The princess and the pea...AKA "I need a new mattress!"

Chicklet

I know it is mostly dudes on here but I need some input.  I have got to get a new mattress.  STAT!  
There is so much info out there I am just left with a sore neck and even more confusion.  This is as bad as buying a car!  
I tend to like a firmer mattress but don't need to sleep on a rock.  I am also having a little sticker shock.  I tried out a mattress in the store and the chick told me it was $3500!  
I intend to take the man with me to shop and lie on them for a bit.  It is just overwhelming!  
Anyway, if you've purchased a mattress recently, what can you recommend?  Did you go to a furniture store or the mattress store?  
I need a drink.  

meredith

theyolksonyou

Not to be a smart ass, but there was a really good mattress thread maybe a month ago. Basically, there's a lot of really good brands that are as good as temperpedic, which we have and really like, that are a helluva lot cheaper. Try the search and it should pop up. 


Good luck. A bad mattress sucks. 

leemschu

I got a Serta Icomfort about 2 years ago and love it. I went from pillow top to that and I could lay down and wake up with out seeming to have moved all night. With it shaping to your body. But I had to get one that when you lay on it is firm and once you lay there for a minute you sink a little. The ones that are soft I sank to far in and felt claustrophobic. That's at 5'10" 225 lbs.

jollygreenegg

We got a temperpedic foam mattress.  It's pricey, but I don't wake up with a sore back anymore.  The only negative is that when the weather is hot the foam acts like an insulator and retains the heat.  

nolaegghead

We got a sleep number.  Has an articulating frame.  Computer and sensors that measure how lousy you sleep, respiration, etc.  Connects to the internet.  Has a remote control. I'll probably be victim of a cyber terrorist who lets air out of my mattress and gives me a neck crick by mal-adjusting the head of the bed from North Korea.

Anyway, we like it.  I ended up spending an entire day welding and bolting an inner frame to connect the sleep number frame to our sleigh bed frame but the results were worth it.  I think we spent around $4700 on the bed and 600 on the sleigh bed frame.   Ain't cheap but you spend a good deal of your life on it (most people do, maybe not @SGH).

This is useful.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/29/mattress-myths_n_7662014.html
 

nolaegghead

Another nice feature of our bed is we can adjust each side independently.

SGH

nolaegghead said:

Another nice feature of our bed is we can adjust each side independently.

That is pretty convienant for sure.  

onward_2_victory

We got a Tempurpedic (contour or signature I think) a few years ago and I've never slept as well as I have on this mattress.  My wife has had back and neck problems for years, and they are virtually gone since we've gotten this mattress.  It was expensive, but I've found you can't put a price on a great night's sleep.  We shopped around at a few mattress stores, but eventually got it at a Healthy Back store.  They gave us the best price and threw in some tempurpedic pillows ($125 each) and a few other things that made their option the best for us.  Good luck with your decision.

hondabbq

Here  the thread that @theyolksonyou mentioned. I was the OP.

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1182511/ot-anyone-have-a-foam-mattress#latest


We ended up with a foam mattress from Costco. We have been sleeping on it for a few weeks now. Its not hot like they say. Its quire comfy. Just need life to slow down a bit so I can enjoy it a bit more.

theyolksonyou

@hondabbq thanks, I was going to search and link this morning. 

Lots of good info in that thread. 

johnkitchens

I bought a Sleep Number two years ago. It cost a lot of money, but I have never slept better and no more back pain! I was in pain daily for a couple of years before I discovered that it was my mattress. 

It was life changing for me to get my Sleep Number. 

We went mattress shopping twice, and I agree that it is a painful and overwhelming experience. I gave up the first time for over a year, but my back pain got so bad I decided the next time I wasn't coming home till I had made a purchase. 

Thankfully I made a good decision. 

bo31210

Tempurpedic    Takes a little while to get used to but once you do it is unbelievable    Worth every dime   Bought from a mattress/bedroom store.   

byrne092

Definitely a topic of personal preference, but I guess I am the oddball out. My wife had always slept on a Sleep Number and loved it, so we ended up buying one a few years ago. Unless I just cant seem to find the right number, which I have been tinkering with over the past few years, it is the most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept on. Glorified air mattress with a pillow topper. 

