Hi niksu11,
I’m sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with Plushbeds but I’m glad to see that they are making the return process as painless as possible.
You are considering two high quality mattresses that would both make good choices and I think highly of both of them.
You’ve mostly identified the main differences between them but there are a couple of others as well.
In their 100% natural Talalay FSF uses Latex International but Flobeds now uses Radium Talalay. Both are very high quality materials.
Flobeds uses a top layer of 2" of convoluted Talalay which is softer than a solid layer which some people prefer (it’s in the range of mid teens in terms of ILD although a convoluted layer isn’t exactly comparable to a solid layer. FSF uses a top 3" layer of solid latex.
As you also mentioned … Flobeds offers side to side splits for those where this is a preference.
While the warranties are slightly different (Flobeds has a 1" exclusion and FSF has 1/2" per layer) … the materials are equivalent to each other and the durability of the materials in a mattress are much more important than a warranty so in practical terms the durability of each mattress would be equivalent in “real life” terms and any difference between them wouldn’t be an issue.
You are probably already aware of this but Flobeds also offers a customizable vZone version which can be helpful for those with more challenging body types or circumstances although it’s also more costly.
As far as layer firmness choices … outside of personal testing … the most effective way to make a choice would be with a more detailed conversation with each manufacturer who will have more experience with their own designs and components and matching their customers to different combinations based on “averages” than anyone else (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). I would also make sure that you mention that you did well with the PLB Nature as well since this could be a useful reference point.
Once you are down to final choices that are between good and good (which you are) … then you are in the best possible position and the only way to make a final decision would be based on the objective, subjective, and intangible criteria of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
I’m looking forward to finding out what you end up choosing.
Phoenix