Hi 2Michaels,
You can see my thoughts about the Ikea mattresses in post #3 here.
The Fjorgard uses 80% synthetic Dunlop latex which is a lower quality type of latex which tens to be stiffer and less elastic and conforming. It is still a relatively good material but it’s not in the same quality range as Dunlop latex that has a higher natural latex content. Their memory foam is in the 3 lb range which is low quality and I would avoid it.
They are pretty good at helping their customers choose a firmness level that is appropriate. It’s always better to err on the side of firmness because you can always soften up a sleeping surface that is too firm but there is little you can do if the sleeping surface is too soft. I would also remember that the upper layers of a mattress have more to do with pressure relief and comfort than with support which is the job of the deeper layers so you can have a mattress with a few inches of pressure relieving materials and still have good support in the deeper layers of the mattress.
The latex they use is blended Talalay which is a very high quality material. The Ikea are all Dunlop … some of which are mostly natural and some are mostly synthetic. You can read a bit more about the different types of latex in this article and in post #6 here along with post #6 here.
Dunlop latex has a higher compression modulus which means that it is a denser foam than Talalay and tend to get firmer faster as you sink into it more (all foam gets firmer with deeper compression but at different rates). Because of this, Dunlop tends to feel firmer than Talalay in the same ILD (softness rating). All foam comes in a wide range of softness/firmness levels (ILD) though and this along with the compression modulus would determine how deeply you sink into it. The surface layers are also mostly about pressure relief and have a secondary support role of filling in the gaps in the sleeping profile. The deeper layers (not the ones on the top) are the ones that are about primary support and that “stop” the heavier parts of the body from sinking in too far. In other words every mattress has a certain level of softness firmness in the comfort layers and a certain level of siftness/firmness in the support layers and each of these plays a different but interconnected role You could have a thin supersoft layer on top for example and then very firm layers below them and the mattress will feel very firm because you will “go through” the softer comfort layers and feel more of the support layers below this. On the other hand if you used slightly firmer layers on top … it may actually feel softer because you wouldn’t go through the layer as easily and feel less of the firmer foam below it.
The choice between memory foam (or gel memory foam) and latex is really about personal preference between slower response materials and faster response materials. There is also a wide range of different memory foam mattress designs and a range of different types and qualities of memory foam which can feel very different from each other and will also be very different in terms of durability. The memory foam at Ikea is very low quality (3.1 lbs) and this would have a different “feel” than memory foam that had a higher density. You can read more about the different qualities of memory foam in post #9 here and in post #8 here. the memory foam in the Ultimate Dreams is much higher quality than the Ikea but it’s also a different design that will feel much softer. According both to Dreamfoam and customer feedback (including on the forum here and elsewhere) … it is on the softer end of the scale. Given your husbands preference for a firm feeling mattress … I would suspect that this may not be the best choice for you.
Hope this helps.
Phoenix