Hi kgressler,
Thanks for the update.
I’m sorry to hear that your firmness choice didn’t work out for you as well as you hoped for but the good news is that you had the foresight to choose a mattress that has a great return policy so you could try out the mattress in your bedroom instead of a showroom without any risk. As you know the only way to know for certain whether any mattress will be a suitable choice for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) will be based on your own careful testing or your own personal experience when you sleep on it so the return or exchange policy for an online choice would generally be a more important part of each person’s personal value equation.
A good quality topper will generally last more than just a “few” years and if a mattress/topper combination is a good “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP then having a separate topper has the advantage of being able to replace just the topper without replacing the entire mattress if it softens or breaks down before the upper foam layers in the mattress (which is very likely because the upper layers of a sleeping system tend to soften or break down before the deeper layers) or if your needs or preferences change over time. A suitable topper can also help extend the useful life of the mattress underneath it because it will absorb some of the compression forces that can soften or break down the top layers of the mattress underneath it over time.
Of course this would be a moot point if you don’t like the mattress/topper combination and regardless of any advantages or disadvantages of any type of “sleeping system” (such as having “just a mattress” or a mattress/topper combination) … different people can have very different preferences and criteria relative to all the many parts of their personal value equation that are most important to them.
Phoenix