I am about 230 lbs. my wife is normal weight for 5 foot 6. Based on most of what I have read, it seems that with the proper configuration of firmness layers, there is no extra benefit to getting more than a 10 inch mattress in terms of support or comfort. However, as one would suspect of someone trying to sell a more expensive product, a couple of sellers have suggested going with 13. Any thoughts?
Hi Pspa123,
There is no “right” answer for this because it depends on your circumstances, criteria, and preferences and also depends on whether you sleep alone or with someone else that was fairly different from you in body type or sleeping style (as in your case) where a thicker mattress can be designed to be more adaptable to the different needs and preferences of different people. While I don’t think you are in the weight range that “needs” more than 9" of latex or so (assuming the design is “right” for you) … you may well prefer it in your circumstances. You can read more about some of the potential benefits of thicker mattresses in post #14 here. You can also read a little more about different ways that can accommodate two people who may be quite different in their needs and preferences in the first part of post #2 here.
Phoenix
you don’t need ANY inches of natural latex. you can sleep on regular poly foam just fine. how much latex you want is up to you. as for mattress thickness - you should be able to tell that yourself by testing various mattresses in person.
if a mattress was perfectly matched to you it could be relatively thin - about 6 inches - and still do the job. however it would be hard to even design such a mattress, let a lone find one on sale, so in practice a few inches of mattress will end up getting wasted and you may need a thicker mattress. you have to get the mattress that works for you - regardless of how thick or thin it is.
that said i’m also 230 lbs and i never tried a 10" mattress that i liked, but that’s probably because i haven’t been trying 10" mattresses. i seem to have better luck with 12" ones but that can be simply due to the fact that most mattresses use a thick 6" base layer. with a 3" base layer a mattress could be only 9 inches thick and feel similar to a 12" one. a thicker base layer feels more premium though because you can’t bottom it out by sitting on it so i guess that’s why it is so popular.