Mattress Forum

You could probaby buy a better 6" zoned latex core (natural dunlop) with a decent cover for less than or similar to this and probably have a better mattress than the ikea. Probably wouldn't go there personally as I'm not sure how comfortable it would be ... for me anyway.

For about $1200 you would probably be able to get 8-9" of all latex and a good cover and have a better mattress than the embody. Lots of links that lead to these in recent threads.

Poly foam in the lower support layers is not as bad as polyfoam in the comfort layers. I am guessing that Sealy uses a decent (relative word) HR foam for support. Don't know exactly what it is.

Englander sells a lot of latex mattresses with poly in them. These are usually the ones that develop impressions. Many of their dealers try to imply that they are all latex by saying things like "we only use 100% latex in our mattress" and let consumers take it the way they want them to take it. There's a bit of a craigslist war going on locally between a well known mattress outlet that is selling Englander poly latex and another store that is selling an all latex mattress (house brand) for more of course. It's funny to watch. I actually lay on some poly/latex englanders but ruled them out because there was too much poly in them ... top (about 1.25" quilting foam over 3" or 4" of latex depending on model) and bottom (HR core).

The embody with 3" + 7" is usually called the Insightful. I've only seen it called the Inspiration in one place in Canada. It's available online for under $2000.

I'm assuming that from your ikea price you are looking at a King so everything I posted is King size.

The best suggestion would depend on how much you already have invested in your mattress.

Phoenix

How much are you into your mattress already? That would make a difference to me whether I exchanged it for the same thing with the intent to use it for a spare mattress and then started over again with the rest of my budget. It looks to me like you could do better than both the Ikea and the Insightful upgrade. You could buy a better mattress than the insightful inside your remaining budget and exchange the mattress you have now for a new one.

But again it would depend on how much I had invested in it so far. If nothing else you could probably get a lot better deal on the upgrade.

The Sealy would probably have around 3" of polyfoam in the top and probably more depending on exactly what model you have. Almost any mattress with that much poly in the upper layers will likely have similar problems.

Phoenix

I'm also skeptical about synthetic latex being any good unless maybe it is Talatech which I doubt it is. But does IKEA have a "easy return" policy like, say, CostCo? If so, then it wouldn't hurt to try it and return it if you don't like it.

Of these 2 choices, Sealy would be my least desirable choice.

I personally would take the Sealy you have, open it up and put some latex layers on top of the springs instead of the crap foam they have in there. We did that with my wife's bed and she likes it just fine. I am having less success having done that with my Englander springs but then I have a really messed-up back, neck and shoulders, so I'm a hard case.

See http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com/forum/dissecting-my-sealy-fenway-mattress-bought-costco-4-years-ago-lousy-soft-foam-inside/1954-1-1.html

The Sealy Embody has 3" of what they call smart latex on top and that is on top of 7" probably HR base. There are only these 2 layers so there is no poly on top. They describe their smart latex as "continuous pour" so it is likely LI dunlop. Whether this is natural or blended is open to question but it is latex for sure. Even all synthetic latex would be less likely to develop body impressions than any polyfoam. There are some mattresses made by the "S" companies that use natural Dunlop and also Talalay (probably the blend) but IMO they are way overpriced and they mostly spoil them by adding polyfoam in the wrong places. The highest content of any of them is the Simmons natural care elite (Uses Talalay) which only has a 2" layer of poly and this is in the support layers not the comfort layers. They are good for doing research to see the kind of feel you like, especially the elite because it has a variety of layering combinations of Talalay of different densities in the various models. They even use quiltable latex in the top.

And I love your efforts in "mattress surgery".

Reddog:

I think they have you between a rock and a hard place ... not unusual for many stores. They get you coming and going.

First thing I want to say though ... and I don't mean to be hard here ... Is that you have come to believe that it was the latex that was causing the body impressions. This was probably because you were led to believe that the Englander had all latex in the top layers. This plays right into the hands of the mattress manufacturers as then people no longer differentiate between polyfoam and latex foam thinking that they both develop impressions anyway.

Here's an example of one of their popular mattresses which has 2" of poly over the latex and yet in many places is being sold under the "impression" that you are sleeping on latex

https://www.gotomattress.com/p-201-englander-natures-finest-latex-3000-plush-mattress.aspx

Even the firm model has 1.25" of poly over the latex.

They do sell all latex but they are much more expensive so most places don't even carry them.

There are several places on the net where the Embody insightful King SET is available for around $2250 so lets use their own logic against them.

