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So I read the one thread on Europa that gave some information and Phoenix (if you read this thread) if you can tell me where you found the make up of the IBC mattress? I would love to do a compare with some of the other mattresses I have found. I have found that I prefer the mix of Latex and coil to full Latex or Memory Foam. The Europa Mattress I looked at was Athena. It did feel nice in the store, but we all know how that works. So all of this leads me to the following questions. Is there a major difference on going with full foam vs a foam/coil mix? Is there a standard or a preferable amount of Latex in a bed to make it a good bed? What is the amount and why is that the best? What is a good or standard warranty for a latex bed and what is a good or standard warranty for a standard coil mattress? What is considered a good return period? Oh and I can say the best return option I have heard so far was at Healthy Back. They do both latex and memory foam. The woman at the store told me she has a 180 day return policy for her bed (Healthy Back) the first 90 days was full return with money back or return an exchange, the second 90 days was exchange only. |
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Here are the Europa specs. If you do a search on "Origins" you will get them as well. I don't think there is any real standard regarding the makeup of a mattress. It is just too individual. I personally would try to make sure that all the layers are made of high quality materials (including an innerspring) and I personally had a rule that I would not buy anything that had more than an inch of polyfoam in the comfort layers and even that was more than I wanted. There are just too many issues with polyfoam and it is too difficult in most cases to find out EXACTLY what type of poly is in a mattress to take the chance ... unless it was a known quantity as a support layer (as in memory foam mattresses or latex/poly) and even then I would expect the price to reflect this. In general terms the comfort layers of a mattress are around 3". Some need more and some less (maybe 2"-5") depending on many factors. Beyond this, you are looking at support issues as the layers that are supposedly added as comfort layers are acting as support layers and this brings up a whole new can of worms. Even 5" here is pretty extreme. Don't take any of this too literally though as there is much more involved. Warranties are mostly a marketing gimmick. I would be just as happy with a 5 year warranty as a 20 as long as I knew what was in the mattress and who made it. A warranty from a foam producer may give you an idea of what they consider is the serviceable life of a material or layer but these do not always translate into the actual warranties for a mattress made by a manufacturer or given by a retail outlet. Warranty issues that are related to actual construction issues will usually show up early. Warranty issues that have to do with depressions in the mattress or degradation of the materials are pretty much impossible to make a claim against. They are considered "normal" wear and the manufacturers or retail outlets have too many outs to make them worth anything except for obvious defects in construction rather than inherent defects in materials. Knowing what's in my mattress and the reputation and ethics of the manufacturer or outlet I purchase from I believe offer greater protection than the warranties used by some salespeople to convince people that a longer warranty means a better mattress. It really doesn't at all. An return or exchange period is really a personal decision based on what you believe is important to you and how familiar you are with mattresses of the type you are buying. It is one of the things I try to factor in as part of overall value. If I was buying a mattress sight unseen, I would make sure the exchange period and conditions were appropriate to the level of risk I was willing to take and I would probably pay a little more to get it. In other cases it may not be important at all (for example if I'd already decided on a mattress I knew was suitable and bought it from a reputable online outlet for less with no exchange or return privileges). It's all part of risk/reward/features/value. The devil is often in the details here though as in many cases there is a re-stocking fee and sometimes they will deduct their original "free" shipping and you also have to pay for it's return making a refund almost as expensive as the mattress itself. I would also hate to get locked in to a comfort exchange at a store where there were few other options and that could use the circumstances to force me to choose something that was not suitable and with hidden costs built in. I would think though that in most cases 30-60 days would be sufficient for both (comfort and/or any return policy) in most circumstances unless someone was very unsure of their choice and was willing to pay for more "safety". Phoenix
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