Hi Buffalo, NY,
You certainly did very well with your last mattress. The industry has changed a lot in that time and a mattress that lasts 15 years is much more rare than it was that long ago particularly for those who are purchasing major brands.
The first think I would suggest is to read post #1 here which has a series of steps and links to information that will greatly improve your odds of finding a good quality and value mattress that is suitable for your all needs and preferences. As you will read … a mattress is only as good as the construction and materials that are in it (regardless of brand) and without working with a retailer that will tell you the details of every layer in your mattress … you have no way of knowing it’s quality, potential durability, or value compared to other mattresses you may be considering. If a merchant either can’t or won’t provide you with this information … I would pass them by because a mattress purchase that is completely blind is like buying a piece of furniture that could be made of particle board but paying real wood prices because someone tells you it is good quality. You can’t “feel” quality in a showroom because both high quality and lower quality materials can feel the same but in a few years or less, lower quality materials will soften and degrade much more quickly … particularly in the all important upper layers of the mattress … and will lose their comfort and support. This “normal softening” of lower quality materials that are so common in mainstream mattresses isn’t covered by any warranty.
In the case of the Lotus Asana super Plush … it has 3" of Talalay latex over a 6" polyfoam core and then an additional 3" of unknown material to make up its 12" total. The additional 3" is probably soft polyfoam in the quilting layers (which would be a weak link in this and many other similar mattresses) and the mattress itself at the listed price is not good value at all compared to other mattresses that use similar materials. I would want to know the details of every layer (including the density of the polyfoam layers) and then make some “apples to apples” comparisons with other similar mattresses before considering it.
Most stores will tell you whatever they think you will believe. The truth is these mattresses “can’t” be flipped whether you want to or not because they are one sided (a mattress that can be flipped will be more durable than one that can’t be flipped) and the upper layers are likely made of a material (lower density polyfoam) which softens much more quickly than higher quality materials. It is the thicker layers of softer lower quality pollyfoam in the quilting and comfort layers of mattresses which are one of the most serious problems with mattress durability that has become such an issue for consumers in the last decade.
The better options I’m aware of in the Buffalo area are listed in post #29 here.
There are many local manufacturers across the country which provide better quality and value that are not (yet) members of this site but which I’ve listed with my comments in many of the lists around the forum. I do think highly of Jim and Jim at Jamestown and would certainly make them a priority in my research if i was in the Buffalo area. Local manufacturers in general (in most but not all cases) tend to be much better quality and value than any of the major brands that most people end up buying.
Phoenix