Hi arx,
The durability of a mattress is relative to each person so reviews could only give an indication of the durability of a mattress if the review included the specifics of all the layers and components in the mattress or if everyone who reviewed a mattress came back in 10 years or so and shared their experience along with their specific body type and sleeping style and mattress preferences. Unless the materials are specifically mentioned then in most cases consumers have no idea about what they are sleeping on. There are tens of thousands of people for example who believe they are sleeping on latex because that’s what they were told at the store when in fact their mattress has a layer of latex buried somewhere inside and in between lower quality materials which will soften and compress much too quickly. The problem is that the vast majority of reviews are written in the first few weeks of ownership by people who know little about the materials in their mattress and by the time a longer term review would be meaningful in terms of durability then that mattress wouldn’t be available anymore anyway so once again you would be back to needing to know the durability of the materials in the mattress.
It’s the materials that give the mattress its durability … not the manufacturers label.
I do agree though that a review is a useful source of information about a business and their knowledge and service.
The properties of latex are well known and it has been in use for longer than any other foam material. Unfortunately the major brands tend not to use latex as much as smaller manufacturers because it’s more difficult to claim that it’s a proprietary material (they don’t like people to compare their mattresses to other brands) and attach the profit margins that they need along their supply chain.
The biggest challenge with latex is not verifying its durability … almost every knowledgeable manufacturer that has been working with it for decades will validate that it’s the most durable foam material … but finding a latex mattress where you know the details of the layers inside your mattress so you can know it’s really a latex mattress and be able to test a range of different designs both to make sure you like the material (not everyone does) and to find the design that works best for you (there is a huge range of different “feels” in latex mattresses).
Fortunately if you avoid the major brands and chain stores (which are normally a poor choice anyway) latex mattresses of many different types are fairly widely available across the country.
You can test this in person to make sure that any mattress provides you with good support / spinal alignment although there are probably better options available than a mattress that uses a single layer of latex … at least for most people.
Some of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Detroit / Ann Arbor area are listed in post #2 here.
Phoenix