Hi rob2121,
The most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase is how well it matches your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP. No matter what the price or quality of the materials in a mattress … if it isn’t suitable for you to sleep on then it would have little value to you.
The next most important part of a mattress purchase is the quality and durability of the materials. No matter how well you sleep on a mattress when it’s new … if it uses lower quality materials that will soften or break down too quickly relative to the price you paid and you lost the comfort or support that was the reason you bought it in the first place then it would also have little value to you. In your case … there are no weak links in either mattress.
Other than PPP and the useful life of a mattress … the other parts of your personal value equation that are important to you including the price and any return or exchange policies if in spite of everyone’s “best efforts” the mattress doesn’t work out as well as you hoped would also be important parts of any online mattress purchase.
When you are down to your finalists and there are no clear winners between them then post #2 here may be helpful in deciding between them based on your conversations on the phone with each retailer or manufacturer, your confidence about which one is the best “match” for you, and your own informed “best judgement”.
At the end of the day … when you look back on a mattress purchase in a decade or so … you will remember much more about how well you slept and how long you slept well than you will about relatively small differences in the price per year of ownership. Both of them would certainly be “worth it” if they are the “best” match for you compared to your other finalists.
Phoenix