A little background: I am 6’1" 240lbs, not a lot of back issues or anything major. Currently sleep on a Tempurpedic king size Rhapsody but am losing it in my divorce… so… time to buy papa a new bed. Rhapsody
Any suggestions on which firmness to get? I hate really squishy beds - medium to medium firm works great for me.
All of your choices would be “worth” it to different people depending on your own personal value equation. You can see some of the different factors that may be more or less important to different people in post #46 here.
My goal is to help people get down to final choices where all the “poor choices” or mattresses that have obvious weak links have been eliminated and they are choosing between “good and good”. You have certainly reached this point and all your choices are among the best value available in the country.
The choice between an all latex mattress and a latex/polyfoam hybrid is really an apples to oranges comparison and you can see some of my thoughts about this in post #2 here.
Post #2 here talks about some of the benefits of the Dreamfoam Eurotop compared to the Ultra Plush version they offer.
Firmness choices should always be discussed with the manufacturer or retailer themselves. They have much more detailed knowledge of every material and component in the mattresses they make or sell and how they interact with different people and also have the benefit of a customer base that they can use as a reference point to match the specific models and options they have available to the different needs and preferences of their customers. Their guidance would be much better than any “theory at a distance” I could suggest that doesn’t take into account every layer and component of their mattress (in many cases I’ve never even seen their mattresses and of course don’t have the detailed knowledge that they do about all the components and materials). For me to make any kind of meaningful suggestions (outside of the more general guidelines for height and weight, sleeping positions, and different types of layering that are in the mattresses section of the site) would require a much longer phone discussion that included much more details than basic weight/height and sleeping position information and would need reference points of mattresses that you have tested where the materials and layering was known along with how each one performed and felt to you.
Once you are down to making these types of good value final choices … your conversations with each manufacturer to help identify which of the objective, subjective, and intangible benefits of each mattress and the manufacturer you are dealing with is the most important to you is best way to make your final choices. There is no right or wrong … only which of the many tradeoffs and differences are most important to you.
I’ve often mentioned that when I bought my last mattress … it took me weeks of agonizing to eliminate some choices that I really didn’t want to eliminate at all and in the end it was a small detail that tipped the balance (I wanted quiltable latex in my cover which at the time seemed more important that it probably really was but there had to be some basis for making a final decision :)). Final choices between good and good can be the hardest part of all but each person needs to make them based on their own personal “value equation”.