Update 2017-04-06
As you know from my other articles NO mattress works for everyone. This mattress is currently making 90% of the thousands of people who are buying give it 5 stars.
This is the mattress I currently recommend BUT read this entire page and related pages before you rush out and buy. As you know from my other articles NO mattress works for everyone. The only mattress I ever recommend is the one that you can easily return. You just don’t know until you sleep on it a few weeks. Costco stopped carrying their tempurpedic/sleep number combo type mattress so I have had to find other ones to refer people to. If you want to look at the reviews, here it is. Also this affordable mattress is also worth looking at.
Boy has that been a load of study today!
I will start off by stating that the below is a summary of data uncovered on the Internet, and that I have limited experience actually laying on the mattresses discussed.
If you found this article by searching, I am a chiropractor with a crud load of experience and am very well connected to a lot of sharp people in the know.
For me I have always thought about mattresses as the firmer the better. As my body has reached where it is now, 43 years old, and 233 pounds, I have found my needs have changed somewhat. If a mattress is too hard, as my 14 year old Ikea mattress on a platform bed is, it begins to cut off circulation, and also cause painful pressure points. I must say that the Ikea mattress and slatted platform bed turned out to be great bargains that lasted a long time.
Chiropractic is practically a miracle cure for a lot of things, but your bed can muck up a lot of it when you sleep.
I will start off by saying that I never thought box springs were a good idea as you are using springs to try to create a flat hard surface. It appears that most of the bed manufacturers are starting to agree with my idea. So the below is all about the mattress, as we are going to buy a bed with a flat, hard platform on it.
I spent about 4 hours today reading up on the current bed situation. For years I have been reading promotional material from Temper Pedic and used their pillows, and have watched Lindsey Wagner talk about the Sleep Number bed from Select Comfort for I think about 10 years.
I like the Sleep Number concept because it sounds like the air bladder would never compress. It could pop right? But never be sorta half supportive, and half not.
One of my patients who is a very, very smart man and has been the head of many companies, and has a very stiff back, told me that he has really liked his Tempurpedic bed, but that it is harder to roll over while staying in one place. I have also heard that Temper Pedic beds tend to overheat people.
I on the other hand have loved my tempur pedic pillows. The only problem with the pillows is that after 6 months, mine totally loses its support and becomes worthless. I used to be able to return them to Sharper Image and get replacements, but the last time I went there they said they could no longer do that. The memory foam in the pillow rocks, and really improves my neck. In fact I even take it with me when I travel. It just looses its cush and gets soft and unsupportive starting at about month 3 or 4 after being new, needs to be replaced after 6 months, and if kept for a year like mine is now, is fairly worthless for support. I do still prefer my worn out one to a hotel pillow, but this weekend I will be replacing my pillow. So I kept this known compressibility of Temperpedic memory foam in mind during my search.
I started off at Consumer Reports website. I highly recommend this site, and for about $20 a year you can gather loads of information. To have accumulated the same amount of data as they had on mattresses would have cost me a hundred thousand dollars and taken a good year, so thanks Consumer Reports! They did some testing and came to the following conclusions.
1. Everyone is different.
2. If you lay on the mattress in your normal sleeping position at the store for 15 minutes and are happy, you will probably be happy after a month sleeping on the bed. Their actual study was a bit more complex than what I just said, so read it there if you want the details.
3. None of the Sleep Number, Tempur Pedic, or traditional mattresses are the best for everyone, so you need to do some more legwork yourself.
The Sleep Number concept always made sense to me. They say they have a 20 year warranty, (more to come on that) so since it is simply a big bag of air the only thing that could go wrong would be a leak, right? With a 20 year warranty I couldn’t see how I could go wrong. I also liked the fact that you can adjust the firmness.
I did a lot of Sleep Number Research today, and started the day off all ready to buy and spend around $2100 for the mattress without the frame. My wife has her heart set on a Crate and Barrel platform bed that takes a mattress on top, and that part is non-negotiable!
I read on many sites, and really kept an eye out for reviewers and posters history. Were they long time posters on a site, or had they just registered and posted, which is an indication of paid posters who work for a company and will write well or poorly about a product to help their company.
It seemed that some people just fell in love with their Sleep Number beds. There were also a surprising number of dissatisfied customers. I would say most of these appeared to be from people who did not do their due diligence before buying. So here is a list of downers for sleep number beds to watch out for. I am not saying they are true, but simply do your own research and know they may turn out to be problems.
1. Sleep number beds are basically a plastic base, one or two big air bags depending on the model, a piece of foam that separates the two air bags, and a cloth sack that holds the two air bags. The cloth sack can have foam or other fluffiness where you lay directly on it so you will not feel the air sacks under you. One writer stated that he felt the only difference between the $1000 model and the $4000 model was the thickness of the foam you lay on top of. Plain old foam can be purchased for around a hundred bucks or maybe slightly more. One guy said when he saw it laid out on the floor in front of him just before he assembled it, he could not believe he had just paid as much as he had for what he saw. That is marketing.
2. The old version of the air bags tended to get moldy according to more than one author. It appears that if you call the company they will send you replacement bladders. The new versions apparently do not get moldy.
