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Close to buying latex + memory foam. Advice?
Feb 6, 2011 1:13 PM
notaprincess
Joined: Feb 6, 2011
Points: 7
It's finally time for me to get a new mattress. My 25 year-old innerspring needs to go whether it's ready or not. Besides, I need to downsize from my queen to a full size. So after weeks of reading this forum and doing a ton of other online reading, I went to a distributor's showroom of foamorder.com today. I think what I like (maybe Love) is a latex/memory foam combo. It's 6 inches of firm (N31) Dunlop with a 3 inch 5.3 lb MF topper. Before I visited the store, I had thought I would prefer a Talalay layer, either on top, or below a MF topper. I thought the Dunlop would be too firm, but I liked the feel of it in the store. Anyway, the salesman said they are dropping Talalay because it doesn't last, and the company can't warranty it. His and their opinion is that the Dunlop is much superior. So first question: is there truth in this? Should I happily go with Dunlop, especially since it felt good?
 
He said the latex comes from Sri Lanka. He said he's not allowed to tell me who makes it because that's "proprietary" info. So I think I've read that Sri Lanka is a good place for the latex to come from, correct? What should I think about the refusal to ID the manufacturer? Seems pretty strange.
 
It has a wonderful organic cotton/wool pillow-top cover that would be hard to say NO to now that I've seen and tried it. The problem is that the price of the cover compared to everything else seems ridiculous. Here's the breakdown: 6" firm Dunlop $667. 3" 5.3lb MF $239. Pillowtop cover $593. Inner case $59. Add the Foundation at about $200, and the full price will be $1758, at least $500 more than the top price I thought I would spend (of course, I wasn't even thinking about latex when I started this process). They'll deliver for free and take it upstairs and put it on my frame. There's also what sounds like a decent 90 day free layer exchange policy, no charge if I do the transpo. So is this a decent deal? Is the pillowtop cover ridiculously overpriced? Should I be looking elsewhere? I've looked at SleepEZ and if you have to pay extra for a wonderful cover, there won't be much, if any, difference.
 
Thanks for any help and info you can give. This forum is amazing. Not just the incredible amount of expertise that gets shared, but the kindness and civility of the posters.
Mar
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Re: Close to buying latex + memory foam. Advice?
Reply #1 Feb 6, 2011 6:25 PM
sandman
Joined: Oct 15, 2009
Points: 966
The price on the dunlop and memory foam seems okay.  I actually have 1" of their 5.3lb. memory foam (mine actually measured at 5.9lb. density), and I like it so far.

I think Sri Lanka is a common place where latex comes from.  I would dispute that dunlop lasts longer than talalay, but that is an open debate.  High quality talalay can last a long time from I have read - possibly 20 years or more.

You are right that the pillowtop cover seems pretty expensive.  Do you know what is in it?  You might just want a simplier cotton cover and then add a nice mattress pad.  Do you have any other options on the cover?

One issue is that 3" of memory foam can be a lot.  You will sink into it more after a few hours and it warms up.   Personally I go with just 1" now, mixed with some talalay topers (19ILD and 24ILD).   However, a lot of memory foam mattresses do use about 3", so some people are okay with it.  Plus theirs is a pretty high density, which makes a difference. 

Personally, I think it is a safer if you can customize different firmness layers of talalay and memory foam on top to get the right feel after actually sleeping on it.    I guess you have the 90 day exchange, which helps.

Re: Close to buying latex + memory foam. Advice?
Reply #2 Feb 12, 2011 2:26 PM
notaprincess
Joined: Feb 6, 2011
Points: 7
Thanks, Sandman. It took me until now to notice I had a reply. The pillowtop is organic wool quilted to double-knit organic cotton--something like that anyway.  I've done some thinking since I posted, and even though I loved the pillowtop cover, it seems pretty silly to pay almost $600 for a lot of softness on top of 3" of memory foam, so I'll probably do what you suggested and get a much simpler cotton cover. If I need more, I can always get a plushy mattress pad for 1/3 the price of the other.

I'm going back to the store today, bringing my granddaughter to lie around with me. Hopefully we'll lie on a couple of the best options and I'll be able to make a final decision. Since they don't carry Talalay, I won't have the option of getting some 1" Talalay topper layers. I really want to buy the whole bed from this store, because then they'll put a cover around the whole thing, deliver it, and set it up for me.

I don't know much about their memory foam other than the density--like who makes it, etc. I'll ask a couple more questions, but it gives me confidence in their MF that you bought yours from them.

Mara

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