Hi Mark in Texas,
The mattress you built was different from the PLB Beautiful although it was certainly in the same softness range. I always appreciate any of the form members that “express their happiness” with what they built but when you are new at this and don’t have a great deal of experience with mattress design and theory it’s easy to forget that what works for you may not work for someone else and that a DIY construction can be a risky choice for some people. The price of the individual components in a mattress are only part of the “value” of a purchase and each person can have very different criteria about what represents good value based on their own personal value equation.
Sharing your thoughts about your own choices and making specific recommendations for someone else based on a limited amount of knowledge and experiences are also different from each other and if something works well for you or if you are excited about the outcome of the choices you made it doesn’t indicate that your choices may work out as well for someone else.
There can be a fine line between sharing your experiences and making specific recommendations and it’s a line that I keep a close eye on in the forum so that it doesn’t turn into some of the other forums I’ve been part of (see post #2 here) where it can become difficult to differentiate between opinion and fact.
If by “better” you mean more durable then in the case of Latex International then their blended is more durable than their natural (especially in the lower ILD’s). There are many other definitions of “better” though outside of durability that have to do with feel or performance or even personal preference and there are also other differences between 100% natural Talalay and blended Talalay that may be important for some people that makes one “better” than the other in their specific application. What is true for Latex International’s Talalay may not be accurate for other materials or manufacturers either. This is not a “religious paradigm” as you put it … it’s a legitimate preference that each person needs to decide for themselves. As you are pointing out as well … 100% natural means that all the rubber in a core is natural rubber vs a blend so from this perspective (which is the normal usage in the industry) there is certainly 100% natural latex although rubber is not the only material in any latex core (see post #7 here).
It wasn’t a “spanking” … just a caution to be careful to express your opinions or experiences as being applicable to you and not to cross the fine line into “promotion”. My “working assumption” is that all the members here have read the rules of the forum and my reply needed to be visible so that the information you posted was “corrected” so that others that read it realize that some of it may not have been completely accurate or relevant to their own unique circumstances.
I am always grateful when the members here post about their thoughts or experiences and these can benefit all of the other members as well but it’s important that opinions are expressed clearly as opinions rather than as fact and that they take into account that each person can be very different from others when it comes to a mattress that is suitable or is the best “value” for them.
Phoenix