TexasCHLforum.com

For 31 years my wife and I have had a water bed. About 10 years ago my doctor said it could be some of my back problems. So we bought our first “regular” mattress. Since then I have had two king size mattress’ from Sleep Experts that have been trash.

New day, new week and need some you to give some advice on what mattress has worked for you the best?

TIA,
Carl

Sleep number my friend. It is an air mattress, but WAY better. We're on our second one now for about 6-7 years. We had the first one for 15+ years maybe closer to 20. Try one out in a store. The only problem you may encounter is the length.

Just an off-topic comment to the "Way Off Topic" thread...because it isn't strictly about mattresses. Several years ago, after a discectomy to relieve pressure in a bulging disc, I started being uncomfortable in the bed and, about 75% of the time, would get up and go sleep in a recliner...where I was out like a rock. That finally convinced my dear wife that we should spend the money to get an adjustable bed. Those do, in fact, limit which mattresses you can choose, so that's a factor. And the beds get expensive: we got one with separate adjustments for each side, so she can lie flat if she wants, while I can slightly elevate my back and lower legs. But that made all the difference to my sleep. It's also great if we want a TV night together while in bed...and for a new tradition: me cooking and serving breakfast in bed on Sunday mornings.

C-dub wrote: ↑Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:12 pm Sleep number my friend. It is an air mattress, but WAY better. We're on our second one now for about 6-7 years. We had the first one for 15+ years maybe closer to 20. Try one out in a store. The only problem you may encounter is the length.

I agree. Sleep Number is the way to go. You can get adjustable bases to elevate your legs and head like a recliner, separate settings for each side. We have had ours for 10+ years and love it.

We went with Tempur-Pedic, yes I know expensive. We got separate adjustable frames. and she picked her firmness and I picked mine. Will probably be the last mattress I ever buy. Completely satisfied. You spend a third of your life in bed, you need to be comfortable.

We had a Sleep Number mattress for quite a number of years and loved it. When it came time to replace/upgrade it, the new mattress was is no way better or even equivalent. Even the guys that set it up said that it didn't look right. It was 2" thinner, even though the "spec" said it was 2" thicker, and was very uncomfortable. Sleep Number refused to even talk to us about rectifying the situation. In December of 2019 after replacement surgery of my right knee, we purchased a dual adjustable bed with a new Serta, I-Comfort, split-King mattress and never looked back. It is the best bed we have ever had. YMMV.

I have 3 bad discs... one lower back, 2 neck... so... I feel your pain...

1. I've slept on a sleep number bed a few times.. back when I was traveling a lot and one of the hotel chains had a deal with them... they were not adjustable base models (no foot and head height adjustment), only adjustable firmness... I remember the first time I ever laid down on one.... I messed around with the firmness, found something I liked (around 60, IIRC) and thought.. "Ok.. I'll close my eyes and see"... It was daylight out when i closed my eyes and I woke up when programming ended on the TV and that annoying "snow" sound started. And I hadn't moved from where I laid down.

2. Wife and I discovered that we prefer memory foam mattresses. A good quality foam will conform to your body and support you all over. If you are heavy in the caboose, that part will sink a bit more, but the foam will fill in at my lumbar to provide support and I can sleep without pain from my bad lumbar area. Wife has had a similar experience.

3. We recently stayed at an AirBnB that has the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on... It was "Gel memory Foam".. whatever that really is..We actually stripped the bed to find the manufacturer information. Turns out it was a China import and we eventually found it on Amazon. We were heartbroken to find that it doesn't come in a tall enough height for our bed... it would leave a gap between the headboard and mattress.. our pillows would not be happy.. If they made a 12-14-inch version of this mattress, we would have slept on it last night... LINK.

I guess what I'm saying is... figure out what options you think you might like and find a way to try them out before buying...

Select Radison Hotels have Sleep Number beds... Maybe seek one out next time you travel?

https://www.pruvo.com/blog/hotel-beds-w ... best-beds/

Radisson

The Radisson group offers “Sleep Number Beds” by Select Comfort. These mattresses allow the firmness of each side of the bed to be adjusted. So, if you like a softer bed but your partner prefers a firmer bed, you can both get an ideal night’s slumber. These mattresses are available in selected Radisson hotels only, thus, it’s wise to consult the hotel prior to your arrival.

You can get into a very good memory foam mattress for a relatively low cost... Both Zinus and Ashley have solid reputations on Amazon. Our daughter likes her Zinus, Wife and I are sleeping on an Ashley that we like a lot.. The Ashley King 12-inch medium firm is currently $400 on Amazon.

Good luck my friend... I hope you find something that works well for you.

