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I just registered and I am posting this in gratitude to all of you who (unknowingly) helped us make a great mattress decision and to maybe help someone else. We were sleeping on a pillowtop mattress that we'd only had four years. Every morning I would eagerly jump out of bed to escape the aches in my back! We knew we'd made a mistake getting the pillowtop about one year into that mattress, but we had such a financial commitment to the thing that we suffered three more years. Stupid. Just purchased a Stearns & Foster Ultra Firm from the Estate Collection - they're called different things at different stores, as you all know. At Mattress Warehouse (Cincy) it's called Governor's Park, at Macy's it's Carried Away. Anyway, in both stores I laid on it a long time, and thought it perfect. At home, though, another story - too firm and bordered on uncomfortable, even though my husband and I both noticed our backs no longer hurt in the morning :). But we just yesterday added a 1" talalay latex topper (from foambymail) and it is exactly right - we both loved it last night. Mattress is still very firm, but just that 1" makes a huge difference. I waffled between ordering the 20 ild and the 32 ild (the only choices from foambymail) and ended up with the 20, figuring if the mattress was already too firm then the 32 might not help much. It was definitely the right decision. And I'm happy we got the firmer mattress in the first place - it's easy to add a topper, but can't remove softness (doing "surgery" would not have been for us!). Also, and just as an fyi, I was a little nervous ordering from foambymail after reading one or two spotty reviews on here, but my experience with them was near perfect. I had called them twice with information gathering, talking to two different people who were both very helpful. I ordered online on Monday and we received the topper on Wednesday, which was lightning fast, imo (Michigan to Ohio). Also, the foam I got looks perfect - off-white or a little cream colored, evenly colored, even holes, fit our king mattress exactly. Just our experience, but it was an A+ and their price was unbeatable. Anyway, thanks to all of you who've posted such great info here and I hope my post helps someone else.
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Thanks for posting your results. Sounds like you played it the right way. I laid on that S&F and it was very firm. Hopefully the mattress will retain it firmness over time. Not totally sure what kind and how much foam they put on it. If it gives out after a few years, don't be afraid to try surgery. Not that hard really, and nothing to lose if the foam loses its support. It seems like foambymail is moving up on the list of places to buy from. A number of people have been happy with their purchases recently, and their pricing certainly is very good. |
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Regarding the S&F mattress, they don't put much soft stuff on this particular model in the first place, so I'd be shocked if we ever had to do surgery on it. Also, we got the one with latex layer and NOT the layer of memory foam (which just makes us both extremely hot and sweaty). I will say, Stearns and Foster does make a lot of combinations of firmness/coils. We sprung for the higher end one in the hopes of it holding it's firmness a long time. It feels incredibly solid and quality. But to try them all out we had to go to several stores. No one carries all the models - there's probably just too many! This message was modified Jul 29, 2010 by mjtx2
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How was the overall size? FBM got some criticism here a while back, for short-cutting the toppers the way the cheap poly dept store ones are, so they were a few inches shorter and narrower than the mattress, but they tell me they are not doing this anymore. Was your topper really as big as your mattress? mjtx2 wrote: Also, and just as an fyi, I was a little nervous ordering from foambymail after reading one or two spotty reviews on here, but my experience with them was near perfect. I had called them twice with information gathering, talking to two different people who were both very helpful. I ordered online on Monday and we received the topper on Wednesday, which was lightning fast, imo (Michigan to Ohio). Also, the foam I got looks perfect - off-white or a little cream colored, evenly colored, even holes, fit our king mattress exactly. Just our experience, but it was an A+ and their price was unbeatable. Anyway, thanks to all of you who've posted such great info here and I hope my post helps someone else.
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thanks for the review, it has taken the nervousness out of ordering me one, but i don't know if 1 inch is ok for me, i called www.absolutecomfortonsale.com and he asked me how much i weight i said 200 and he said a 3 inch, is this just to get me to spend more, how about 2 inch anyone have any help for me.
Regarding the S&F mattress, they don't put much soft stuff on this particular model in the first place, so I'd be shocked if we ever had to do surgery on it. Also, we got the one with latex layer and NOT the layer of memory foam (which just makes us both extremely hot and sweaty). I will say, Stearns and Foster does make a lot of combinations of firmness/coils. We sprung for the higher end one in the hopes of it holding it's firmness a long time. It feels incredibly solid and quality. But to try them all out we had to go to several stores. No one carries all the models - there's probably just too many! This message was modified Jul 30, 2010 by tony
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The king topper from foambymail was, if anything a *tad* (tad as in 1/4" or less) larger than the bed. I was also worried about that but it was completely unfounded - the topper fit beautifully. As far as what thickness to order, I'm not sure you can go by weight - to me that seems odd. It's more a preference thing, isn't it? I'm 135 and my husband 170 and we both like the very firm mattress with the 1" 20 ild talalay latex on top, but that might not be enough for you or it might be just fine. I did think about this when I ordered the 1", because if it wasn't enough, all I had to do was add an additional 1" and I'd have the equivalent of a 2" topper. I think the 2" even prices out about the same as two-1". Anyway, we both sleep in almost all four positions, but usually sides or stomach, so the firmer (and less foam) is best for us. |
| ah excellent i will start with 1 inch then like you said its the same price if i need to buy another 1inch, |
| and the latex is the med.soft too mushy, when you lay on it it does not mash flatten , would the med.firm have give to it, or is it to firm? |
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Hmmm. I can only speak to foambymail's 20 ild (they label that "soft"). It is, indeed soft. You can pinch it down to 1/4 inch pretty easily - I just tested that out for you :) But the thing about the latex is that it supports you wherever it's not being pushed down by your body. As I said, I was nervous adding the 32 ild ("medium") to an already very firm mattress. I was trying to add a little cushion, which the 1" softer 20 ild exactly did. We've had three nights on it now and it's perfect - not too firm, but not anywhere near too soft, either. Our backs feel GREAT in the morning. You know what - you should call foambymail.com and ask them. Maybe they'd even send you a sample of each so you could feel it before you buy. If nothing else, they could more accurately advise you as to what the 32 ild is really like. This message was modified Jul 31, 2010 by mjtx2
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| mjtx2, I wish I had know years ago that 1" Talalay latex would provide me the cushion that I needed while still feeling the support below the topper since then I would have not had so many pressure points on all my too firm mattresses that I needed that firm so I would not have back pain. I am very happy with my FloBed latex bed now but without my 1" topper over the extra firm and super firm latex cores, I would have not been happy. This site has taught me a lot so I try to share with others what I have learned and what works for me. Thanks for sharing with the forum. I hope you and your wife continue to sleep well. |
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FBM is, in my experience, pretty niggardly with its samples - several other companies sent me nice 3"x3"x3" hunks of both soft talalay and medium dunlop, but FBM sent me just one little 1" square block of medium, explaining it was all they had at the time for samples. 1" just isn't enough to get a real feel for what it will be like. mjtx2 wrote: You know what - you should call foambymail.com and ask them. Maybe they'd even send you a sample of each so you could feel it before you buy. If nothing else, they could more accurately advise you as to what the 32 ild is really like. |