Hi mdarnell27,
Some of what the salesperson at Custom Comfort was true and some wasn’t but overall I would call it “mostly salesmanship” and “fairly misleading”.
To start with … post #13 here that I linked previously has more information about the most important parts of the "value’ of a mattress purchase that can help you make more meaningful comparisons between mattresses. As you can see … the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is how well it matches your body type, sleeping positions, and preferences in terms of PPP and how well you are likely to sleep on the mattress. You are the only one that can decide this.
The next most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is the durability of the materials and how long you are likely to sleep well. As you can see in the guidelines here there are no obvious weak links in the specs of the Flexus mattress you listed.
There are no obvious weak links in this mattress either and they both use latex and a thin layer of polyfoam over the innerspring (although in a different order) so the layers that are most subject to softening and breakdown would be similar. The Custom Comfort uses the tufted cotton to create additional softness (and cotton is a durable material) while the pocket coil in the Flexus would create additional softness and contouring under the latex and polyfoam layers. Both of them are two sided which would add to their durability.
I’m not sure where the price comes from because the set lists for $1690 on their site (unless you are including tax) but I always make “mattress only” to “mattress only” comparisons so that you aren’t including a variable (the foundation) that makes meaningful comparisons between the mattresses themselves much more difficult so the price I would be using for comparison purposes would be the king size “mattress only” price of $1400.
There is more about the different types of innersprings in this article and in post #10 here. Their “linked springs” may be “stronger” but the innerspring of a mattress isn’t generally the weak link of a mattress anyway and a pocket coil can transfer less motion between sleepers than innersprings that use helical wires to join the springs together so which type of spring would be “better” for any particular person would depend on the overall design of the mattress and someone’s specific criteria and preferences (better how and better for who?). The type of innerspring or a mattress that uses one type vs another that would be better for any particular person would be a matter of preference.
Neither one should be noisy if they are good quality but this really doesn’t factor in to the relative value of the mattress because you could always purchase either one if you wished to for either mattress. A box spring with springs inside it can affect the feel and performance of a mattress and can be an important part of the feel and performance of a sleeping system (the mattress would feel differently with a rigid non flexing foundation) but a box spring (with springs) is generally more suitable for an innerspring that has helical coils so it can act as a shock absorber for the innerspring than it would be for a pocket coil mattress.
As you can see in post #2 here about edge support for innersprings … I would agree with this.
Again … inferior in what way? If there is only an inch of 1.5 lb polyfoam in a two sided mattress then it wouldn’t be a weak link in terms of durability and the only other way it could be “inferior” would be based on the feel and performance of the mattress which is part of PPP which you can “feel”. Again … the cotton is a high quality material that adds to the cost of a mattress but you are the only one that can decide which mattress is the best “match” for you in terms of PPP.
I mentioned the same thing in my last post as well so to some degree I agree with him here. Too little information or “analysis” can lead to some poor choices but too much information or analysis can also lead to information overload and can also lead to making less suitable choices or making choices for the wrong reasons as well. You may be overcomplicating your research.
Again … it’s certainly a good quality material and hand tufting is also a great way to use natural fibers in a mattress (and adds to the cost of making the mattress) but it would only be “better” for someone that preferred how the mattress that uses it feels and performs.
The weakest link of a mattress is generally in the layers above the innerspring and Flexus uses latex (which theirs does as well) which is a very durable material and is also two sided (which theirs is as well) which can add to the durability of any mattress (see post #3 here) so this is just a salesperson trying to make a sale by putting down their competition with misleading or exaggerated information. While I would probably give the CCM the edge in terms of overall durability … the difference wouldn’t be nearly as significant as they were indicating and it would be reasonable to expect the Flexus to last for 10+ years. Once you are past a decade then the limiting factor in the durability of a mattress is often the changing needs and preferences of the person sleeping on it and any additional time after this would be “bonus time” anyway so the CCM may have more “bonus time” than the Flexus but you would need to decide whether this would be worth the significant price difference between them.
The options you have after a purchase would also be part of each person’s personal value equation and would be part of the “value” of any mattress purchase as well.
This is also true and for the most part the innerspring of a mattress isn’t the weakest link in terms of durability.
Overall you are looking at two high quality mattresses and while the CCM certainly uses materials and components (such as the cotton and the box spring) that would be more costly than the materials in the Flexus and uses more time consuming and costly construction methods (such as inner tufting) and may even have some edge in terms of durability or “bonus time” (although this is impossible to quantify) … only you can decide whether any of these or any of the other differences between each mattress purchase that are important to you would justify the significantly higher cost.
I would certainly choose either of these over most of the mainstream mattresses that most people end up buying.
Phoenix