Hi akrieg,
Most of your questions will come down to preference choices more than “better worse” choices based on the many tradeoffs that are involved and on which type of latex you tend to prefer, your budget, your risk tolerance, and the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you. The options you would have after a purchase will become particularly important if your initial choice doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped but the only way to really know which one would have been best for you would be based on hindsight after you have slept on any of the mattresses you are considering and decided how suitable they are for you in terms of PPP or whether they would need any additional changes or fine tuning.
The most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase is how well you sleep on it because regardless of the cost of a mattress it would have little value to you if you don’t sleep well on it. If you were to purchase the Ultimate Dreams latex and it turned out to be a great match for you in terms of PPP then the options that were available with either the UD Eurotop or the UD Freedom wouldn’t really be important because you would already be sleeping on a mattress that was a great match for you. If on the other hand you purchase a mattress and discover that you didn’t make the most suitable firmness choice then there would be significant “value” in the ability to exchange the comfort layer (in the case of the UD Eurotop) or to rearrange the layers and fine tune the support or pressure relief of the mattress (in the case of the UD Freedom).
If you chose the UD latex and it was too firm then you could add a topper but choosing a topper that is a good match for both you and the mattress you are using it on (the mattress underneath a topper will change how the topper feels) can be somewhat difficult and uncertain and in some cases it can be almost as difficult as choosing a mattress in the first place (see post #2 here). If it ends up taking some trial and error to find the most suitable topper then it could also end up being more costly than a mattress where all you had to do was exchange the comfort layer for a different firmness level or just rearrange the layers inside the mattress. Adding a topper involves changing two variables (you would be changing both the thickness and the firmness of the comfort layers) and is more difficult to predict while exchanging a comfort layer only involves changing one variable (the firmness of the comfort layer) which is easier to predict the outcome.
[quote]As you said before, the Ultimate Dreams is a solid mattress, but the Eurotop (which Chuck said was their most popular) is better because you can customize it more easily. But is there really much difference between the Eurotop and the regular with a topper? It seems I would be spending an extra $300 right out of the gate before knowing if the regular mattress was fine.[/quote].
There are some smaller differences between the UD Latex and the UD Eurotop that would have some effect on how each of them feel and perform and how they compare to each other in terms of PPP including the thicker support core in the Eurotop, any differences in the cover and quilting, and the separate “compartment” in the Eurotop, so even with the same firmness level of latex in the comfort layer they may feel a little different from each other for some people but the biggest difference between them is that the Eurotop allows you to exchange the firmness of the comfort layer which would have significant value if your sleeping experience indicates that you need a different firmness level. It would be even more important if your initial choice was too soft because you can soften up a mattress that is too firm with a topper but there are no particularly effective ways to firm up a mattress that is too soft without removing and replacing layers.
In other words … the UD latex would be a more risky choice than either of the other two and whether you are comfortable with the extra risk that can be involved in purchasing a mattress where the only way to change it would be to add a topper or in choosing a topper that works well for you on a specific mattress (which can sometimes be as uncertain as choosing a mattress in the first place) would depend on your risk tolerance and on your confidence that you would be able to choose a topper that was a good match for you and the mattress you were using it on. Depending on the type and thickness of the topper you were purchasing or on whether you choose the right topper the first time … adding a topper could also end up being a more costly option than exchanging the firmness of the comfort layer in the Eurotop. The Eurotop would also have the option of being able to replace just the comfort layer down the road if your needs or preferences change without having to replace the complete mattress.
IMO … all of their mattresses are great value and are “well worth the money” but which one would be the best choice for any particular person would depend on the parts of their personal value equation that are most important to them including the price and the options that are available after a purchase. The UD freedom has more options to fine tune the mattress after a purchase by rearranging the layers than either of the other two you are considering and wouldn’t require a layer exchange or an additional topper so this would be an advantage that the other two don’t have. In effect you are buying a mattress that would be like having 12 different options to choose from and the odds that one or more of them will be a great match for you would be very high.
Its unlikely that you would find a local mattress that would feel or perform like any of these because they would most likely have different designs and specs and layer thicknesses and firmness levels in their materials and layers and even relatively smaller differences between two mattresses can have a surprisingly significant effect on how it feels or compares to another mattress but if you have done some local testing on several Dunlop and Talalay latex mattresses than you would at least have a general idea of what Dunlop and Talalay latex feel like and how they compare. Synthetic Dunlop would be somewhat “in between” the feel of Talalay and Dunlop. It would be less supportive than 100% natural Dunlop (you would sink a little deeper into a layer that was the same thickness and ILD) and would feel softer in the same ILD (it would feel closer to softer Talalay) but synthetic latex would also feel less resilient than Dunlop that has a higher natural rubber content or than Talalay because of its different cell structure.
Again though … if you are comfortable with the more resilient feel of latex in general then it would be likely that at least one (and possibly more) of the many variations that are possible would be suitable for you.
In the end … all of the mattresses you are considering would be good options and I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase any of them in terms of their quality/value and if you are down to finalists that are choices between “good and good” and there are no clear winners between them then your final choice will really come down to your “best judgement” based on your material preferences and all the objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you and which of the many tradeoffs between the cost, options, and risk for each of them you believe would be the “best value” for you.
Phoenix