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Ok, tonight we put together the new Sleepez Twin bed for my daughter. So now I have BOTH a Flobed (mine, queen size) and a Sleepez (twin, daughter's) and I can do a direct comparison. First of all, let me say that both beds are blended Talalay latex, so that is the same. They are both sourced from LI (or so Sean told me). The bed I have from Flobeds is this one. Three layers of Talalay latex plus a 2" convoluted topper, all encased in organic knit cotton cover quilted to 2" of wool. This bed in a twin would be $1,299.00 plus shipping and tax (I live in California). I don't know how much shipping would be for a twin; it was $99 for my queen size bed. The bed I got from Sleepez is this one, with the organic cotton mattress cover. This bed was $950 with free shipping and no sales tax collected up front. The first difference I noticed was in how the mattresses were packaged for shipping. Like I said in my other thread, the Flobed latex layers were each individually compressed and packaged in double plastic bags. This made them relatively easy to carry upstairs to the bedroom for unpacking and assembly. I had a total of eight plastic bags, seven each had a layer of latex, and one had the mattress cover. So I was able to remove the wrapped cover and each layer from the box, carry it upstairs to my bedroom, undo the plastic, and position the latex from there. All of the latex layers I received from Flobeds were in great condition, with some discoloration in one of the seven layers. The Sleepez bed came with all three layers of latex and the cover compressed and rolled into a cylender (sp) and packaged in one big black plastic cover, with another clear cover over that. Not so easy to move upstairs wrapped. I ended up laying the package on my living room floor, opening the plastic, and everything whoooshed and expanded. So then I took the mattress cover upstairs and positioned it over the foundation, and folded each layer of latex in thirds to carefully carry upstairs, unwrapped and expanded. The firm layer was in great condition. The medium layer had about a 3" tear in it, not at the edge but close to the edge. I looked at the tear and my initial thought is that it is acceptable to me. I don't see it expanding or compromising the structural integrity of the mattress. The soft layer had discoloration. From an assembly point of view, Flobeds wins for packaging that better protects the components and makes it easy for the customer to carry around and position while assembling the bed. However, this is a minor point as the initial assembly is a fairly straightforward process. It was just slightly more awkward with the Sleepez setup. The first HUGE difference I noticed was the mattress cover. And really, there are two things that stand out as differences between the Flobeds and the Sleepez. The mattress cover is a major difference. The Flobed mattress cover is all organic knit cotton quilted to 2" of wool. The cover is soft and luxurious (I hardly want to put a sheet over it) and the top, sides, and bottom are all constructed the same, soft knit cotton quilted to wool. It really is a dream. The Sleepez mattress cover is nowhere near as luxurious or the same quality as the Flobed cover. Only the top of the mattress cover is quilted to wool (and somewhat skimpily at that) - not the sides or bottom, which is just a relatively thin, though sturdy fabric. if you look at the product description, it says that the mattress cover is quilted to 2 oz of wool, which is not very much wool. So they really skimped on the cover, in my opinion. I was really disappointed in it when it came out of the package, and while it makes a nice enough looking mattress once the latex is all zipped inside, there really is no comparison to the luxurious Flobeds cover. By the way, my cover does not look like the cover that PLAMARINE posted in his thread. The picture of his cover was what prompted me to order the organic cover in the first place - and what I got isn't the same. The next difference is rather obvious. The Flobed comes with the 3 layers plus the 2" convoluted topper, and the Sleepez is 3 layers of latex, no topper. So the higher price of the Flobed also takes into account a topper layer of latex. Assembled, the two beds have a slightly different feel, of course - they have different ILDs. I couldn't find an obvious label with the actual ILDs of the layers I received from Sleepez, though it may have been there. Each layer has a large oval sticker that says "Firm" "Medium" or "Soft" and you don't really get a choice of a specific ILD for each layer unless they happen to have that exact ILD in stock. What you get is something in a range depending on what they have in stock. Otherwise, they will get you the exact ILD you want, but you may have to wait. The assembled Sleepez mattress looks attractive and is comfortable (well, it's latex - how could it not be?). My daughter is unsure of the top layer and initially thinks it's too soft. I'm going to have her sleep on it for a week or so to get used to it before I make any decision about switching the soft for a firmer layer.
