Hi there:

I have a Natural/Organic store in Bellevue Washington and know a bit about latex beds. I am not familiar with the Astrabeds though. Savvy Rest is an excellent resource for this information (and they make excellent mattresses) and you can read their blog savvyrest.com/blog/exploring-ild.

I believe that a 26 ild is much too soft for a base layer even in Talalay latex. Donlop soft is approximately 22 - 30 ild and Talalay soft is approximately 20 - 24 ild. You can put the soft at the bottom if you are also working with layers. The best is 3 layers: soft 20 - 30 ild, firm 35 - 40+ ild and medium 30 - 39 ild. If this is the configuration you want, I would recommend putting the firm in the middle, and the medium on top, soft on the bottom. This will make a 'firm' mattress with a bit of cush or you can put firm at the bottom, medium middle and soft on top for a cushier feel. I would not recommend going with 26 ild for the entire mattress - too soft in my opinion and you will dip too low. I also don't recommend buying a mattress that you have not tried as each mattress feels different and it is very hard to pick without trying it. I hope this helps you and good luck in your search.