loripedi,
The two most important parts of any mattress purchase is PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) which is the most important and the quality of the materials so that you have some reasonable assurance that the mattress you are looking at has no obvious weak links that will soften or break down more quickly than it should and that the comfort and support will be maintained over a reasonable length of time.
When you are testing a mattress locally then you can test the mattress for PPP and when you are considering an online purchase then you are dependent on your conversations with the manufacturer, any local mattresses you have tested that are rough equivalents, and any return policy to reduce the risk of making a choice that is less than ideal. These are all part of each person’s personal value equation.
You can read a little more about soft solid gel materials (which are the type of gel used in the top layer of the Sherwood mattress) in post #4 here. It’s a very durable material but is also relatively firm so it’s usually only used in thinner layers with softer materials underneath it. It’s also more thermally conductive than memory foam which only has a percentage of gel infused inside it. It’s not a weak link in any mattress so you can focus on how it feels in the mattress you are testing rather than its technical specs. There is also much more information about gel materials in general in post #2 here and the links it includes for those that want more detailed information (although this won’t tell you how you will feel on the mattress).
I would also want to know the density of all the other layers in the Sherwood mattress so you can make sure it doesn’t have any weak links and you can make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
There are some comments about Sherwood and one of the Conforma mattresses in this thread but it may not be the same mattress you are looking at.
Once you know the details of the Sherwood and can make sure that it has no weak links … then you would be down to your finalists that are choices between “good and good”. When there are no “poor” choices or clear winners between them then “best judgement” and all the other objective, subjective, and intangible differences between each mattress purchase is the only way to decide and make your final choice between them (see post #2 here).
Phoenix