Hi KareninKC,
The "value" and durability of any mattress can only be known if you know the details of all the layers in the mattress. While PPP of course (Pressure relief, Posture and alignment, and Personal preferences) is also a very important part of value ... knowing the quality of the materials in your mattress is the only way to identify any potential weak links and how long a mattress may maintain the qualities that you bought it for in the first place or its relative value compared to other mattresses that use similar materials. Aireloom is typically is a much more costly choice than other manufacturers that use the same quality and type of materials in their mattress. I would personally never buy a mattress where you don't know exactly what is in it.
I would like to know if anyone has any feedback on this bed. The gentleman who was helping me owned the Aireloom. He was a large man, about 6'3" and solid, probably about 250+ pounds. He used to be a physical therapist for athletes, I believe, so he was very knowledgable and did show me a cutaway of the bed. The latex is not talalay or dunlop, but the bed felt like a dream.
The quality of materials has nothing to do with how a mattress feels or performs because even the lowest quality materials can feel great in a showroom and for some time after that. They just don't last as long. His comment that the latex was neither Talalay nor Dunlop is just factually not correct because all latex used in mattresses is made through either one or the other process (or variations of one or the other).
Any thoughts? It's a lot of money to spend. I was hoping to keep it around $1600, not $2600. But the feel is amazing compared to the competition, and I have tried them all.
I would have a difficult time imagining that you have tried them all. Regardless of this though ... if your
personal value equation
puts the highest value on "showroom feel" and the quality or value or durability of the components and materials themselves are much less important, then any choice that matches your personal value equation can be a good one. I personally would never make a "blind mattress purchase" because the risks are just too high and no matter how it feels in a showroom or for the first year or two after that ... if you are buying a mattress for this kind of money I would want to know how it would hold up over the years.
As an analogy ... if you are buying a piece of furniture and one is made of particle board with a beautiful veneer and the other is made of solid wood nicely finished ... they can both perform exactly the same functions and may both look great. The difference is that particle board is not as durable and won't last as long and I personally would not pay real wood prices if I knew that what I was buying contained particle board.
If you are buying a mattress and you don't know the specifics of what is in every layer ... the odds are very high that you are paying real wood prices for particle board. Whether the initial showroom comfort and "feel" of a mattress justifies this is of course up to each person to decide but I personally wouldn't consider it when there are so many better options available.
Phoenix