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Elemental and resto doesn't have quite the same gear, but they are similar enough. Resto gear has will have spirit and no hit while elemental gear won't have it but might have hit.
If you are talented for spirit -> hit conversion, you can use resto gear for elemental, but using elemental gear for resto is iffy, since you'll suffer with mana regen. I don't think it will be an issue at lower level instances, but once you get to higher level stuff, you'll want the regen. It's definitely going to be necessary when you go into cata instances.
I think you are slightly overthinking things. The difference between hit and regen gear while leveling makes almost no difference with the changes to healing in instances. Its almost impossible to run out of mana currently. Leather heirloom items is more than good enough for healing as well. The 5% bonus stat isnt big enough to make a difference while leveling, and with enhance's already imba survivability the loss of armor makes almost no difference either.
After level 80 however mail is certainly the way to go due to those hard hitting mobs, but at that stage heirlooms isnt usefull anymore either, so quest gear can be taken to replace the leathers.
I never said you can't level to 80 with the leather heirlooms. I just said that they aren't the best for it and why.
Also, mana regen has been nerfed for healers at high levels. I'm not sure if it only kicks in at 85 or if it appears at 81. But I do know that mana costs of spells increase dramatically once you hit 81. I suggest that if anyone wants to run as Resto in an instance at 81+ that they have Resto gear for it.