Hi Odontoid,
While the price of a mattress is certainly one of the more important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase … there are many other parts to the “value” of a mattress purchase as well and unfortunately there isn’t a “formula” that can be used to assess or “calculate” value because there are so many different variables and criteria involved that may be more or less important to different people. The “value” of a mattress purchase is also relative to the other finalists you are considering or to the other mattresses that are available to you in your area or online (if you are also looking at online options). There are many reasons that a mattress that may be “good value” for one person may not be worth considering for someone else.
There is more information about the 3 most important parts of “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for).
I would keep in mind that MSRP is generally inflated so I would assess the “value” of a mattress based on how it compares to your other finalists … not to how it compares to the MSRP of the mattress which may be very inflated.
The most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) which is all about how well you are likely to sleep on the mattress. I can’t help with this because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components would be the best “match” for you in terms of PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
The more confident you are that your careful testing will predict how well you will sleep on the mattress the less important a return or exchange policy may be and the opposite also holds true that the less confident you are that you will sleep well on a mattress then the more important an exchange or return policy may be. This is all about managing the “risk” of a purchase. There would be very little “value” in purchasing a mattress that you don’t sleep well on regardless of the price.
Outside of PPP the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is durability which is all about how long you will sleep well on a mattress. This is the part of your research that you can’t “feel” and assessing the durability and useful life of a mattress depends on knowing the type and quality of all the materials inside it regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label so I would always make sure that you are able to find out the information listed here so you can compare the materials and components in a mattress to the quality/durability guidelines here so you can confirm that there are no lower quality materials or obvious weak links in a mattress that would compromise the durability and useful life of a mattress before making any purchase.
The PLB Nature you are considering uses blended Talalay but I would want to know the type and blend of the latex in the Jamison mattress just so you can make more “apples to apples” comparisons. There is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here. Having said that … both of the mattresses you are considering are “all latex” mattresses and latex in general (regardless of the type or blend) is one of the most durable foam materials so there are no lower quality materials or weak links in either of them and I would consider them to be closely comparable in terms of their durability and the useful life of the mattress.
Other than suitability/PPP and durability … the “value” of a mattress purchase depends on how they compare based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are also important to you.
Once you have narrowed down your options to a list of finalists that are all choices between “good and good” (which it seems you have) and none of them have any lower quality materials or “weak links” in their design relative to your weight range (which they don’t) and if there are no clear winners between them (which is usually a good indication that you have done some good research) then you are in the fortunate position that any of them would likely be a suitable choice and post #2 here can help you make a final choice based on your local testing or mattresses you have slept well on, your more detailed conversations about each of them, your confidence about PPP and the suitability of each one, their prices, your preferences for different types of materials or types and blends of latex, the options you have after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or exchange or return the mattress or individual layers, any additional extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
Phoenix