Hi anitabean,
The T3 mattress uses good quality materials but it is also not the best value … unless the comfort, support, and “feel” of the mattress is so much better than anything else you had available that it would be worth the extra money for someone compared to any other similar mattress that was available that had better “materials value”. It would also be important to make sure you get a layer by layer spec sheet for any mattress you buy so you have a meaningful way to compare it to other mattresses.
If your mattress is too firm and has no soft spots or hills and valleys and is still even on top … then a topper can certainly make sense to improve pressure relief. There is some risk involved though with adding any unknown layer to your sleeping system unless you have tested the specific mattress/topper combination in person before you buy it because it can be difficult to predict how any layer that you are not familiar with will interact with the layers of the mattress you have and with you. There are some topper guidelines in post #2 here that will give you better odds of making a good topper choice and of course any return policy offered by a retailer or manufacturer of a topper also reduces the risk of making a choice that doesn’t work out as well as you hoped. if your mattress is suitable for a topper though … it can certainly be a much better option than replacing the whole mattress and it also allows you to exchange just the topper for another one or to make changes down the road if your comfort needs change.
The Victoria and Island list is still up to date as far as I know and my comments on the list would still apply. There is some good quality and value available in the Victoria list but the Foam Guy in Nanaimo also has some great quality and value mattresses that are a little different as well that may well justify a trip over the hat. This would be a personal choice based on your own personal value equation, on how attractive their mattresses were to you compared to what was available in Victoria, and on whether any differences in the mattresses available and/or prices justified the time and travel expenses. I would certainly start with testing in Victoria at least and then expand to up island testing if your experiences indicated it was a good idea. As you probably know from reading the site … each person has a different set of factors that are more or less important and my focus is more on helping the members here with how to choose and how to make meaningful comparisons then with what to choose.
Phoenix