3. If you get the split bed with one side having a separate air bag from the other side, there is a foam divider between the air bladders. Some people complained that if you lay on top of this foam divider you feel it sticking up into you. Also over time one person said it breaks down and loses its ability to support weight. Also there may be a problem if you have the pressure set to one of the firmer mattress settings, that people tend to roll into the center. If one person has a full air bag, and the other one at a lower setting, then one person may tend to roll down hill away from the center. To be fair, I would have to sleep on one to make total sense out of this.
3. The settings can change while you sleep on them. More than one person complained that they would set the sleep number to a certain number, then later in the night they would wake up in pain, check the number, and find out the air had drained out and the number changed. I don’t know if this was a compressor problem, a setting problem or an air leak problem.
4. The warranty. It is promoted as a 20 year warranty which is what orginally sold me. If you read the warranty on their site it says that it is a full on warranty for manufacturer defect for 2 years. Then the fun begins. After 2 years you have to pay the first 20% of the cost of the replacement part plus another 4% for each year from the original date of purchase. That means if you return a part 3 years after purchase, you have to pay 24% of the cost. That should probably cover the Sleep Numbers factory costs in my guesstimate. After owning it for 10 years, you are paying 60% of the retail cost of the replacement, and are getting 40% off. At that point it sounds more like a sale to me on the replacement parts, than a warranty.
They also say they do not cover “mattress cover compression, foam compression” and a few other things. As I said about my Temper Pedic pillow, and my previous experience with foam, the reason they do not cover this is probably because any support created by the foam is gone within a few years.
So my summary on the above, based only on reading, not on use, was that you are spending a few thousand dollars on a bed that you can really count on for maybe 3 or 4 years?
On to the Temper Pedic beds. The base model for the mattress only starts at $1600. It would be totally worth it except for the fact that based on my own foam experiment with my pillow, I know the Tempur Pedic pillow only lasts about 6 months. For years they have sent me promotional info with discount pricing for the mattress and I almost bit many times. The pilow is a great product. I am sure the mattress feels wonderful to sleep on, as it does at the Sharper Image stores, but what about compression of the foam and the associated loss of support?
On the Temper Pedic website it says they have a 10 year warranty but again it starts pro-rating after year 5. So you have an appartently killer warranty up to five years, and then you have to pay 50% of the cost in year 6, 60% in year 7 etc. But what does it cover? If it covered the fact that the mattress breaks down and gets soft and does not support as well, then sign me up. The exact wording for the key part is as follows,
“For warranty purposes, “defective” is defined as: … 2) an area of compression in excess of 1″ when compared with edge height when the mattress is placed on a solid, flat surface; or …”
If I read it correctly, it sounds like it means that you set the mattress on a flat surface and you check does it sag down more than 1″?
Well, I weigh 233 pounds, so me laying on it is very different than a mattress sitting on the floor with nothing on it. You can have a 6″ high block of jello, and a 6″ high block of steel with nothing on them, but just because the block of jello is not sagging does not mean that it will support me as well as the block of steel.
By the way if you are with Sleep Number or Tempur Pedic and want to correct any of the above I will give you an excellent way to do so at the end of this article.
So my opinion on the warranties is that they know what they are selling you and how long it will last. If a company knows their product will last a certain period and they are sure, then they can warranty the product for that long. If you start having prorated warranties, it gives me a pretty good idea of how long the product is expected to last. If you consider that many retail products are marked up 100% to 400% or more, then my guess is that they consider the products to last maybe 3 to 5 years? Just my opinion.
So what to do? The problem we were trying to get away from is that a traditional mattress only lasts 10 years tops, and maybe even less.
I have some good connections with a friend who is very well connected to the origins of Costco , so I have some inside dope on the subject. My understanding is that Costco simply takes the price they buy a product at and increase it by about 10%. This is why I have recommended a lot of people to buy diamonds from Costco if you need to buy an engagement ring. Compare the prices if you don’t believe me, as they are roughly the same as discount Internet diamond sellers but from a company you can trust.
I checked online at Costco and saw you could buy a good quality traditional mattress for around $750. So lets say that lasts you for 3 years. In that case you could get a new one every three years for 10 years, and it would cost about the same as a sleep number bed or a Temper Pedic. But what if you don’t like it? I just e-mailed Costco and am waiting for a response. From what I can read, if you don’t like it simply call Costco up and they will come pick it up if you bought it online. If you buy it from the store it appears they charge you a bit to come get it. I will blog about what they say back in their e-mail.
Then I really started laughing when I found on the Costco site a mattress which is a two sided air mattress style, with 3 inches on memory foam on top. It kinda sounds like Sleep Number and Tempur Pedic had a little romance, and this is their offspring. It may turn out to be the princess and the pea solution.
So if it works out, then it will be $750 for the best of both of the new luxury mattress solutions. And if it turns out to be a total piece of crud? Costco can come get it. If it only lasts a few years? then it is no different from the reviews of the big money mattresses, at a third of the cost.
Now to be fair to the big players Sleep Number and Temper Pedic.
If there is any data above that is incorrect, please just e-mail me the correct data with the supporting document and I will change it. Would you like me to have my tens of thousands of readers here the real story? If you really think that I will be so blown away by the product that I will think it is worth the $2000, or whatever the cost is, and that it will really last, then send one over. I will sleep on it for a month or two or however you would like to lend me one, and then I will write my results. Based on what I read though, I would not want to purchase one until I have seen what it could do for a few years to really see the durability.
