Did we blow it? After four months of mattress (s)hopping, becoming educated on this web site, learning the pros & cons of the different brands and types; we firmly believed that latex was the way to go. But, the retail outlets carrying latex mattresses in our area were shrinking so we picked one of three solid retailers with good reputations and a comfort trial that also carried our back-up favorite S & F innerspring line should the latex not work out. The main concerns we had with the mattress selected; was it too firm for our comfort and was there an odor with the new mattress that would prove bothersome?

We bought a Natureís Rest ìParadise Isleî (made by Spring Air)
Comfort layer:
1.0î Quilt Flex (Quit stitched 1.5 lb density Polyurethane foam)
1.0î Quilt Flex
1.0î Quilt Flex (No, I didnít stutter, this model is three layers thick)
Mattress Upholstery:
1.9î Convoluted Talalay 28-32-28 Soft 20-24 ILD
1.9î Solid Talalay 32-36-32 Medium 25-29 ILD
4.6î Dunlop Core 32-36-32 Firm 30-34 ILD
1.5î Convoluted Talalay 32-36-32 Extra Firm 35-39 ILD
Foundation:
1.0î 1.5 density firm foam
Fiber insulator
5î Lo ñ pro semi flex modular

Day 1 Saturday night:
I laid on the bed after it was delivered on Saturday morning and quickly fell asleep on my back only to wake when a telephone call needed answering. I was psyched. Then evening came......
My wife couldnít sleep more than one hour at a time and I woke up sweating around 4 AM, suffering from nightmares. The reflected heat problem was suspected to be due to a mite proof bag covering the mattress that my wife wanted to use. The sleep surface was much too firm for my wife, but it said in fine print, it may take some time for our bodies to adjust. There was no perceptible latex odor at all including what I would have classified as a new car smell, so the mattress stayed in our bedroom and not the garage.

Day 2 Sunday night:
Off came the mite bag. After all, if they are there weíve been sleeping with these little buggers all our lives; but, my wife was concerned that some of her ailments could be due to these invisible boarders. By the way, a mattress salesman told us that a black light will show up the mites if they were present in our mattress. My wife bought a black light bulb and scoured our old mattress looking for fluorescing evidence that they were in our old mattress. Either, our vision was going bad, we didnít have mites in our old mattress or the salesman was full of bull puckey. We suspect the latter.
I slept through to 5:30 AM, my usual Sunday morning time but my aching shoulder which had just had a cortisone shot and painkillers on Thursday is killing me. I have yet to experience the wonders of this latex mattress that should beckon me to stay in bed in the morning.
My wife ached all over. The worse sleeping experience in her life since that night years ago when the rain poured down on the aluminum boat hull up against our bedroom window one summer at a rented cottage on Cape Cod. It was one of those cheap rental cottage mattresses too, but we were 30 years younger then.

I'll skip the day by day updates and cut to the chase: After a week of sleepling on this mattress which we hated, the Simmons 2 inch thick viscoelastic topper was pulled out of the closet and added to improve the comfort level for my wife. Either the cortisone in my shoulder was working or the body started to accept this mattress, I was sleeping comfortably through the night.
After a week with the viscoelastic topper we pulled it out and tried another week without it. I slept O.K. but my wife still felt the mattress was still too firm. She was sleeping through the night, but the reflected heat problem was still there which required us to run the air conditioner to keep the roon at 75 degrees through the night.

As the first 30 days of the sleep trial ended we went back to the retailer and tried the S & F back up mattress again and told them we were going to excercise the exchange guarantee before the 60 days were up. I layed on that previously wonderful S & F innerspring mattress and to my surprise my back started to ache. My wife went back onto the Paradise Isle floor model and delcared that it was much softer than the one he got at home. We agreed to take full advantage of the 60 day trial consideriing we were now having doubts about our S & F backup position.

We bought a second high loft 400 thread count mattress pad and returned the 2 inch viscoelastic topper to the mattress and covered it with two mattress pads.

We have been sleeping on this combination for the past two weeks. I sleep comfortably through the night. My wife still wakes with aches in the morning from her arthritis and fibromyalgia as she always has but does only occasionally awakes at 3:00 AM but does go right back to sleep. We have had to add the additional topper layers to improve the softness my wife needs for comfort and to reduce the reflected heat from QuiltFlex PU foam comfort layers. Perhaps this will become a benefit in the winter when we sleep with the window open and the heat off. Our 60 day "Sweet Dreams Guarantee" has another week or so to run but it now appears we are going to live with this mattress and not replace it.