Keep in mind that "memory" foam has a limited life. As we have discovered dealing with memory foam in aircraft seats, it is VERY comfortable, but it does compress and loose it's firmness over time. In aircraft seats we have found it life to be around 6 - 8 years. I suspect that sleeping on it every night, the life may be less.

Mel wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2024 10:45 am Keep in mind that "memory" foam has a limited life. As we have discovered dealing with memory foam in aircraft seats, it is VERY comfortable, but it does compress and loose it's firmness over time. In aircraft seats we have found it life to be around 6 - 8 years. I suspect that sleeping on it every night, the life may be less.

Agreed....

We replaced our $400 memory foam mattress (actually $400 is less than we paid today for a better mattress than the original) after about 10 years. Maybe should have replaced it a year or so sooner... Still, if the price of a sleep number runs into the 2-5 thousand range... that's enough to cover 5 to 12 foam beds... at 8 years each, that adds up to longer than I expect to be around, even at the low end.

Still.. foam has to be right for you or it's wasted money regardless.

For my money, TempurPedic is the way to go. My wife has had multiple back surgeries and it's the only mattress she can comfortably sleep on.

Be aware that not all "memory foam" products are alike. I've used "memory foam" toppers on guest beds and they're good for about 2 years. Tempur Pedic uses a very high density type of memory foam that is super comfortable, very supportive of all the angles and bumps in your body, don't take a "set" over time, and last and last. We're on our second one now in over 20 years. They are expensive but worth every penny. Many others out there are also expensive, but not worth the cost.

I suggest visiting a dealer and just laying down on one. They sell themselves. They come in different grades of support and features.

Feel free to give me a call if you'd like to talk more about it.

Most of you are probably aware on some level that I’ve had a complaint of back problems for many years. A fusion/discectomy at L4/L5 in 2004 helped a lot, but not 100%. Over the intervening years, my back began again to degrade significantly. Below is an MRI image of my lower spine, taken a little over 3 years ago. We tried a number of mattresses over the years, including a memory foam mattress that didn’t hold up as long as it was supposed to. The next mattress purchase was a split California King Sleep Number bed with one of their higher end mattress sets, and the ability to raise/lower the head and foot of the bed independently for each mattress. It was reasonably comfortable at first, but over time it too began to break down, lose its shape a bit, and resulted in increasing levels of back pain. Then in about 2016 or so, we bought a split California King TempurPedic with the same mechanical traits as the Sleep Number bed. 7 years later, this bed is as comfortable and sound as it was the day we bought it.

The downside, such as it is, is that we bought their "tier one" (for lack of a better term) mattress set, so the whole thing was hugely expensive. If I recall correctly, the MSRP on the whole shebang was something over $12,000, and we got it on a clearance sale for around $8,800 … huge savings, but STILL a whole lot of simoleans. This did not include head and footboards, which we already had.

If money is not an object, I would find a way to pay for this specific TempurPedic bed…a split king, top tier mattress set, with the mechanical ability to raise/lower the head and foot of the bed. I sleep like a baby now, and on days where my back acts up and is more aggravated than normal, I can adjust the bed to find a position that lets me sleep with uninterrupted comfort. And even if discomfort intrudes during the night, I can reach over to my night stand, grab the remote control (I know it by feel now) and make adjustments on the fly to correct the problem.

Oh, and although I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used this feature since 2016, but the bed also includes a vibrating massage function, which can be operated from the bedside remote control.


FYI, this image doesn’t show my T-spine, which is in almost as bad a shape as my L-spine.

We didn't buy the high end TempurPedic model but we're still very happy with ours.

The prices are high but not out of line with other premium mattresses that don't last nearly as long.

They also run frequent sales with large discounts. Here's one that's good until Monday:

https://www.tempurpedic.com/shop-mattre ... ts/v/4073/

Also have Tempur-Pedic, like it, but with a caution. It is heavy and awkward. If you are physically challenged, or weakened by health issues like I am, changing the sheets or rotating the mattress can be exhausting.

Our old mattress needed to be replaced. We have one of those adjustable platforms instead of box springs. After searching at local mattress stores, and seeing their prices, I gave up and ordered a replacement mattress from Amazon. My thought was we could replace it every year and still come out cheaper than the ones pushed by the local stores.

//www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NANZ3HQ/re ... =UTF8&th=1

ZINUS 12 Inch Green Tea Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress, Fiberglass Free, Cooling Gel Foam, Pressure Relieving, CertiPUR-US Certified, Bed-in-a-Box, King, White

We had a twin version at the deer lease and I found it comfortable for a night or two at a time.

After 2 years, both of us are still happy with the purchase.

Your-mileage-may-vary.

sleep number here
not the adjustable head or foot, just the normal one
i have back issues and being able to soften or make it former is a great thing for me

i think we have had it about ten years now