By the way I think the next thing Consumer Reports needs is a longer study on the beds that goes at least a few years to test the durability.
So to any of the mattress manufacturers, if you want to prove it to me, then just send me an e-mail and I will be more than fair with you. Otherwise I will be picking out a mattress from Costco in the under $1000 range over the next few days and trying it out on our new platform bed from Crate and Barrel.
So correct me if I am wrong, and if you want me to test out your product and discuss it here send me an e-mail and we can discuss it.
Much Love and sweet dreams!
dk
Here is a summary of all of the posts I have written about beds.
Hunting for the perfect mattress
The bed affair continues
The Costco Bed Constructed
We are also looking for a mattress. Our friends strongly recommend the sleep number bed, but after reading many negatives we are looking at a traditional mattress. We did find one Simmons (individual coils) mattress at a big mattress store that the customer could have 1/2 bed firm and 1/2 the bed soft. Luckily it appears both me and my husband prefer softer, so we do not have to pay the extra $$ for this.
I did find that many places will NOT let you return a mattress, so make sure you ask about their policy before you fork over big bucks. We walked out of many stores when told that do not have a trail period. Found several big chains that will let you exchange the mattress, but have a $150 cleaning fee. We think it is worth paying $150, otherwise we would be stuck with a $2k mattress we don’t like. We do plan on buying the protective cover to ensure any return/exchange is smooth.
I have been looking for the perfect mattress for nearly 2 months now and still searching. I’ve learned a TON about this crazy industry…
Everybody looking for a mattress should take a look over the following website:
http://www.SleepLikeTheDead.com
I’ve been looking through hundreds of review sites and found this one to be the most scientific in how it rates the different manufacturers. It’s interesting to see how high the dis-satisfaction rate is amongst traditional inner-spring mattress owners vs foam/latex owners.
2) LS… The Westin’s Heavenly Bed is simply a Simmons Beautyrest pillowtop mattress. Westin makes it a bit more appealing my adding Egyptian sheet, etc. You can find it at Sleepy’s stores under the Simmons Shakespeare line, off Amazon.com, or 1800mattress.com (search for “W Hotel mattress”).
3) My step-mother just bought one of the Euro Flex Sleep Systems mattresses. I slept on it a few months back. Not a bad night’s sleep. Very similar to the feel of Terpurpedic – you sink in. DEFINITELY retains heat (lose the sheets!). A good compromise between firm and soft feel.
4) Some other great articles on mattresses:
Great/Funny Article on the “Real” State of the Mattress Industry:
http://www.slate.com/id/93956
The Truth from an Ex-Mattress Salesperson
http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-review-5A40-272FFE9B-3A21B6F6-prod5
Review of all the Major Hotel Mattresses
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/to-the-mattresses
List of Dozens of Mattress Review/Resources:
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/mattress-reviews/reviews.html
Hope this helps!
– Clif
I am also searching for a new mattress….I tried the temperpedic which I liked, but from what I am reading (1) I get hot anyway, so the added heat is a drawback (2) I do not move much while sleeping and I fear the indent. I have a 4″ foam topper now (which is on my 18 year old innersprings mattress), which gives me a glimps of the temperpedic, and allows me to experience what others have metioned about not being able to move in and out of bed easily…..So, I am also caurious of what to purchase. My daughter has a serta perfect sleeper double pillow top “top of the line” mattress I bought her at a federal bankruptcy sale about 7-8 years ago for a song – and that is hands down, the most comfortable bed in the house…. which makes me wonder if a nice new innersprings mattress is still the way to go! I tried (for 15 minutes each) the sleep number and termperapedic, (in all firmness levels). I am replacing a king size, so for me to purchase one of either of these, we are talking roughly $3000 – 5000. That is a hefty price to pay for a mattress with an optimal life span of 3-8 years (from what readers are reporting)…..I feel I am back to squre one in my search…now here is something I am researching – that I am seriously considering – is an adjustable bed! they are awsome – although expensive. In all my testing of laying on beds recently…..I get the best relief of my back pain when my legs and head are slightly elevated! I tried one a couple years ago, but the cost was prohibited, so I didnt buy anything…NOW I have to get a new mattress – and again, this provided the best relief…They can be purchased with a variety of mattress styles. Does anyone have one and can provide information about cost and comfort? This seems to be the direction I am going – unsure of what mattress to put on the base. I checked several web sites, with great pricing, but am definately fearful of buying one with a mattress I may not like, so that is out of the question….Thanks for any input
I bought a Costco Bed about three years ago. It is a Cal King and cost about $900. After the first year I started to get back pains.
Mostly after I woke in the am. I went to the chiropractor for adjustments, but the pain never went away. I recently went out of town
for an extended perior of time(20 Days). I was not sleeping on my bed. I was in my toy Hauler(camping trailer). I have a matress and a 4″ memory foam topper which I bought from costco. During that time, my back pains vanished. Upon returning home, the first morning I woke with lower back pains.
I feel the costco mattress doesn’t have enough support and it is causing my back pains.
