What type of mattress to buy – hard decision!

Hello John and Ryan,
First, can I say how great your website is to anyone trying to decipher the complexities of which mattress to buy…
We’ve been mulling over our choice of mattress for months, but the time has come to choose and buy, given the state of our current mattress (a KS Silentnight Miracoil – Memory). We want to buy a mattress from JR.
We’ve tried a few mattress types, but still aren’t sure what type to buy. I think the problem for us is that its really difficult to make a decision based on a short test in a shop – we’re aware that living with a mattress for 8 hours a night will be completely different to first impressions ?
So we have tried out Dunlopillo, Tempur and Vi-spring mattresses and we felt we could sleep on any of them – which makes our decision difficult. Our first impressions were:
– Dunlopillo latex – comfortable but seemed to lack the responsiveness of the Tempur or the springiness of a pocket sprung. Good but not our favourite. I had expected to like this mattress given all you say about how good latex it on your site, but I think we preferred the Tempur. Out of our price range so we’d buy JR Fusion latex model.
-Tempur – we liked this a lot – the way you sink in and it moulds to your body giving all over support. The Tempur ‘Hybrid’ was probably our favourite as it was ‘springy’ but also ‘sinky’; we also liked the Cloud. So we’re considering a JR Hybrid (Tempur way too expensive for us).
-Vi Spring Regal Superb – again we liked this (too expensive so we’d buy JR Artisan Naturals). The sumptuous upholstery was lovely but the mattress wasn’t as ‘springy’ or responsive as we had expected – but probably because we’re comparing it what we’re used to sleeping on! Also aware that the mattress probably needs to be ‘run in’ so will change over time?
So – we’re trying to decide whether to stick with a tried and sprung mattress (the type we’ve always owned, and been satisfied with) – or whether to take a bit of a risk and go for a Hybrid / Foam type?
I wondered if most people who make the switch to Foam (JR Hybrid) still content years down the line? Do some people make the switch to foam, but then regret it and wish they’d stuck with pocket springs? It feels like a big investment and risk to make the switch.
I’m also slightly put off the Foam / Hybrids because of the quite mixed reviews you read on the internet about Tempur. And Which? magazine report a mixed picture for Tempur mattresses – they seems to have mixed approvals ratings and some durability issues. I do appreciate though that JR Hybrids are not the same as Tempur, so its not fair to judge JR Hybrid on the basis of reviews of Tempur – but I’m thinking the technology is similar?
Also I wonder whether you think a mattress such as the JR Artisan Naturals will last us longer than the Hybrid Foam?
Finally, I think I will struggle to prize my wife away from an electric blanket – so I wondered whether the Hybrid models are suitable for use with an electric blanket – will it soften the foam when its hot, or damage the mattress over time? (Also, would there be any similar issues with the JR Artisan Naturals at all?)
We may go back to the shop to give them all another try.
We’d be really grateful for any thoughts you may have to help us with our decision (or if John or Ryan have 5 or 10 minutes to chat, that would be great too).
You must deal with hundreds or thousands of customers and it would be great to know what they think of their different mattress types when they’re 1, 2, 3…10 years down the line!
Thanks for your time – and for the website!
I look forward to placing an order with you soon.
T & M Jones
West Yorkshire