Hi levander,
Lots of questions … and what I call “rough math” which I’ve also used sometimes just to wrap my head around concepts (see post #2 here and post #26 here for examples) even though the math may not translate quite so accurately into real life experience where subjective factors can play a bigger role than objective factors alone. One of the things that fascinates me about mattress design is the combination of intuitive and analytical processes (or right and left brain thinking) that it can involve.
Yes … just the short name.
Good idea … especially the one or two you are most interested in.
As I mentioned in the previous post … not by itself no. It would depend on the quality of the polyfoam (and on the other factors that are involved in durability that I linked earlier). You can read more about the different types of polyfoam in comfort layers in this article and support layers in this article but the most important spec that differentiates lower quality from higher quality is density. HR polyfoam is a high quality and durable material and even HD at 1.8 lbs or higher in an appropriate construction and design can last a long time compared to most of the mainstream mattresses people are buying.
Hopefully the links will give you the information you need but what you are looking for is the layer by layer breakdown of the mattress that includes foam density and the thickness of the layers. This can then be evaluated objectively by foam density and quality and subjectively by all the other factors that are included in durability (linked earlier). the tradename of the polyfoam (or ecofoam or plant based foam or any of the other types of polyfoam) doesn’t matter much because they are all roughly comparable and density is the single biggest factor in durability with all of them.
That would depend on the objectivity and specificity of your testing. It does go to show that “on average” people would do better in their choices in terms of how well a mattress really matches their real life needs and preferences and based on how they usually test mattresses (for only a few minutes or based on subjective factors only or by pushing down with their hands etc.) by throwing a dart at a wall that had mattress pictures on it with their eyes closed.
I don’t know a single person with any knowledge at all that thinks that either of the mattress reports that Consumer reports has done is anything but industry sponsored and meaningless fluff. They have done an incredibly poor job helping people to evaluate mattresses and it is one of the worst excuses for a buying guide I have seen … especially coming from them.
The 75% that are happy is relative to a mattress that needs replacing so the bar it has to “beat” is very low … although there certainly is truth IMO that good testing will improve your odds of making a good choice.
Phoenix