I've been visiting this site on and off for 2 years or so.  When I thought I found a bed I'd like something bad about it always surfaced.

The foams are hot.  They break down.  Don't give the support they were looking for.   Sinking feeling.   Air bladders leak.   Don't

see any difference between the settings.  Had to exchange foam pads several times to get it comfortable.

It's time to replace our current bed.  Actually it's been a long time since it should have been replaced.  Remember the Serta mattress

that had 10 bowling pins on it?  They dropped a bowling ball on the Serta Mattress and none of the pins fell over.  They also showed

a full glass of wine on this mattress and then this guy jumps on the mattress and no wine spills.  Well where are those bowling pins

and glass of wine today?   I could easily bowl a 300 or get drunk from spilled wine on that mattress now.  It lasted maybe 5 years.

It has been very uncomfortable for many years now.  It looks like a soup bowl and my wife and cross our fingers that we don't fall

through it every night.   I'm done with spring beds. 

With all the searching I've done the last couple years I question how many reviews are from honest users and how many are from

users who post multiple complaints under numerous names because they have a vendetta for the company.   I don't wanna go through

the hassle of sending foam pads back and forth to Arizona or California.  I do consider spending $2000 or more on a mattress set a

lot of money considering it cost $2000 for a new Chevy Vega.  And $3 filled the tank!! 

I know we're all different and what works for one may not work for the other.   I do hope whatever I finally decide to buy will help with

my shoulder and hip pains because I'm tired of waking up achy.  I will be buying something in the next couple of months.  I just don't

know what I'll be buying.  But it won't have springs.

Hi

We've only been posting on this site for a month or two and I don't want to sound like a broken record BUT we did invest about three months of dedicated and serious research both online and visiting all the area furniture/bed stores within about 30 miles of our house (we did buy a Chevy Vega new way back when and it was a fun little car - problem with the Vega and reason the disappeared so quickly is they all seemed to rust out quickly).

Spring Mattresses - ingenious invention but weight and gravity immediately begin to degrade the tension and support of springs from the first day you use it.

Foam - We tried in stores most every type of foam mattress available - laytex and memory foam and the amazingly expensive Tempur-pedic types.

We learned that the definition of "mattress comfort" is a very individual thing and no two people are the same.

Please allow me to ask if you have ever given consideration of trying a waterbed and waterbed mattress?  After all of our research and spring and foam mattress testing we learned that our best choice was to stay with and buy a new waterbed mattress.  We have been sleeping on and enjoying waterbed mattresses for 22 years but we have gotten older and wanted something a bit more firm and totally waveless.

The only two mattress types that are easily adjustable for firmness are air chamber types and waterbeds.  Air mattresses are adjustable by adding or removing air but most of the online testimonials say that they don't hold their air/firmness constant and so adjustments must continuously be made.  We have an air and innerspring combo mattress in our motor home and it is okay for that situation but I wouldn't want to sleep on it full time.

Waterbeds are ajustable by either adding or removing water but once the right firmness is found it won't change so once you find the exactly perfect firmness for you it is locked in.  They also now come in dual or two sided configurations so one person can have a different firmness adjustment from their bedmate.

My wife and I are both side and tummy sleepers and once we found the right firmness we both now sleep thru the night without any pain at night and with no pain in the morning.  The combination that worked best for us was a waveless and extra firm waterbed mattress combined with a Cloud9 three inch thick semi-firm memory foam topper.   BTW - my bride sufferes from multiple back and bone conditions that will never go away and will slowly get worse over time and she has no pain and sleeps through each night.

We have had a beautiful oak waterbed/frame for all the 22yrs so buying a new mattress with all the latest design features cost only $300 (included shipping and no tax) and the topper was on sale at Amazon.com for $150 (included shipping and no tax) and all we had to do was add warm water, plug in the heater and we were all set.

Please take a look at new waterbed mattress technoly as the new models are NOT the bouncy full wave things we played on in the early 70s.

Price - Adjustability - Heated!  We've learned you just can't beat a waterbed and it's about time they were put in the same category as other "regular" mattress types.

Best Wishes with you mattress quest!!

Jim and Cathy

Jim,

Thanks for the info.  My wife's Vega rusted out also but we did put 250,000 miles on it after GM gave us a new

aluminum shortblock which they paid for!!

I am considering a waterbed but don't know if the wife would be interested.  Leaks would be a concern for her

but I'll have her test one if we find a dealer.  It would have to be a softsided waterbed.  I had the hardside back in

the early 70's before I was married but wouldn't want that type today.  I wish the waterbed mattress had a 3rd bladder.

One for each person and the 3rd to pump water in and out of the users mattresses to adjust the firmness.  I really

don't want to be playing with the firmness by constantly adjusting the water.  As I recall from years ago burping was a pain.

