Hi LenF,
I spent some time on the site and it looks legitimate to me … at least in theory. Most of what I read would certainly agree with my own thoughts and most of the research about sleeping ergonomics around the world about the importance of support/alignment and pressure relief in all your sleeping positions as the two most important functions of a mattress and the most important parts of a successful mattress choice.
The most important part of sleep quality is spinal alignment and while assessing spinal alignment in a lateral sleep position is relatively simple because the spine can be measured relatively easily … with the current state of the art it’s much more difficult to accurately assess spinal alignment in a prone or supine position or the many “in between” positions without some relatively expensive individual 3D modeling and test equipment that is used over the course of the night (see chapter 4 in this study). They say they are using a laser sensor to measure spinal alignment which would probably be fairly accurate with side sleeping but I would question how accurate it would be for the other sleeping positions.
In terms of pressure relief … pressure mapping can certainly be an effective way to assess pressure points along the body surface but once again it would be important to make sure that pressure was measured in the range of sleeping positions that you would be sleeping in over the course of the night.
Overall … it would probably be accurate to say that the type of testing they are doing along with their professional experience and assessment would very likely increase your odds of success that a mattress would be a good “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (particularly if it is zoned to fit your body profile) but it wouldn’t be a guarantee of success because of the many variables involved that may not be possible to assess with the type of equipment they are using.
There is also more about the 3 most important parts of “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
They also don’t mention the specifics of the materials and components they are using in their mattresses and outside of PPP … the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t see or “feel” and assessing the quality/durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the specifics of its construction and the type and quality of the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label (or how a mattress feels in a showroom or when it is relatively new) so I would also make sure that you find out information listed here so you can compare the materials and components to the quality/durability guidelines here to make sure there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress that would be a cause for concern relative to the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
In terms of other options that may be available to you … I don’t have any particular knowledge about the Australian market so I won’t be able to help much in terms of specific retailers or manufacturers I’m aware of there but the steps involved in choosing a mattress and the mattress materials that are used in Australia would generally be the same as in North America. I would also read post #2 here (except replace “Israel” with “Australia”).
Post #2 here also includes links to most of the forum topics from Australia and post #7 here includes a list of many Australian manufacturers and retailers and a few comments about some of them as well that will hopefully be helpful as well.
Phoenix