The Great Bed Debate

I'm a comparison shopper to the core.  I research virtually every purchase I make--from shoes to cars and everything in between.  I am not an impulse shopper by any means.  I like to know that I'm getting the most out of my money.  We've recently decided to purchase a new mattress.  We spent more than $1,000 seven years ago on a Spring Air mattress at Sit N Sleep we are currently sleeping on.  It has decompressed on the sides where we sleep and there a "hill" now separating us.  I call it the Great Wall of Pillow Top.

So now that it's time to buy a new mattress, we started out today at Macy's for our first day of trying to find just the right mattress.  Things have changes in the last seven years.  There's memory foam and titanium lumbar supports.  There's visco foam and no flip-mattress mattresses.  My husband is convinced that about 50% of the stuff you hear about the "technology" of the mattresses is mumbo-jumbo and a line of cr@p.  I'm pretty convinced that they no longer make two-sided mattresses so that people have to purchase new mattresses more often.  On top of it all, my hubby is 6ft, 4in tall and I'm only 5ft, 5 in. tall, so needless to say, our needs in a mattress are a bit different.

Most frustrating of all if the fact that none of the stores have the "same" mattresses.  Ok.  Scratch that...they may have the same mattresses, but no two stores call the same mattress by the same name thus making it impossible for consumers to comparison shop and find the best value for their money.  How crazy is that?  Today at Macy's I really liked a Serta and Simmons mattress.  The mattress was great and Macy's said they would match any other stores advertised or documented price...but you can't because no store has the same name mattress!!!  Ugh!

Anyway, I'm not sure how the mattress saga will play out or how I will make myself feel better about not getting taken advantage of.  Any suggestions?