Hi stevejarek,
While other people’s comments about the knowledge and service of a particular business can certainly be very helpful … I would always keep in mind that 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).
The reason I don’t give specific recommendations isn’t because I need to stay impartial or because I am the site owner (although both of these are true) … but because it’s just isn’t possible. If there was an algorithm that could input all the complex information about each person’s weight and weight distribution and body measurements and sleeping positions and all their many other individual and unique needs and preferences and then somehow “match” these with all the many variables and specs that are part of the design of the many thousands of mattresses that are available in the industry that would result in their “perfect” mattress (regardless of whether it would be a “perfect” mattress for anyone else) I would certainly do so but it just doesn’t exist in the industry.
In other words … I wouldn’t be doing a service to anyone or the industry itself or helping to educate people about “how” to choose in ways that can take all the many variables into account if I was to somehow suggest that making specific recommendations was even possible for me or anyone no matter how much anyone (including me) may wish it was.
Having said that … I would certainly agree with you that the BME would make a great quality/value choice that would certainly be worth serious consideration for those that like the feel and response of latex comfort layers.
The same comments would apply to the Novosbed for those that prefer the feel and response of memory foam (or the materials and design of the other mattresses you mentioned).
In the replies so far there are suggestions for 3 different mattresses (BestMattressEver, Helix, and Novosbed) and if there were a dozen replies with different people that had each done good research each making one or two different recommendations for different mattresses based only on their own personal experience and criteria … then even if all of them used high quality and durable materials that were suitable for someone’s weight range a person reading them would be more confused than ever because they would have no idea which of the suggestions or recommendations would apply to their own unique needs and preferences.
Phoenix