I am currently shopping for a mattress and am leaning toward the latex. Sleep number was a consideration before reading this forum.
thanks for all the info
BAM
I have the Sleep Number bed. My wife nad I bought a Queen, split (two air bladders). I like the mattress, but I would buy the King next time and NOT recommend a 2 bladder queen. The sleep area of each bladder in the queen is smaller than that of a twin bed. So, sleeping on it is difficult unless you lie perfectly still in your little zone. Otherwise the numbers work great. I am a 90, and my wife is a 60. We also got the adjustable foundation, which has been a blessing. Works wonders while she is pregnant.
I have now owned the sleep number 4 years.
I am looking for a bed and stumbled on to this site. Glad I did. Thanks Doc (for the forum) and thanks to all who wrote. I was leaning to the sleep number or the memory foam. This forum has me convinced that the air bubble is not the way to go. I appreciate the info cause that could have been an expensive mistake.
For BAM: Sleep in your camper. (Just kidding) But, why not set up your bed like the camper with a mattress setting on a solid flat surface and 4″ of memory foam on it.
Interesting comments! We are visiting our son and daughter-in-law and they are still wrestling with the “mattress decision” and are afraid to buy Temperpedic because of reading on-line comments from buyers having trouble returning their mattress within the 90 day warranty period. We purchased our Temperpedic in June 0f 2005 from a local mattress store with complete confidence that we would like it because our other son has one and recommended it so highly. My husband is 5’ll” and weighs 230#. I am 5’4″ and weigh 124#. When the mattress was delivered, I immediately covered it with a quilted cover because we sleep with a Yorkie and a cat and occasionally they will get sick on the bedclothes. This way I can take the mattress cover off and toss it in the wash. We have not noticed any sagging at all in the mattress. It takes some adjustment getting used to the inability to roll over the way you would on a conventional mattress. You can turn to your side, but it just takes a bit to get used to the way you have to do it. In our 40+ years of marriage, mattress comfort has always been a problem for us. When a mattress was starting to wear out, he would say it was finally getting comfortable. The TP mattress is a bit warmer to me than a regular mattress, but my husband says he notices no difference. (and he’s the one who’s always turning the thermostat down and I am turning it up. At our son’s house, I’ve had to sleep in a long sweatshirt over my PJs because my back gets cold where the top of the PJs rides up.
One Advantage to the mattress is that I can get in and out of bed a dozen times a night and the vabrations of movement never carry across the bed. He gets up at 4:00 AM on days that he still works and goes to bed by 10:00 PM. I’m a night owl and go to bed much later. I used to always wake him up when I was getting in and out of bed.
I think Cosco is a good idea and am passing it along. I’ve also noticed that the TV shopping shows have their own version of the foam mattress. From my experience HSN and QVC both have excellent return policies for all their merchandise. Since sleep comfort is a highly subjective subject. . . my advice to anyone would be to buy from a reputable retailer where return within 30 days (90 days is even better) is an option.
Thanks for info, research, and feedback.
DAW
I have had a temperpedic replaced under warrenty. Was really no problem to replace. Wanted to upgrade was not allowed to. They delivered/installed new box/mattress took old one (darn). New bed is same as old except sheets seem to not stay on it (weird). On another note, sex on temperpedic can be different as the sink in problem makes for no fun. The heat and lack of movement has been no problem even with me being 6’4″ over 200 and wife being 5′ and 120. Cost is cost hunt for deals. Hope this helps some of us.
Dear LS, I would not recommend a Simmons bed to anyone. I have returned 2 beds to them under warrenty since 2003 (2 worldclass models) and about to return one more (exceptionale model) if they’ll take it. The foam top does not last more than a year; it is not worth the money. I must add we have a King size and wondered if that was the problem; King being just too large a surface for memory/foam to live long. Or because we both sleep in one place all night. Don’t know. If Simmons doesn’t take this one back (the foam broke down where we sleep and we’re both sleeping on springs/hard bumpy surface with aches and pains every morning), we are going to start from scratch and deal with the $ loss. Many thanks for this article and all the postings. We have been researching Latex mattresses but no dealers are in our area to try the mattress before buying. After reading this site, we’ll be looking at Costco but want to avoid memory foam and get a Latex/mostly Latex mattress. Any advise is appreciated! Again, thanks for the info!
I’m glad I found your website before purchasing the Sleep Number Bed. I, too, was search online for more information but was only able to find half of the information you found.
You comments are very helpful and informative. I have always been a thrifty shopper, so I will be visiting my local Costco soon for my new mattress.
Thank You for writing this article.
We are currently in a 90day trial period with a Temperpedic. I’m a side sleeper, wake up with shoulder pain. Wasn’t happy with the mattress at first, my wife liked it but objected to the smell. We sleep better after sales rep told us to take the top cover off and pad it down to expell the trapped odor, she also said leaving the top cover off would break the mattress in faster. We wanted to try a sleep number bed but after reading all the complaints we decided not to. We are getting accustomed to the Temperpedic, never feel the other person toss or turn, doesn’feel too hot but it is expensive.
Costco info
Here is what I found at a California store yesterday (Jan 27, 2009)
Sealy “Scotthurst queen
pillowtop mattress set
Costco model # 337895
$699.99
Have any of you tried this exact bed?
DK, after almost a year do you still like the bed? Any issues with it sagging? Like everyone here we are trying to decide…
Thanks for all the info!
