Hi beth620,
Your mattress testing shows an interesting “theme” or pattern which is that you appear to like thinner layers of faster responding memory foam combined with some type of more resilient material. It also seems that the type of resilient material doesn’t appear to matter as much as he resilience itself in combination with a layer or memory foam that is thin enough to feel it.
Some examples of mattress you have tested …
R.E.M Paradise: 3" of memory foam (slow response low resilience) over a 2" latex transition layer (fast response high resilience) over a firmer support layer (polyfoam)
Tempurpedic Weightless Select: Relatively thin layer of 4 lb memory foam (slow response low resilience) over a high density polyfoam transition layer (fast response higher resilience) over a firmer support polyfoam support core.
Comforpedic Silver Strand: Several layers of memory foam (slow response low resilience) over a layer of “independent support technology” transition layer (fast response higher resilience) over a firmer polyfoam support core.
Serta Iseries Pergola: 2" of gel memory foam (slow response low resilience) over the softer part of the Duet Spring as a transition area (fast response high resilience) over the firmer part of the innerspring as the support layer.
Serta Iseries Haydon: gel memory foam (slow response low resilience) over a polyfoam transition layer (fast response higher resilience) over the two stage innerspring (both fast response high resilience)
Icomfort Inception: Gfx memory foam (slow respnse low resilience) over polyfoam (faster response higher resilience) over gel memory foam (slow response low resilience) over pods activated support layer (fast response higher resilience) over a firmer polyfoam support core.
Some of these don’t include the specifics of each layer in terms of thickness or the density of the memory foam but they all fall in a similar group in very general terms.
The exceptions to your experience are the Cloud Select (which uses two layers of slow response low resilience memory foam directly over the polyfoam support layer with no fast response transition layers) and the Balance (which uses 2" of Talalay which is a very high resilience fast response material) over the firmer polyfoam rebond core (90 % polyfoam and 10% latex).
There are many of these in different designs (just like the ones I listed are all in a similar category or group but different in the specifics of their design) but the “value” of each would depend on the specifics of the mattress, the store you purchased from, what else is available to you and the “finalists” you are comparing, and on your personal value equation. Restonic’s Healthrest line, Therapedic’s Ecogel line, and the King Koil XL line, Symbol, and Eclipse are some examples or larger manufacturers that come to mind off the top of my head that include some mattresses that used “mixed” comfort/transition layers but they are also made by many other manufacturers (large and small) in one version or another. I don’t keep a list of specific mattress constructions (that would be an impossible job to keep up with) so you would need to call stores or manufacturers in your area to tell them your specific criteria (thinner layers of memory foam over faster response transition layers over a firmer support layer) to see if they had any mattresses that used this type of combination. You could also ask if they carried any mattresses that used both memory foam and latex in the comfort layers to make the question simpler for them to understand. Many manufacturers (online or local) could also custom build a mattress like this.
There are many people who like this “hybrid” comfort / transition layer combination (including me) but like any category of mattress there are many variations that may be available in each area of the country or online and it will take some calls (and probably a knowledgeable sales person that doesn’t go “huh” to your questions) once you have identified your general preference for this type of combination.
This is a similar “mix” of faster response and more resilient layers combined with slower response less resilient layers but it’s a little more difficult to find with the more resilient layers on top. It happens to be my own personal preference in mixed layers compared to having the slower response materials on top (I like a more resilient sleeping surface) but this is always personal preference.
If you let me know the city or zip where you live I can take a very quick scan of what may be available in the area to see if anything similar jumps out at me but other than that it would take more detailed “preliminary” phone calls with the retailers or manufacturers in your area to identify mattresses that fit your criteria that you could go and test.
Phoenix