Savvy Rest report
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After lurking here and other places and doing lots of research - I finally recieved my latex mattress today. I'd like to add to the discussion by sharing my experiences with a company I haven't read about on this forum and about Dunlop latex. We went with a three layer 100% DUNLOP (yes, Dunlop, not Talalay) mattress from Savvy Rest via The Natural Sleep Store. We got a queen size with split firm (ILD 40), medium (ILD 35) and soft (ILD 30) layers. The cover is made of organic cotton quilted to organic wool. The total was $1849 including shipping - more than SleepEZ or some of the other online retailers but less than other organic latex mattresses.We got free UPS shipping through The Natural Sleep Store (which would have been $219 from Savvy Rest directly) plus a gift certificate for $160.00 that could be used toward bedding at their store. So far, I really like the mattress. It is just the right firmness. I don't think we would want anything softer than this configuration. We went with Dunlop even though there is so much more information about Talalay because we were more concerned about getting something too soft rather than too firm. I'll report on how we like the mattress in a few weeks. We went from years of futons that needed to be replaced every few years so this seems extremely comfy. Our latest futon had gotten really hard so we started researching other options and finally settled on the Savvy Rest. I can't really write a full review until sleeping on the mattress for a while - but I can review the customer service. There is a huge amount of information on the Savvy Rest web site and on the Natural Sleep Store web site as well as organicmattressreviews.com. I considered SleepEZ, FloBeds, Foam Sweet Foam, Foam Source and a couple of other places and finally settled on Savvy Rest. I would have considered FloBeds if they carried Dunlop latex. My concern with SleepEZ and some of the other places was that while they described their latex in great detail, they were a little sketchy about the covers and what they used for flame retardants. I decided to narrow my search to stores that described their covers and/or had options for different covers. FloBeds had several cover choices and reasonable prices, but I really wanted natural Dunlop rather than Talalay. Both FloBeds and Savvy Rest made it clear that they didn't use chemicals in addition to the wool for fire retardant material. First, I looked at the web sites, read reviews and got samples from Savvy Rest. They seemed professional and informative. I spoke directly to a woman at Savvy Rest (can't remember her name right now) and she was very knowledgeable and told me some things that made me buy a softer mattress than I had intended to. I'm glad I took her advice. She said most of their exchanges were for softer layers and that she couldn't recommend anything firmer than medium, medium, firm - and that would be quite firm in Dunlop. She also said that the Dunlop is a bit firmer on one side than the other so you could further customize by turning one or more layer over. The side with the larger holes is firmer than the side with the smaller holes. I haven't experimented with it yet so I can't confirm if the difference is noticeable but I thought it was interesting. The mattress came in three 2x2x3 boxes which the UPS guy hauled into the house for me. They were immaculate and clearly labled on the outside with computer printed stickers and magic marker. The first box as the heaviest at 60 pounds and contained the cotton and wool cover along with the soft layer and the assembly instructions which were in a zip lock bag taped to the top of the box. The other two layers were around 53 pounds each and clearly labled in the other two boxes. Each of the half layers were in separate plastic bags and were NOT vacuum packed. They were just kind of loosely rolled and very easy to remove from the boxes. Every half layer was labled with an F, M or S.I was really impressed with the attention to detail. I called my husband to come home early to hoist the boxes up into the bedroom and help me put the bed together. It probably took us less than half an hour to put it together. I really think the split layers were easier to handle than the full layers would have been. The top of the case is thick enough that we don't feel the split - even without a mattress pad. That's enough to bore you for now. I am really happy with this purchase. It is one of the best experiences I've had buying something online. We just didn't find anything comparable locally. Cheers, Marie |
Re: Savvy Rest report
| MattressMom - congratulations on your new mattress!! And thank you for your efforts to educate and advise me on my own dilemma - you have shown me what real 'due diligence' is... I wish I had educated myself as you have prior to purchase... I cant' believe you put together your own mattress!!! |
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We still love the mattress after a couple of nights. I am REALLY glad we got the soft top layer. It is really quite firm. Most companies do call a 30 ILD a Medium or even Medium/Firm. And we did try both sides of the the pieces of latex and prefer the soft side up. I had my husband's side with the firmer side up and my side with the soft side up for a little while to see if we could tell the difference. There was a slight difference but enough to bother making both sides with the soft side up. We left the bottom firm layer with the firm side up and put the soft side up for the middle and top layers. I don't know if Talalay is like this - but the Dunlop has sort of a skin or “crust” like bread around the uncut surfaces. The softer side is like the inside of the loaf of Wonderbread while the firmer side is the side with a soft crust. The Dunlop isn't as “jiggly” or “bouncy” as the Talatech we tried locally. If we hadn't liked the soft Dunlop on the top, we would have swapped it out for a layer of blended Talatech. I would think the Dunlop under the Talatech would have dampened the bounciness of the Talatech a bit. My husband likes the mattress as is. He zonked right out last night. I could see how a topper of a 2 inch layer of fairly soft Talatech would make it even comfier for side sleeping but I'm going to leave it alone for a least a