Think about it. You spend about 1/3 to ½ of your life on your mattress. What it feels like is going to have a serious impact on the rest of your life. I agree that there is no difference in the 500$-900$ range other than cover materials. BUT, and this is important, when you go up from there you have a pretty major variation in construction materials, comfort and quality. A good indicator off all this is how long does the manufacturer think their mattress will hold up? What is their guarantee? How hard is it to cash in if it fails and do you get a full replacement or something less savory (a pro-rated value or some such nonsense)? And does the store have a no questions return policy? It took us 2 tries to get the right one.

Ultimately you are looking for how much you like it. How does it feel to lay on it for 20 min. in a row? Is your leg falling asleep? Ultimately, I agree with the author that the Tempurpedic is expensive BUT keep in mind it is also the only one that has a real 20 year replacement guarantee (unless they changed that). So it will last at least 2x as long as anything else on the market. I don’t need to buy a box spring `cause I got a (cheap) platform bed. It will fit around any corner or weird stairwell. Also because there is no box spring I have a ton of extra storage under the bed now too. Yea, it cost 2x what I wanted to spend but I’ve spent way too much on much dumber things that have had a lot less impact on my life as a whole. I would seriously suggest it to anyone with a bad back especially. Or if you have a partner with a different sleeping schedule it really does not transmit any movement (if you get stretchy sheets for it!) of course then you want to get a bed frame that does not creak either.

Just a warning though, It is not designed for the moderately to seriously overweight though. It sinks based on weight and if your weight is not well distributed over your body you end up in a pit at your butt and the bed is hard to get out of without rolling. Otherwise though I’d argue that it is easily the smartest money I have ever spent. I got just the basic model just FYI. And no, I don’t work for them.