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After weeks of research and laying on various mattresses, I have found my favorite: Natura's "Eco-Haven." The wool top is nice and cool, and it has a soft top layer (which my wife likes) but good underlying support without being overly firm. However, it's $3600+ depending on who I ask. Way out of my budget. I figure that I can basically "patch together" something similar using SleepEZ and using the savings to buy a Natura wool topper. Questions: 1) Does anyone know the density of the Natura eco-haven base? Different sites have reported it's 6" of "firm" Talalay but a couple others report it as 28-32ILD which would make it medium. 2) The mattress is 6" solid latex with a 2" topper. Is this substantially different (From a feel standpoint) of 8" all together? (I.e. getting a 8500/10000 from Sleepez) 3) What's the best place to get a foundation? SleepEZ's aren't too expensive ($185 + shipping) especially compare to say, Flobeds who wants $500+ or Natura who wants $400, but I don't know if there's anywhere else to look. Any help would be appreciated...this forum has already been indispensable in my quest to sift through all the crap the mattress industry throws at the consumer. |
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If you know the ILDs you can approximate almost anything. I say "approximate" because other things factor into how the mattress will ultimately feel. SleepEZ uses 3 cores in the 10000 of 2.8" each. Their ILDs run on the firm side of the spectrum. 24 for soft, 32 for medium, 38 for firm and 44 for extra firm. You can order any three you like. All the same or all different. With the 8500 you get two 2.8" cores of your choice and one soft 1.5" topper. The topper is always soft--you don't get to choose there. I tend to think these beds work best with two firmer under layers and one 1.5" soft layer rather than a 2.8" soft layer. Unless you are very heavy or really like to sink into your foam, 2.8" of soft latex is just too much soft latex and undermines support for most people. I was looking at the specs on the Eco Haven and I noticed the latex is "standard latex". This is very important, because it means the latex in that bed is manufactured by the Dunlop process rather than Talalay. The two are very different in feel. Dunlop is denser and has a firmer feel than Talalay at the same ILD. It is also less bouncy and resilient. I think it gives you better support and is more comfortable overall. If you order cores from SleepEZ be sure to specify Dunlop. Natura mentions "natural" latex on the topper, but they don't say if it's Talalay or Dunlop. Most, but not all natural--meaning non blended--latex is Dunlop. Again, it's important to get the ILDs as well as the kind of latex used in this mattress if you are trying to duplicate it because it will make a lot of difference in how your version will feel versus the original. I bought a standard foundation from a local discount mattress store for under $100. The guy even took me into the warehouse and let me pick the one I wanted. Then he had it delivered to my house an hour later! Call around. Just make sure they understand you need it sturdy enough to work with a latex mattress. If you live in a very humid climate, though you might want to investigate slat foundations so that more air circulates around the mattress. Otherwise a plain old foundation works just fine. This message was modified Jun 13, 2008 by cloud9
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Thanks for the info. I went and sat on the Eco-Haven again, and looked again at the website. It seems there's a massive price premium just for the pedigree of materials. The Natura Crown, Infinity, and Equinox are all cheaper and equal or better in terms of specs. I think any of those would work too. Also the Eco-Haven does seem to be Dunlop; the 6" core is very firm, almost hard and the topper is not "rubbery" at all, more squishy. So far I'm thinking that a SleepEZ 10,000 with soft/firm/firm or 13000 with soft/medium/firm/xfirm will fit the bill for $1000+ less. |
| If you go with the SleepEZ let us know how it compares with the Natura. If you liked the way the Eco Haven bed felt I'd stick with Dunlop. Talalay has a very different feel. |
| I also am interested in duplicating Natura's "Eco-Haven." At a major furniture store nearby the description they had on the price sheet for the eco-haven topper stated it was #32 ILD Talalay. The six in latex mattress didn't have an ILD listed but it sure felt a lot like a 36ILD dupont I had just tried out at another store. I really like this mattress but refuse to pay $3800 for it. |