I desparately need a new bed and was seriously considering the sleep number bed. How is the costco bed working for you after all this time? I’m ready to buy today. My back is killing me. HELP!
I think Costco will only take products back within one year. After one year I don’t believe they will take a mattress back, they will direct you to the manufacture.
I have an ancient lumpy old mattress and box springs that I have a memory foam topper on and 2 feather bed mattresses tossed on top (which I purchase at Kohl’s online on the day after TG for around $35.00 each-all sizes- and I sleep wonderfully. I just use the (old) mattresses pretty much so I am not at floor level. Of course, the featherbed mattresses are not that cheap any other day of the year…
Wow. What a treasure trove of information. Thank you. Hubby and I are looking for a new bed and it’s scary out there, so appreciate your information. The NovaForm bed sounds like a great deal. My main concern is the heat issue. Believe me, I don’t want to go there. If my mattress throws off heat, at my age, that could be dangerous. Any comments from you “mature” gals out there?
dear doctor klein:
you are obviously very devoted to helping your patients and followers find the best sleep solution. we LOVE doctors like you because it is the same approach we have to our design and manufacture of our mattresses. we manufacture several of the mattresses sold at Costco online (through Leggett & Platt). it would be a pleasure to have you visit our factory in Orange County!
respectfully,
kathryn branman, pres.
714-447-3161
I appreciated the information on this website. Just wanted to share our experience with mattresses. We are still looking for our ideal king-size mattress.
Kingsdown mattress. Run away from this awful mattress. Because we are only three hours away, we bought our furniture in High Point, NC. They pushed this bed hard five years ago. Paid $2,600 for it. Hate it. My wife and I have our own “cavities.” Basically, we each sleep in a separate hole in the bed, weight differences aside. It is impossible to get rid of the “holes” in this mattress, no matter how many times I rotated it and flipped it, not easily done, because it has no side handles! We moved it to our cottage.
We recently (two months ago) bought a Stern & Foster bed at Sears. On sale! $1,300. Cheaply built. Not happy with it. We used to have a very nice Stern & Foster in our Florida condo. Nine years ago, we paid $2,200 for it. It was worth it. I wish we still owned that bed. So, now we are still looking for a new king-size bed. The Sears mattress will go to a guest room in our daughter’s house.
Please help any and everyone. I have a bulging disc. I have had chronic back pain for the last three months where I am in constant pain and pain killers do not help. Anyway, I am getting better but trying to find a mattress when you have chronic pain is very difficult.
I bought the nova-form at Costco and kept it for 6 months and never got used to it. Thank God they took it back with no questions asked. You gotta love Costco! I am not a picky sleeper and have always slept well on any and everything. But with my recurring back issues I want to find the perfect mattress for me. My disc ruptured two years ago and through physical therapy it healed and then I started playing tennis 3 days a week, working out etc and it bulged again…this time it is taking much longer to heal and now I have sciatic pain which I didn’t not have the first go around. I have to say that the Nova form (before i hurt my back the second time) caused a little sciatic pain. (I hope you guys can follow this).
Anyway. With my back pain now, I have slept about three hours a night for the last three months. It is horrible. I am in constant pain but it seems to be getting a little better. However, I need a mattress now. I am sleeping on a loaner since I took the other one back.
I am leaning towards buying a latex mattress by Miralux at sit-n-sleep. I also like the sleep number but agree with all the problems listed above. Most of my life, I am 41, weight 150 and am 5’9″ tall, I have slept very well on firm surfaces so I’m thinking the latex is the perfect match for me.
If anyone has any advice, I would surely appreciate it. I hate all this research! Thanks for the site and info here.
Best.
Jeff in L.A.
Thanks for the information. I was on the verge of buying a Sleep Number or Temper Pedic. Now I will do some leg work and consider Costco and Sam’s Club.
Fantastic site, EXCELLENT INFO. Dr. Would love updated info from your own experience. I have had to sleep on a PLEXUS Low Air Loss Mattress for the past 3+ years due to chronic pain in my neck, spine and SI joints from an accident. The system I have had for the last 2 years is mfg. by Tru-Aire Mdl # P-2200. I currently have a twin size mattress with an adjustable hospital bed; that has been provided by my insurance. Would love to ‘share my bed with my husband’ but to purchase the system direct for my husband and myself…would be astronomical.
Any other resources you could share?
We got our king size Costco NOVAFORM in spring 2005 after a debilitating shoulder injury. We previously had a serta or sealy very good spring queen size mattress. I constructed a ¾ plywood box platform for it.
Our problem with the spring mattress was wife does jumpingjacks in her sleep and I sleep SUPER lightly so I would wake up. Also my injury made it so that I was really uncomfortable. It is November 2009 and our mattress is starting to show signs of sagging. There is definitive sag on my side that dips about ½ inch down in static position. When I am on it-I feel like it’s about an inch compared to the middle of the bed. I weigh 160 pounds and am 6’4â€.
I contacted sleep innovations and they sent me a warranty form. They will replace mattress if it meets their(unstated) sag criteria. They will pick up mine for free or I can provide them with a donation receipt to a charity(why would I want to give a used mattress to a charity?-gross)
All they needed was a Costco receipt which I did not have. They told me Costco could provide it to me which to my un-surprise they did with one simple phone call.
