Hi bidzer,
The Beautiful you are looking at may be the “all natural” version because the price you are mentioning is more than the “natural” version (unless the difference is the tax or other costs included in the price). The “all natural” uses 100% natural Talalay and the natural version uses blended Talalay. I know the terminology that PLB uses is very confusing and IMO also somewhat misleading. They should call the “natural” version “blended” IMO.
In any case … the only real advantage of the “all natural” (assuming this is what you are quoting) is that it’s natural and a little more “supportive” (all natural latex is denser than the blend and gets firmer a little faster than the blend as you sink into it more). The blended is more durable in softer ILD’s, more pressure relieving and has a lower cost. Generally the people who prefer the “all natural” are those who want a higher natural latex content for it’s own sake rather than for any performance improvement and are willing to accept a higher price and lower durability (in the softer comfort layers) in exchange. The specs of the “natural” Beautiful are here (and the "all natural would be similar)
The “organic” SleepEz 13000 would be the closest model they have to the “all natural” Beautiful and you would need to custom order the layers to come closer (SleepEz “standard” soft is 22-24 ILD which is slightly firmer than the top 3" of the Beautiful). It would have an extra inch of soft latex in the second layer (from the top) and the PLB would have an extra inch of very firm talalay in the bottom layer. The “rough equivalent” cover would be the SleepEz unquilted zip cover. The PLB is also glued and the SleepEz is not so this would also make a bit of a difference in feel. Overall they would be reasonably close but not exact. The price difference would be significant (over $1000) which for me would certainly justify an online order with the slight additional risk.
You could also order the blended version of the 13000 which would save you more yet (another $500 or so).
I would suggest talking to Shawn about your options because I’m not so sure that this would be the best choice of layering even though it would be very soft and “cushy”. Using the unquilted cover would also mean that you may lose the option of choosing different ILD’s in each side of your top layer (if any difference in your body types and sleeping styles make this a desirable option) because the lack of wool in the quilting may make the “split” more noticeable. While 12" of latex is very nice … it’s also not necessary except for heavier weights, as part of a specific design that requires it, or as a preference.
The L&P is also not the best “value” in an adjustable bed IMO (see the adjustable bed thread here) but Olejo is a good pricing reference (The S-Cape is here if this is the one you were referring to) because they carry all the major brands and their prices are good.
Overall … while I love a local purchase, in this case the mattress you are looking at is not a locally designed and manufactured mattress and is not in the same “value range” as most of the better quality/value latex mattresses made by local manufacturers (including the 2 sided all latex mattresses that Worley makes or at least was making before they started to carry the PLB and I don’t know if the PLB has “replaced” them). You’ve probably already seen this but there is a list of manufacturers in and around Boston in post #2 here and there are links to some feedback about many of the manufacturers mentioned in post #2 here.
When any “local” premium is more than about 20% or so (and this of course would vary depending on each person and their “value equation”) … then it may certainly be time to start seriously considering some of the better online manufacturers or outlets as part of your options.
Phoenix