Hi paulieb81,
It’s possible that the latex mattresses you tested didn’t have a comfort layer that was either thick or soft enough since latex itself comes in firmness levels that range from ultra soft to very firm and there are many people with a similar body type to you that sleep very well on a latex mattress but the choice of materials or the type of mattress that you decide on is always a preference choice rather than a “better/worse” choice. Latex also tends to be less widely available than memory foam so your experience with latex would be limited to a smaller range of mattresses.
There are many variables that can affect sleeping temperature and not all of them are specific to the mattress (such as the temperature or humidity in a showroom or the clothes you are wearing when you test a mattress). It’s also not possible to quantify the temperature range that you will sleep in on a specific mattress because of all the variables involved and there aren’t any specific tests that allows consumers to compare different mattresses in terms of temperature regulation so you are limited to comparisons of the materials in more general terms along with the knowledge and experience of the manufacturer/retailer you are dealing with and “best judgement”.
I would keep in mind that gel memory foam will tend to have a temporary effect on temperature that typically only lasts while you are going to sleep at night and not over the entire course of the night and memory foam in general will tend to sleep warmer than other types of foam materials.
The Breeze technology generally has several components that would include anything in their mattresses that contribute to cooling. Tempurpedic doesn’t disclose all of the information you are looking for and they prefer to just tell their “story” without disclosing the why or how behind the story but the Breeze memory foam in the Cloud Luxe is their regular Tempur ES 4 lb memory foam with a very thin layer of gel that is “coated” on the memory foam that penetrates the memory foam slightly (see post #6 here) and the Breeze cover is made from Coolmax which is a synthetic fabric that is designed to help regulate temperature through its ability to wick moisture efficiently (see post #17 here).
The Select Foam Cirrus Luxe has gel that is dispersed throughout the memory foam (not just the top surface area). I don’t know the specifics of their top cover material so you would need to check with them for this.
I would keep in mind that the mattress protector and sheets you use will also be part of the many variables that will affect temperature regulation when you actually sleep on the mattress.
You can read more about soy or other “plant based” foams in post #2 here.
Phoenix
NOTE ADDED: Because of ongoing customer service issues and delays Select Foam’s membership has been terminated and I would read the warning here before considering them.