Mattress Forum

I think the above retailers are all selling good product.  I've actually made purchases from all of them with no problems and I believe I got what they said I ordered.  I've tried making my own latex bed and have been moderately successful, but recently, bought a V zone from Flobeds because they had a sale on seconds and I am a side sleeper and a believer in the zoning design for side sleepers.  I only know of the 2 vendors selling the zoned mattresses and those are Flobeds and Custom Sleep Designs.  My wife sleeps on the DIY zoned mattress that I tried to mirror the Custom Sleep Design model and I sleep on the vzone from Flobeds.  Our guest bed also has a DIY latex mattress  and I highly recommend them.  If you are a side sleeper, I would recommend the Flobed Vzone and start out with their recommendation.  You can make changes to it.  I slightly altered mine and it only cost me an additional $75 (for a TXL mattress) for a replacement core when I wanted to change it and I got to keep the original core.  (I get the impression that they don't want it back so they offer very inexpensive replacement cores, within limits).   Flobeds posts their ILD's on their website under "specifications" :   http://www.flobeds.com/mattspec.htm

 

I am 5'10", 150 lb male and I sleep on vzone with the bottom layer being an XF and the middle layer, firm and my top layer (the zoned layer under the convoluted layer) of soft for my shoulders and medium for my lower half.  It is all topped off by the 19ILD, 2 inch convoluted layer.  It works pretty well and has helped reduce my back and shoulder pain.  If I could make any change I would make the shoulder area even softer but the other layers support my lower body and help my back.  Making the lower part any softer, causes lower back pain.  I have bulging disks in my lower back so any sagging makes it worse.  My original mattress had F/M on the bottom two layers but I felt I needed XF/F (bottom/middle layers) to get the proper lower body support.

If I were a back or stomach sleeper, I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Sleepez or make my own from SLAB.  I've noticed that people need anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of "comfort" layer, so the Flobeds is pretty much right in the middle but everyone is different.

For a DIY mattress, 6 inches should be enough of a base.

 

How would you compare the affect of using the 2" convoluted layer vs. a regular/whole 2" layer?  I have 44-36-28 in the cover and am considering adding a 2" Celsion 21 layer under the sheet to soften and deepen the surface response.

GK

Thanks, so much for your reply. it actually helped. the zoning sounds perfect but the cost.!!! can you buy this layer in the future from flobeds? you said you got yours as seconds, is there a place on their site where these are listed.

Also my boyfriend says he can sleep anywhere so is letting it up to me to decide on the firmness - however i really think with the amount of money we are spending i should get the proper firmness for him (the sites rec f/xf for him vs m/f for me). right? (but can you do a bed w/only half vzone and then just a "regular" layer for the other side? does flobeds do this customization? i'm looking at cost overall too. though granted i'm willing to spend the 1600 for a mattress (sleepEZ 's price, just missed the flobed sale to make it equal price)...

 

The only comparison I can offer is that the 19 ILD convoluted from Flobeds was noticably softer than the 22-24 ILD, 2" non-convoluted layer (I had purchased from Sleepez) that I tried on top of the zoned layer.  I would say that compared to a 19 ILD non-convoluted layer of the same depth, it would still be softer.  I hope this helps.

How much weight do you place on the site recommendations? SleepEZ recommended S/M/F for me (top to bottom) and S/F/XF for my BF - but are their ILD's different than FloBeds who also rec M/F for me and F/XF for BF.?

EDITED: yes the ILD's are off,

flobeds recs M (28) / F (32) for me compared to

SleepEZ M (30-32) / F (38-40)...

am i overthinking ( i guess my reasoning is ILD is more "standard") ? and should just go w/their recs.?

