MrConsumer is about to do something that he has long warned others was a dumb move — buying a mattress online without having had the benefit of at least trying it in a store.

Who in their right mind does this unless you really don’t care how your bed feels and are willing to risk having a backache for the next 10 years?

In my case, it was the lure of getting a Tempur-Pedic mattress for $1,600 less than the going price at bedding stores. Keep in mind that Tempur-Pedic is a premium memory foam mattress at a super premium price. A mid-grade queen size mattress of theirs is $3,299 — and that is just the mattress not including a foundation. Add about $380 more for that. I’ve never spent more that $500 for a mattress.

The version I am considering is the Tempur-Pedic Supreme, exclusively available at Costco and nowhere else. It is $1,999 with a foundation, and when on sale, there is an additional $300 gift card rebate. Still, $1,700 for a bed is crazy high. Worse, Costco does not have this model on display, so you are buying sight unseen. Even crazier.

To make this a more reasoned purchase, I have been trying to match the specs of the Costco version with the closest model being sold in retail stores. That way I can try the bed in person instead of buying so blindly.

In particular, since memory foam mattresses are made of layers of various types, thicknesses, and densities of foam, I needed to know those particulars. Easier said than done. The Costco website only shows the layers in a diagram, but there are no specifics. And it has been pulling teeth to get a straight answer from the manufacturer, Tempur Sealy, which even has a dedicated helpline for Costco customers.

The first agent said the top foam layer is 2.55″ of Tempur-ES (that’s “Extra Soft”) and the second is 2.55″ of “Tempur material.” He thought the Costco version was most similar to the ProAdapt 2.0 in stores. The second said each of the top two layers was 1.6″ of “Tempur material.” Neither one knew the density (which is key to longevity and the traditional non-springy memory foam feel). I even climbed the executive ladder to ask their head of marketing, but got no response.

Then I found the Tempur-Pedic mattress buyer for Costco in their headquarters purchasing department. He provided the definitive measurements of all the varying layers of foam including that there were two 1.6″ layers of Tempur material on top. That is somewhat similar to the ProAdapt 2.0, which I have tried multiple times in bedding stores.

He could not, however, provide their densities saying that that information was proprietary. I questioned that because one large retailer in the Boston area provides it in their product listings. And in the early days of memory foam mattresses, companies were eager to boast how dense their foam was — often over five pounds.

*MOUSE PRINT:

As it turns out, Tempur Sealy told this Costco buyer that the Boston retailer that disclosed the specific density of the various foam layers did so improperly. Imagine… it is wrong for a consumer-oriented retailer to help buyers understand what exactly they are buying particularly in the case of a blind item like a mattress. Nonetheless those specs provide a valuable clue to the densities of the foam in the Costco version.

So, the quest for trying to be a more informed mattress shopper ends there, with only partial information.

Since Costco just put their Tempur-Pedics on sale in advance of Presidents’ Day, MrConsumer decided to be a purchaser. Let’s hope I don’t live to regret it. At least I am protected by Costco’s unlimited return policy, that according to Tempur Sealy, even causes them to waive their usual $175 return fee both during and after their 90-day trial period.