Hi deb38,
I personally pay little to no attention to reviews unless they are about the knowledge and service of a retailer or manufacturer and not the mattress someone purchased (see post #13 here) and more to the quality of the materials, the flexibility and suitability of the design, and how well if fits my personal value equation compared to other mattresses that I’m comparing it to. The essence uses high quality materials (100% natural Talalay and 100% natural Dunlop), has no “weak link” in the mattress, and includes the ability to exchange the comfort layer if you make a comfort choice that is less than ideal.
You can’'t “feel” the quality of the materials and can only know the quality and likely durability of a mattress by knowing its construction and what is in it (regardless of which name is on the label) and what is suitable in terms of design for some people may be completely unsuitable for others regardless of the quality or value of the mattress.
Once you know the quality of the materials and you are confident that your comfort choice will be suitable (or close enough that you will know which comfort layer to exchange for if it’s not) then you are in a great position to make final choices and meaningful comparisons with any other mattress you may be considering.
Phoenix