Hi longtimematspring.
Welcome back! 
Sorry to hear that your current mattress is not working out for you as well as you hoped … at least you had the foresight to chose a manufacturer with a good return and exchange policy that have your best interests at heart. Generally, “theory at a distance” won’t predict how well you will sleep on a mattress or how it will “feel” when you sleep on it at home and even good guidance from a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer cannot replace your own testing and personal experience with a product as you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress.
[quote]Does this sound right? Have they been making their mattresses softer or is this information just incorrect?
Edit: Just finished chatting with someone from Avocado – a lot of standard generic answers. I wish I would have been able to chat with someone more technical.[/quote]
I’d hold off a bit until the specs are confirmed … Avocado has a bit of track record of being discussed on our forum and we’ve seen about 3 sets of specs changing in the last short wile (This is the second time their specifications changed since August last year see here}. Also one of our researchers reached out to them to get some clarification and we’ll make sure to get back to you as soon as we find out more.
Not everyone likes the feel of an All latex mattress … . While both innersprings and a firmer latex core can be used as a support layer each has very “different” characteristics but besides the more obvious ones the most important differences are the ones you can feel and that you personally prefer. Both of them come in softer or firmer versions and in many different designs so an innerspring could be firmer than a latex core or the other way around depending on the specifics of the components you are comparing. There is more detailed information about innersprings vs latex support cores in post #2 here and in Post #28 latex versus springs. Some of the more technical differences include:
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• Innersprings have a more “flat line” response curve than latex ( see the graph here ) but because there are many types of Iinnersprings with different response curves this doesn’t always hold true and there are also different types of latex which would also have different response curves.
• Innersprings absorb less energy than latex which means they are more resilient. They “push back” more strongly than latex in other words but this is not the same as softness … only about how much of the energy that is used to compress them is lost (or how high a ball will bounce when it’s dropped on them).
• Latex has a similar or higher compression modulus than most innerspring spring rates and either gets firmer with deeper compression at a similar rate as an innerspring (Talalay) or at a faster rate than an innerspring (Dunlop) which means it can be more “supportive”.
• Different innersprings have widely different abilities to take on the shape of the body (depending on the number of coils and how independently they function) while latex is much more “point elastic” than any of them because it can flex in each part of the core with less effect on the area around it than an innerspring.
• In general, latex will be more motion isolating than an innerspring.
• Firmer latex will be more durable than an innerspring but neither of them would tend to be the weak link of a mattress.[/indent]
As you already know Sleep On Latex is one of the manufacturing Trusted Members of this site and like all the members here I think very highly of and consider them to compete well with “the best” in the industry.
It is not possible to tell what you’d prefer in terms of mattress feel or what you’d need to sleep comfortably on it. Even with a detailed description of the differences you may feel with different layerings or specs and your history with a particular mattress, there are far too many variables at work … some of which are very personal and intangible in nature which is why your own research in combination with personal testing generally works best. Your own testing will also give you a much better sense of the many different types of materials and components that are used in mattresses and some reference points about the types of mattresses (see this article) and general firmness levels you tend to prefer which can help you narrow down your choices. The mattress that you currently sleep on and the one you are considering are very different designs.
Let us kow if you manage to confirm the AG specs before us
Phoenix