I really appreciate this website and I have been reading this for over a year now. I am making my own bed and ran into some delays, so the mattress choice has also been delayed. But I think I’m within a month of finishing the bed frame.
I really want to love all latex. But just can’t take the jump to all latex. Ideal would be a 50/50 mix but I don’t find that anywhere.
I have the European Sleepworks store near me. After all my research and testing I keep coming back to this store.
I have narrowed it to the Nordic HDM and the Calico. I have looked at the specs online. The price between the two is pretty significant, 1800 to 3000 for a queen, yet the specs are not a lot different, and the feel was not significantly different. Is there something I’m missing that I should know before choosing the cheaper option?
Hi nap101,
They would be the best source of guidance about the specific differences between them but it would come down to some combination of any differences in the cost of the materials and components in each mattress (they are similar but not the same) and possibly the margins that are built in to the price of each of them.
While I can’t speak to any differences between them in terms of comfort, firmness, or PPP … neither one has any lower quality materials or weak links in the design so they would be closely comparable in terms of durability.
Once you have narrowed down your options to a list of finalists that are all choices between “good and good” (which it seems they are) and none of them have any lower quality materials or “weak links” in their design relative to your weight range (which they don’t) and if there are no clear winners between them (which is usually a good indication that you have done some very good research) then you are in the fortunate position that any of them would likely be a suitable choice and post #2 here can help you make a final choice based on your local testing or mattresses you have slept well on, your more detailed conversations about each of them, your confidence about PPP and the suitability of each one, their prices, your preferences for different types of materials, the options you have after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or exchange or return the mattress or individual layers, any additional extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
If there is really little difference between them that would affect well you sleep on each of them or on how long you will sleep well and if there aren’t any other obvious differences between them based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are important or compelling to you would the more costly mattress really be worth the difference in cost?
Phoenix
I have been checking ESW mattresses. The Calico HDM has more coils in the support core and the minicoil layer. They both have the same number of microcoils.
Hi Little George,
Both of these mattresses would be very comparable in terms of durability so I would choose the one that your careful testing indicated was the best match for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) and that you would be most likely to sleep best on. I would need a compelling reason to choose the one that was more costly if there really isn’t a meaningful difference between them that you can actually feel or that makes a difference in terms of your comfort/pressure relief or your support/alignment on each mattress.
Phoenix
thanks all.
I did prefer the feel of the Calico, But it wasn’t a $1200 difference. I did go with the Nordic HDM.
I think over time the more I test and compare the more confused I get. I don’t think I’m a princess and pea kind of person. One day I will have one preference. A couple weeks later I try out the same mattress and have a different reaction. The day I went in to purchase they all felt wrong. But I was so tired of the process I chose the one I liked the past 2 times.
Hi nap101,
Congratulations on your new mattress 
You certainly made a good quality/value choice and I’m looking forward to your comments and feedback once you’ve received it and have had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
Sometimes mattresses are a little like buying clothes or shoes and it’s not unusual that people prefer one mattress sometimes and a different mattress at other times and it’s also easy to “overthink” your choices (and/or going back to mattresses that you have already ruled out for one reason or another which isn’t generally a great idea) but as long as you have tested it carefully to confirm that it’s a good match for you in terms of Posture and alignment and Pressure relief in all your sleeping positions (which are the two basic “needs” in a mattress) then it should be fine.
Phoenix