Hello from Western Australia. I have been reading all your information now for the last week and finding it very useful. I apologise for the long post, but I wanted to provide as much information as possible, and this might be useful for other Aussie readers.
I am looking for a new mattress in Perth Western Australia. We have bought a new upholstered Italian bed surround that comes with a flexible slat frame/base. The slats curve up a little and are grouped in pairs with some being double thickness (zoning?). I don’t have the bed yet so I can’t look at the slats. Based on the image I saw the slats themselves are not wide, but they are close together. They are Beech slats, and they may have tension adjustment, I would need to check.
I have emailed many manufacturers asking for more information about their mattresses based on your online tutorials. Several mattresses I was interested in have had to be ruled out because the manufacturer doesn’t warranty the mattress if I use it on my Euro orthopaedic slat base.
For the last 5 years we have been sleeping on a Sleeping Duck hybrid mattress, medium firmness (5.5/10 rating) and found it to be very comfortable overall. However, at times I feel like I am sinking in just a bit more than I would like. I prefer the sensation of being more “on top” of a mattress.
Sleeping Duck say I can use their mattress on flexible slats that are no more than 7cm apart and indeed we did this for a month after we sold our solid slat base bed ready for our move and put the SD on the spare bed which had posture slats. Surprisingly I found the SD more comfortable on the posture slats, it seemed a bit bouncier yet firmer. Strange when apparently flexi slats can make a mattress feel a bit softer, and given the thickness of the SD.
We are moving to an apartment and intend putting our SD mattress on the spare bed and investing in a new mattress for our new bed that will last us out! We are in our late 60s. I am 49kg and 152cm tall. My husband is 85kg and 173cm tall, so not big people. Because we liked the SD overall, I initially tried to find something similar but a little bit firmer, perhaps using natural latex in the topper section.
Here’s the story so far:
We tried the Quokka Hybrid with the medium/medium layers on top of the springs (rated 5/10 firmness by Quokka) and found it comfortable, perhaps a little soft. The firm/firm was too firm at 8/10. However, it is a very high mattress and would not suit our more minimalist Italian bed frame. It is also very heavy, but Quokka confirmed we could use it on our flexi slat base.
The latex that Quokka use is 100% Certified Organic Dunlop Latex from Sri Lanka. They have GOLS certificate, eco-INSTITUT Certificate, FSC Certificate and their supplier is Eco Latex.
I liked Quokka as they fit the description of a small, no frills local company referred to in previous posts on your site. They also make full latex mattresses which we tried and liked. We would most definitely have considered a Quokka full latex as it is certified organic latex, with a certified organic simple wool and cotton zip off cover (lightly quilted, minimal padding) and comes in two or three layers with lots of firmness combinations. Price is reasonable for the 24cm version costing $2600 on sale $2210AU and weighing 59kg.
They have a 20-year warranty. Unfortunately, they say it is not suited to flexible slats, which seems very strange when other latex mattresses (particularly from Europe) can be used with these types of bases. I am not sure of Quokka’s rationale behind this limitation. They are also very strict in specifying a solid slat bed with at least one central support leg for a QS and the slats must be 5-9cm wide and spaced no more than 3-5cm. Again, very limiting for people who already have a bed base and just want a new mattress.
I was very disappointed not to be able to purchase this quality locally made mattress. Had I known how much trouble it would be to go with the Euro flexi slats I would have paid more for the solid timber base with ventilation holes. It would have opened many more mattress options for me in the Australian market.
I have just found a post from 2012 where Phoenix discusses bases for latex, and it looks like a solid slat base might be the best unless the manufacturer recommends the use of flexible slatted bases.
So, after having to write off the Quokka mattresses we tried the DuuDuu Hybrid. This mattress comes delivered in a box. The price of the DuuDuu is normally $1750AU but they have a sale on currently for two weeks and it is down to $1250.
The DuuDuu Mattress is an innerspring mattress that consists of multiple comfort layers and a pocket spring system. It is WA based but ships Australia wide. Mattresses are made in Malaysia. The mattress is 30cm thick and 43kg heavy. 840 springs, coil gauge 1.8mm + 2.00mm wire. No customisation possible, no zip off covers. Rated as 7/10 firmness.
When we went and lay on the DuuDuu we found it too firm and after 15 minutes my husband said he had back and hip stiffness so this mattress is out, and I am not sure whether a 7/10 in another mattress is going to be too firm or whether you can even compare a 7/10 in a hybrid to a 7/10 latex for example. How useful do you think firmness ratings are to help buyers?
