Whoa! Do you work for Consumer Reports or what??? I also like the Select Comfort beds. No I haven't slept on one, I can only go from trying them out in the store. That said, I never thought I'd find one I like better until I tried out an Intellibed. You give up the adjustability, but it's so nice I could handle that. Either of these, however, are well beyond the $800 budget range. Well, perhaps SC has a low-end one closer to that, but I really didn't care for their bottom of the line stuff.
Where have to heard about the problems for stomach sleepers? I fall in that category as well, especially since I had a little nerve damage to my big toe that makes the weight of bedcovers uncomfortable at night. I can only lay on my back and keep my foot turned sideways for just so long, and I've never been able to sleep on my side well.
I've only had one pillow-top, but I don't think I'd get one again. I'd much rather just get a replaceable topper, such as the memory foam one qadsan mentioned. My M-I-L also has one and swears by it. The pillow top can pack down and when/if it does you have to replace the whole mattress. I just don't see much of an upside to having it part of the actual mattress.
BTW, I've been seeing ads for foam mattresses that talk about being cooler to sleep on. I can't remember which brand I saw bragging about that recently, but it looks like the industry is trying to address the problem. I have no idea how successful they've been.