month before tweaking it. So far so good. We are sleeping directly on the mattress with just a sheet and no mattress pad at this point. We can feel the latex itself but the wool and cotton top of the mattress is thick enough that it almost feels like the wool topper we had been using before. I wish I could go down the street and test these customizable latex mattresses and toppers. You have to guess so much with a purchasing latex online. The feedback and information on this forum has been incredibly helpful. Thank you all!!! GDY55, I think a lot of people have had the same experience you had in shopping for a mattress. When I was shopping for a mattress locally, I heard all kinds of contradictory things. Mattress shopping was even worse than car shopping and the car salesmen seemed to know more about their products. All of the latex mattresses we looked at locally had a latex core with other stuff around it. No one could really tell me what. Most of the mattresses - latex or not - had some type of topper or layer over the main layer so it was hard to tell what the “core” felt like or how the topper layer would hold up. The Sealy and Stearns & Foster mattresses were nice on the outside but the latex was a new all synthetic version that doesn’t have much of a track record - and I figured that out from internet research. The sales people didn’t have a clue. After a day of mattress shopping, I was so confused I had to go the internet to piece together some kind of independent opinion. I found the SleepEZ and the Savvy Rest web pages to be the most informative. We really went back and forth between the two companies. In the end, we decided to go for the more expensive cover. That was the only difference - the latex is the same from both companies. We will probably buy a two layer medium/soft mattress from SleepEZ for my son soon if we can confirm that they don't use fire retardant chemicals. Marie This message was modified Jan 12, 2008 by mattressmom
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Re: Savvy Rest report
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After two weeks on the Savvy Rest bed, we are still very happy with it. We played around with the layers a bit to fine tune it and experiment - but we ended up prefering the original soft over medium over Firm configuration. We found that the two different firmnesses on each side of each layer to make a pretty significant difference - a bigger difference than we thought at first. We ended up with the soft side up on all three layers of my side - soft over medium over firm (lower case letters for the soft side up) while my husband kept the firm side up on the bottom firm layer soft over medium over Firm (upper case letters for the firm side up) - so my side is slightly but noticebly softer than his side. We were really surprised by how much difference it made to simply put the soft side up on the bottom layer. We experimented with having medium over medium over Firm on my husband's side and soft over soft over Firm on my side for a few days - but it was a little too firm for him and just a bit too soft for me. Although I liked the softer feel of sinking in deeper for a while, my back does better with a bit more support in the middle layer. It was also a little strange to have his side of the bed so much firmer than mine. We could have reconfigured with these six firmnessesand six pieces of latex forever but I think we got it just right for us without sending any layers back and forth. It almost seems like we had more options with the Dunlop than we would have with the Talalay. Getting the split layers was definitely the way to go. I found it really easy to move all the layers around. |
Re: Savvy Rest report
| Mattressmom, Thanak for the update and letting us know that you love the Dunlap Latex and that Savvy Rest is a good place to buy a latex bed with many options also in configuration of their bed. How many exchanges of the latex cores do you get and what is the return policy? I love that you have more combinations due to the Dunlap latex having two sides. What are the ILD of your latex cores. I know that my Extra Firm for my FloBed is a Firm at SleepEZ. I wonder if your soft, medium, firm would be a medium, firm, extra firm at FloBeds? I am so glad you are satified and we all appreciate your updates. Your positive feedback will give others more options with Savvy Rest another good contender for a latex bed. |
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Savvy Rest told me the ILDs were around 30 for Soft, 35 for Medium and 40 for Firm. The directions said to put the soft side up so I think the firm side ILDs might be a bit higher. I read in several places that the Firm would feel like a rock and that Medium/Medium/Firm was the absolute firmest configuration they would recommend. I'm really glad we got the Soft layer. They really could have called the layers Medium/Firm/Extra Firm. Their Soft Dunlop isn't nearly as soft as the Soft Dunlop on other web sites. Shawn at SleepEZ said their Dunlop ILDs were 28 for Soft, 36 for Medium, 42 for Firm and 44+ for Extra Firm. I would think the SleepEZ version is a lot like the Savvy Rest except for the cover and the price. SleepEZ doesn't mention that there are different firmnesses but I think that is a characteristic of Dunlop latex because it is settles more densely in the bottom of the mold. I think the ILD estimates are not as exact as they are for Talalay. Savvy Rest will switch out the layers but you have to pay the shipping both ways - which could get pricey because of the oversized boxes. They don't vacuum pack their latex for some reason. I think you could exchange one of the half layers which would be cheaper. I didn't look into layer switching very much. Savvy Rest really tries to help you get the right configuration the first time. The only thing we might have done differently would have been to consider getting the two layer six inch version. I think we probably could have gotten away with a Soft over Soft on my side and Soft over Medium on my husband's side. I don't think the deep layering of different firmnesses is as necessary with the Dunlop as it sounds like it is with the Talalay. SleepEZ has the 8500 mattress which is two three inch layers with another half layer - which would probably be more than enough too. Other places like mattresses.net and foamorder.com sell six inch cores of Dunlop with a two inch layer of softer Dunlop on top. Now that I know what the latex feels like - that configuration makes a lot of sense to me. The six inch cores used to be standard - that's what my parents have had for years. |
