Hi djag67,
I’m not sure how to quantify “that great” but you would of course be missing the chance to test their specific mattresses which have different designs and materials. It would really depend on the specific criteria of your “personal value equation” that were most important to you and the specifics of the mattresses you were most interested in testing. I can tell you that I do think highly of Bob and the quality and value of the mattresses he makes but the only way to know whether it was “that much better” for you would be to compare specific mattresses along with all the other parts of a mattress purchase that were most important to you to see how they compare with the other options you have available and are interested in testing. I would certainly talk with them on the phone either before or after a Houston trip to see how the options they offer compare to what is available to you in Houston so you can include the conversation in your considerations and use your “best judgement” about which direction(s) to travel.
Talalay latex is made in molds that are betwen 5.6" and 6" so this mattress would have multiple layers (although they may be glued together).
Whether a mattress has one layer or many is really not as important as how well the mattress meets your criteria in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). You can read a little more about the potential benefits of thicker layers and mattresses in post #14 here but it really depends on how the specific mattress design interacts with your body type and sleeping styles. For some people a single 6" layer of latex may be the “best” for them while for others a multilayered 12" mattress may work better. There is no inherent “better or worse” in terms of thickness outside of which one works best for each person and of course making sure that there are no weak links in a mattress (especially in the comfort layers) regardless of it’s thickness.
A mattress can be both soft and firm at the same time depending on the type of softness/firmness someone is referring to and whether the rating is referring to the comfort layers of the firmness layers of the subjective “feel’ of both together. This mattress would probably have a 3” softer comfort layer over a 6" firmer support layer and of course there is always the possibility that one of the descriptions are wrong. There is more about the different types of firmness and softness in post #15 here. Ultimately softness and firmness is subjective and relative to each person and their body type, sleeping positioins, and sensitivities so your own testing would tell you how soft or firm it feels to you.
I would always talk on the phone with any manufacturer or retailer I planned to visit as part of my preliminary research (whether they were local or further away) and I would base your decision on the results or your conversations.
Hopefully the links above have answered this and it ultimately depends on the “bottom line” performance of the mattress in terms of PPP (and of course this one has more than one layer).
It uses high quality materials (Talalay latex and cootton) so from a quality perspective it is good. The cover is organic cotton (it doesn’t say if it’s a stretch knit) and doesn’t have any wool so I would consider how you feel about the benefits of having wool in the quilting for temperature regulation and as a fire barrier as well because without it the mattress would need a different type of fire barrier … likely an inherent viscose/silica type which I would also consider to be “safe”.
I would also confirm whether the Talalay latex was “natural” (which is what Latex International calls their blended talalay) or “all natural” (which is what Latex International calls their 100% natural Talalay and which contains no synthetic latex). There are many manufacturers or re-sellers (Tranquility doesn’t make their own mattresses) who don’t fully understand or know (or in some cases disclose) the difference between the two and describe one as being the other.
Phoenix