Hi SAH,
Hoopefully abbygrant will see your post and share their comments but I can make a few comments that may also be helpful.
I would keep in mind that the “feel” of a mattress is very subjective and is different from the softness of the top few inches that primarily provides pressure relief or the firmness/softness of the transition and support layers that primarily provide support. Their Comfort Plus layer is polyfoam which would provide additional softness and pressure relief to the mattress but would have a different and more resilient “feel” from a memory foam top layer. Describing “feel” is like describing taste … everyone may have a very different opinion.
I don’t know how long you’ve been sleeping on your mattress but I would keep in mind that there will be a break in and adjustment period for any new mattress or sleeping system as the mattress loses any of it’s “false firmness” and the cover stretches and loosens a little and the materials settle and your body gets used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to (see post #3 here and post #2 here). This would typically be a few weeks but it can be shorter or longer depending on the specifics of the person and the mattress (higher density materials like latex can take longer) and it can be surprising to many people how much their sleeping experience can change over the course of the first month or so.
I would also keep in mind that while other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful, you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and I would be cautious about about using anyone else’s suggestions, experiences or reviews on a specific mattress (either positive or negative) or review sites in general as a reliable source of information or guidance about how you will feel on the same mattress or how suitable or how durable a mattress may be for you. In many if not most cases they can be more misleading than helpful because a mattress that would be a perfect choice for one person or even a larger group of people in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP may be completely unsuitable for someone else to sleep on (even if they are in a similar weight range). In other words … reviews or other people’s experiences in general won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here).
There are no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.
In other words … the only way to know for certain whether another mattress would feel softer or firmer to you and “how much” it would feel softer or firmer (particularly if it’s rated in a similar firmness range) and whether it would be a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) will be based on your own personal experience … regardless of any other person’s experience on the same mattress. This is alsowhy a good return/exchange policy can be a more important part of the “value” of an online purchase so you can base your assessment on your own experience rather than anyone else’s experience which may be very different from your own.
When you can’t test a mattress in person (or a mattress/topper combination) then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
Phoenix