Hi Michael,
I would probably tend to find out the separate price of each component … mainly because you may be adding to your cost unnecessarily with the L & P adjustable base. Well over half the cost of your purchase would be the adjustable base. There are other alternatives which may have better value than the S-Cape with the same quality and function … or in some cases better function. I personally bought the Reverie Supreme because I thought it was better value than the L & P S-Cape adjustable. The Reverie Supreme, Ergomotion 400, and the S-Cape are all very similar (massage, wireless etc) except the Reverie has a better massage motor, was quieter (although they all have a fairly noisy massage), and the head raises higher. The weight limits are also higher. The best online pricing I know of for these, and they sell the L & P, Reverie, and Ergomotion (which is also a good value) as well as others is here. If nothing else this will give you a good “reference point”. While we don’t use ours for sleeping elevated or for any health reasons … we do spend time reading or watching a movie or even “lazy working” on the laptop and it’s great to have :).
If you take off the price for the adjustable base (two twins) … then the price for your mattress seems to be good value (although it may have been a “package” deal). As you mentioned … the “ideal” would be a firm enough base layer for good support and alignment and then a soft enough topper or comfort layers for good pressure relief and based on your testing it seems that the Pantheon was “on the mark” for both.
Both Talalay latex and Dunlop latex can be made with either all natural latex (NR) or a combination of natural and synthetic (SBR). With Talalay … the blended is generally better value. It is just as “safe” (both are Oeko-Tex standard 100 class 1 certified which is the “safe for babies” standard), the blended tends to be more durable in lower ILD’s (softer), more pressure relieving, and lower cost than the equivalent all natural version of Talalay. The all natural version is denser (which would make it a little more supportive), only uses NR (natural rubber) rather than SBR (synthetic rubber) and more expensive. It is most attractive to those who want something more natural, biodegradeable, and eco-friendly and are willing to pay more for a slightly less durable product. Both are great materials and each person may choose differently but IMO … the blended Talalay is better value.
With Dunlop the 100% natural would be my choice over a blend because Dunlop has a different cell structure and is a denser material than Talalay which gives it different properties.
There’s more about the different latex options in this article and more detail yet in post #2 here and in post #2 here (for those who want more specific details or are more technically inclined).
Thanks too for letting them know about the site and at some point I hope to have a more lengthy conversation with them.
Phoenix