I finally got around to taking some photos of my latex.  I own a king sized latex bed.  Half of it is Latex International [LI] latex and half of it is Foam by Mail [FBM] latex.

The LI side consists of:

3" blended talalay 44 ILD
3" blended talalay 36 ILD
2" natural talalay 32 ILD

The FBM side consists of:

6" talalay Firm
2" talalay Soft

Here are some photos:


FBM on the left and LI on the right.  You can see the obvious difference in quality.


FBM core in the cover.


FBM cover cut open.


FBM core brown spots and other inconsistencies.


FBM core random pincore holes, cut side view.


FBM soft topper random hole patterns.


FBM topper short, should be 80" long


FBM core short.


FBM invoice with my personal information covered up.


LI 32 ILD natural talalay topper tag.


LI 36 ILD blended talalay tag.


LI 44 ILD blended talalay tag.


In general, my thoughts are:  Latex International has very high quality latex.  If/when I purchase future latex, I will pony up the extra cash for all LI latex.  Unfortunately it was impractical to return my FBM latex.  The problems with returning were 1) extremely difficult to package, 2) expensive to ship, 3) after paying return shipping, 25% of the cost is deducted and then the initial FBM shipping cost is deducted, which leaves little value left for the struggle.

I don't work for LI, I am a consumer of bedding.  I thought sharing my experiences would be helpful to others deciding where to buy their latex.

Feel free to ask any questions.

electracat wrote:
Hi electracat,

I ordered from www.memoryfoam.com originally because I had purchased from Mark before, and I knew he was a straight shooter.  Also his prices were reasonable for brand name foams.  I ordered the topper from www.foamsource.com because Mark did not carry the 100% natural talalay, and that is what I wanted in contact with my body.  After I slept on that half of the bed for a long time, I knew that I liked latex, and I had an idea of what might feel good on the other side.  Slightly less firm topper and a firm core.  Having read somewhat favorable reviews on this site about FBM, I took the plunge, considering the low prices of FBM for latex.

This site is here to educate consumers about purchasing mattresses.  I posted my experience with latex to help other people understand what I have learned as a consumer of latex.

cycomom13 wrote:
In my experience, a firm base is too firm to sleep on without a softer topper.  I have had other foam beds which were completely medium and they did not provide adequate support.  Meaning, I woke up with back aches.  In my experience it is best to layer from soft to medium to firm (top to bottom), which provides the most comfort while maintaining adequate support.

Great post!

It does vary greatly from BillB's experience and his quality looks much better than yours.

All the same, it was great to see the difference, and I appreciate your effort in putting together this post.

I am 6'5" and definitely need a mattress that is 80" .... I bought a latex topper from Ikea and returned it for a second one ... only to have both SHORT and not WIDE enough ...

Will have to consider my options.

Very interesting. I've never seen irregular latex like that. All the latex I have ever seen was very regular in terms of how the holes are placed.
I take it you did not know the piece was short until you'd had it awhile. Otherwise, were it me, I'd have considered making them send me one the right size at their expense.
I have some concern as to whether or not that FBM piece is truly Talalay because I have never seen Talalay irregular like that. Looks more like "jungle latex" to me.
That said, I once laid on some jungle latex and liked the feel of it better than Talalay... (I use the term "jungle latex" as I've read it here in the past, to signify latex that is all natural
and usually comes from Malaysia or India (?) or some exotic country.)

I just received my FBM foam layers.

The foam looked quickly hand-cut. The holes looked uneven like on the core above.  Mine did not have brown spots though.  I ordered 80" and the 7 pieces (1" thick) I ordered averaged 80.5"

Comparing the 20ILD and 32ILD 1" latex toppers I just received from them:
- The 20ILD looks homogenous.  Not sure why the holes in them aren't perfectly evenly spaced.  Functionality isn't affected one bit of course, but it's still weird their molds don't give them evenly spaced holes.

-The 32ILD looks like the 20 ILD on top, with a thin and noticeably DENSE layer at the bottom.  I guess this is what Dunlop latex looks like?




That said, the price was excellent, and I applaud FBM for making a comfortable night's sleep affordable for broke college students like myself.

Based on this thread I just took a closer look at the FBM latex topper I purchased a few months ago. IMHO they are selling "factory seconds" with their latex.

While I believe the defects won't alter the overall performance of the latex, I believe that FBM is not truthfully disclosing the the nature of their products, which would also explain the lower cost of their latex products.

The 3" topper I received looks similar to the pics posted here with the irregular pinhole patterns (but no brown spots), mine was sized properly at least! I believe that they are taking the 6" cores and sloppily cutting these down to make their latex toppers.

I did just notice that on one area of the topper edge there is a "patched" section comprising a 6" x 2" section of latex (different color) that was glued into the topper to patch a hole that appears to have been made when someone pulled the latex, ripping the edge.

Overall, I'm ok with the topper thanks to the price, but there isn't any way they are selling first quality products....

Well I guess you get what you pay for???? My O-stock.com latex has a major flaw 2'x6" gap hole. It was allegedly supposed to be Dunlop firm, this piece was soft Talalay. I can tell now. So buyer beware.... I must say you can work around the problem areas though......

I think I just got your extra length.  I read this post before ordering from FBM, but decided that for the kids/guest twin bed I was primarily ordering for, being a little short and uneven quality would be fine.  So, I ordered a standard twin (75'' long) in medium.  When I tried to put it into the Overstock cover today, it was clearly way too long.  I got out the measuring tape and is is just short of 82''! 

Looks like I need to go out and get a cheap electric knife.  Any suggestions on what to do with a 7x3x39'' piece of latex? 

I'm not seeing any brown bits; the latex looks very consistent.  However, the holes on one side have wider, uneven openings.

Please let us know if it feels consistent when you sleep on it.  Meaning same relative firmness over all areas of mattress/topper.  Maybe you got a good one from them!

I really appreciate this post Jim. I'm thinking of getting a talalay latex topper and was told by a competing salesperson that most of FBM's toppers are really dunlop. Are you convinced yours is talalay? Just wondering...