Hi Ingram,
The best way I know to “bypass confusion” is to follow all the steps in the mattress shopping tutorial one at a time (without missing any) which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
If they are local you could test them in person and if they are online then you can’t test them in person and your choice would involve a more detailed conversation on the phone (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). In some cases they will be able to suggest closely comparable mattresses that you can test locally and in others they would be able to make suggestions based on “averages” for your body type and sleeping style. If you aren’t confident about how well any particular mattress will “match” your specific needs and preferences in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) then the options you have after a purchase to exchange your mattress for another one or to rearrange or exchange individual layers to fine tune the pressure relief or support of your mattress or even to return your mattress for a refund if the worst case happens and the mattress isn’t a good match for you would become a more important part of your personal value equation so you can lower the risk of an online purchase and use your actual sleeping experience to decide whether the mattress is a good match for you instead of testing them in a store.
Outside of the guidelines in the tutorial post that would apply for any weight range (including how to test a mattress for PPP) … post #3 here has some guidelines that will be helpful for those that are in higher weight ranges.
The tutorial post includes links to these guidelines and this article and this page which all suggest avoiding any any retailer or manufacturer that either can’t or won’t provide you with the specifics of any of their mattresses that you are considering. If they can’t provide you with what you need to know … I would just pass them by.
There is also more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here. The most important part of “value” is always suitability what I call PPP (which answers the question how well am I likely to sleep on a mattress), followed by quality/durability (which answers the question how long am I likely to sleep well on this mattress compared to others), followed by all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you which you can use to make meaningful comparisons between mattresses.
The better options and possibilities in the Louisville area I’m aware of (subject to following all the steps of the tutorial post) are listed in post #3 here.
Phoenix