Hi BillyIdol, welcome to the Mattress Underground

Glad to have you here.
Ive been informally testing mattresses for 25 years. I started to develop some rules and theories. And finally shared a final choice.
Thanks for sharing your 25 years of lessons learned “informally testing mattresses” This is a great shortlist! As you have found, mattress selection is personal to the sleeper, based on PPP(Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) and personal stats. I’d add to your list mattress longevity concerns especially as you have an older Tempur line from early 2000 when they used quality materials and their memory foams had 5.3lbs/cuft and were listed on their site. Even though they were quite expensive compared with smaller manufacturers that used similar or better materials. Later on, Tempur changed foam densities for various lineups and did not provide densities for their products. That makes purchase from them riskier as now they lack transparency and do not provide the
mattress specifications you need to know
so you can compare the quality of the materials and components to the
mattress durability guidelines here
and determine how long is your mattress likely to last (no matter how well any of their products feels in the shop) As you can see from this guidelines this is increasingly risky at your 31.4 kg/m2 higher BMI.
Great observation on reviews. Reviews are subjective to that particular consumer (who has their own unique set of needs and preferences) and they are “rushed” by the companies to give their review right after the purchase which does not say anything about how the bed feels and performs over time. To make matters even worse, there are sometimes sneaky ‘paid for’ ads masquerading as reviews. With the internet now so ubiquitous all over the world, you can’t really tell if the reviewer may have an agenda and not just an opinion. Thanks for your confidence in the
Trusted Members
of the site; these manufacturers have been vetted for their quality of materials, , excellent customer service, but especially transparency in components and construction, unlike the ‘big box’ retailers, which have little to no factual information so you can’t really tell if they fit criteria for durability and lasting comfort.
And as you found testing in a showroom is a good practical first step, but as you point out, there are many factors in the retail environment that can affect how a mattress feels as well as their level or tiredness and state at the moment of testing. A lot of good observations! A knowledgeable consumer is a successful consumer.
I bought a Tempurpedic Deluxe bed around 2002 ish (not sure the exact year). That mattress was magical. I remember that Brookstone also had their own Tempurpedic mattress, but I bought the Tempur one. I still have it, but now it is giving me backpain. Im a back sleeper (90%) and side(10%) and 5 ft 11in and 225 pounds. In 2020, I bought a Purple 4, big mistake for me. At my weight, it was killing my back. I started to realize the importance of adjustability in firmness.
Even with having good quality foams back in 2000 Tempurpedic were significantly overpriced when compared to many other memory foam mattresses that use equal quality materials in similar layering. Each memory foam has a certain feel though which is independent of its quality so because Tempurpedic is so widely available and was the first to market ... it has become the "standard" to which others are compared both in terms of quality and feel which they have used to full advantage in their marketing materials and in their pricing. A great deal of confusion in both consumers and in the memory foam market along with continual aggressive advertising has allowed them to maintain and even increase this perception ... at least till recently.
Im on the verge of buying either a Tempurpedic Luxe Adapt Firm or LuxeBreeze Firm. I will probably get Luxe Adapt Firm!!! I know its big box, but its to die for!! Amazing mattress!!
You can see in Phoenix’s
Major Mattress Manufacturers article
this year that Tempur-Sealy are number 1 and 2 market share but as Phoenix often says “They ... they are no longer the "quality" leader or the "feel" leader ... however they remain the leader in name recognition and are a common "safe" choice for people who aren't aware of other mattresses of equal quality that they can reasonably compare them to.”
Both the (13”) Tempurpedic Luxe and (13”) Luxe Breeze Firm have comfort and support layers unknown composition, density and in some thickness, As they use proprietary foams for their products, its difficult to obtain these important specifications. Not that you won’t be perfectly comfortable with these mattresses, but it would be difficult to determine the durability or longevity of the mattress without this information, which are especially important at your BMI.
I tried a few beds at Nest Bedding. I thought I liked the Finch Latex. Then I tried a few other mattresses for 30 min and came back to the Finch and now it felt different. I don't think I will get it.
The only other contender that I see is the Flobed Vzone because your can adjust layers and the the Vzone. Im torn between Tempur LuxeAdapt Firm and Vzone.
I think I might buy Vzone and if I don't like it, return it Let me know your thoughts! Any other mattresses that I should try out. Im in the Los Angeles area.
You have a surplus of options for showrooms and manufacturers in Los Angeles…I’d keep in mind that Tempur and Vzone are 2 different types of mattressess and will feel different. Tempur has memory foam in the upper layers and Vzone is an all latex bed. If you like the feel of latex then
Flobeds
would be a great quality/value mattress. FloBeds are a very knowledgeable and transparent manufacturer and have excellent customer response and return policy, their
vZone Latex Mattress
is a very well-constructed latex mattress if you are leaning towards latex as a preference. They also have a
dedicated forum page here
if you have any questions.
All in all, it sounds like you have enough experience and idea of what you want. Please let us know if you have additional questions or let us know your experience with whichever mattress you finally decide on.
Basilio