Grillin_beers

I have a seally. (Sp?). Not as nice as a sleep number or Tempurpedic but it gets the job done for a grand or so. Good luck! 

johnkitchens

byrne092 said:

Definitely a topic of personal preference, but I guess I am the oddball out. My wife had always slept on a Sleep Number and loved it, so we ended up buying one a few years ago. Unless I just cant seem to find the right number, which I have been tinkering with over the past few years, it is the most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept on. Glorified air mattress with a pillow topper. 

I totally respect your opinion. My wife doesn't like the bed nearly as much as I do, and you are certainly not the only one that feels the way you do. You can read on the Sleep Number forum and see others that are having the same problem you are. 

I am sorry you don't like it and can't get comfortable. It is not a 100% magic bullet solution, but thankfully in my instance it has helped me tremendously. 

I wouldn't take $10,000 cash for it today. 

HoustonEgger

We had a temperpedic and upgraded to a Sleep Number - not cheap at all but so worth the $. Wife has back problems and never slept all the way through the night - now I can hardly get her out of bed. Well worth the $ in my opinion

HoustonEgger

I will say the only problem with getting something like a Sleep number or a Temperpedic is that whenever you have to sleep somewhere else (like a hotel) - you will feel like you've been beat up the next morning because your body will be so spoiled from the nice bed.

Hi54putty

We have had the least expensive Tempurpedic for 9 years and it still feels like it's brand new. It is probably the best thing we have purchased. I highly recommend it. It cut my back and neck trouble by 75% immediately. Only drawback is that it sucks when I have to sleep on anything else. That mattress and my BGE are really the only two things I recommend to people. 

byrne092

@johnkitchens Thats a good deal man, glad that you enjoy it and it has helped you out; did you have back/neck problems? 

johnkitchens

byrne092 said:

@johnkitchens Thats a good deal man, glad that you enjoy it and it has helped you out; did you have back/neck problems? 

I have broken over 20 bones in my life. These came about as a combination of motorcycle wrecks, a car wreck where I flipped my car 4 times and got thrown out when I was 19, and a few more slip and fall type accidents. 

The flipping car grazed me when I was on the ground and broke ribs in the front and back. Between all of these different injuries I ended up with back pain. I have a bulging disc in my back right between my shoulder blades that will flare up from time to time, and I have spinal stenosis in my lower back. 

Both of these conditions were getting worse before I got the sleep number. Luckily for me both conditions didn't flare up at the same time until the week before I ordered my Sleep Number. I could barely move. That is really what prompted me to get a new bed. 

In the almost two years since I got the bed, I have only had very, very minimal back pain that would last at most a day or so. Nothing as severe or as long lasting as before. In the past I would hurt for two weeks or longer at the time. The only change for me has been the bed. 

For me it really was life changing. My wife is tiny. 5 ft tall and 90 pounds and she isn't nearly as comfortable on it as I am. I honestly think that lighter people don't enjoy it as much. 

Helmet

I was in the same boat not long ago and I ended up going with a bed-in-a-box due to the great prices, the warranty, the reviews and the fact that it literally got delivered to my house via UPS in a (fairly small, considering) box. I am very very happy with it and the GF loves it also. They rate as high as the Tempurpedic at around 1/2 the price. I put it on my existing box spring and haven't looked back. I will agree with the others though that after you get a nice memory foam it's really tough to sleep on anything else. 

Ivanhoe

Another Tempurpedic user - Can't add much more to what has been said. I do agree about the heat retention but It is not uncomfortable to me.  The bed has
spoiled me.

caliking

@Chicklet - I feel your pain  about mattress buying. The last time we went mattress shopping (12 years ago) was a b!tch. I did so much research that I think I can write a thesis on the subject now. 

Mattress stores had the worst staff ( one woman was upset because we didn't buy anything after laying down on 4 mattresses, another sneered at me because I said I wanted to pick it up myself to save on the delivery fee). We went to several places. We like a firm mattress, hate pillow-top, and feel like we sink into memory foam type things. A major criteria for us was that the other person sleeping shouldn't be disturbed by the other one turning in bed, getting up, etc. We found that mattresses are repackaged for different retail outlets - same item just different labelling . That makes it nearly impossible to compare mattresses seen at different stores, because they will tell you that its not the same thing (even though it actually is).