Lets say that the boxspring is $515 (using their valuation and assuming that it would be a similar boxspring) ... that means that the insightful mattress alone should be $1735

They are willing to give you $585 for your mattress (after charging you $199)

That means that they should be willing to sell you the insightful for 1735 - 585 = $1150.

Now they have already made a decent profit on you and the prices I am using have a profit built into them since the retailer they came from is not a charity so they should be willing to go even lower than this say $1050 for the upgrade

Now I realize that they will never do this but I'm just giving an example of how they work and how they even use a comfort exchange to increase their profits. Armed with this you should at the very least be able to get your comfort exchange for less if you choose to go in this direction.

On to the ikea. I really don't think this is an appropriate mattress for an adult. It is less than 6" and although it is made of latex, it is completely synthetic latex (and probably dunlop) which is the worst kind of the best material.

Usually an adult of normal weight would need a mattress a little thicker than this although if I was going to go to a thinner mattress at least I would go to all latex. This of course would depend on different factors including your own preferences and weight and weight distribution but typically a mattress like this would not be so great for an adult. YMMV

There are also many places where you can buy 6" of a higher quality and even zoned latex for the same or less.

I would tend though to go with 8" of latex or more with a firmer core and a softer top 2". The softer top could still be "relatively" firm but not as firm as the core.

I doubt that you would have body impression issues with either the embody or the ikea ... but both ways it seems to me it is the store that is the big winner ... not you.

Phoenix

PS: I used Queen prices in the original post by mistake. Changed to reflect King prices. Now instead of saying you are being gouged, I would downgrade my assessment and say you are being taken advantage of. You should be able to get your comfort exchange for less if you choose to go in that direction.

I have definetly come to realize it was not the latex that is responsible for the body impressions.  I'm guessing you are completely accurate in that the Englander had Poly foam in the comfort layer.  And the innerspring mattress we have now definetely does.  I just checked the tag and it is over 60% Poly foam in the top layers.  And i'm not worried about body impressions being caused by the latex, I was worried about the poly foam core in the Insightful leading to them eventually, but if that worry is not justified then I might just go with the Insightful....I just wish it had more then 3" of latex.  The Sealy Embody Shelter has 6.5" of latex ontop of a 6" poly core, but the price tag on that is much more.....$2950-$585 means I still have to pay $2365.  Also very comfortable though.  Yes I feel like they have me, but if i'm going to end up happy in the end, I don't mind giving them a little more of my money.

If you decide to do an exchange for the embody, do a quick search on the web and you will see several places where the insightful king is being sold for $2249 including the foundation and you would have free shipping and no tax. You may want to print at least two of these out and take them to the store with you if/when you negotiate for the price of the comfort exchange.

Also, the beautyrest mattress you bought needs an boxspring and the embody doesn't. Granted it's characteristics may be different with a different foundation than they have it on in the store but it doesn't need one. Typically an all foam mattress only needs a platform and these can be purchased for much less than they are "charging" for your boxspring. You may want to ask them if you can exchange the foundation as well since you won't need a boxspring with the embody and that may help you bypass their attempt to discount the price of your mattress for the purposes of the comfort exchange.

One last comment is that I would make darn sure that the insightful is providing you with the correct level of comfort/pressure relief AND support/spinal alignment if you "upgrade". While I realize that it may be your only real option in terms of a comfort exchange, if the mattress is not "right" for you ... it is not worth it at any price. It could be too easy to go for it only because you have such limited options instead of truly making sure that it is really suitable for YOU.

As I mentioned before, $1200 could buy you an all latex, or even partly latex mattress that I would personally choose over the insightful and you could end up with a "spare bed" and a better latex mattress for the same price as you would have paid for the mattress alone. For that matter if you exchanged the beautyrest for a new one of the same value, you could then sell the new mattress/boxspring on craigslist and add whatever you get for it (650 would be half price which is not bad for an unused mattress/boxspring) to your budget and get an absolutely amazing mattress with a little higher budget.

Phoenix

PS: just for reference, I bought a queen size custom made 2 sided all talalay latex mattress with a 4" core, 3" of latex on either side, quilted on both sides with quiltable latex and a down substitute fibre, damask ticking, specially re-inforced for an adjustable bed for $1697.75 including $287.80 freight and of course no tax.

 I would also say that $1700 for 7" of HR foam and 3" of latex is pretty expensive as well.  You can get all latex for roughly that price.

I guess you are kind of stuck since the only place you can get money toward a purchase is from them.  I assume you could not sell the mattress for $500+.  So, you have to decide whether you want to throw more money their way.  As Jimsocal said, you can probably get a better result for less by cutting it open and putting in your own latex.  That is a whole other game though.

BTW, thanks to all of you for the input.

Mike