Mattress Forum

It seems latex is the popular choice 'round these parts.  I've looked into them, but what I've seen mentioned around here tends to be over my budget.  I'd like to stay around $850, but would consider waiting and saving if a more expensive mattress is truly the best choice.

Phoenix

http://www.parklanemattress.com/cartgenie/pg_locations.asp These are the one's I went to check out. Their factory store is the one in Tualatin and they have all their different models there to try at some very reasonable prices including a 9" all talalay latex mattress for $919 in queen (you would have to pick it up for this price). They have some very good mattresses here and some that are a little different from the ones you will usually see (microcoils in their pillowtop which I found very comfortable).

http://www.mattressfactorynw.com/info.html Don't know much about this one. I seem to remember thay had more information on their site than they do now but they are probably well worth calling.

http://www.mulliganmattress.com/contact.html This is the same mattress that you will find at http://www.kramernaturalmattress.com/ which is owned by his brother. They only make one mattress and it is an 8" all latex for about $1400. They don't have a fire retardent so you would need a doctors prescription to buy it. Although they don't have this anywhere on their website, they have a relative that works for foamex and will order poly layers and will custom make a poly mattress for you if you "insist" on it for the sake of a budget.

http://www.pbmattress.com/products/ This one is kind of interesting. If you phone the number on their site you will get Parklane mattress who bought them out but they have different mattresses on their site so I included them anyway. I haven't had the time to get to the bottom of this story yet. There are a few places that still sell these matresses so I don't know if Parklane will make any of them if you ask.

There are probably more but this is what I had in my list. There are also some good retail outlets that would sell good mattresses other than just "S" brands.

Phoenix

At Parklane, we really like the feel of Sawgrass 100% latex mattress set for $999 delivered.  It felt like it provided support, allowed your body not to sink too far into the mattress, and seems like it'll be hard for us to tell when one of us gets out of bed or changes position.  20 year warranty.  $45 extra for frame.  Free latex pillow ($60 value) through the end of the weekend!

At BedCo, they are currently offering 50% off factory direct pricing, at least for the next few days.  We really liked the Restonic Cambridge.  Very, very similar (to us, at least) in comparison to the Parklane Sawgrass.  I tried to find details on this mattress online, without much luck.  It had a mix, a hybrid if you will, inside the mattress - latex, individually pocketed coils and some other components if I recall correctly.  15 year non-prorated warranty.  After the discount, we can have this mattress delivered to the door for $930.

Does anyone have any more information on these models?  Links?  Reviews?  Advise?  As I said above, they both feel very similar to us.  Personally, I am leaning towards the Sawgrass because of the 100% latex and 20 year warranty.  Please help!

The reason I didn't buy it had nothing to do with quality but with it's statistics. The 3 one inch layers were just a little to soft for my makeup and I (and my other half) tended to "go through" them (when we were specifically "testing" for this) and could feel the firmer layers underneath. It probably would have been "perfect" if the 3" were a single layer.

This of course is a matter of personal comfort and choice and if you lay on it and liked it ... it is an amazing value. They also have a "sawgrass special" which has compressed wool in the quilting but it just didn't feel as nice as the regular.

Restonic does have a latex line called Healthrest but the problem is that Restonic is a loose organization of licensees that each make it for different areas of the country and the same models are made differently depending on which one makes it. In some places they have all latex models with no poly and in other areas they put about 2" of poly on the top of their otherwise all latex mattress. This one has some latex on coils and I don't know the exact construction but it would seem clear to me that the sawgrass is "better value" but how you feel on them is very important. They should be able to tell you the specific construction of their mattress and exactly what is in it layer by layer. If I see it I'll post it here.

Phoenix

and then click on the "view product" link under the Grand Palais collection (the Cambridge is part of this collection) you will see the exact specs of all 19 models they make in this line. None of them are called the Cambridge here but one of them should be similar to what you tried. They all have varying degrees of latex and poly over springs in them but in the case of Clarebedding they tend to use higher quality poly (still not as good as latex of course). Some of them also have some memory foam.

The Healthrest collection made by Clare Bedding are one of the regional versions that are all latex with no poly and they have the specs for them on the site as well.

Phoenix.

PS: I wouldn't worry too much about "specials". While some of them may be valid (very few) and represent a savings over "normal" selling prices, this is the exception. When I looked at the sawgrass I would also have received a "free something" (don't remember what it was but it was probably a pillow as well). It was also nice that Oregon doesn't have any sales tax but I would have had to pay shipping which was quite a lot (hundreds) if you are out of their delivery area. They do have another "connected" outlet though where you can get it shipped anywhere in the country for $999 (Excel distributors) but that is mattress only as they won't ship the foundation.

While we will probably purchase the metal bed frame, eventually we'd like to buy a bed.  Do you have any recommendations to accompany the Sawgrass?

I believe from my research that if the Sawgrass is a suitable construction for someone's individual body proportions and weight, then it is among the very best values available anywhere in the US. There are a few others that someone could get from a local manufacturer that are similar in terms of cost/construction/value and a few that are of the "make your own" variety but these are more about differences and choices than better value.

If it "works" for you ... I doubt you could do much better in a basic all talalay latex mattress no matter where you went.

Phoenix

PS: To answer your previous question, Talalay is one of two methods used to produce a latex (rubber) foam. The other is Dunlop. Many people prefer Talalay because it has a more consistent structure and is a little "springier" and feels a little softer than the equivalent in Dunlop. It is also more expensive to produce and is only made by 3 companies in the world (outside of China). Some people do prefer Dunlop as a core layer in a mattress and some even prefer it's firmer less springy feel in the top layers but in general Talalay is considered by most (not all) as preferable ... especially in the comfort layers. There are some Dunlop manufacturers who have done a lot of research into the Dunlop method and the raw latex that is used so some of these produce a higher quality and "springier" Dunlop (coming a bit closer to Talalay) than others. There are other differences between latex in general outside of the method used to produce it (such as natural vs synthetic) but there is a lot of good information and many discussions in the forum about that already. Both Dunlop and Talalay made by a reputable manufacturer are considered high quality materials that are usually used in "more expensive" mattresses.