I think I used to stack towels around the filler to absorb all the leaked or spilled water and having friends gather around the

bed to push the air bubbles to the filler!!   HOWEVER I do like the heaters for these beds as it warms from the underside which

is nice.  I have looked on line at several waterbed websites to see what's available.  They are cheap compared to the

other types of beds unless you get a Flobed waterbed.  But we plan on making the rounds this month to try out the different

beds.  But using them at home is different than trying them at a store. 

Thanks for the info.

Do lots of research and don't listen to salespeople. Lots of people are in the same boat, including me...... Times have changed, and products are not the same as they once were.

I wish I had the answers for you and me. Some people make their own beds with Foam by Mail. Some people have tried latex toppers or memory foam on top of the old spring mattresses (that don't have body impressions.) Time will tell if these methods work for them. I am still trying latex toppers on my spring mattress. Still having problems........

imjay wrote:
Hi We've only been posting on this site for a month or two and I don't want to sound like a broken record BUT .

Pllleeease stop with the waterbed sales pitch. Why do you want to encourage this? We all have tried waterbeds, they leak, you CAN'T control the firmness, they are a mess.

Enough, already. You WILL and HAVE continued to try and sell the waterbeds, but I feel for the innocent people that will listen.

FYI: You are suppose to identify yourself IF you are a salesperson.

NO bed is perfect, and NO bed works for all of us.

How many times have you ignored these posts?

Leo3 I'm gonna look at all the beds except those with springs. I figure that an air mattress would leak as well as a water mattress, except not be as messy of course. On this site the Select Comfort gets bad reviews.  On the Select Comfort site they get great reviews.  Do they edit the comments on their site?  I don't know.  If they did I feel the word would have gotten out by now.  And there are some bad reviews on the Select Comfort site also.

I've done a lot of research over the last 2 years.  When I thought I had made up my mind on a mattress it changed.  I was sold on the SleepEZ bed but now I don't know. It gets great reviews here but when there are exceptions to the reviews it makes me think again.  It's also hard to seperate the BS from the real stuff and try to figure out which reviews are bogus and which aren't.  We have allowed $2500 to spend on a bed so I wanna make sure I'm gonna get my money worth.  I think that is an awful lot of money to pay for a mattress.  I think for that kind of money a latex/foam mattress should still be like new 15 years from now.  If not you could buy a new $500 spring mattress every 3 years.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. I have tried a Sealy memory foam bed, thinking that would be great, in less than 8 months I hated it. I tried several spring mattresses (on sided) and those were horrid. They put cheap foam on top and it wore out and felt horrible too.

My 12 year old Spring Air mattress has no body impressions, but I am sure the layers are shot on top. Some people take off the layers and put toppers on them. I am too chicken to do that at this time. I am trying latex toppers now and have found I made it too soft, I layered memory foam and soft toppers over that. So no perfect solution as yet. But new aches and pains, not the same old ones.

I also have heard about the air mattress problems. I haven't been a victim of that mattress at least. Yes, I agree about opinions not being posted accurately. I have heard about the Sealy Latex mattresses that are all synthetic are not as good as pure latex, or part latex, they make body impressions sooner than people have thought it would.

Did you say you have an old spring mattress that has no body impressions? Maybe you can try a latex topper, or memory foam, or polyurethane topper over it? Just a thought. I know it is frustrating, I am there too.......

This Serta set is shot.  It looks like a bowl.  My parents always had a sheet of plywood between the mattress and box spring.  I don't wanna go that route either.  I want something comfortable and durable.  So I'll test what I can by laying down on them in the stores.  If I pay $2500 for something I don't like I'll go the cheap way next time and buy more often!!

I am here to stick up for imjay and his waterbeds. We slept on one for 14 years and that was the full wave mattress with woodframe.  Get real Leo! I (the wife) could burp that thing all by myself and you only had to do it a couple of times til the oxygen is out of a fresh fill of water. We had one very slow pinhole leak  about halfway through the 14 years and hubby picked up a new bladder the next day for $50. Since we bought the original bed used for $100 and a new mattress for $50 for 14 years of warm comfy sleeping (not to mention  the conception and nurturing of 3 children) it was a great comfortable bargain.

Why did we change to an innerspring mattress? We moved to a home where we did not want the waterbed weight coupled with the fact that hubby and I were beginning to change and I wanted the bed softer and warmer and he wanted it firmer and colder. So began a 19 year odyssey of $1000 apiece king size beds. We were at least smart enough to buy the last king size with 2 separate mattresses along with the 2 foundations so we are now sleeping on a wacko bed with 2 different mattresses and 2 different foam toppers. Still neither one of us sleeps all that well.

Alas, we are at a stage of life to be sleeping in separate beds, I guess. I am trying to decide between latex and the good old bladder waterbed. I just wonder...can I get a wave to roll and pop me up and out in the morning??!!   :-D