Mattress Forum

I contemplated a change to an all-latex setup after retiring the conventional mattress and was even poking around on this forum about a year ago trying to make a decision.  When you have a ton of conflicting reviews and a few folks complaining about quality control problems with FBM, I just could not see myself clear to spending $600 on a new mattress with them unless I was certain about the results.

Our old mattress made the decision for me and I have had some incredible back and neck problems as a result of the mattress breaking down so now was the time to pull the trigger.  I saw some of the pictures of FBM stuff someone posted a while back and was once again concerned about receiving something with rips, tears, random holes, and even icky brown spots all over something that would be a real PITA to return for replacement.  Anyone who has tried to contemplate repackaging a latex mattress in some sort of shipping container without the benefit of evacuating the excess air will understand this.  It's 82lbs of Jell-O.

Two years with my FBM latex topper holding up reasonably well, I decided to give them another chance.  The deciding factor for me was economics -- they are FAR cheaper than most of the other sellers out there and in this economy, I am just not prepared to spend another $1400 on a mattress setup.

I ordered a 6" firm latex mattress, mostly because I am a very big and heavy guy, and did not want to bottom out.  My intent was to re-use the 2" topper in the new setup.  I ordered last weekend and the order shipped Tuesday -- I was actually surprised it shipped that fast.  UPS Ground from Michigan to western NY is a two-day affair and UPS dropped the box off on the back steps yesterday afternoon.

Just like my original order two years ago, FBM's shipping containers leave a lot to be desired.  It arrived ripped and torn, with the mattress exposed in two places.  BUT, FBM does an excellent job of bagging the mattress and then wrapping it in something resembling Saran Wrap, and it is very resistant to rips, tears, and pokes.  The mattress was not at all damaged in the ordeal.

Lugging the thing up two flights of stairs was a charming experience.  The box was in tatters by the time we managed to drop it on our old original box springs, which were in the same excellent condition as the day we bought them (it's amazing how downright lousy and cheap today's mattresses have become -- can you imagine one of today's no-flippers lasting 15 years?).

One very strange thing I noticed is that every cat in the neighborhood was over here at the box when it was on the step, and our cat went bananas when the box was on the box springs.  She immediately plopped herself on top of the box and started tearing what was left of the box open.  I have no idea what it is about latex mattresses but they drove the cats around here wild, like catnip.  We actually had trouble getting her to relinquish her position to open the package.

Once the Saran Wrap and other wrapping was off, the fun part comes when you open the vacuum-sealed bag.  As all of the oxygen is immediately sucked out of the room and the mattress puffs up, we appreciated the fact the nearly invisible terry cloth cover was already attached.  We actually thought they forgot to ship it until we saw it after the mattress expanded.  It's nice, soft, and smooth on the top and sides, slightly tacky on the bottom to keep the mattress in place.

As we laid the mattress out, the next thing I noticed is the entire bed was going to be much lower than our old one.  This was my biggest irritation -- I hate low beds -- I want to be up high.  After we laid down on the firm latex foam and the cat staked out a new position and started rubbing her face all over the terry cloth (she needed to posess it), immediately I knew anyone with a firm latex mattress alone was going to be in real trouble.  Your weight is put on your hips, butt, and back and there was a major gap in the small of my back and the pain from that arrived about three minutes later.  Even with my 360lbs, there was no way I was going to sink into this. 

But then I have my 2" FBM soft topper!

We unzipped the terry cloth cover and inserted the 2" topper on top and then struggled a bit to zip it closed (it's a snug fit).  After that, we were still too low, and the cat was annoyed that her bed on the side table was still many inches higher in relation to the bed than it used to be.  But, it helped considerably with the hard latex core.

Unfortunately, it's still not enough.  I had an old Wal-Mart egg crate foam topper which will help us in the interim, but I need to order at least 2" of medium latex to insert between the core and the topper.  That should do the trick and help get us a bit closer to our old mattress height, too.

Lesson learned -- even if you are a heavy person, FBM firm foam is too firm without major assistance from toppers to soften things.

Now onto quality.  This was the issue that was holding me back from placing my order.  My original topper had some minor defects - mostly holes that were not lined up and a very small tear on one corner.  It also had (and maintains) a strange smell that I'd say was "bitter rubber" but not as bad as a tire.  The only time I really notice it is when changing sheets.  I've heard others describe a "sweet rubber" smell from theirs and this is definitely not mine.

When I removed the cover, there were some things we did notice about the six inch core:

1) At several points the holes appeared with some small bits of extra material hanging out on the edges, and a few others looks collapsed inwards just a bit.  There was also a strange round impression towards the center of the mattress about the size of a silver dollar.  It was cosmetic, nothing that dipped well into the mattress.

2) The sides had some horizontal wrinkles running across them at several points (sort of like a compression line left behind).  These two, in my opinion, were cosmetic.

3) A few minor abrasions on the surface of the foam.

4) Our foam topper overhangs the mattress core about 1" on the sides, and is just a bit shorter on the ends. I am not sure whether the measurement error was on the topper or the mattress core itself.  It presents no problems for us, however.

5) The terry cloth cover seems very thin.  It will be interesting to see how long it lasts with sheets rubbing against it.  I might want to supplement it with something else.  FBM's retail price on these ordered separately seems too high to me.

Overall, I'd say the OVERWHELMING majority of "defects" with our mattress are 100% cosmetic.  They do not affect the functionality or experience with the mattress whatsoever.  What a mattress looks like honestly does not matter as much as how long it lasts and how it performs.  To me, it's comparable to the ornate embroidery on many mattresses that you will see only when you change the sheets.  Tucked inside the mattress cover, none of these issues are seen (or felt).

My conclusion is I worried way too much about cosmetic defects and issues based on what others were reporting.  While I would probably be upset with brown spots or major rips, tears or repairs too, worrying about what the holes look like, the surface smoothness and the sides was way overplayed on my part.

Considering I'd have paid many hundreds of dollars more for a prettier alternative that I'd honestly never see once the cover was on, I'm happy to report my FBM purchase went well and I am a happy customer.  They could do themselves a favor by trying to minimize these visual defects just to minimize unhappy customers and improve their shipping containers, but considering the serious savings I enjoyed for my mattress, I'll live with a few issues so long as they do not impact the comfort or longevity of the mattress.

I'll be back later with pictures and more thoughts.