I will buy this again for 2 simple reasons-it helps me sleep like I never have before and it absolutely does NOT transfer ANY motion.
Hi,
Has anyone tried a Cmfortaire air bed? It has
fantastic reviews, and it seems to have advantages over the Sleep Number bed. We need a extra long bed for my 14 year old son, size 15 eee shoe, 6 ft and growing! He is always hot, he does like the memory foam. I am deciding between latex and the Comfortaire. Any suggestions?
Thank you, Kelli
Hi, well here is my dilemma. I have lower back pain due to arthritis, and worn out discs. My partner is a “big boy” and likes to have his mattress extra firm so it supports him. Unfortunately the extra firm mattress he likes leaves me in pain and is now causing me pressure point pain in my hips and shoulders as I am a side sleeper.
Does any one have a suggestion of what type of mattress would be good for us? I had hoped the sleep number would be a solution for us, but we have now scratched that one off the list since we have read the reviews.
I am concerned any of the memory foam beds would break down too quickly since neither of us are small people.
Anybody got a suggestion for us???????????
Looking forward to some advice.
LS
Wow, thanks for all the posts, and esp. Dr. Klein! We are just in the “searching” mode after being at the state Fair, with you know who (Sleep Number), almost selling me on it! Thanks again. Don’t have a Costco around here, so guess I might go online. How about an update, now, almost 3 years later???
Dear Dr. Klein,
I don’t know if you still check this site for comments, but I had to try. My husband and I have had a tempurpedic for about 5 years and we HATE it!! We paid 3,000 dollars for our mattress, desperate for a good nights’ sleep! It does not keep its level of support, just as the pillows lose their stability. Their is a giant hill between us that is impossible to negotiate, since you will continue to roll toward the valley of your used sleeping space. Maybe this problem is inherent with king sized beds. We rotate our mattress, in order to alleviate this problem of loss of support. Your analogy of jello vs steel is perfect, as you will never see this loss of support looking at the surface of the mattress. And the heat retaining properties of this mattress are sometimes unbearable, particularly to this menopausal 44 yr old. Thanks for the vent!
I have owned asleep number and same complaint as others. Eventual caving in at the center if you sleep in the middle of the bed. The slow leaks in air chamber or compressor over short period of time.
I bought 3 mattress sets from Euro-Flex and the sounded so great. They do have what SEEMS to be a great warranty but in reality they make you pay shipping charges to send the mattress back to the factory to be “fixed” and not replaced. You also have to pay to have the mattress packaged well enough so as not to get the cover dirty in the shipping process (can’t just put it in a box that can get torn or holes) then pay for shipping once it has been “fixed” to get back to your house. Remember you will not have a mattress to sleep on for several weeks while it is being “fixed”, they don’t send a loaner.
It takes several weeks to months get the mattress back because they are not sending a new replacement mattress but rebuilding/re-stuffing the inside of the mattress using your original cover. Therefore, “that” takes time. And….that is why you have to be very careful packaging the mattress for the return.
The reason anyone returns a latex or memory foam mattress is usually that divots appear after a few months where your body sleeps on the mattress. If you are a couple and have a queen or king then you have two divots on each side of the bed and then a hump in the middle. If you are a couple who like to sleep cuddled or spooned together in the middle of the mattress then you get a big crater in the middle of the bed from the weight of both bodies over several months.
The above can also happen on innerspring mattresses too but tend to happen faster on the latex and even faster with memory foam. Think about the word “memory” the memory foam beds in particular start to remember or have memory of your body compression and then stay compressed over time.
I spent over $10,000 with Euro-Flex buying 3 mattress sets at once, on-line and through phone conversations with the company in 2008. Within 6 months the beds got the large divots where we all sleep on the mattresses and you can see them even when the beds are made up. So that is a pretty deep divot. These beds were custom made for our particular body weight, height and sleeping positions, at least according to the company. So there should be no excuse for the divots. In fact, I was assured that these mattresses would NOT get divots. I asked about that because every bed we have ever owned in 36 years have gotten permanent body impressions (divots) within a year or so. Some, like the Euro-flex, even faster, just 6 months and they were the most expensive mattresses I have purchased.
I would estimate that we have purchased about 8 mattress sets in 36 years just for my husband and myself, NOT including the ones we got for our kids and guest bedrooms. Every one developed divots. The last mattress set (before the Euro-flex) we bought for our own use was a high-end line king Sterns and Foster in 2001 priced at about $2800. I bought the queen Sleep Number for my son who was about 17 yrs old at the time and paid about $1800 back then. So I don’t purchase cheep mattresses.
We made the Sterns and Foster last us a few years by buying a 3 inch latex topper ($300) for the mattress after the divots and the middle hump appeared. It stretched out the mattress life because I just could not afford to buy another expensive mattress set so soon.
I, like you, are on a quest to find a good mattress and not break the bank for a mattress that only feels and looks good for a few months. I can make any mattress comfortable with a separate removable latex topper. I just want a mattress that will not get body divots where we sleep and the hump in the middle, at least not for 10 years, like the mattress companies claim their mattress last.
