Mattress Forum

The more we looked, the more discouraged we became. It seemed that every time we found what we thought we wanted, the price was so ridiculously high, we just couldn't see ourselves spending that kind of money.  And the more we learned, the less we understood about the various kinds of latex. 

We spoke with knowledgeable people in the stores, and tried out many beds for a few minutes at a time, but we both knew we couldn't learn what we really needed to know, not from lying in a bed in a store for five minutes, fully clothed, with a salesperson talking to us the whole time. 

Online, the confusion worsened, but we began slowly narrowing down our choices.  Then some friends of ours bought a latex mattress locally and told us how wonderful it was.  Their positive experience, and our aching backs, inspired us to get back into the research.     

We found Arizona Premium Mattress Company through an online search and immediately liked the clear explanations of the different kinds of latex foam and the various configuration options which were similar to those offered by the store our friends purchased from, with one difference: a savings of about $1000 on the mattress we wanted. 

Having heard axioms like, "you get what you pay for" all my life, I was skeptical, so I called the company.  The owner of the company, Ken Hightower, answered the phone, and we had a very informative, interesting conversation - when I hung up, I was surprised to see we had talked for nearly an hour!  Ken directed me to the various places on the website where I could learn more, and invited me to call back if I had any more questions.  

The more time I spent on the website, the more convinced I was of his sincerity.  We decided to go ahead and give it a shot.  I called him back a few days later and asked some more questions and decided on the King Plush Sleep System with the bamboo cover.   

Ken warned me that they were running behind in production and our bed wouldn't ship for a few weeks.  After shopping for nearly a year, a few weeks sure didn't matter.  While we waited, we treated ourselves to a new platform bed with part of the money we saved from our finding Arizona Premium Mattress Company.  The bed  arrived in time for our new mattress, and we gave away the old innersprings, arranging for their pick up on the same day our new mattress would arrive, which we knew precisely because we received a tracking number in an email when it shipped and were able to watch its journey across the country.   

Our mattress arrived exactly when Ken said it would, in three manageable boxes, delivered to our door by UPS. The components were packed very well, carefully wrapped in two layers of plastic, and we knew exactly what to expect and how to assemble the mattress because we had watched the video on the website.  I was very satisfied with the quality of the bamboo cover, the strong zipper, and the way everything fit together perfectly.  Up until that point, I was still a bit skeptical, wondering if my saving all that money was going to backfire and I would be stuck with an inferior product.  This is where my year-long search really paid off.  I was surprised to find the quality was the same, or better, than the mattresses we had seen in the stores that cost twice as much. 

So far, so good.  But what about sleeping on the new latex mattress?  First of all, there was absolutely no odor, which was very important to both of us.  What a relief!  A great sleeping experience, for me at least, but my wife wasn't as thrilled with our purchase.  The new mattress was too firm and her back hurt in the morning. 

If you are familiar with the website, you know that the mattress has a left and right core which you can vary in firmness, soft, medium, or hard, with the top layer always soft.  I goofed. I was afraid of its being so soft it wouldn't give us the proper support.  Even though it is right there on the website, and even though Ken advised me on the phone to get the soft core for my 98 pound wife, my skepticism prevented me from believing that foam could ever be as substantial and firm as the core of this mattress, and I opted for medium on both sides. 

No problem! Arizona Premium Mattress Company graciously shipped us a soft core, and when it arrived, we swapped it out and sent the medium core back.  They took care of all the paperwork, and all we had to do was pay the shipping charges.  

No more back pain, and now we each have our own customized comfort level. 

I have nothing but the highest praise for this company and the people who work there.  Every question was answered, every concern dissolved, and I have never found better customer service anywhere.  Totally excellent communication, no surprises, every aspect of the entire transaction happened as expected.   

I have seen, on other websites, warnings about shipping mattresses rolled up, that they take a long time to flatten out.  Well, maybe that's true with inferior quality mattresses, but our latex cores came right out of the box perfectly flat, and the assembly was exactly as shown on the video on the website. 

Listen to these guys! Read the articles on the website, watch the videos, learn as much as you can and be an informed shopper.  You will get the best quality product at the best price (by far), and you will have a totally easy experience.  Enjoy! 

Here's a link to the website:  http://www.latexmattresscompany.com/

You could either go with a 6" latex base for $717 and put a 3" latex topper for $332 on top all from foambymail, or go the even cheaper route and get a 6" polyurethane base ($250 foamdistributing company) and then a couple latex toppers for $450 or so. I can't vouch for the quality of these companies as I don't have a mattress by them. There have been other people on this forum that have had success with these companies, and some that have not had successs.

Another option would be to get a 6" polyurethane base from Foam distributing company and then 4" of higher quality latex from sleeplikeabear or sleepez or another reputable company. The latex at these reputable companies will be much more expensive then the foambymail latex, but the quality assurance is also going to be much better.

I almost went with a do it yourself mattress, and if I did, I was going to go with a 6" latex base from foambymail and then 4" of latex for middle/top from sleeplikeabear. I thought about the polyurethane base though.