Re: Savvy Rest report
| Mattressmom, Thank you for sharing so much. Your configuration of your bed sounds like a little firmer than FloBed's soft (theirs is 28 I think) over Extra Firm (theirs is 36 ILD ont he average) over not quite as firm as their 44 Super Firm ILD. Your combination sounds comfortable. I Like that they have a 40 ILD latex core since I wish I had a 36 ILD over a 40 ILD over a 44 ILD. One of my 36 ILD latex cores averages 39 so I guess I do now have this combination and will try it out tonight. I love having so many latex cores to move around to get it just right for me. But I am glad you got it right the first time. Thanks again for educating us about another good place to buy a latex bed one is sure what latex configurations they want. I know it would have been costly for me since I would have had to exchange at least 2 latex cores. |
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Mattressmom, ,thanks for your reports and observations. I am researching what to buy and try for a new foam mattress. I am glad to hear your positive experience with Dunlop latex because although we did not like Talalay latex, I think the natural Dunlop might be more to our liking, and I like that it has 2 variable densities. What do you think about a 4" core of Dunlop with a 2" memory foam on top? Or a 2" super soft Talalay on top? This is what I am thinking of trying... |
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jimsocal wrote: Mattressmom, ,thanks for your reports and observations. I am researching what to buy and try for a new foam mattress.</p><p>I am glad to hear your positive experience with Dunlop latex because although we did not like Talalay latex, I think the natural Dunlop might be more to our liking, and I like that it has 2 variable densities.</p><p>What do you think about a 4" core of Dunlop with a 2" memory foam on top? Or a 2" super soft Talalay on top? This is what I am thinking of trying... I can only really speak from my experience so far. I don't like the feel of memory foam or Talalay latex so I wouldn't choose either of them but it might work for you with fairly firm latex underneath. I'm not sure that it is as important to layer different firmnesses of Dunlop the way they do with Talalay. A six inch layer of the ILD you prefer would probably be fine - with or without a topper layer. I like an ILD of around 30-32 in Dunlop. ***One very important note about getting naked latex is to be sure you cover it on all eight sides immediately. Exposure to sunlight will make it break it down pretty quickly.*** I've seen Dunlop (sometimes called "natural" to distinguish it from blended Talalay) at the following places. I have only heard of these places on this forum and have no direct experience with any of them. All of the web sites have interesting information. http://www.sleepez.com/latex-mattresses.htm http://www.mattresses.net/lafoma.html http://www.foamorder.com/latex.html http://www.foamsweetfoam.com/ We got a six inch twin size piece of Dunlop in ILD 32 from this vendor in Iowa for my 13 year old daughter. They drop shipped the vacuum packed latex directly from the supplier in California in about a week. So far, so good. It seems just right for her with a zippered cotton cover, mattress pad and sheet. http://organicselections.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=127_41 |
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Lynn2006 wrote: Mattressmom, Thank you for sharing so much. Your configuration of your bed sounds like a little firmer than FloBed's soft (theirs is 28 I think) over Extra Firm (theirs is 36 ILD ont he average) over not quite as firm as their 44 Super Firm ILD. Your combination sounds comfortable. I Like that they have a 40 ILD latex core since I wish I had a 36 ILD over a 40 ILD over a 44 ILD. One of my 36 ILD latex cores averages 39 so I guess I do now have this combination and will try it out tonight. I love having so many latex cores to move around to get it just right for me. But I am glad you got it right the first time. Thanks again for educating us about another good place to buy a latex bed one is sure what latex configurations they want. I know it would have been costly for me since I would have had to exchange at least 2 latex cores. You might have had better luck with some firm Dunlop. It feels denser and firmer overall than Talalay - and less bouncy. It is hard to describe the difference. I've heard the difference described as Talalay is more like Angel Food cake while Dunlop is more like Pound cake. I'm not sure you can compare their ILDs directly. 36 over 40 over 44 sounds really hard to me - but it sounds like it works for you. The woman at Savvy Rest said she had back problems (slipped disk, I think) and she used medium over medium over firm (35/35/40) and wouldn't recommend anything much firmer than that - and only if you had serious back problems. She steered us toward the Soft/Medium/Firm combo instead of M/M/F I had originally decided on. My husband needed something firmer than I liked. He could have put the firmer layers toward the top if he had needed to. In the end, he found the soft/medium/Firm combo firm enough and still very comfortable. Our only complaint is that it's hard to get up in the morning. We're too comfy... |
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Jim, We bought a Dunlop latex mattress that was a 6 inch core with just a bit of quilting/padding. It was supposedly 36 ILD and we found it neither firm enough to be supportive, nor soft enough to relieve pressure points (me: 125 Lb; him: 150 Lb). We tried adding 2 inches of memory foam which solved the pressure point issue, but made the support (or lack thereof) worse. It was altogether too squishy and killing our backs so we ended it up exchanging it for a firm-ish innerspring which has great support but needs a topper as soon as I can decide on how soft we should go... Maybe 4 inches of a single density wouldn't feel as squishy as 6 inches, but most people here seem to have a firm layer in the mix to get the needed support. |