Hi sidesleeper020,
Not sure if this helps because it seems to be filled all marketing terms, but found this comparison chart of the comforpedic line Here
Yes ... US Mattress does a better job than most of identifying the layers in many of their mattresses but unfortunately the chart only provides some of the information you need to make informed decisions (although it and the layering information that they list for specific mattresses on their site is certainly helpful). They are missing information about the quality of their base layer and information about the type and quality of the foam used in their "independent support technology" but a least these are deeper in the mattress which has less effect on the durability of the mattress.
Given the circumstances, out of my options in the store, I seem to really like the way the Comforpedic New Life (aka Renewed Energy) and the Sealy Optimum Inspiration feel. I'm pretty much wanting to know which line or specific mattress is preferred "if you had to pick one" Pheonix, i saw in a previous post where I believe you mention that despite the poor value, the Inspiration was at least one of the better mattresses in the Optimum line if you had to pick, due to Sealy using higher qualitiy materials from that model upwards. However, I can't seem to find much information on quality of the Comforpedic line. Has anyone had any sort of breakdown of the Comforpedic line to at least help me pick which one in their line up would be a decent choice?
The Inspiration has ...
2" of 3.7 lb Opticool gel memory foam (low / mid quality)
3" of 4 lb Optisense memory foam (mid quality)
The Opticore Plus support core which is reasonable quality.
The "roughly" equivalent Comforpedic (with the same amount of memory foam) would be the Enlightened Days which has ...
1" 4.0 lb gel memory foam
1.5" of 5.5 lb memory foam (good quality)
2.5" of 5.5 lb memory foam (good quality)
2" Independent support Technology (unknown material and quality)
5" Aircool transflexed core (Unknown quality/density polyfoam).
The Inspiration lists at US Mattress for $1999 (queen) while the Enlightened Days lists for $2274 (queen) and given the higher quality of the memory foam in the Enlighteened days I would lean in this direction in spite of not knowing the quality of the deeper layers.
The New Life on the other hand appears to have at least one mistakes in the description
1" 4 lb gel memory foam (mid quality)
1.5" of 1.65 lb memory foam. If this is correct which is unlikely it would be very very low quality memory foam and would automatically exclude this mattress if I was making the choice. This is more likely to be polyfoam in which case it would also be mid quality/density.
2" 4.5 lb memory foam (mid quality)
2" Independent Support Technology (unknown material and quality)
5" Aircool transflexed core (unknown quality polyfoam)
This lists for $1474 (queen) and since the layers appear to be in roughly the same quality range (again assuming that the 1.65 lb foam is polyfoam not memory foam) then in spite of the unknowns I would probably lean in this direction in terms of quality/value.
Of course none of this takes into account which one is best for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and personal preferences) which are also an important part of value but since you indicated that they are roughly equal in this regard then I would give the "value edge" to the New Life over the Inspiration.
I would also show them US Mattress' prices for both the Inspiration (which is the same) and the New Life (which is $225 less than the price you were given) to see if they will match the New Life.
If they agree to match the price of the New Life and considering that it uses similar quality materials (mid range of quality) in the layers that count the most then I would probably lean in that direction.
If they were to match the Amazon price of the Enlightened Days (or even the US Mattress price) then I would probably lean in this direction because the foam quality is higher where it counts most (in the comfort layers) in spite of the unknowns.
Phoenix