Just bought a new Flobeds
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I just purchased a new FloBeds. It is the 100% natural Talalay 4 layer mattresses. The top most layer being a soft egg crate 2" piece of Talalay. I purchased the following configuration. On the left side of the bed I have a median top layer, firm middle layer, and extra firm bottom layer. On the right side the top layer is firm, the second layer is extra firm, and the bottom layer is extra firm. I felt that this should give me an opportunity to switch the layers around and come up with the configuration that will work the best for my 6' 2" 210 pound frame. It has been quite a wrestling match, reading all the different descriptions that various people like, when it comes to firmness layers. You also run into this with some of the websites. No two people seem to consider this the same way. So I'm just going to have to experiment. This is one of the main reasons that I went with FloBeds. They have the most liberal exchange policy coupled with a generous return policy. They definitely get more money than some of the other sites. But when you're purchasing something this expensive from the Internet, and cannot lay on it, feel it, look at it, and even smell it, it's good to have a situation where you can make corrections at a nominal expense. Given the fact that FloBeds has an excellent reputation with the BBB, and Dave and Dewey Turner are excellent people to do business with, it just seemed to make good sense to me to consider the extra cost as an insurance policy. One last point I would like to make. I just realize that I have been misspelling FloBeds name. I had been misspelling it "FlowBeds." Wrong! It is spelled FloBeds.com. I hope I have not misdirected anyone. It will probably take about a week to get this bed in my home, set up, and slept on. When I have had an opportunity to do this I will be sure to post back and let you know what my experiences are, as I know how confusing this kind of a purchase can be. This message was modified Sep 22, 2009 by eagle2
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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eagle2 wrote: You need to fold him up like a piece of paper in thirds. Wrap your arms around them and handle them like a stumbling drunk person. They can be very floppy and just hard to manage. Thanks for the laugh. I too fold the latex in thirds, and wrap my arms around them and handle them like a stumbling drunk person. LOL. I have moved mine back and forth into the closet, oh about a million times. Thus the sore back.This message was modified Feb 21, 2010 by Leo3
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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Leo said: "Why did you get a blended piece of latex instead of your natural latex. Did you end up keeping this blended piece of latex. Did you notice it looks like more "air" blended in? The sides of the latex I could actually see air; can't explain it, but bubbles. I am still trying to figure out if I should get natural or blended for a XF piece, i.e. 34-38 ILD. I don't want a rock, I want support." Leo: I got the blended piece because I wanted to try it out (I did not keep it, I returned it Flobeds). There is so much written about this difference, so many differing opinions expressed that contradicted one another, that I just wanted to try it for myself. The blended is a good piece of latex. It is 70% synthetic and 30% natural. It is less dense than natural therefore it weighs less. And in my humble, and very limited experience, does not have the same feel and support that natural does. I believe it was Sean at SleepEZ who told me that if I were to buy blended latex I should purchase it one degree firmer than a natural piece. In other words if I felt I needed a firm piece of natural I should get an extra firm piece of blended. From my limited experience I would say he is correct. I just preferred the feeling of natural better. How much of this is psychological I cannot say. I believe Dave Turner told me that he sleeps on a blended latex mattress that is a VZone configuration. When I ask him why he told me that when he acquired it from Latex International this was all they were selling. And since he had grown used to it he was not going to go to the trouble of changing it out, that it slept quite well for him. Again it's a case of what you get used to. I think blended is probably an excellent product. I have yet to hear anybody say that they didn't like their blended so much that they turned it back and paid the difference in dollars for an all natural mattress. I'm sorry Leo, I can't recall what you said you were doing to your mattress to require one extra piece. So it's hard to give you any advice. I can tell you this however. When I changed out my bottom piece of extra firm natural for a very soft piece of medium natural ( the actual ILD of this natural medium piece was 26.2 measured by LI, although it was marked by FloBeds as 28 ILD)it made a significant difference to the overall feel of the bed. I had previously had a configuration that was F/XF/XF and changed it to XF/XF/M. this made a softer configuration than even the other side of my bed that I have at F/F/XF. So the bottom layer definitely can have an effect on how the bed feels. I think to make a blanket statement that "every layer has its effect" is a truism that needs to be kept in mind. I was thinking that only the top two layers really had that much of an effect on how the bed would feel. Wrong! All three layers are working all the time. (This is keeping in mind the fact that I have never change the topmost layer of 2 inch convoluted. Which is, (as has been pointed out previously by someone else), in effect really a 1 inch piece of latex. The little hills and valleys of convoluted simply flatten out to make what is actually equivalent to a 1 inch piece of soft latex foam.) I will just end with this Leo. At least for me there is a significant difference between each division of firmness. A soft piece is a really soft. A medium piece is firmer, but quite a bit softer than a firm piece. And then an extra firm piece is considerably firmer than a firm piece. This is beginning to sound like some kind of a word puzzle. I'm going to stop!  This message was modified Feb 21, 2010 by eagle2
