Hi DayMatt,
The foam guidelines I would suggest following are in post #4 here. If any polyfoam or memory foam is made in North America or is CertiPur certified then for most people it would be "safe enough and I would assess and compare them based on density. In the case of latex, all the latex you are likely to encounter would either be certified by Oeko-Tex or Eco-Institut and any type or blend of latex would be “safe enough” for most people and would be a good quality material relative to other types of foam. A good manufacturer or retailer should be able to tell you whether any polyfoam or memory foam in a mattress is made in North America or is CertiPur certified if it’s not.
The durability of a mattress depends on its construction and the quality/durability of the materials inside it … not on the name of the manufacturer that makes it. Latex is the most durable of all the foam materials regardless of which manufacturer uses it in their mattress and with a good quality latex mattress that has no weak links in the design then 5 - 8 years would be a much shorter lifespan than I would expect. There is more about the many factors that can affect the durability and useful life of a mattress relative to each person in post #2 here and the posts it links to. All manufacturers make a wide range of different mattresses and some will be more durable and some will be less depending on the specific design and materials in the mattress so this kind of information can be very misleading when it doesn’t specify a specific mattress. If two different mattresses made by two different manufacturers used the same materials and design then they would be equally durable regardless of who made it.
Comfort and support or what I call PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) has nothing to do with durability because a mattress that uses lower quality and less durable materials can be just as comfortable and supportive as a mattress that uses higher quality and more durable materials. It just won’t last as long. The best way to find a mattress that is a good “match” for you in terms of PPP is with careful and objective testing using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post.
[quote]Healthcare Crescendo:
11" Thick
One Sided (No-Flip/Neverturn)
3″ Gel Memory Foam
1″ Ventilated Memory Foam
3″ Plush Support Foam
4″ Posture Support Foam[/quote]
Unfortunately the description doesn’t include the quality of any of the layers (see this article) so there is no way for me to make any meaningful comments about it. If you can find out the specs that are missing (the density of all the foam layers) then I’d be happy to make some comments about the quality/durability of the materials inside it. Without this information there is no way to identify whether a mattress has any weak links or make meaningful comparisons with other mattresses.
[quote]Restonic Nevada Plush:
11" Thick
2" All Natural Talalay Comfort Layers
5" All Natural Talalay Latex Core
4″ polyfoam stabilizer base
All Natural Bamboo Cover[/quote]
Talalay latex is a high quality and durable material and this mattress doesn’t have any obvious weak links. I would want to know the density of the 4" polyfoam base layer (it’s likely 1.5 lb) so you could make more meaningful comparisons with other mattresses but the density of the base layer wouldn’t be a significant durability issue if there is 7" of latex on top of it. If this mattress is a good match for you in terms of PPP then it would certainly be worth considering if it also compares well with your other finalists based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are important to you.
Phoenix