Hi pauliepairs,
Which mattress did you have your experience with poor quality latex? I’m asking because many mattresses that are described as “latex” often contain other foams in the mix and in some cases only have much smaller amounts of latex “buried” in the deeper layers and fairly thick layers of other less durable materials on top.
Hammocking can come from several causes. The first one is a mattress that is too soft for your body type or sleeping positions which means that the heavier parts of your body can sink down too far and put your spine out of alignment. Preventing this depends on making the right choice in terms of the firmness of the support layers and the thickness and firmness of the comfort layers and has little to do with the quality of the materials.
The second cause of hammocking is the result of the gradual softening of the foam in the mattress. When this happens a mattress that was initially a good match for you and inside your “range” in terms of support/alignment becomes softer under the heavier parts of the body and they will sink in more deeply than when the mattress was new resulting in the loss of support/alignment. This is independent of any visible impressions in the mattress and isn’t covered by warranty (unless the material also has visible impressions with no weight on the mattress that are deeper than the warranty exclusions which is usually not the case). This will also be affected by the suitability of your original choice because a mattress that is “on the edge” of being too soft for you can cross the line into being too soft more quickly with just a small degree of softening than a mattress that was “on the edge” of being too firm and has more “room” for the materials to soften.
Both of the mattresses you are looking at use blended Talalay latex (in the case of SleepEz it’s one of the options you can choose) which is a very durable material and will maintain its firmness for longer than other types of foam materials. You can also read a little more about the different types of latex in post #6 here and there is more about the factors that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to each person in post #4 here and the posts it links to.
The advantage of a local purchase is that you can test it for PPP before you purchase it but there are fewer options to do any fine tuning after a purchase (you would be limited to a mattress exchange if they offer it or using different types of mattress protectors, mattress pads or toppers to do any fine tuning). Post #32 here also includes some sources for PLB mattresses that ship across the country that you can use to make some “value” comparisons with your local store.
The advantage of the SleepEz mattresses (besides any cost difference for a mattress with a similar amount of the same type of latex) is that you can customize the firmness levels or each layer and re-arrange or exchange the layers after a purchase to fine tune the mattress in terms of PPP. A component mattress with individual layers and a zip cover can also allow you to replace just a single layer if it softens or breaks down faster than the others (typically the top layer) rather than replacing the complete mattress.
Just in case you haven’t read it yet … some of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the Atlanta area are listed in post #2 here.
Which one is the best “value” for you would depend on the parts of your personal value equation that were most important to you and as you mentioned both of them use good quality durable materials.
Assuming that the mattress you choose is a good initial “match” for you in terms of PPP and isn’t on the edge of being too soft, they should both last you significantly longer than 5 years.
Phoenix