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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Thanks Eagle, yes my head is spinning from trying to understand what you said. But, I do get it LOL. My mattress is an old filppable spring air, with O-stock 3" of soft??? latex (remember no ILD). I had tried some firm (too firm) pieces too. But all in all just figure I am starting over with a spring mattress that needs a topper. I can add some soft stuff to the layer I do buy. So I am still thinking XF 34-38ILD in blended then. Because from what you and everyone says that would be too firm in natural. Unless I got 32 in natural????? |
Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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eagle2 wrote: Just thought I would add a side note to my ongoing experience with my FlowBed. I had requested an exchange of my firm piece of blended latex, for a firm piece of all natural latex. I was just comparing the shipping weight for the blended piece of latex compared to the shipping weight for the all natural that was shipped yesterday. There is a 7.6 pound differential between the blended and the natural. The shipping box for the natural weights 31 pounds, the shipped box for the blended weight 23.4 pounds. This is due to the difference in density between the blended piece and the all natural piece, both of them being rated Firm with an ILD of 32. This is the point I was trying to make with the PDFs that I posted from the Polyurethane Foam Association in my thread "What is more important ILD or Density of foam?". The way ILD is measured, and the density of the foam, are two different things. It would be very helpful if the people selling latex would give both the ILD measurement and the density measurement of the various types of foam. I was reading this "old thread" and wondered about the weight of the blended vs. natural latex you had talked about. Is that only 1/2 of the king size piece? Did you actually weight this yourself too? I find sometimes the weight on boxes isn't accurate (from O-stock anyway). This is very interesting reading by the way. |
Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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Leo3 wrote: I was reading this "old thread" and wondered about the weight of the blended vs. natural latex you had talked about. Is that only 1/2 of the king size piece? Did you actually weight this yourself too? I find sometimes the weight on boxes isn't accurate (from O-stock anyway). This is very interesting reading by the way. The best that I can recall Leo, the boxes were exactly the same. The difference in weight was due different density of blended ( 70% synthetic, 30% natural) and 100% natural latex. This was quite evident when I went to pick them up. The hundred percent natural is quite a bit heavier than the blended piece. These were half pieces. In other words about the size of an extra long twin mattress. The weights came from UPS. I'm assuming that they weigh their shipments accurately because it makes a difference in how much money they make. You can usually rely on figures, when if they get it wrong, they're going to lose money! There is just no question that natural latex is considerably denser than blended latex. I do not know from personal experience, over time, how this would play out of course. As I have stated elsewhere, David Turner, as best I can recall our conversation on the subject, sleeps on a VZone blended latex mattress. When I ask him why he prefers blended, he said, "This is what they were manufacturing at Latex International when I acquired my bed. They were not making 100% natural at that time." And Dave just did not want to go to the trouble to change the mattress. And since Dave Turner is willing to sleep on blended I would think that would end the debate on which is preferable. But for some reason, that I can't fully explain, I just like the idea of all natural latex. It would really be wonderful if some independent scientific laboratory would test for overall comfort, longevity, and bang for the buck, between 100% natural latex and blended latex manufactured by Latex International. But it's not going to happen, at least I have never been able to find anything on the Internet that comes close to this kind of an evaluation. So Leo, "You pays your money, and you makes your choice!"  This message was modified Feb 27, 2010 by eagle2
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
| The Natural Latex Cores are 3" thick while the Blended latex cores are 2.8" thick so maybe they natural cores feel heavier since they are thicker? I never tried any blended latex core except for the 44 ILD to 46 ILD latex cores so I can't compare a similar ILD latex core in the blended versus the natural. I just wanted to give some input before I head off to sleep. I just like logging on to read what is happening in the mattress world from time to time and to see if I can be of any help. |
Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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eagle2 wrote: The best that I can recall Leo, the boxes were exactly the same. The difference in weight was due different density of blended ( 70% synthetic, 30% natural) and 100% natural latex. This was quite evident when I went to pick them up. The hundred percent natural is quite a bit heavier than the blended piece. These were half pieces. In other words about the size of an extra long twin mattress. The weights came from UPS. I'm assuming that they weigh their shipments accurately because it makes a difference in how much money they make. You can usually rely on figures, when if they get it wrong, they're going to lose money! There is just no question that natural latex is considerably denser than blended latex. I do not know from personal experience, over time, how this would play out of course. As I have stated elsewhere, David Turner, as best I can recall our conversation on the subject, sleeps on a VZone blended latex mattress. When I ask him why he prefers blended, he said, "This is what they were manufacturing at Latex International when I acquired my bed. They were not making 100% natural at that time." And Dave just did not want to go to the trouble to change the mattress. And since Dave Turner is willing to sleep on blended I would think that would end the debate on which is preferable. But for some reason, that I can't fully explain, I just like the idea of all natural latex. It would really be wonderful if some independent scientific laboratory would test for overall comfort, longevity, and bang for the buck, between 100% natural latex and blended latex manufactured by Latex International. But it's not going to happen, at least I have never been able to find anything on the Internet that comes close to this kind of an evaluation. So Leo, "You pays your money, and you makes your choice!" For some reason I thought I read that some vendors get quotes for higher weight boxes to get cheaper mailing rates??? I dunno. Anyway, since my latex from O weighed 11 or 12 lbs. it makes me believe mine is blended talalay then, because mine is EXACTLY 1 1/2" thick and twin XL. So now I know I truly do want natural talalay, I want DENSER. I swear mine is softer than it was a year ago. I have been messing with this for over a year now. Time for a change. You said: There is a 7.6 pound differential between the blended and the natural. The shipping box for the natural weights 31 pounds, the shipped box for the blended weight 23.4 pounds. This is due to the difference in density between the blended piece and the all natural piece, both of them being rated Firm with an ILD of 32. Since Lynn mentioned the .2" difference that might makes some difference in the weight, a little bit. But since mine was 11 or 12 lbs each and yours is 32 lbs and yours is twice the thickness of mine, but same size. I am just thinking out loud (written) that since mine weighs the same as your blended piece per inch that explains part of my pain. I think mine is 32ILD or so, because the 24ILD I have is too soft for my hip, but nice and soft for my shoulder. The other pieces I have to me seem 15% firmer, not much difference, but some. I am no good at math, just trying to guess what ILD to try next. This message was modified Feb 28, 2010 by Leo3
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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No. My piece of blended was 3" thick. I did not want to try a piece of latex that was less thick than my 3" natural because of the feel being different in the middle of the bed. So Dave looked around and found an old damaged piece of 5.6" blended that he could not make into two regular pieces of blended so he cut it into a 3" piece for me. Accept it folks. Natural is denser than blended, and thus heaver. For those who have not experienced Flobeds...they are very accommodating. Based upon my experiences, and the experiences of others reporting on this forum, I do not believe I would want to purchase my latex mattress online from anybody else. There are just too many variables to be worked out if you're very critical about how you want your mattress to sleep. Or even if you are like me, and some others on this forum, quite inquisitive about the possibilities of other combination's of latex layering. This message was modified Feb 28, 2010 by eagle2
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Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
| When I had asked Dave for a 44 ILD Super Firm latex core, he had told me I would need two blended latex cores or my bed would not be level since the blended latex cores are 2.8" thick and the natural latex cores are 3" thick. I have not talked to Dave in ages but maybe I will email him and ask if Latex International changes their sizes? Eagle2, did you take out a tape measure like I did to confirm what you are saving that they are the same thickness? I tried one of the latex cores that was blended on one side and my bed was not level. I had to order two. |
Re: Just bought a new Flobeds
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Lynn2006 wrote: When I had asked Dave for a 44 ILD Super Firm latex core, he had told me I would need two blended latex cores or my bed would not be level since the blended latex cores are 2.8" thick and the natural latex cores are 3" thick. I have not talked to Dave in ages but maybe I will email him and ask if Latex International changes their sizes? Eagle2, did you take out a tape measure like I did to confirm what you are saving that they are the same thickness? I tried one of the latex cores that was blended on one side and my bed was not level. I had to order two. Lynn: Reread what I said. The latex cores come in to FloBeds from Latex International in 6 inch slabs for natural, and 5.6 inch slabs for blended. What Dave did for me was locate a old damaged piece of blended that was 5.6 inches thick and cut a piece that was 3 inches thick out of this slab since he could not cut it into 2 good pieces of blended that would have been 2.8 inches thick. So I wound up with a 3 inch piece of blended. I know it was 3 inches thick because I laid it next to my 3 inch piece of natural and they were perfectly level. He wound up with a blended piece that was 2.6 inches that I am assuming he would have to sell as scrap, since it was already damaged anyway, or grind it up into latex pillows, which is what they do with a lot of latex that is too damaged to repair. At least this is my assumption. This message was modified Feb 28, 2010 by eagle2
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