Alright, so at Matelas Selection the price was about $2200 for a king size with the following construction:
2" aqua gel foam
2" Talalay 28 ILD
1-1/4" 50W foam
4-3/4" Foam core HR 38.
(Originally the core was 6" at 38 but they suggested that to soften things up, they’ll make it 4-3/4" and replace the top 1-1/4 of the core with a 50W layer)
I know you addressed the aqua gel in this thread but I’ve got 2 more questions: how is the temperature regulation like for that material? How long do you think the aqua gel will last? Will it be minimally impacted during your 10 year rule of thumb period? I am expecting the layers below to outlast it, but I hope it won’t be a 5-year life.
What we like about Matelas Selection is the construction of gel over latex and the fact that carry 28 ILD and this gel foam. This allows for a bouncy mattress, the correct level of firmness for us and it is very adjustable in case of comfort guarantee activation, plus they seem like people that would adjust the mattress with a smile. They have the largest selection of latex ILDs out of all the places we visited. The other way to implement the same thing would have been their gel over poly over springs option (also mentioned on this site before) but the girlfriend and the guy who helped us both pointed to the foam + latex construction.
Literie Provincale are also nice people and the mattresses are quite cheaper and they’re very knowledgeable about the industry’s history, practices, financial situation and more. But I find that their approach is more conservative. They’ve been using the same constructions for decades (which is a good thing, but conservative), they seem biased toward keeping these constructions, and they also have somewhat of a bias toward European ‘practices’ or ‘styles’ as well as more breathable and natural materials. More purists, in a way. Unfortunately this comes with side effects, which includes them not carrying with aqua gel but, more importantly, not having a latex ILD that is somewhere between 21 and 36. We only feel good with 36 far out in the core, and 21 is too soft for us in the comfort layers.
I do have questions relating to the materials mentioned above: in 100% natural talalay is there some kind of financial reason why a mattress manufacturer would carry 21 & 36 ILD but nothing in the middle like 28 and 32?
Pegabo