Mattress Forum

I have happily owned a FloBeds 100% natural, botanically grown, Talalay process, latex mattress for almost 10 months now. I have not experienced any kind of body impressions in my California King mattress. I am 6'2" tall and weigh approximately 200 pounds.

budgy knows what it's talking about as he is a retail mattress business owner. You need to do a lot more reading about what constitutes "natural latex" 100% naturally grown latex, blended latex, and synthetic latex. There are a lot of differences.

But purchase from one of the reputable dealers that are referenced on this site, quite frequently, such as FloBeds, Savvy Rest, SleepEZ, Habitat, and Foam Sweet Foam, and you should not go wrong (and there are others). Call them and talk to them, they all have 800 numbers.

What Budgy says is true - be careful because some companies (notably "S" brand companies) call their beds "latex" when in fact they are a layer of latex on top of a lot of cheap PU foam.

Habitat did respond to one of the posts saying that the mattress should not get impressions.  That did make me feel better....but I'm wondering why both mattresses are developing impressions.  (Enough people commented that their mattress was "sagging" to make me concerned.)  I have not spoken to the company yet but I certainly will as I am leaning towards purchasing a mattress from them. 

After reading those user reviews I thought it would be wise to inquire about this issue from people who have owned various brands of 100% laytex mattresses.

The first issue in my mind, when purchasing a latex mattress, is what the method of manufacture is (Dunlop vs. Talalay vs. another process) and who is the manufacturer?  Ok, that's 2 questions.  Is it some unknown maker who might be putting cheap fillers into the latex?  We know that some companies do this.  Or is it a respected manufacturer of high quality latex (such as LI)?

I don't have an answer for you, but if you're hearing reports of cratered mattresses from Habitat, that seems a reason to look at another company instead . . .

I don't have a latex mattress but I've been on this forum for years and only once have I heard of anyone complaining of body impressions on their latex mattress and that was, as I recall, after 10 years.

"100% latex" could mean 100% synthetic latex which isn't often a good thing. There are Blends of latex like Latex International's Talatech and it is a good natural/synthetic blend. But you don't want a 100% synthetic latex.

Also I've heard in the past that some "jungle latex" may get impressions after a few years due to poor manufacturing. "Jungle Latex" means latex that comes from Sri Lanka or somewhere and may not be manufactured to proper standards. That does not mean that all latex coming from Sri Lanka or some other 3rd world country is bad, but it means that sometimes it is.

To be safe, stay with good latex manufacturers like Latex International or Latex Green. And personally I am sold on the idea that natural Talalay as made by Latex Green or LI is your best bet.

So my personal experience is limited. However I have never heard of anybody complaining about Dunlop hundred percent natural latex forming body impressions.

I agree that you need to consider only the first line manufacturers of latex.

The thing you need to keep in mind about Habitat, is that there bed is all of a piece. In other words you can purchase their six-inch mattress in a king-size Dunlop, and it is going to be very heavy. I can just imagine what the package must look like that they shipped to you. I think they are a fine company, but they are doing business different than almost everyone else.

My choices would be, in the following order, number one FloBeds, number two SleepEZ, number three Foam Sweet Foam. FloBeds will be the more expensive of the three but has the best exchange and return policy on the Internet. SleepEZ will be less expensive but there are questions about their return and exchange policy. They say one thing on their website and they're telling people on the phone something else altogether. But they have enough satisfied customers that I would not hesitate to purchase from them once we had exchanged e-mails about the purchase. Foam Sweet Foam is going to have the best price but the most restrictive exchange and return policies of the three. But I would be tempted to purchase from them because I think they run a first-class operation and I believe they only purchase their Talalay latex from Latex International.

As I suggested to you earlier, you need to call each one of them and make up your own mind.