Hi Dirk,
Thanks Phoenix for the update. I just wanted to add that the Healthy Back closed its Columbia locations. I was worried that the DC locations wouldn't ship to me as I live more than 20 miles away. The Bedding Barn is gone as well.
Thanks for letting me know about both of these as well. I've edited the locations on the list for Healthy Back and removed Bedding Barn from the list.
A few of them have been converted to Mattress and More Liquidators Link. The store looks rather shady from the outside as it advertises $100 mattresses, but they had a good selection of Therapedic and Eclipse mattresses and the nicest sales staff. The one in Glen Burnie had the 2 beds we liked.
I would be very cautious about any store that has the word "liquidator" in it because you may be buying a used mattress that someone has returned for "unknown" reasons (such as a comfort return or warranty return) and doesn't have a manufacturers warranty. I would need a very compelling reason to visit them and if they are selling mattresses without a warranty I would consider it to be a "buyer beware" purchase (see
post #8 here
).
I realize the list was the top 15 manufactures, but I only bothered with the ones you labeled "Good Possibility". Aside from the Therapedic mattresses, we were able to find some Restonic mattresses. The only local manufacturer we have is Classic. The various stores tend to sell a lot of their low end memory foam mattresses. They may have better offerings and maybe we will find them in our travels.
One of the most important (and time saving) parts of local research is calling the stores you wish to visit and asking some questions before you visit them (see
this article
).
It is amazing how little information these folks have. When I asked a couple people about this I got responses like, "Feel how dense it is" or "This has the best foam that XYZ company makes". Some were nice enough to admit that they don't know and have only the information the manufacturer gives them. A lot of the information I saw was less than what I posted for the 2 mattresses above. The manufacturers websites don't list any of this info either. You think that if they were really making a great product that they would list everything to show off. The other problem was just finding latex beds. Some of the people who claim to have them can "Get them for you, no problem", but have none on the floor or maybe 1 or 2 to try.
As sad as it is ... most of the members here that have spent a couple of hours or more on this site and reading the tutorial will know more about mattresses and mattress materials than most of the salespeople in the mainstream industry.
We did talk to someone who knew everything about his product, but they were over $3K for a mattress which is quite a bit out of our price range.
Testing their mattresses would at least give you a good sense of what latex mattresses can feel like and the difference between Talalay and Dunlop latex as well but if you are talking about Savvy Rest then they are certainly in a higher budget range than many other similar component latex mattresses that are sold online.
I should mention both beds cannot be flipped.
Most mattresses in the industry are one sided and it's fairly uncommon to see two sided mattresses that can be flipped.
The Eastman House bed allegedly has 5lbs of density as the top layers. He didn't get into specifics on each layer. So I don't know if it is a cumulative 5lbs or just the top layer or what. It is entirely Talalay. He went into how Talalay was more bouncy than Dunlop and how they make Talalay, which isn't what I was really interested in.
Density isn't cumulative ... it only applies to individual layers. With polyfoam and memory foam you need to know the density but with latex it's the type and blend of the latex that you need to know ... although again any latex is a durable material and knowing the type and blend just allows you to make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses. You need the specific information about of each layer.
If the limited specs you listed are correct then because there is 4" of latex above the polyfoam layers it's less likely that the mattress has a weak link in the design (the top layers are where the durability of the materials is most important) but I would still want to know the specifics of all the layers.
The Eclipse is 3.5 lbs of density and the manufacture said that it was blended material and wouldn't say much more.
Again you need to know whether each layer is memory foam or polyfoam and the density of each layer. What he told you has very little meaning because a mattress itself doesn't have a density ... only the individual layers.
In many cases a manufacturer's rep will provide these specs to a retailer (who in turn can tell you) but the manufacturer themselves may not provide them directly to a consumer. It's the retailer's job to track down any specs their customers need but if for some reason a retailer or manufacturer either isn't willing or able to provide you with all the information that you need to make an informed choice then I would pass the mattress by because it would be a risky purchase.
@dsw61,
One very reputable local mattress store,gets the price down some by sandwiching a high quality poly foam core between two layers of Talalay latex; and market it as a latex mattress that can be flipped.
This sounds like OMF and the polyfoam that they use in their two sided latex mattress is a high quality and durable material and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in their Serenity latex mattress but they also aren't available in the Baltimore area.
I learned that I can buy a 100% all natural latex mattress for a couple of hundred dollars less than the one with the poly foam core by ordering from one of the on line sites that sell latex mattresses.
You are right that there are some very good quality/value latex mattresses available online. The mattress shopping tutorial includes
this link
to a list of the members here that sell mattresses online (in the optional online step) and many of them sell latex and latex hybrid mattresses that use different types and blends of latex that have a wide range of different designs (including component latex mattress kits), options, features, return and exchange policies, and prices that would be well worth considering.
Post #3 here
also includes a list of many of the online manufacturers that sell component latex mattress kits as well (with some overlap with the members list).
My experience also taught me that a mattress that combines poly foam and latex, feels different than a mattress that is all latex.
In most cases that would certainly be true although it would depend to some degree on the amount of latex above the polyfoam. There is also a very wide range of different "feels" between different all latex mattresses as well. There is more about the pros and cons of latex/polyfoam hybrids vs an all latex mattress in
post #2 here
.
You may also want to do some research about mattress fire retardants, as well as what goes into the various foams used in mattresses.
i would stick with the very basics about fire retardants because this can take you down the rabbit hole of some confusing, conflicting, and misleading information that is more than most consumers really want or need to know. In most cases it's enough to confirm that a mattress uses either wool or an inherent fire resistant barrier to pass the fire regulations rather than getting into the more detailed specifics of all the many variations.
I certainly agree that it's important to know the basic differences between the three different types of foam (polyfoam, memory foam, and latex foam) and making sure that the foam in a mattress has a reliable safety certification (all latex will have a reliable certification and the most common certification for memory foam and polyfoam would be CertiPUR) but beyond that knowing the more detailed specifics of how different types of foam are made or formulated is a long term study that isn't particularly important and wouldn't be very helpful anyway.
Phoenix