We are not small people. My husband is 6’4” and weighs about 300 lbs and I am 5’6″ and weigh about 190 lbs. We are more muscular than roly-poly. In fact, I have a hard, flat stomach but I am about 30 lbs over weight (yes, fat) and my husband is 30-40 lbs or so overweight too.
We are stomach to slight side sleepers. If anyone out there knows of a mattress to recommend for us that will not divot, even if it is very firm, please let me know. And please don’t suggest that our divot problem would be fixed if we lost weight. Our being overweight is not a choice it is just a fact of our life. This is what we have to work with. LOL! Please, help with a good mattress recommendation if you can.
Susan from Concord, CA
9-9-2010
I have an all foam bed with a memory foam topper. I sleep miserably on it. It has body depressions and is not supportive.
I am leaning toward a 6″ extra firm (ILD 36) all latex core with a 2″ soft (ILD 25) latex topper for the pillow-top effect. Unlike petro based foam latex density is directly proportional to its firmness. As a result, the firmer the bed, the denser the material, and the longer it lasts. Foam can be firm but not dense (cheap foam) and will quickly lose its supportive qualities (i.e. body depressions).
If you buy the latex material separate from the case (i.e. not assembled, but can be in the same purchase) you can avoid the US law requiring the case to be saturated with fire retardant chemicals. I’m leaning toward http://www.foamorder.com because they are one of the few shops that will sell untreated mattress components and their prices seem competitive. If anyone finds a better online source for latex cores, please post.
I’ve decided against innerspring mattresses for the following reason:
http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/Non-food/Environment/mattress_1808100754.html
I’ve decided against standard foam and fire retardant treated mattress for the following reasons:
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/33754/print
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Can-Your-Mattress-Kill-You-76887.shtml
Wow! THANK you guys for all of the insight! I was looking forward to getting a Tempurpedic and my husband also questioned the Sleep Number.. so this was definitely a helpful site to get so much information and experience on mattresses! 🙂
When I read the earlier post from MEL stating he was a 90 and his wife a 60, I thought he was referring to their ages, not their sleep number, even more impressive when he said his wife was pregnant (lol!).
I travel a lot and make it a point to make a note of any hotel mattresses I found very comfortable. My two favorites were the Sealy Posturpedic Comfort Plush from the Rio in LasVegas, and the Serta Perfect Sleeper from the Hilton (I forget which city).
If you’re travelling a lot and want a more comfortable sleeping experience, try sleeping on the side of the mattress opposite the main side with the nightstand, phone, etc. That side isn’t slept on as frequently, and is therefore less worn.
Oh- here’s important advice on what to do with your old worn out mattress: Put it in your guest bedroom. That will guarantee your visitors won’t want to stay for more than 2-3 days.
Good luck!
Hi,
We’ve had a SC King for about 10 years and like it! It’s easy to move and setup with the plastic base. One thing to note: Always lay on it when making air adjustments. We found it normal for the air pressure reading to change after a cold front or atmospheric pressure change. You will need to check your pressure reading about every couple weeks. I like the ability to change pressure according to my back. I’m 6′ tall at 230 lbs. My number is 70 and I go to 75 or 80 when back is acting up.
We are selling our home with all furniture and are in the market for another air bed. Looking at Sleep Better bed in King.
Do not buy any item withTempurpedic name!! based on personal experience. They are not responsive to warranties. I purchased a mattress, mattress platform, and pillows delivered in January2000 from a Tempurpedic Store called Back Designs, Inc. in Berkeley, CA Pillows, after a few months, were like bread dough .and no memory. Store replaced pillows, same experience again. In 2002 same issue with mattress and pillows. on returns. A horror story of trying to return the mattress and deal with Tempurpedic as follows: In early 2001 mattress began to loose integrity and I was told in repeated phone calls to Back Designs the mattress was designed to sink with your body shape. (I am a 130# female sleeping alone). By 2002, Mattress and pillows felt like I was sleeping in bread dough. After mattress became warm from body heat, I kept sinking. Remember this history. I contacted Back Designs, Inc in January 2002 about returning all pillows and mattress. In February 2002, I contacted Back Designs again. Was told Tempurpedic has to handle claim on warranty because purchase had exceeded trial period and they would file claim with Tenpurpedic. Nothing happened. By 2003, Back Designs was out of business with no notice to me that this was going to happen and my complaint was still pending. By the way, the phone number was not changed and Website is still up as of 2011 for Back Designs, Inc on Ashby Ave. in Berkeley. Through the years I would call that number and leave messages for Back Designs to return my call regarding mattress claim. No one had the courtesy to return the calls to tell me they were no longer Back Designs,Inc. The trail goes dry. I then began to make phone calls to Tempurpedic directly to no avail. Tempurpedic says they have no records on mattresses not purchased from them???? was told by them I would have to produce the original invoice(which I did not have) as proof of original purchaser. I repeatedly ask for a manager to return my call to no avail regarding warranty claim filed byBack Designs Inc. Aftermany calls to Tenpurpedic and no return calls, I gave up. In January 2011, I was reading reviews and searching for a mattress and retailers kept saying how wonderful they were, I would tell them my story. I became so annoyed by these retail discussions that I tried the same old phone numberfor Back Designs Inc. and as I finished leaving my message someone picked up that told me the story of Back Designs going out of business in 2003 but offered suggestions on how to reach the owner who he had worked with at Back Designs, Inc. He did not go with her new company but stayed at the old location with new owner but they didn’t carry Tempurpedic. I finally located Back Designs,Inc previous owner in Novato, CA who now has an internet sales business with back products under same name but is not selling Tenpurpedic products.. I requested all paper work she had on what I purchased from her and she sent it to me also with her notes on an invoice dated 2/07/02 that I wanted to return everything from Tempurpedic. No explanation on why she hadn’t followed through with my return warranty before closing her business. I contacted Tenpurpedic immediately and again requested a manager to contact me. No manager contact yet 10 days later. The person I spoke to took all info”will look into it”but again would not let me speak to a manager, “will send paper work to me”. The owner of Back Design’s Inc. confirmed to me that she had talked to Tempurpedic immmediately after my phone call to both of them. No paperwork or phone call from Tempurpedic…… Any one who has any notion of purchasing a mattress that cost thousands from Tempurpedic, I would reconsider and put my money elsewhere!
