Hi DebbieK,
I certainly understand the frustration and this is the reason that where you buy a mattress can be more important than the mattress you buy. The choice of a retailer or manufacturer and ability and willingness to disclose the materials in their mattress is one of the most important parts of a mattress purchase in terms of knowing it’s relative quality and value.
When you have narrowed down your final options to choices between “good and good” … then only each person in combination with their conversations with each manufacturer or retailer can decide on which mattress may be the best match for your specific needs and preferences and it’s time for me to “step out of the way”. A good manufacturer is in a much better position to make suggestions about which of their mattresses may suit you better than others than I am (they not only have much more detailed knowledge about the specifics of the materials they use but they have a customer base of people that may have similar needs and preferences to you that they can use as a reference).
I would make sure you have had a detailed conversation with each one that included information about your body type and sleeping positions, your local testing experiences on different types of mattresses and materials, and on the types of mattresses you are used to sleeping on. This will help them to help you more effectively so you can at least narrow down your choice with each manufacturer to one.
Because of the many variables involved … there is no formula that can make this decision for you and your own personal local testing on mattresses that use different types of materials is the best indicator of which mattress may work best for you. There are no “bad choices” in your list and once all the worst choices have been eliminated then your own best judgement in combination with your conversations with each manufacturer and your own “value equation” (see post #46 here) is the only way to make your final choices (as difficult as this may be).
I know from personal experience how difficult this can be and it took me several weeks to narrow down my own final choices in my last mattress purchase to only one (and the truth is that probably any of them would have been fine). Each person will have a different set of preferences that are more of less important to them and I would weigh each of the factors that are important to you on a “plus and minus” list for each of your choices.
The first thing I would do though is decide on whether you prefer slow response materials (like memory foam or gel memory foam) or fast response materials (like latex or polyfoam) in your comfort layers and eliminate the option that you like the least. This would either narrow down your choices to two options (the two memory foam options) or one (the latex option).
The next thing I would do is to see which of your choices most closely matches the mattresses that best met your needs and preferences in your local testing. If you can’t decide between two final choices … I would tend to err on the side of firmer support cores and thinner/firmer comfort layers (especially because of your stomach sleeping). It is much easier to “fine tune” a mattress that is too firm than it is to firm up a mattress that is either too soft in the support layers or is too thick and soft in the comfort layers.
While I don’t know your body type information (which is a big part of how each manufacturer would recommend the best choice for you) … your needs may be very different (based on your different sleeping positions and possibly on any weight differential between you) and this may also be an important part of your conversations with each manufacturer and your choice of mattress. Bear in mind that stomach sleepers tend to need thinner firmer comfort layers than side sleepers. There is more information in the first part of post #2 here about ways that can help accommodate different needs and preferences of a couple.
The good news is that you are choosing between some of the best value mattresses in the country. The “difficult” news is that final choices can be among the most difficult parts of all especially when it involves “eliminating” some of the best value in the country which is never easy.
In the end though … only you (with the guidance of each manufacturer) can make these final choices based on your own personal value equation.
Phoenix