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| Thanks for the great comparison Kimberly. I just bought my Flobeds mattress and am waiting for it to arrive. I found this forum talking about Sleepez after I had already made my purchase and was feeling a bit of buyer's remorse that maybe I paid too much for my bed. The luxurious feel at the top is very important and I don't think I feel bad paying a few hundred more for that. I'll be interested to hear how the customer service compares at Sleepez since you are talking about swapping out some layers there. |
| Great review. KimberlyH, you are a great communicator and a real asset to this forum! |
| Thanks so much for your post, Kimberly. |
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KimberlyH, great review! Don't forget FloBeds will refund you any difference in the cost of what you paid and any discounts running during your 90 trial period which made my Queen bed actually ended up being slightly cheaper than the SleepEZ bed. I could not sleep without a topper so I am glad there was room inside the zippered wonderful mattress cover for the topper. Without it, either a layer was too soft or too firm to lie on for me and I could have never gotten it right. Nothing is perfect but I went with FloBeds from recommendation of my business clients who when I cancelled their first appointment with me due to allergies to a conventional mattress in a store locally and not getting sleep asked me after their first real appointment the week after if they could email me a link to a place where they bought their latex bed that suited their needs since each partner liked a different firmness layer. They told me I could do my research from there before making a decision. After my busy season, I tried out latex mattresses in stores, called Dave at FloBed and then I emailed and called Sean at SleepEZ before making my decision. Please keep us updated.
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Ok, I'm going to follow up with a few more general comments. It was pretty late last night when I wrote the above. Seeing the two mattresses side by side (or at least within 100 feet of each other), they are both very high quality mattresses. What we are buying here, folks, is three things: latex, cover, and customer service. The latex is the same for both mattresses. The only difference between these two is an extra topper and a more luxuriant cover for the Flobeds. That comes at an extra price, which could be mitigated by checking the website for sale credits. If you are looking for that extra bit of luxury, and you have the extra money, go for the Flobed. If you're looking for the benefit of a wonderful latex mattress for a good value, go for the Sleepez. As far as I can tell (so far) customer service is great with both. If I were buying brand new tomorrow and saw both these mattresses in a showroom side by side, I would have done exactly what I did: I would have purchased the Flobed for me and the Sleepez for my daughter. They're both great mattresses because the bottom line is the latex components. I'm going to give it a few days to decide whether to call Sean to discuss the cover - whether they have anything that's a little nicer than what they sent me. On the other hand, if my daughter is happy with it as is, I may not. |
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Terrific review, Kimberly - thank you for taking the time to do this! I looked at both FloBeds and Sleepez, and they both impressed me. When it came down to brass tacks though, I couldn't afford the $400 more the most comparable Flobeds mattress would have cost (the difference would have been even greater if I hadn't gotten the more expensive Organic Sleepez bed) - that went towards the new bed itself. If we need to later on we will purchase a latex topper, but we simply couldn't spend more than we did on a mattress - we'd already spent $600 more than we had originally budgeted for one. Not that I mind, really - I know that our latex bed will outlast a cheap S- bed many, many times over. I had no rips of discolorations, but two layers had seams. However, the seams were very well done and soft - they can't be felt in the assembled bed so I'm don't plan to squawk. Oh, and the cover on mine doesn't look like Plamarine's photo either, which was a little bit dissappointing, but the cover doesn't show once the bed's made.. Robin |
| Wine, what you say about your budget makes complete sense. It's a fine mattress, very comfortable. Does your description of the cover match how I described the cover to mine? |
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I peeled back the covers and snapped a pic for you, Kimberly - I hope this helps! |
| Kimberly, how about snapping a pic of your cover. |
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Wow, thanks so much for the very detailed descriptions of the product and shipping packages.
How long have you had the Flobed you sleep on? Did it require any "fiddling/exchanges" to get the layers or topper right? |