Hi cberni1,
Welcome to our Mattress Forum! 
I am glad you have found us.
I am thrilled to see consumers steering away from marketing stories and looking for factual information that helps make an informed mattress selection and find a good fit and long-lasting product.
I think that one of the biggest difficulties with this type of purchase is that there are many variables and uncertainties involved and also many dots to connect. That is why it is important to find out accurate information that you can verify which is why the approach that I generally take is that I treat the high level of uncertainty itself and the lack of transparency as a risk factor which means that finding out reliable and trustworthy information (such as foam density) would become even more important.
In the case of your finalists, you have the choice between good and good but the other part of the equation that is equally important would be selecting the best fit mattress for your particular needs and preferences. If a zippered cover is high on your priority list in your personal value equation that is most important to you, then neither Ghostbed nor Luma, have zippered covers.
GhostBed is not made of seven layers of memory foam. MF is not suitable to use as a support layer. It is dependent in any thickness on the support layer below it for primary support for the mattress, (by itself isn’t supportive enough to be used in the deeper support layers)… a mattress made of “seven layers of memory foam” would certainly compromise your posture and spinal alignment.
GhostBed has 2 seven-layer models each of 13" in thickness which one are you referring to?
(13") GhostBed Luxe Mattress~ Poly, Memory Foam Combos
(13") GhostBed Flex Mattress ~ Hybrid Gel Memory Foam with Individually Wrapped Coils
[quote]2. Luma Pros - US made, Tencel cover, perforated memory foam for cooling/breathability
Cons - doesn’t seem to have a removable cover, only has 1 layer of memory foam on top of the pocketed coils (not sure how much this matters but would seem to make it a little tougher)[/quote]
I am not sure which of their 4 lines you are considering but neither includes a memory foam layer. You’ll find instead High Density (HD) Polyfoam and/or Natural Latex so may wish to reassess and look at LumaSleep’s comparison page
All your 3 finalists are good quality/value products but I am having trouble seeing the “common denominator” when it comes to your needs and preferences. What were the determining factors in selecting either?
I am not sure how much you read since you found our site but to make a sound decision I’d be sure to read through the Mattress Shopping TutorialGenerally, I wouldn’t rely on someone else’s experience to help with your decision. What works for one person may be totally different than what works for you. There are far too many variables and unknowns (body types, sleeping styles, preferences, physiology, age, health conditions, sensitivities, special circumstances, etc) to use any formula, specs (either yours or a mattress), or “theory at a distance” based on basic height/weight/sleeping position information or any other person’s experience to choose a suitable mattress that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful and objective testing on local mattresses (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) that you can use to decide on a mattress that is “best” for you in terms of PPP (whether it is a local purchase or as a guideline for online purchase)
I’m always happy to with “how” to choose, to act as a "fact check, or to point to better manufacturers or retailers that have better quality and value but “what” to choose in terms of either a mattress or the balance between comfort/pressure relief and support/alignment that may be suitable for a specific person is always up to the only person who can feel what you feel on a mattress and best left to personal testing and your own experiences or if testing is not possible then a more detailed discussion with the more knowledgeable people at the retailers or manufacturers that sell a mattress you are considering.
As far as mattress reviews go… you definitely nailed it… always take them with a grain of salt, to say the least. Other people’s experiences in general, won’t tell you much if anything about the suitability, quality, durability, or “value” of a mattress for any particular person (see post #13 here ). I typically recommend avoiding considering reviews as any sort of a reliable indicator of the appropriateness of any particular product for one’s specific needs. What’s wrong with so many mattress “review” sites is that they are more like “revenue” sites who have it as their best interest to promote particular products, due to either reimbursed advertising or through affiliate commission-based programs where they are paid when people click through on their own web site to purchase a mattress.
For the stand-alone review websites… generally, “Review Data” is actually short-term reviews from people who are almost exclusively unqualified to render an educated opinion about the product they have purchased, and then that “data” is accrued and attempted to be passed off as homologated research. Again, this information is quite general and there are no reference baselines or true research cited for many of the claims made. Also, the “questionnaires” claiming to help consumers get a good fit mattress are also mining for more information from consumers about previous mattresses and for personal data. This information gets recycled and served again as part of the reviews chain. Also, reviews submitted on a particular company’s own website present additional issues as any “negative” reviews oftentimes get purged before long, more of the marketing tools and a way to gain consumer’s trust.
The problem with the “reviews-based” sales approach is that many companies entered this game hoping to maintain/gain a competitive advantage. Some of them pay exorbitant amounts of money which are “packed” in the product price point. There are many companies that spend up to 45%-50% of their revenue on marketing and It is sad to see product quality expenditures being “traded” for marketing and increased visitor traffic. Such sales are based on emotional triggering a purchase and exploiting the confusion, lack of basic information, and transparency in the industry.
Because of all this … TMU’s goal is not so much to try to get everyone to buy a more expensive or higher quality mattress but more to help give people a more objective way to measure the value of what they are buying according to their “value equation”. Part of this is also helping people identify sources where their odds of buying better value are much higher. For example, lower-priced materials that are “safe” and can perform well for a particular individual can be good enough for just a few years and represent good value …while for another person with different needs, preferences, or tolerances … even a slight bit of softening can lead to backache or aggravate other symptoms.
Phoenix