We settled on a Simmons Beautyrest, because of the individually pocketed coils which are supposed to diminish transfer/transmission of movement across the mattress. The mattress has a perimeter of 2-3 rows of stiffer coils so that the edge of the mattress doesn't compress or sag over time. I knew the pitch of the coils and other specs of the mattress I wanted and found it at a small mom and pop furniture store. They were very helpful in confirming the specs of the mattress, etc. We've been very happy with it, and miss it when we travel. 

Having said all that, I have friends who buy everything at Costco, and were very pleased with the mattresses they went and bought without any research etc. I have also heard that IKEA has some good mattresses and a reasonable trial period or return policy. 

byrne092

@johnkitchens Ouch.... That's great it takes care of your pain issues. I suffer from lower back pain from time to time from an old football injury and weightlifting...back pain issues suck big time, I could only image what you had/have to go through. What is your sleep number? Do you switch it up if you're having lower pain or upper pain? 

johnkitchens

byrne092 said:

@johnkitchens Ouch.... That's great it takes care of your pain issues. I suffer from lower back pain from time to time from an old football injury and weightlifting...back pain issues suck big time, I could only image what you had/have to go through. What is your sleep number? Do you switch it up if you're having lower pain or upper pain? 

My number is 40. When we first got it my wife would put both sides on 100 every morning before she made the bed. About 6 months she stopped moving it to 100, and I think it sleeps even better than before. Something about leaving it your number and not moving it has helped.

About a year ago my lower back hurt some, and I moved it up to 45 for a few nights. That did the trick and then I went back to 40. 

My wife feels about the same way about it that you do. She does like the fact that I can roll over or get up, and it won't disturb her. 

Toxarch

Past time for a new bed for me as well. Just haven't taken the time to go pick one out. I prefer a firm mattress with a pillow top. I think my old one is a Sealy.

I've slept on a memory foam mattress a few times. It does get hot at night. I have bad knees and if I sleep on my side, I wake up with at least one knee throbbing in pain because part of the bed sinks and the part with my feet doesn't so it put a sideways torque on the knee. It was also a little annoying getting out of the bed.

I have also slept on a partial memory foam mattress. It uses a few different densities of foam with memory foam on top. I found I liked it better than the full memory foam mattress. It was even better with the whole thing turned upside down. It was firm and still gave a little bit.

Chicklet

We went and tried a few mattresses today.  We narrowed it down to the firmest Tempur in the store.  It wasn't the most expensive but rather on the cheaper end of the Tempur spectrum.  
And wouldn't you know it, we have nearly talked ourselves into the head-up / feet-up option for the mattress.  I am still a little sticker shocked but I have a lot of problems sleeping and I just felt good IN this bed. 
We haven't pulled the trigger just yet but I will keep digging around and probably decide in a week or two.  It is just so hard to spend that much money for me right now.  

Hi54putty

Chicklet said:

We went and tried a few mattresses today.  We narrowed it down to the firmest Tempur in the store.  It wasn't the most expensive but rather on the cheaper end of the Tempur spectrum.  
And wouldn't you know it, we have nearly talked ourselves into the head-up / feet-up option for the mattress.  I am still a little sticker shocked but I have a lot of problems sleeping and I just felt good IN this bed. 
We haven't pulled the trigger just yet but I will keep digging around and probably decide in a week or two.  It is just so hard to spend that much money for me right now.  

You won't regret it. 

MJG

I will never again not own a tempurpedic. Every night I go to bed I love than damn thing. The sticker shock wears off. 

Botch

>Bump!!<

Just a quick tip for the Tempurpedic owners here.  We all know the waterproof mattress cover is a necessity.  The first Failure Mode of that cover is that the rubberized sheet on the bottom begins peeling away from the cotton pad itself, and this is nearly impossible to see even if you're looking for it.
The second Failure Mode, once that delamination gets big enough, is that the rubber rips.  This IS easy to see.  Fortunately the two tears I had had not reached the top, so the mattress itself is okay.  The cover warrantee is 10 years and mine is about 8 years old, so something to keep an eye out for.  

Hibby

We recently bought a new bed. I researched far longer than I wanted to but am very happy with what we purchased. I thought I wanted memory foam but research told me otherwise. Ultimately we went with www.flobeds.com and got 100% natural latex (talalay process) and opted for the euro slat adjustable foundation. It was nearly 5k but we absolutely love it. Each side can be tailored to the individual sleeper based upon weight, sleeping position as well as personal preference.  Good luck in your search.