If you asked me what my feelings are about it. I don't really like this mattress, neither does my wife, but I sleep well on it and she does acceptably. Would we buy it again if we had another opportunity, probably not. I think I would shoot for a Hastens or Vi Spring. I would really like to have a mattress that I can rave about. I don't think I'm in a place that would convince me to buy another latex mattress at this point. I am also leary of all the new PU foam comfort layers that are being used in the newest mattresses today. No matter how much they improve and perfect the product, it still is a lower cost alternative to the natural materials they are replacing.

The Sealy Reflections Newport is a plush top latex/pu foam mattress. It is 10.5" high, has a 8.4" latex core which leaves 2.1" of assorted soft pu foam on top to give it that plush, or as one forum member describes it, "poofy" feel. I'm guessing that the latex core consists of a top layer of 0.9" ILD 19 Talalay process latex and the remaining 7.5" is ILD 34 Dunlop process latex or a combination of layers of high ILD Dunlop latex. I would not be that concerned about the quality of the Dunlop latex since it is probably manufactured by Sealy owned Sapsa, who manufactures very high quality Dunlop latex.
When we first tried this mattress out I found the top to be a tad soft but still supportive. My wife, who recently has had a total hip replacement, loved it. Our old mattress was a 15 year old cushion top firm Serta Perfect Sleeper. The Serta was still in good shape, no sagging, but too firm for my wife after her hip surgery. After 3 months my wife loves the way the mattress conforms to her hip and she has had no aches or back pain. We are both side sleepers. I though am still experiencing some morning back pain which dissipates shortly after I'm up. If you read through the forum you will find others that have had back pain when going from a firm inner spring mattres to a latex mattress. Hopefully my back will adjust because our comfort guarantee ran out and my wife did NOT want to trade it in. Except for occasional muscle back spasms, I think my back is in fairly good shape.
My wife gives this mattress an excellent rating but for now, until my back adjusts, am giving it a good rating. For those with arthritis, fibromyalgia, fibromyositis, hip or knee replacements this is an excellent mattress. It conforms to your body. For those with serious back problems like disc disorders, I would look for a firmer inner spring mattress.

Having owned the Spring Air Back Supporter for just under a month (after insiisting on a 30 day full money back guarantee) I am writing a different ,review than I would have initially. What had felt heavenly in the store and when we first lay on it at home (my husband said it felt like a spa treatment just to lie on it), turned into a disappointment for both of us after a few days. The mattress was not firm enough for my husband and left him aching in the morning, a terrible disappointment since we were trying to replace our previous mattress with something that could help with his pain. The other, more surprising development was lower back pain, which I had never had, when I would awaken in the night on my back on this mattress. It was so different from our old firm mattress (Sealy, I think) that it took a period of adjustment, which I now know from this site should be expected when you go to a plush from a firm mattress. I should mention my husband weighs 140 lbs. and I weigh 135, which I think can be relevant when we read these reviews.
I don't know whether time alone is responsible for my increased comfort in this bed or whether it's possible that the one night I put our old memory foam topper on it may have flattened out the puffed tufted surface somewhat, but the surface seems more evened out. I am not aware of the depressed areas between the tufts, if I can convey my meaning clearly enough. I was very aware of this at the beginning and when I took off the topper and slept on the bed again I have not been . I haven't had the back pain since then and am enjoying the mattress. I am so glad we bought it when we did because I was in an accident a week ago resulting in stitches on my browbone and a bruised rib. My natural sleep position is on my left side. I can't remember when I was able to fall asleep in any other position. I wouldn't have slept at all on my old bed without being able to sleep on the very side I had injured. But amazingly I fell asleep on my back on this mattress even before the accident. And it was a lifesaver to sleep that way after I was injured. I also notice I don't wake up in the night numerous times the way I used to on this bed. (Just a note here to say the only pain medication I had was tylenol. Otherwise I would suspect the easier sleep was not bed-related.)
I have to give the Spring Air Back Supporter a very good review from my personal experience. Of course there hasn't been enough time for some of the problems I have read about to manifest themselves. So I will post again at a future date if my feelings change. My husband would not rate it highly but then again he did not have high hopes for help from any mattress for his particular condition.