Mattress Forum

I posted this in the Costco thread as well, but since that's kinda buried, I thought I'd share it as a top-post as well.

I decided to try the Costco Cal King Natural Comfort, 10" Latex Mattress with Foundation (Item #  481982) given the great reviews. Here is my experience:

My only problem with the delivery experience was the fact that the white glove outfit Costco chose had NO weekend delivery options, meaning my husband had to take off work to receive the bed. :(Other than that the process was fine.

I wanted an Eastern King, however they were sold out. I decided to settle for the Cal King since the reviews were so great, and it was unclear when they might restock the Eastern King.  I am a plus-sized, curvy woman (+250) and my husband is around 200lbs.  I need a bed where my shoulders and hips can sink in while providing support, since I'm primarily a side-sleeper. I was very excited since I'd seen reviews from others with  my stature saying they'd had good luck. Unfortunately the bed did not work at all for me.

When I first kneeled on the bed, I felt my knee bottom out, and was very surprised at how firm the mattress felt. I checked to make sure that the "soft" side was up (and it was). I tested it by lying on my side with a good pillow for a little while after it first arrived. It was so firm I felt my shoulder aching after just a little while. My shoulder and hip did not sink in at all... I felt all crunched up lying on the bed.  I gave it a whole day to "puff up" from the shrink wrap it had been stored in, hoping that by the evening it would be softer. My first night was painful - shoulder and low back pain, tossing and turning, and a headache int he morning. I slept on the bed for a full week trying to give it a chance. Every night at least one of my arms fell asleep and I had a low-back ache in the morning. I felt unrested, tired, cranky and stiff each morning. On night 3 I even tried putting on my old Eastern King Overstock 3" soft latex topper from my old bed, hoping to soften it up. It helped a little but not enough to make the bed liveable. 

OH - and everyone was right, the dang foundation squeaked like a banshee after the first few days. Granted, I elevate the bed about 2-3" for gastric reflux, and that made so there was a little angle to the way the feet hit the floor, but my old bed never squeaked like that (and it had a metal support frame, too). They may be solidly built, but they weren't all that attractive and definitely a squeak machine waiting to happen.

I will say that my husband thought the bed was fine, so perhaps for people with fewer curves who are lighter, it might work fine. But for BBW's I think this bed is a nightmare!

A couple of years ago, when I began my search for a good bed replacement, discovered this forum and started dreaming about a time when I'd be able to afford to buy a really high-quality latex mattress, I had tried about every latex option in my local area, going from bed store to bed store, laying on everything with any latex rumored to be in it. :) It's been a long process for me. So I was really excited to see Costco's option and very disappointed that it didn't work. 

The experience did help me decide to bite the bullet and buy the one mattress I've tried that had the combo of "sink in" and support that I need as a wide shoulder, wide hip side-sleeper. At the store where I bought it (a sweet, family owned bed store in Bellevue, WA called The Sleep Store (http://thesleepstoreusa.com/)) it's called "Organic Comfort Latex Mattress - Cushion Firm King by Electropedic." On the Electropedic Beds website, it's the 9" "High Profile" mattress in "Regular Firm.". Though it says it's "firm," it's actually only 1 firmness up from the "soft," and it does not feel firm to me. It has the combo of "sink in" and support I need - so much so that my body nearly "sang" when I was testing it out in the store, I never forgot how comfortable it was two years ago when I tried it, and I felt so fortunate that it was still there in the store for me to try it again. It was just as I remembered... I'm skipping the adjustable frame since i don't need an adjustable bed. And it's pricey - about $3K for a King Mattress without the frame. Here's the website if you're interested: http://www.electroease.com/Latex-Foam.html. 

It's a lot of money, but I'm so tired of being tired, and so done with feeling unrested and stiff in the mornings, that I'm finally wiling to cough up the big bucks for a good bed. I think this process is so unbelievably individual - and everyone's bodies are so different - it's nearly impossible to figure out what you need without putting in the time to go lay on everything you can - though I know not everyone has retailers nearby who carry stock you can try out. I seriously didnt consider adjustable bed mattresses - they seemed so specialized - but now I realize i was missing out!  I was seriously considering buying one of the DIY layered beds, however the Costco experience made me really gun shy on buying something I'd not tested with my own body. You may be able to return the sections and continually recombine them to try and make it work, however the returns are not free, the inconvenience seems kind of high, and I've seen a lot of folks talk about it never really feeling quite the way they had hoped. So since I was lucky enough to lay on one that really seemed right and "sang" to my body from moment one, I am going to consider myself lucky and pay the price to grab this gift and be glad I was lucky enough to run across it.  BTW I did research and determine I could've saved a few bucks by buying it online, though shipping would eat up much of the savings... I decided to buy locally since they actually covered the overhead to provide acutal beds for me to lie on and the opportunity to know how much the beds vary! I think it was the right thing to do.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the Queen Embrace Firm Latex pillow by Dormia that the store gave as a purchase gift. It's usually about a $85 item, and at first I thought it would be a little too tall/firm, but I love it now. We'll see how it works on the new bed once it arrives (s/b around March 15th).

BTW, when I was talking with the Sleep Store person, she mentioned that a bed that comes shrink-wrapped (like the Costco bed) is a sure sign it's from China (which wouldn't surprise me with Costco's policies and pricing). She said that the main problem with Chinese beds is the varying quality/consistency in the latex, and a bed that was billed as the same ILD, etc can very a LOT in reality due to inconsistent mfg practices. It's possible mine was a lemon... Really hard to say.

Wishing everyone good luck in their search for peaceful, pain free sleep. ;) Thanks to everyone who shares their experiences here - it helped me greatly in my journey.  I will post another "review," once I have my Organic Comfort Mattress in-house and tested.

SKeeter