Mattress Forum

I know this stuff is all super subjective, but maybe some of you with more knowledge/experience can offer some suggestion / insights.

Background:

Wife and I were sleeping on a 25 year old Spring Air that was about 18 years old when we "inherited" it from family.  We have some cheapy 1.5" (maybe 2") memory foam thingie on top which seems to be equally deteriorated.  This thing is obviously horrible to sleep on but neither of use felt like spending $1000s on a new bed, plus I was skeptical that it would make any difference, and it would just irritate me more if I spend $1000s and ended up feeling exactly the same (which is to say, never very well rested and usually with lower back pain each morning which goes away mid-day).

Anyway, Costco has Novaform memory foam mattresses that I saw online had about 80 4-star (avg) reviews, so I decided to bite.  Was $499 and I bought a $200 wood slat foundation on Amazon.  Got it all set up and when I initially laid on it, it felt great (even if a bit stiffer than I expected).  Over the nights I slept on it though, I found that I couldn't sleep through the night.  I wake up multiple times tossing/turning.  My back still hurt just as much, after about 3 weeks.  Finally, I called Costco and they came and got it.

I then just arbitrarily bought a Sealy Posturpedic (which was rated on the softer side) from Costco for about $599.  My wife actually really liked the softness, but I felt like I was being swallowed by a pillow.  I had a really hard time falling asleep the first night, and the 2nd night, I just laid in bed awake for hours, until I finally went and slept on the couch.  I called the next day and returned it.

I then made the HUGE mistake of going to a SleepNumber store and being wow'd by their marketing and videos and yada yada.  I bought the C4 after trying it out in store.  Got it all set up and after a few weeks, I really really hate it.  It honestly feels like a cheapy air mattress like you'd get from Target, only it costs $2000!  This thing is NOT worth $2000.  Maybe $200, but not $2000.  I tried to give it a fair shake.  Tried several different sleep numbers for several nights, but the things just feels like a piece of crap.  It's gonna have to go back, and I'll have to eat whatever costs are associated with a return.

So now I'm stuck.  I have no idea what to do.  I thought about Tempurpedic, but I really don't want to spend a forture (especially after SleepNumber prooved to me that there is no correlation between price and quality).  I've also read some pretty negative things about Tempurpedic.

I'm wondering now:  is there any sense in just going and buying a cheapy cheapy, extra firm mattress (like from Ikea or something) for a few hundred, and then buying a high quality, 4" topper to go on it?  Does this make any sense at all? 

I sleep on my stomach usually (back occasionally) and prefer something firmer, but which still sorta "feels" soft, but not saggy.  My wife likes a softer/pillowy feeling, so I'm not sure how to reconcile this.  SleepNumber sounded good in theory, but in practice, it sucks.

Comments/suggestions?  Anything at all that you can suggest would be appreciated.  I have no clue what to do at this point.

EDIT:  I suppose some will suggest going to a store and trying things out, but it seems to me that 15min, 20min, even an hour... I can't really discern anything.  Lots of beds seems to feel fine to me when I initially lay on them.  It's only after a full nights sleep that my body has any feedback for me.  I don't want to go to a store, b/c the sales folk are gonna be annoying and high pressure (and I don't wanna end up in another SleepNumber fiasco).