Hi Arrielle,
I don’t make specific suggestions or recommendations for either a mattress, manufacturers/retailers, or materials because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
I can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you may be considering, act as a fact check, answer any specific questions you may have along the way that I am able to help with, and help with “how” to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress is the best match for you based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
I don’t keep a record of the individual mattresses that the retailers and manufacturers in the hundreds of forum lists throughout the forum carry on their floor (it would be a bigger job than anyone could keep up with in a constantly changing market) but checking the websites and making some preliminary phone calls to the retailers/manufacturers that are on the list that are in reasonable driving distance is always a good idea before you visit any store. This will tell you which of them carry mattresses that would meet your specific criteria, are transparent about the quality and durability of the materials in their mattresses (see this article), and carry the type of mattresses that you are interested in testing in the budget range you are comfortable with. Once you have checked their websites and/or talked with the ones that interest you then you will be in a much better position to decide on a few that you are most interested in visiting based on the results of your preliminary research and conversations.
These initial calls (some guidelines are in the post that is linked in step 3 of the tutorial) are one of the most important parts of the research process and will give you a good indication of the type of knowledge and service you are likely to encounter at the stores you decide to visit and can save you a significant amount of time and frustration compared with waiting until you visit them only to find out that they don’t carry any mattresses that you are interested in that are in your budget range, aren’t particularly knowledgeable or helpful, or that they either can’t or won’t provide you with the information you need to make an informed choice.
The knowledge, experience, transparency, and guidance of the retailer or manufacturers that you decide to deal with can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase.
Phoenix