FloBeds, has Youtube videos explaining their mattress construction. I believe they were all under $2,000 for a custom layers for a queen (we ordered day after Memorial Day). Some would only do a "dunlop" latex for the bottom 6" core layer(s). A general comparison of dunlop and talalay is dunlop consistency is more dense and like "pound cake" with inconsistent air pockets in the foam while talalay is more springy and like "angel food" cake with very consistent air pockets. For those of you that are interested, ILD is measurement of "softness" that measures how much weight will compress the foam 25%, where 10 is extremely soft and 40+ is very firm. If you want to reduce the cost even more you can order layers of foam (latex or memory foam) from some DIY foam companies.
