Hi hawkdevil,
I’m sorry to hear that your mattresses didn’t work out for you as well as you hoped for. Baybed in particular is a particularly high quality and great value mattress and as you mentioned they have great service as well but of course the quality and value of a mattress has little to nothing to do with how well you may sleep on it.
There is more about the most important parts of the value of a mattress purchase in post #13 here.
I would keep in mind that nobody else can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone else to know which mattress may be the best match for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) based on specs (either yours or a mattress) so your own careful testing and experience will be the most reliable way to know whether any particular mattress is a good match for you (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). I would encourage you to do some local testing on different types of mattresses to see which types of mattresses and materials you tend to prefer and do best with so you will have some good reference points regardless of whether you end up purchasing locally or making another online purchase. If you use the testing guidelines in the tutorial post you will have the best chance of success. There is also more about the “risks” involved with different ways of choosing a mattress in post #2 here that would also be well worth reading. At least you had the foresight to make sure that you had good options after a purchase in case your choices didn’t work out as well as you hoped for.
You seem to be leaning towards “top of the line” mattresses so I would also be aware that this may not be the best approach because a mattress that is more costly or that is “top of the line” doesn’t have anything to do with whether it will be a more suitable choice for you.
The tutorial post has most of the basic information, steps, and guidelines you will need to decide on the types of mattresses and materials you may be interested in testing and to help you make the best possible choice but every material has lower quality and higher quality versions so regardless of the types of mattresses or materials you are considering I would always make sure that the materials are high quality and durable so that there are no weak links in the mattress. When you get to step 3 in the tutorial then the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the San Jose, Santa Cruz, Salinas, and Monterey areas are listed in post #2 here.
Phoenix