Dreamfoam Bedding 10" Ultimate Dreams Soft Latex Mattress, Cal King

Quick Review:Pros:1) Highly customizable in terms of firmness/softness2) Bed has a very nice feel to it and is made of quality materials3) Very good price for a latex over foam mattress with a bamboo cover4) No odor (once you let it air out), and doesn't sleep hot5) For those who don't like memory foam, it has a fairly similar feel to a traditional mattress, but the latex does give it a little something extra, and no springs means it should last a good bit longer than a traditional innerspring.Cons:1) You can't try before you buy, and you can't return it once you've tried it, so even though Chuck will happily go back and forth with you as much as you want to try to help you make the best possible choice for yourself, there is still some risk there.2) This isn't really a "con", but for lack of a better place to put it: For me, this bed didn't quite live up to the hype. It's a very nice bed mind you, and after a fair adjustment period, I sleep just fine on it, but I'm not sleeping any better on this than I was on a lot of the other crap that have slept on over the years. That's not to say that the bed itself isn't nicer and higher quality than what I used to sleep on... because it definitely is, but unlike some other reviewers, this bed didn't change the way I sleep at all.My bed:I bought a 3.5 on the Ultimate Dreams scale, which has the latex firmness of a 4 (32 ILD), but the top layer of a 3 and below (i.e. not much cushion on top of the latex layer). It has a flat top with just a bit of give, but not much. If you can find a firm innerspring that doesn't have much cushion on top (not an "extra firm" or "ultra firm" because those would definitely be firmer than this), then I'd say that'd be pretty comparable in terms of the general feel of the bed. The latex does give it just a little something extra, but for me, the main reason to pay extra for this bed vs. a cheap inner spring is the knowledge that it's made from much higher quality materials and should last quite a bit longer.Full Review:I did A LOT of research before buying this thing, and it seems like I read quite a few reviews where customers were raving about "the best sleep of their lives" or something to that effect, so I want to preface this review by stating that for me, this bed, while very nice, hasn't changed my life, my sleep, or anything of that nature. In fact, after trying many, many beds throughout this process and talking to a lot of very knowledgeable people (and also a lot of salesmen who were clearly willing to say anything to sell me a bed), I'm pretty convinced that there's no bed out there that's going to drastically change how I sleep. Unless I'm dead tired, I will usually wake up once or twice a night, but then I always fall right back asleep, and I feel fine the next morning. That's always been the case. When I started the whole new bed process, I let people convince me that the right bed could change that. In my quest to change it, I laid on dozens of different types of beds, bought and returned 2 memory foam beds that both felt amazing to lay down on but were actually worse than normal to sleep on, and also have now owned both this mattress and another one before this that people absolutely raved about online, and in that entire time, I've seen not even the slightest hint that my sleep could be drastically altered by the right mattress. So MY advice to people would be: If you want to buy this mattress because it's got a nice feel, it's made of quality materials, it's highly customizable, and it has a great price, then great, go for it... But don't buy it EXPECTING it to drastically improve how you sleep... Rather, consider that a big bonus if it actually happens for you.As for my experience with this specific mattress, after much back and forth with Chuck, I finally settled on a 3.5 firmness for myself. I chose a 3.5 because I've discovered that I'm not a big fan of the cushion layer that you find on top of most mattresses, and the 3.5 is the softest mattress you can get from Dreamfoam WITHOUT the cushion top layer. The 3.5 has the same density latex foam (32 ILD) as the 4 (vs. I believe 36 ILD for the 3), so that gives it just a little bit of give (not much) with a very slight reboundy feel to it. If you're trying to find a comparable feeling mattress in a store, look for a firm innerspring mattress that has little to no cushion layer on top, but not an "extra firm" or "ultra firm" because a 3.5 Ultimate Dreams is definitely just a bit softer than those guys.I used to think that I could sleep on literally anything (including the floor), but what I've discovered throughout this whole process is that I can actually only sleep on anything IF it's sufficiently firm. College dorm bed? No problem. Cheap innerspring built for a child? You bet! $200 futon from Walmart? Heck yes! The floor of a hotel room? Yes sir. A sleeping bag outside in a tent? Absolutely. An expensive, cushy, fluffy, soft, high quality, memory foam bed that cradles my body and is "like sleeping on a cloud"? Heaven help my poor tired eyes and aching back the next morning. So basically, that makes this Ultimate Dreams bed about the nicest thing I could get at a reasonable price that won't wreak havoc on my sleep. It did take me a little while to adjust to it, but now I'm sleeping about as well on it as I ever did on anything before it... just not any better. But, it does have a very nice feel to it, and because it's made from dense foam and high quality latex, I expect it to last a good long while, so even though it clearly isn't going to revolutionize my sleep, I do feel like it's a pretty good value at just $600.

