Hi AnalogJ,
I certainly agree that some of the inconsistencies in “fact” in the mattress industry can be very frustrating.
In many cases the inconsistencies are based on “marketing” vs “fact” and you will find many claims that are factually wrong. This is much more common in the mainstream industry where salespeople in general are much less knowledgeable and are more focused on “selling” than on “educating”.
In other cases though you will find two seemingly opposing opinions held by knowledgeable people and based on long term experience that are both right … but they are right in different circumstances or applications. These can be the most challenging because most people are used to information that is either “right or wrong” and often don’t realize that two opposing pieces of information can both be right. These types of conflicts are one of the triggers for some of my own research where I ask myself “how can two people that I respect hold such conflicting beliefs that both fit their long term experience” so my own challenge then becomes to research the bigger picture where both of them can be right in different circumstances (see post #11 here).
This type of research where there are no specific objective set of facts that fit every set of circumstances are the most challenging because in many cases all the information that you would need to resolve the conflict in beliefs and experience isn’t available. In some cases even the “argument itself” is really irrelevant because any difference in fact may not be particularly meaningful anyway (such as the difference in breathability between a cotton encasement and a synthetic encasement for a pocket coil since all pocket coils will be breathable regardless of the type of fabric that is used). In many cases people are looking for simple answers or “better worse” answers that fit all circumstances when these types of objective answers don’t exist.
Some fine details are much more relevant than others. Pursuing these types of small details in some cases can go down a path that really leads nowhere in any practical terms and it can become an exercise in futility and frustration. In other cases the smaller details are much more meaningful or relevant in terms of actual performance that can be felt or experienced by some people and these can be worth pursuing for some people where knowing the smaller details can make a difference for them. Knowing which details that are worth pursuing and which ones aren’t can take a great deal of experience or even “intuition” because the industry is as much an art as it is a science.
One of the reasons that I find this industry so interesting is that the learning curve never ends no matter how much you may know and while this can be frustrating when you are looking for definitive answers that don’t exist … it’s also part of the enjoyment and “challenge” of the industry as well.
Phoenix