Thanks for your help in advance. I’ve (mostly) settled on a mattresses.net 99% pure Talalay firm 6" base with a 3" Talalay (split) soft/med topper inside a bamboo mattress cover. I’ve never tested Talalay vs. Dunlop so it’ll be a bit of an experiment with perhaps the need to swap something out during the trial period. My primary goal is a completely “organic” bed (no flame retardants, toxic foam, toxic off-gases, etc.) that is inexpensive. My other considered options is one of the mattresses from sportsleepcoach.com which look potentially functionally better but it doesn’t look like they are “all-natural”.
As you probably know Arizona Premium (mattresses.net) is one of the members here which means that I think very highly of them and I believe that they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge and transparency.
While 100% natural latex doesn’t have an organic certification … it is certainly a very “safe” material and the wool quilting is also a natural fire barrier as well.
This is a UK company and I’m not sure if they ship their mattresses to North America (or if you are in North America) but they are all memory foam mattresses that use what looks like several inches of memory foam on top of a polyfoam support core. Neither memory foam or polyfoam are natural materials (they are made primarily from petrochemicals) although they can certainly be “safe enough” for most people if they have a reliable certification for harmful substances and VOC’s (see post #2 here for more about certifications). It looks like each of their 3 different mattresses have some type of zoning that is designed to improve the odds that each of their mattresses will be a good “match” for one of the three main body types (ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph).
Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article).
Memory foam and latex are completely different materials with very different properties. There is more about the pros and cons of memory foam vs latex in post #2 here but the best way to know which type of materials you tend to prefer is based on testing a range of mattress in different firmness levels in each category to see if you can identify any “pattern” in your preferences.
There is more information about the 3 most important parts of “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
While I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else in terms of firmness, “comfort”, or PPP because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of PPP (which is all about how well you will sleep on a mattress) the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is it’s durability and in terms of durability a mattress is only as good as its construction and the type, quality, and durability of the materials inside it (which is all about how long you will sleep well) regardless of the name of the manufacturer or the name of the mattress on the label. In other words I would make sure that you find out the information listed here so you can confirm there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress before making any mattress purchase … regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label and I would only deal with retailers or manufacturers that are both willing and able to provide you with all the information you need to make an informed choice.
The Arizona Premium mattress you are considering uses high quality materials (latex in general is the most durable of all the foam materials) and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress.
The Sport Sleep Coach mattresses don’t include any information about the thickness or density of their memory foam or polyfoam layers so unfortunately it’s not possible to make any meaningful comments about the quality or durability of the materials that they are using. If you can find out the density and thickness of the layers and post it on the forum I’d certainly be happy to let you know if there are any lower quality materials or weak links in the mattress that would be a cause for concern.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in and around the Salt Lake City/Provo area I’m aware of (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets your criteria and the quality/value guidelines here) are listed in post #2 here.
I don’t keep a record of the individual mattresses or their specs that the retailers and manufacturers in the hundreds of forum lists throughout the forum carry on their floor (it would be a bigger job than anyone could keep up with in a constantly changing market) but checking their websites and making some preliminary phone calls to the retailers/manufacturers that are on the lists is always a good idea before you decide on which retailers or manufacturers you wish to visit anyway. This will tell you which of them carry mattresses that would meet your specific criteria, are transparent about the materials in their mattresses, and that carry the type of mattresses that you are interested in testing.