Decided to be bold and go for the online mattress. Mattress shopping at stores was strange and really annoying... the sales guys are pretty pushy. Tried a lot of different mattresses, but could only find a latex mattress to try at Ikea (more like a latex brick there, it is pretty hard). I did like the bouncy/springiness of the latex versus a memory foam, you could feel the difference even on the one at Ikea.I decided to go with this mattress because of the good reviews and low price. Ordered online with the "ask chuck" option, and received an email from Chuck by the next business day (I ordered on a weekend). I was able to tell him mattresses I liked that I had tried in stores, and he gave me a good benchmark comfort numbers to compare to. He suggested a 3.5 or 4 based on the mattresses I had liked, but I went with a 5 because I was afraid a 4 would be too firm for a side sleeper. The 5 is wonderful, but has a pretty plush layer at the top that makes it a bit more cushioned than I expected (long story short, listen to Chuck! He knows what he is saying!!!). I could have easily gone with a 3.5 or 4 as suggested, but a 5 is fantastic for a medium. Reading the reviews before I bought it I read everything from "this mattress is hard as a rock" to "this mattress is like pudding" for the 6 comfort level. Honestly I think the mattress is spot on to the description, but maybe Chuck just did a good job comparing the mattresses to ones I was familiar with. Just in case you wanted to know, here's some of the benchmarks Chuck gave me, maybe they'll help you decide: "For most of our customers looking for a firmer feeling mattress they typically go with a 4 or lower on our scale. To kind of give you an idea of what you tried and compare. I would compare the 6 the (he left out the brand, but I had mentioned "Serta iComfort Brilliant EFT") Luxury Plush model. I think the level 3 on our scale would be comparable to the firm (he left out the brand, but I had mentioned "Sealy Posturepedic Trust Hybrid") innerspring models. IKEA is a little bit unique because that are known for very firm beds.The 4 on our scale is considered a cushion firm feel. It will have some softness to the top, but in general it is a firmer feel. It is not hard but firmer. The 4 is going to have more initial softness on the top than the other two listed. The 3 on our scale is considered a firm mattress. It will have a little softness on the top, but when you lay on it, the mattress does not have a lot of give. We can also do a 3.5 on our scale. This bed has a firmer top from the 3 on our scale and the medium firm latex from the 4 on our scale. Less initial softness on the top, but the latex below has a little bit more give to it."I gave the mattress a full 48 hours to inflate before I slept on it - which i recommend you do even if it looks inflated. It inflated abouat 90% of the way in the first 10 minutes... but over the next day I measured it and it gained another inch slowly to full size in 48 hrs. I noticed my mattress made a crinkly noise (similar to the sound if you pushed on a bag full of tissue/gift paper I imagine) when I pushed on it. It was fairly loud without a sheet on it, but was muffled some when I put sheets on the bed. I contacted the company to see what the issue was and they responded very quickly. The issue was very quickly resolved even past my expectations. Made me feel so much better considering I was wondering if i made the right choice ordering online at first.Overall, absolutely I would recommend this mattress. I have had a couple friends over and they laid on it and wanted one for themselves! If i'm ever looking for another mattress I will definitely order from this company because of their customer service, but would probably pony up the big bucks and go with the full latex mattress. I was not quite ready to spend that much on a mattress at this point in my life, so this mattress was a better-than-expected alternative.If I remember, I'll update with the status after a year. Honestly if I don't provide an update, that probably means i'm having no issues and didn't remember. People tend to only update when things go wrong.