Current Option – Heveya II latex mattress
I can’t really compare this option with the Sleeping Duck or the DuuDuu because it is all latex and three times the price of the SD and the DuuDuu. It is more comparable to the Quokka full latex as they both use certified organic latex sourced from Sri Lanka, but the Heveya has two layers of latex (plus you can add another 5cm topper) – one thick, zoned layer (15cm) and a thinner top layer (5cm) plus a quilted cotton cover (4cm) - 23cm high.
The Heveya II is $2000AU more expensive than the Quokka. The Heveya organic latex costs $4500AU. They don’t appear to have sales but will include two latex pillows at no cost (worth $400).
What might the difference be between one thick layer of latex with a thinner layer on top (Heveya) and three equal sized layers of latex (Quokka)? Would one design be better than the other?
The Hevaya website states Made entirely with the highest quality material available in the mattress industry – CLASS 1 OEKO-TEX & GOLS certified 100% natural organic latex. The latex is sourced from Sri Lanka.
Heveya says that the soft version is low density but doesn’t give a specific density number. Below is the general information Heveya provide in one of its educational articles:
Density of our latex mattresses is usually expressed by mass per unit volume. It is a value measured by kg / mÂł and is derived through the weighing of a standardized sample (ISO 845). The densities of our latex mattresses vary between 65 to 85 kg/mÂł. The density simply indicates the quantity (kg) of material used in a specific area (mÂł). Therefore, the firmness of the mattress is correlated to density - the more material is used, the firmer the mattress is.
I am assuming that the soft/soft organic mattress I tried might be 65 kg/m3 and the firm/soft up to 85. Would that make the soft (what they called low density) too soft, not robust?
A 4cm Bamboo Top Layer, Organic Cotton Quilting and Cotton Backing Make Up The Outer Cover with all round 3D Mesh - also all around zip allowing cover to be detached for airing or drycleaning if necessary. Is this too thick for a cover? Would the natural fibres in it quickly become hard and compact? Is this the weakest link of the mattress?
The mattress has a 10-year guarantee.
The European Bedding Co. in Perth stock the Heveya organic mattresses. They sell bases with flexi slats (made in Italy) and display the Heveya mattresses on both Italian tension adjustable flexi slats and on solid slat bases. They recommend the flexible slats. They had no issue with me using my Euro orthopaedic slat base.
They also stock natural latex mattresses that are not certified organic which come in the same two layers with a simpler, less-padded quilted cover. For some reason these felt softer in the same density level than the organic latex mattress. It may be the effect of the cover? Or it may be that the core layer was in a thin cover and the comfort layer was put on top in its own cover whereas for the organic mattress both layers were encased in a single quilted cover, holding them together. When I lay on the soft/soft natural latex the comfort topper I felt like I was curving a bit in the middle. It was quite springy.
Unfortunately, they didn’t have a version where both layers were in the bamboo cover that is sold with the natural latex mattresses, so I was unable to really get a good sense of what the entire package for the natural latex looked like and felt like. (they are priced much lower - $2500AU).
We thought we might go with the “soft” organic mattress. However, I am now worried that choosing the low density/low density option may not be the right choice. My husband is wide shouldered, is mostly a side sleeper and he felt that the “soft” mattress cushioned his shoulders a bit more than the firm/soft option but he was okay with the firm if that suited me better. I thought either option felt good for me even though I am light at 49kg. The salesperson looked at me on both versions and said my spine was well aligned on either.
When I tried a higher/firmer pillow on the firm/soft side it was comfortable but the same pillow on the soft/soft side felt too high. The salesperson said this was because my hips and shoulders were a bit lower on the soft/soft. I’m worried this means I am sinking into the soft/soft version too much??
I have asked the salesperson what firmness rating the firm/soft and the firm/firm is. She is yet to reply. From my experience testing other mattresses I think between a 6-6.5/10 would suit me best. But as your information about choosing a mattress says, it is all about PPP. Maybe I just need to go back and spend some more time lying on both firmness options in the organic latex mattress.
If the natural latex version is really the same as the organic apart from the cover, then am I being swayed by the plusher organic mattress cover and in reality, paying a lot extra for a cover? I am not fussed about organic specifically and would happily go with natural latex if it really did feel the same as the organic mattress I tried and liked.
I read lots of posts from 2012 where Phoenix was responding to an Australian poster who had bought the Heveya soft mattress but have not been able to find any reviews of this mattress outside of the Heveya website.
I think I have analysis paralysis. I think I prefer a medium-firm mattress that has a comfort layer that lets my hips and shoulders sink in a little as when I have slept on a very firm futon I wake with hip and shoulder pain. I would not have thought I’d like a soft mattress but perhaps the “soft” in the Heveya latex is not that soft which is why I would like a firmness rating on both their options.
Any comments (if you have been able to wade through this essay)?