 

You are right about the ILD's being different and Sleepez does not have a convoluted layer on top as far as I know.  Here are their ILDs:  http://www.sleepez.com/mattresscomponents.htm

My feeling is that 22 ILD is not soft enough for a side sleeper with my weight (or yours) unless your dimensions for the hip and shoulders (and waist?) are fairly close to being the same.  I believe I have seen complaints about this on this forum in the past about Sleepez being too hard for side sleepers and I don't think they offer a softer "topper" if it is.  I found 22-24 ILD from them to be too "hard" for me but I'm old and more sensitive to the feel....believe me, I've tried many combinations using different products from Flobeds and Sleepez and SLAB.  I believe that I have also seen on this forum many who got the same recommendation from Sleepez (F/M/S) and rarely anything different.  This is where Flobeds might have an advantage in that they have more variation in their recommendations and they have the Vzone.  Along with that I don't like the wider range of ILDs from Sleepez ---22-24 for soft then, next 32 ILD for Medium---where Flobeds' range between ILDs is closer---22 to 28 ILD (for Medium).  That being the case, Flobeds also offers the 2" of 19 ILD comfort layer (convoluted) on top of most of their mattresses (at least the vzone) which I think side sleepers can appreciate more.  If you are going the Sleepez route, you could build your own probably cheaper with handpicked ILDs from SLAB, Sleepez, or Arizona Mattresses.  If you go the DIY route, you could just get a zipper cover for your mattress and save even more money.

I personally think that Custom Sleep Design has the best zoned mattress model but their cost when I called to check, was way beyond my budget.  Flobeds is next best, IMHO.  When I bought mine from Flobeds, the price was comparable to what I would have paid for a DIY mattress so I couldn't pass it up.

I think you have to start with their recommendation and work from there.

 

You are right about the ILD's being different and Sleepez does not have a convoluted layer on top as far as I know.  Here are their ILDs:  http://www.sleepez.com/mattresscomponents.htm

My feeling is that 22 ILD is not soft enough for a side sleeper with my weight (or yours) unless your dimensions for the hip and shoulders (and waist?) are fairly close to being the same.  I believe I have seen complaints about this on this forum in the past about Sleepez being too hard for side sleepers and I don't think they offer a softer "topper" if it is.  I found 22-24 ILD from them to be too "hard" for me but I'm old and more sensitive to the feel....believe me, I've tried many combinations using different products from Flobeds and Sleepez and SLAB.  I believe that I have also seen on this forum many who got the same recommendation from Sleepez (F/M/S) and rarely anything different.  This is where Flobeds might have an advantage in that they have more variation in their recommendations and they have the Vzone.  Along with that I don't like the wider range of ILDs from Sleepez ---22-24 for soft then, next 32 ILD for Medium---where Flobeds' range between ILDs is closer---22 to 28 ILD (for Medium).  That being the case, Flobeds also offers the 2" of 19 ILD comfort layer (convoluted) on top of most of their mattresses (at least the vzone) which I think side sleepers can appreciate more.  If you are going the Sleepez route, you could build your own probably cheaper with handpicked ILDs from SLAB, Sleepez, or Arizona Mattresses.  If you go the DIY route, you could just get a zipper cover for your mattress and save even more money.

I personally think that Custom Sleep Design has the best zoned mattress model but their cost when I called to check, was way beyond my budget.  Flobeds is next best, IMHO.  When I bought mine from Flobeds, the price was comparable to what I would have paid for a DIY mattress so I couldn't pass it up.

I think you have to start with their recommendation and work from there.

Spoke to Sean at Sleep EZ just today to order a 3" talalay topper (they are on sale). They order on Tuesdays, so my timing was good. The softest they had in stock today (Monday) was a 20, but was able to order a 19 for me. They can special order all the way down to a 16, although Sean told me that the lower the ILD, the less actual latex, so they likely won't hold up as long.

 

One nice thing about dealing with them is you can buy a topper and later finish the whole bed and not lose any money.  I intend to later get  custom his/her medium and firm layers (2  3" layers) giving me a 10" mattress, including the topper I ordered today (which comes with a decent cotton cover). I can later either get a 7000 series (7") with the 7000 cover and keep the 19 topper as a "pillow top" or they'll give me a 10000 (10") cover if I want to then put my 19 within  the cover. Sean said some people prefer the first way, as it is slightly softer.   Anyway, Sleep EZ has good prices on them now (around $520 for a King, $570 in 100" natural), and they are a reputable dealer. The point I'm trying to make is that they can provide any ILD you want.