I paid $3,300 for a king sized Sleep number bed, approx 1 1/2 years ago. I’m 6’6″ and 250lbs my fiance is 5’4″ and 130lbs. For the first six months we were in heaven, no downhill effect. No center foam being felt during love making.
My number is 50 while hers is 35. Everything had been fine until I noticed my side of the mattress was off the platform by three quarters of an inch and growing, while the other side was even to the box spring. It seems my side is flattening out, due to my 250lbs when it is stated to support a 500lb person.
I’ll be calling customer support on Monday and let you know. I only wish I’d come across this site before I spent the money.
Thanks for the research, and a forum, for people to post their experiences. I’ll keep you posted
Hi all,
Thanks Doc. for the helpful website! BTW, how is your mattress after passing 3 years?
I have a question. Has anyone bought a Pure Comfortâ„¢ Classic King Mattress
Novaform® 25.4 cm (10-in.) Mattress with
NutraTemp® Memory Foam From Costco?
I am also thinking about purchasing a mattress from Ikea. Which one do you recommend?
Thanks,
Sarah
I just don’t know what bed to buy. Found a King Beautyrest with adjustable base as SleepCountry and I fell in love with, but so expensive. Went to SleepNumber to compare comfort. With the Memorial Day Sale going on, their top of the line King with adjustable base runs about the same cost $7500 – $7800. Big purchase and I’m worried about making the wrong selection. For that amount of money, one would hope the bed would last for 15+ years, but reading all these comments it just doesn’t sound promising. What to do?????
Costco gave me all my money back on my 2007 mattress bed this week. 🙂 I agree most foam beds are great for a year or two so I will just stick to Costco . June 2011
Thank you! Thank You! Thank You! For the internet and all these wonderful facts. from all these great people. I was looking at a Sleep number, dont like the Tempupedic mattress, you all just saved me thousands of dollars!!!! THANK YOU!
my sister had a sleep no bed-I tried it one nite and my back felt great in the am. I have degenerative spine, fibro and rheumatoid arthritis. My sister loved her bed. I do think it is good for fibro because you can adjust it as needed. I am considering buying it with one bladder since I sleep alone,
Have you looked at the Sleep Better store? The 20-year warranty on theirs is actually 5 years, with the same pro-rated replacement thereafter for the next 15 years. Awfully expensive if it actually fails after 5 years. I have spinal osteoarthritis, and I need something that works better than a traditional mattress… Air mattresses have been good, with a tempurpedic cushion on top, but it doesn’t take much to make an air mattress fail: one cat-paw, claws extended or two kids using the mattress as a trampoline.
Could I have your take on the Sleep Better version of the air mattress?
I bought a queen size mattress less than 3 yrs ago from Costco…..a Sealy Posturepedic
Barryton on sale…about $600. Horrible!!!
Pillowtop, soft, awful. Bought a Stearns and
Foster prior from Macy’s….same! What had
happened to mattresses anyway? I am 75
and long ago they lasted soooo much longer.
Now it seems bells/whistles no truth.
M.
We bought a $4,500 TempurPedic Allure about 90 days ago at Sleep Train and don’t like it a bit. Luckily Sleep Train is going to provide a money back refund, down to and including the pillows and mattress cover. Since we don’t know which bed we want, we planned to return it (before their 100 night limit expires) and sleep in the guest room until we figured it out. Sleep Train wants to keep the sale – so they have extended their 100 night return policy another 30 days. Impressive! Only problem is – I don’t know what bed to buy now. The TempurPedic wasn’t particularly hot (and I’m in the middle of menopause) but it was hard to move around, get out of bed, etc. We’re both pretty athletic – so – we were surprised when it was such an effort to get out of the darn thing. Anyway, we had decided to get a SIMMONS BLACK – until we started reading all the bad press and reviews about the beds and Simmons. Now we don‘t want to touch Simmons with a ten-foot pole. Any suggestions out there???
Sir Love your article on Costco vs sleep number. I can not find the cosco bed you are talking about on line. Help. Thanks RT Spinazzola
Sir, Love your artical . I can not find the Costco bed on line that you are talking about . Costco version of sleep number Thanks RT Spinazzola
I live in a small town called columnspinfile-address_data.dat-3 in east columnspinfile-address_data.dat-1.