Hi Sheepcounter,
I’m not sure which mattress you purchased but there are a number of Stearns and Foster luxury plush eurotop mattresses so the one you purchased may be different from the ones you linked (which are different mattresses).
You can see the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here. If your mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) then you have the most important part of the “value” of a mattress covered.
The next most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase is the quality and durability of the materials inside it. This is all about how long you will sleep well on the mattress before it loses it’s comfort and support to the degree that you begin to tolerate it more than sleep well on it and at some point decide to replace it. To assess the quality/durability of the materials or whether the mattress has any weak links you would need to know the information in this article. Unfortunately this may be difficult to find out because the major manufacturers don’t tend to be transparent about their materials and in most cases either use lower quality materials than many of their smaller competitors or charge more if the materials are the same quality and durability. This information would also help you to know which mattress you purchased.
Finally all the other parts or your personal value equation that are important to you are the last part of the “value” of a mattress purchase (including the price and any special features or materials such as tufting) which you can use to make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
Tufting a mattress helps to keep the materials together and prevent shifting without requiring gluing and will also precompress the materials which will affect the firmness and feel and lessen the chance that they will develop impressions and add to their durability. You can see a video about hand tufting here.
Horsehair is a natural fiber similar to wool that is one of the most resilient (springy) of the natural fibers and similar to wool it is also very breathable and can hold moisture inside the fiber itself and away from the body so it can be very useful in terms of temperature regulation as well. Of course knowing the amount of horsehair or other premium materials or fibers would be important because in some cases the percentage is very low and is only there for marketing purposes (so they can say that it’s there) rather than having enough to make a meaningful difference in performance.
If you purchased the mattress for only $600 then it certainly wouldn’t be a new mattress and you would most likely have purchased a used mattress that was a comfort or warranty return (and there also wouldn’t be a warranty on the mattress). You can also check the law tag (white if it’s new and yellow or red if it’s used and sterilized or rebuilt) which will list the materials inside your mattress based on their percentage by weight so you can at least confirm the type of materials that are in it rather than having to go by what you may have been told by a salesperson.
Of course buying a mattress that is sold through a liquidator doesn’t mean that it wasn’t worth purchasing but I would at least confirm which mattress you purchased and the type and quality of the materials inside it.
Phoenix