Hi Kristinebean04,
Blended latex is latex that is made with a blend of natural and synthetic rubber. There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here. All latex is a durable material compared to other types of foam such as polyfoam or memory foam. Latex is also a highly resilient and fast response material and is nothing like memory foam which is a temperature sensitive and slow response material. There is more about how latex compares to memory foam in post #2 here but the best way to know which material you tend to prefer would be based on your own testing and personal experience.
The brand of a mattress makes little difference to me because outside of the suitability of a mattress for your body type and sleeping positions in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is the quality/durability of the materials inside it and all manufacturers have access to the same or similar materials so brand shopping is among the worst ways to buy a mattress because the name of the manufacturer doesn’t tell you anything about the suitability of a mattress or the quality of the materials inside any mattress you are looking at (see post #5 here).
The most important factor in the manufacturer of a mattress is their transparency and the likelihood that you will be able to find out the type and quality of the materials in a mattress you are considering. As you can see in the list of the top 15/16 largest manufacturers here … with Southerland there is “some possibility” that you will be able to find out the information you need to make an informed buying decision with some of their mattresses but not others (see this article). If you can then you would be able to identify any weak links in a mattress and make meaningful comparisons to other mattresses. If you can’t then I would pass the mattress by regardless of the name of the manufacturer.
This would depend on the specifics of the mattress and the quality of the materials inside it. There is more in post #13 here about the most important parts of the value of a mattress purchase but if some kind of hybrid mattress (and most mattresses are a hybrid of some type) was a good match for someone in terms of PPP and it used high quality materials and there were no weak links in the mattress and it compared well with all the other mattresses they were considering based on all the parts of their personal value equation that are important to them then I would certainly consider it to be a good choice for that person.
Phoenix