Hi Nat,
Thanks for the update … I appreciate it.
[quote]Is the 1799 price tag worth the crummy exchange policy of my local brick & mortar store?
(or would I be better off buying slabs from Arizona and picking up at the border?)
Should I try to re-create the Dolchezza? Are the specs somewhere? [/quote]
This would really be a matter of “best judgement”, your confidence in your testing on the Beautiful (and the likelihood that you will need an exchange) and the importance to you of having good exchange options. In terms of whether you would be better off ordering the layers separately along with a stretch knit cover similar to the Beautiful it would depend on whether you were able to buy the same layers in the same ILD and a very similar cover and how the final cost of doing so compared to the Beautiful.
The exchange process with the Dolcezza would be more flexible and have more options after a purchase. The price of the Beautiful is certainly good (assuming that it’s new and not a comfort exchange or a warranty return and still has the original manufacturers warranty). You can see the design specs of the Dolcezza here but they are not specific about the density and of course they provide options for the layers so their “comfort specs” will vary with the specific choice that their customers make. Density or ILD numbers may also not be accurate or specific so it may be difficult to “approximate” another mattress unless you know for sure that the layers you are trying to approximate are the same as the ones you are considering purchasing. You can read about one retailer’s ILD “guesses” about the Greensleep layers in post #15 here and Greensleep’s comments about them. Even if you are provided with density specs (which is normally a more reliable way to compare Dunlop) they may not be correct in some cases (see post #2 here). Trying to match one mattress to another would require good confidence that you know all the specs of the mattress you are trying to approximate that the type of latex, the thickness of each layer, and the ILD or density of each layer along with the specifics of the cover are very close (see post #9 here about matching one mattress to another).
At the end of the day the most important part of the “value” of a purchase and what you will remember the most is the quality of your sleep over the years and the length of time you were able to sleep on it and although the initial price of a mattress will always be an important factor … it may not be as important a part of each person’s personal value equation as their confidence that a mattress is a good match in terms of PPP or the options they have after a purchase if it isn’t. All of this would be part of each person’s final choice once they have eliminated the worst options and are choosing between good and good.
I also agree with diynaturalbedding’s comments about St Peter’s Woolen mill and I also found them very helpful and informative (see post #3 here).
Phoenix