Hi lahatte,
You’ve set yourself a very difficult challenge buying a mattress in less than a day. With a purchase that important that can have a such a major effect on how you sleep and in turn how you feel for the next decade or more I’m not so sure that rushing would be a great idea … even with the tax savings.
The three manufacturers that you are looking at are all members of the site and what I would consider them to be among the best value in the country … each in their own way.
As you can see in post #2 here … there are only three ways to “match” one mattress to another.
One is with side by side testing in “real time” which of course wouldn’t be possible in this case.
The second is by matching the exact same materials and layering. This too would not be possible because it’s not likely you will find an exact match between manufacturers that use the exact same variations of materials in their mattresses. Neither Tempurpedic or Serta even disclose all the details of their mattresses that someone else could “duplicate” using only the specs of their materials in the first place.
So this leaves the third method which is a manufacturer who designs and builds a mattress that “matches” the performance and feel of another mattress, (uses similar quality materials, a similar design, and has tested them enough (either in person or through their customers) to have reasonable confidence that they are very similar both in how they feel and perform. Most manufacturers would only do this with a mattress that was very popular and widely available and wouldn’t even try to compare their mattresses with every other memory foam mattress on the market. Because Tempurpedic is the best known of the memory foam brands … most manufacturers will have a good idea of how well their mattresses match up to the Tempurpedic lineup and if they provide details about the materials you can also easily make comparisons in terms of quality and value. The iComfort is not as well known as the Tempurpedic (although it has been a huge marketing success) but some of them may also have enough personal experience to know how their mattresses match up to these as well in terms of feel and performance although the iComfort uses some very low quality materials so I wouldn’t want to duplicate that part of it.
So if you have found a major brand model that you like … I would talk to each of the three manufacturers about which of their mattresses may match up to the one you like. The odds are good though that the only one that can serve as a useful model would be the Tempurpedic lineup and they may or may not have specifically tested their mattresses against the iComfort lineup or know how they may compare.
In terms of choosing between them … your personal preferences and what is most important to you would be the best (and only) way to decide. There are too many variables and personal preferences involved for anyone to make final decisions for someone else. My role is to help people eliminate their worst choices in terms of quality and value and help them find the better ones and then to get out of the way so they can make final decisions based on their own criteria. Of course you would need to talk with each in terms of which mattress may “match” your needs and preferences and then I would compare the other bjective, subjective, and intangible factors that are involved in a mattress purchase as well to make your final decisions. You would have the comfort of knowing that you are choosing between some of the best value in the country (so making a mistake in terms of quality and value wouldn’t be an issue) but are also taking the risk of buying a mattress that you have never tried in person which means that it is important that you have the confidence that the mattress matches your needs and preferences. Your conversations with each will go a long way to help you decide which direction to go. Some of the different factors and tradeoffs that may be important to you both in terms of the mattress and the service and options offered by each manufacturers which may help you with what I call your “value equation” are listed in post #46 here.
It seems that you don’t really have “time” to do any further local testing but just for reference … some of the better options and possibilities in the Jackson, MS area (and there aren’t a lot of great choices near you) are listed in post #2 here.
So the “short version” of all of this is that you will need to talk with each of the manufacturers you are considering because they have much more detailed knowledge about their mattresses and how they may compare to others than anyone else and all of them are very open and transparent and easy to work with on the phone and you are choosing among some of the best in the country IMO.
Phoenix