This is very interesting; I didn't know that could be done. Tomorrow, I will most definately look into diy. This forum is great and full of helpful info. I must say, I just knew I was gonna get blasting for the $1200 dollar budget, but I was wrong; you guys are great!!!!!

 

I bought mine from www.novosbed.com for $879+HST (I live in New Brunswick). It is a Queen size and shipping was included in the price. I'm pretty sure they also do free shipping to the US, so you may be in luck.

If you want a good mattress and you're on a budget, I suggest checking out Novosbed.

Hey that's what the internet mattress guys are here for.  To steer you toward their website.  Good luck.

Yes, be careful what you read on the internet, even these forums have sales folks showing up frequently.  Don't blindly follow recommendations.

I wanted an all-natural mattress without any chemicals so I skipped on the cuddlebed and threw a St. Geneve wool mattress protector over the latex for better airflow/comfort.

It really took some getting used to at first but now I notice my previous lower back problems are gone. It gives tons of support but the latex doesn't provide the sink-in feeling that memory foam has. I miss that but the lack of back pain is worth it.

   Can I go wrong with a polyurethane base? $250 for the base fits my budget nicely. I've read in places that foam is to be chosen by density and not ILD; is this correct? How long can I reasonbly expect a High resiliency poly foam base to last? Do they smell? I've read that foam mattresses smell, but I seem not to smell anything on the foam mattresses at the stores, what do they do to?

I was thinking about three layers, but first things first; the base. I was thinking a 76" x 80" 6" Thick - Lux High Quality Foam from FoamDistributing.com for $244. They state the density of this mattress is 2.8 pcf. Does anyone know how reliable their specs are? Or a  5" Thick x 76" x 80"
King Firm Mattress From Foambymail.com for $150. Which one of these companies has the better quality and more reliable specs? Nevermind; same company different product.

Foam by mail 6" talaly base for $571--Radium--beautiful piece, no seams--ILD 36.

Second 3" talaly layer was Foam by mail, talalay, $273--Radium--no seams, one small tear from my fingetips getting it out of the box--ILD 29.

Third layer ,3" talalay,  ebay, mattresses/24/7--latex international, she had a soft 3" piece  $285--very good as well--one seam and one small tear.

Plus, $56 for a velour cover off of ebay.

Total price $$1185

Foam by mail uses two ILD's of tallay.  They have a 6" base with an ILD of 36--they cut these down and call the smaller cuts softer with ILD's of about 32.  The other 6" base they sell has an ILD of 29 and the cuts they make off of these they call IFD 20.  This info is per my phone calls to them.

The ILD on the 6" cores compare very close in feel to the Latex Internaltional I have samples of.  I am extremely pleased with their quality. 

Had the mattress for more than a week now and my wife and I agree it the the most comfortable bed ever!  We built it in stages: starting with a 6" medium core, plus a 2" celsion topper.  That was to mushy so we added a 3" layer of 19ILD and it was much better.  Finally, after my back hurting, we ordered a 3" firm layer for the bottom and it is perfect.  Yes, I had to send the 2" celsion back, and wound up with 12" instead of my origian plan of 9", but the mattres was 35% the cost of the local guy, plus no sales tax.

So what happend to the original 3" talalay topper you mentioned in you earlier post.

"Foam by mail 6" talaly base for $571--Radium--beautiful piece, no seams--ILD 36.

Second 3" talaly layer was Foam by mail, talalay"

When you say "plus a 2" celsion topper.  That was to mushy" did you mean the sinking action? I've read that latex 19ILD was very soft, so how did the feel of it differ from the 2" celsion topper? How does the 3" firm layer on the bottom affect the feel of the bed? I have a mattress now but I want to wait at least a week to post my thoughts on it. I do have a concern based on what I've read regarding low density visco not lasting as long, But it feels perfect to me and my wife.

I built the bed in stages, ordering a piece, trying it, then ordering the next piece.  I did have a mattress I was trying to copy however.

Sorry if my previous post didn't make sense, I got the ILD's wrong.  (I now have 3" firm base 36, 6" medium 29, and 3" of 19.)

I started with the 6" core.  It was too soft for support and too firm for the top layer.  I added the 2" celsion and got the feel I wanted, but was stil bottoming out--my wife found this perfect for her size, 130 lbs.  If I had an ajustable base I probably could have made it work.  So, I ordered a 3" firm piece for support.  The firm piece add an extra dimension of "depth" to the feel of the bed.

The 2" Celsion is not much different compared to the 3" of ILD 19.  The 19 has a similar feel and a similar "mushiness", it is just, a tiny bit, firmer; but, since it was three inches, instead of 2, the difference was negligible(the extra inch made a big difference)--my wife couldn't tell the difference. My wife and I both like the envolped feel of the soft latex, but the mattress cover made a larger difference than to the feel than the difference between the 15 and the 19.  It was simply a cost matter.  The 3" piece was $150 less than the Celsion.  So, we sent it back.