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Getting a good price on a dreamy mattress is one of the most nightmarish of consumer challenges. Model names differ from store to store, making comparison shopping all but impossible. Dramatic price swings, moreover, make it difficult to discern a fair deal from a rip-off.

Nevertheless, if you wake up tired or achy, your mattress looks saggy or lumpy, or you bought your mattress eight or more years ago, you probably are going to have to face the chore of buying a new one. Consumer Reports offers tips on how to get a good mattress at a decent price.

A recent national survey of mattress consumers by Furniture/Today, a trade publication, provided price benchmarks by size and point of purchase. According to the survey, the median price paid by consumers for a twin-size set (mattress and box spring) at a bedding-specialty store was $500. The median price for a twin set at a furniture store, meanwhile, was $300. The median price paid for a full-size mattress and box-spring set was $500 at both bedding specialists and furniture stores, while median prices for a queen-size set were $720 and $600 at bedding specialists and furniture stores, respectively. For king-size sets, consumers paid a median $1,250 at bedding-specialty stores, and $1,200 at furniture stores, the survey said.

These median prices show the “heart of the market” for each size set, says David Perry, bedding editor at Furniture/Today. You should shoot for a final price at or below those figures – even less if you’re buying the mattress only. You may not need a new box spring if your old one doesn’t have rips, warps, creaks or “give.” One easy way to save a bundle without having to haggle is to hold out for a sale: Big-discount sales are common in this highly competitive business.

Once you have narrowed your prospects based on price, give the mattresses a 15- to 20-minute in-store comfort test. Lie down on your prospective purchase for five minutes on each side and your back, plus another five minutes on your stomach (if you sleep that way). Check the comfort and determine what you prefer in the firm-to-soft range. That short test proved extremely accurate among Consumer Reports staff members who found mattresses they liked in the magazine’s lab, then took them home and slept on them for a month.

And don’t think that you need to spend big bucks to get a deep sleep. Extensive CR testing has found that all but the cheapest mattresses are fine for more people. The lowest-priced innerspring mattresses tend to be less durable, and their top padding might be so thin that you will feel coils intruding on your comfort.

As for the number of coils, the more expensive models boast as many as 1,728 coils, but CR testers found that any coil count above 390 in a queen-size, for example, should be plenty.

In your hunt for the best price, be sure to check department stores such as Macy’s, Sears and J.C. Penney Co. – which have frequent sales and lots of brands – as well as bedding specialists such as Sleepy’s or Dial-A-Mattress. Don’t forget furniture stores and wholesale price clubs including Costco and Sam’s Club, but pass on Web purchases unless you’ve tried the exact same model in a store.

Look for a comfort guarantee like the 90-day return-exchange policy at Sears. And try to negotiate free pick-up and disposal of your old mattress: Some delivery services only will haul it to the curb or charge you extra to cart it away.