Hello Sonic,
The insightful is the firmest of their latex mattresses and while it is “smart latex” (meaning it has inserts in it … likely polyfoam … to customize its feel), In my estimation it would be the rough equivalent of about 24-28 ILD dunlop latex meaning in the medium range.
This tells me that you seem to be OK with a firmer feel even though you also need pressure relief based on your side sleeping and your build. I would likely be looking at a comfort layer in the range of 24 ILD in the same thickness as the insightful (3"). I would have been shocked if Sealy gave you any truly meaningful information :). Your biggest challenge based on your body shape and weight would be to make sure that your shoulders are sinking in far enough so I wouldn’t likely go any firmer than 24 ILD. I am 6’ 5" and about 195 (tall and slim) with about a 10" differential between my chest and waist and a side sleeper. For me a 24 ILD was about as firm as I wanted to go in a comfort layer … although everyone is different in their preferences of course.
The sealy is not a great comparison to “real” latex since it is not even typical for Dunlop latex due to the engineered poly/latex construction of their smart foam.
We have 4 members that specialize in shipping mattresses across the country. 3 of them are ship in individual layers and have layer exchanges at very reasonable shipping costs. One of them ships a whole mattress and allows an exchange at very reasonable “subsidized” (less than actual) shipping rates.
They are …
ADDED: The original list here has been updated in post #21 here.
All of these offer better value than Habitat which only offers a 6" Dunlop core with an optional 2" or 3" Talalay comfort layer (that can’t be exchanged) at a higher cost than the equivalent (or better) from some of the members in the list.
Of course Sams Club/Costco/Walmart is always an inexpensive option because of their generous return policies but it is an “all or nothing” proposition and cannot be tailored to fit your own unique needs. Even here I would likely only consider them in the lowest budget range since their “all latex” (usually Dunlop) mattresses do not have the same value as the members listed previously.
If you let me know the city you live in I’ll be happy to take a look to see if there are any manufacturers near you or outlets where you could test various latex mattresses.
Phoenix