Mattress Forum

And that's where another dunlop problem arises for me. Shipping. It's heavy. Repacking a 3" twin size piece of talalay is rough enough. Try it with a relatively dense piece of dunlop which has been vacuum packed by the manufacturer. Some of these sites peddling dunlop with seemingly generous return policies obfuscate the fact that you have to repack it in original shipping materials, and return shipping costs are high (even where it seems to say that there is a minimal "return shipping fee", which often is a "handling fee"). One site stated if you lost the original boxes, they would sell you replacement boxes for $59.
BOTTOM LINE: Enter all transactions fully informed. Whatever you buy, make sure everything is in writing. Read and reread the fine print and make sure you fully understand the terms and conditions. Ask your questions and get the responses IN WRITING.

If I were to buy a mattress with latex, it would have to be either a mattress with good 'ol coils with latex for the comfort layers or a latex kit (so that I have the option of choosing different ILD layers and moving them around inside the mattress to find the correct support). I have no experience sleeping on a latex mattress, so I'm thinking a combination of coils with latex would offer the best of both worlds. It would be even better if the coils and latex came in a zippered mattress casing so that if the latex wasn't comfortable, I could exchange it for a firmer or softer latex layer. Of course, I would love to get the mattress configuration right the first time and not end up having to make latex exchanges by mail...but at least Flobeds is good by allowing you time to do core exchanges or even return the whole kit. 

Yep. Don't know about their prices, pocketed coil system vs. more basic coil style, and how much high density PU is used to encase the coils and to &amp;quot;quilt&amp;quot; the cover, but otherwise they sure seem to be doing things right. Clearly, that's how all traditional mattresses (above the most basic &amp;quot;el cheapo&amp;quot; level) should be made/offered--accessible guts and upgraded comfort layers. Just like Burger King, you could &amp;quot;have it your way.&amp;quot; Even if you can afford the highest priced custom made mattress on the market, this really is how it should be constructed and modifiable. Anyone needing a good mattress who lives within a reasonable distance should at least consider them. IIRC, site says use 4 layers of decreasing ILD talalay over the coils. BB--what is their standard layup as far as thickness and ILD for these layers?&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;Small mattress retailers should pay attention. Stop trying to compete with Costco, department store sales, and the various &amp;quot;Mattress Whatevers.&amp;quot; Low inventory. Further, while I am completely unfamiliar with how the pocketed coil systems are constructed/assembled, it appears to be the type of system which could be modified so that the individual pocketed coils could simply be plugged onto a grid (think interlocking rubber kid's mat bred with large dimple LEGO base--end product 60&amp;quot; x 80&amp;quot; or 72&amp;quot; x 80&amp;quot;). Coils available in 3 or 4 firmnesses for zoning. End result--a coil mattress with latex comfort materials, all parts interchangeable/replaceable, shippable in standard size/weight boxes, light color coded parts assembled by consumer in place with instructions, and a bottle of wine. And it's &amp;quot;green.&amp;quot; Someone please try making one of these. I'm too tied up with latex at the moment.<BR>

You mean like mine: http://www.baybed.com/

I wonder if there are other local stores around who are doing the same thing. I'll never buy another "readymade" mattress again, especially if it starts with an "S".

BeddyBye, I just checked out the www.baybed.com web site. I wish my local stores sold mattresses like the ones on baybed, with pocketed coils or just the regular coils with latex for the comfort layers. With a baybed mattress, do the pocketed coils give your back enough support? I had a Beautyrest with the individually pocketed coils, and my back suffered, but the mattress had soft PU foams for comfort layers. From what I see on baybed's site, it looks like their pocketed coil system is far superior to that of Beautyrest.  Anyway, too bad I don't live anywhere near baybed's store or I'd check them out.</p><p>I have been to several local mattress stores and tried out the latex beds, but all the latex beds I've seen and layed on are made by Sealy and Stearns &amp; Foster, so they use PU foam on top of the latex core. That PU foam layer doesn't give me a 100% accurate idea of what a latex mattress with a softer layer of latex for the comfort layer feels like, but I guess the S-brand latex mattresses give me some clue as to whether or not I'd like to sleep on all latex. The stores didn't have all the S-brand latex models, but the ones I tried were either way too hard or a bit too soft because of all the soft PU foam layers...I didn't find the perfect mattress. </p><p>Well, if / when I need a new mattress, I'm leaning more towards a mattress combining traditional springs (that's what I'm used to sleeping on) with layer(s) of latex foam and maybe even a layer of high density memory foam combined with the layer(s) of latex.

I agree that this concept is ideal. The "plugged pocketed coils" sounds like a neat idea, too. He doesn't advertise the LuraFlex coils I exchanged my pocketed coils for, I notice. Probably most people do fine with the pocketed. I'm just the Princess and the Pea.

The local Verlo mattress guy told me that they don't recommend putting latex or memory foam on springs or a box spring. They sell rigid foundations specifically for foam mattresses. I didn't get into the reasons why - but I have my doubts about mixing and matching springs and latex. Just my 2 cents though.