What kind/type of mattress do you sleep on?

Rock hard. Did not choose it carefullly and ended up sleeping on a rock!

Sadly, I’m in the same boat as you. I desperately need a new mattress, but am very confused about which to choose.

Waterbed. Have for 35 years. Wonderful way to sleep.

I started dating a woman who managed a Select Comfort (“Sleep number”) outlet, which was what first turned me on to the qualities of that mattress. I hadn’t really ever considered it before, but as I would occasionally pick her up from her work place to start an evening date, I started to read the literature, try the demos, etc., and eventually shopping for one. (She never tried to sell me one.)

When I finally decided to buy one I was still a bit put off by the cost (they are pricey!), so she helped me to buy a discontinued / demo model from another store. (I can’t tell you exactly what I bought, but it is one of the better-than-standard king size mattresses they offer.)

I’m no longer dating the woman, but I have never regretted the choice in mattress.

We sleep on a TempurPedic memory foam mattress, king size. I like it and would buy it again. Initially it helped with my back and hip issues, but when I switched to a more physical job, it did not help as much. One of the best features for us has been the lack of motion transfer. I switch sides a lot during the night (always have) and that no longer disturbs my husband. The only downsides are the price and that it can get a bit warm during a very hot summer if you don’t have air conditioning. As for the price, supposedly you can get 20 years from one of these, so it may amortize the same as a regular mattress that is replaced more often. I’ve not done the math on that, however.

I have a pillow top king-sized, Sealy Posturepedic, which is very soft and comfortable on top, while being firm and supportive. I love it.

Three answers with three different choices. This is why it’s such a hard decision.

I’ve tested out (in the showroom) all three options above, and they all felt great compared to the clunker I have now — for the ten minutes you lay in it.

You really need to spend a few nights on one to know I suspect.

The challenge with seeking advice about mattress choices is that it falls into what I call The Goldilocks Syndrome. Even top quality mattresses…for some it’s too hard, for some it’s too soft, and for others it is just right.

I prefer the pillow-top style mattress as well. When the hotel corp. I worked for went to this style being required in all of their hotels, the guests love it. Bedding scores went up. The only complaints that I saw were from guests who said that they just didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning because it was so comfortable. Guests kept requesting to buy them, so the company arranged to sell them on their website.

I do have two tips for you:
1.) Before making a purchase, find out what the return policy is.
2.) Make sure that the mattress gets rotated at least twice a year. It will extend its life.

I bought mine in Macy’s and it is an individual spring mattress. It is 12”, doesn’t have a pillow top, or any special foam, or anything like that. I do have a high quality mattress cover on it. Because of the bed I own, the furniture, I am limited to 12”. I love my mattress, it’s very comfortable. It has sagged a little more than I would have expected on my husband’s side, but he sleeps comfortably and doesn’t care. I asked him if he wanted to turn it, and he doesn’t want to.

Like @Pied_Pfeffer, it’s a very individual decision. Some like soft mattresses, some like firm, some like in between. It depends on your weight, your health issues (bad back?), in addition to your personal preferences.

I like firm without pillow top. I have heard that memory foam can be hot, but I have no experience with it so I don’t speak from experience.

The trick that mattress manufacturers use, you will find, is that each store sells it’s own line of models. So in one store, you may find a Sealy ultra premium, and in another, you’ll find Sealy premium posh, and in another, you’ll find Sealy premium posh, and they will all be the same mattress. Using that method, you cannot compare models and prices, because you’ll never find the same model in different stores. Therefore, you need to shop around, lay on them and bargain with the salesmen, or get some good sales and use coupons (like at department stores).

My last mattress and box spring combo was/is from Costco.

What I would like for the future is a platform bed, using only a mattress.

Yeah, there is a memory foam mattress in our guest room. It gets too warm when we sleep on it.

I swear by my Tempurpedic Grand. It is firm but conforms to your body. It’s a great nights sleep!

Like @tedibear and @Judi , I too love my Tempurpedic King Size mattress. Even though I now live alone, I do sleep with two cats that move around quite a bit at night, and I never notice any movement from “their” side of the bed, lol. In all, I find it quite comfortable, although I keep my A/C on at night to prevent it from being too “hot”.

But as @tedibear mentioned, they are quite pricey!

If you did want a memory foam mattress, you can get them at discount furniture stores (chain stores). I don’t have one and so have never shopped for one, but I see the local discount furniture chain advertises them often.

I tried the Costco memory foam before I got my tempurpedic. It was ok, no real complaints, but the Tempurpedic is in a whole different league.

@Judi: Can you explain the difference between Tempurpedic and generic memory-foam mattresses, based on your experience?

The tempurpedic is not as hot. It is firm but seems to have just enough give in just the right places.

%^^#*&^!!! Well…just composed a lengthy post and lost it when my computer restarted for an update. Soooo…the short of it, yes, memory foam is the way to go IMO.
My bed is a Wickline memory foam an obscure but high end California mattress company and I have had it for 6 yrs. now. It has a 20 yr. warranty.
Mine is medium firm, they are hypoallergenic, no dust mites can live in memory foam, and it is a dream to sleep on.

I still crawl into my bed after 6 years and think ” I LOVE this bed.” lol

@Coloma, I feel the same way. When I’m out of town for a while, there is always a special sigh when I get ready to crawl into my own bed.

A memory foam mattress, we have memory foam pillows too, nice and firm.

I bought a Queen-sized Simmons ComforPedic mattress in 2008 at Sleepy’s. I don’t recall the exact price, but I’m pretty sure it was >$2000. I put down what I had saved, and financed the rest with their interest-free deal. I set up automatic payments for an amount higher than needed to pay it off within the contract, and never thought about it again.

I do still love the mattress – it has a more dense foam on the bottom, then a softer layer on top. My fiancé has shared it with me for over 2 years now, and he really likes it, too – when we go to bed, we often say how it is our favorite place in the whole world. My fiancé doesn’t notice me tossing and turning, and I dont feel if he gets up during the night, or when the cat comes and goes (unless he walks across me).

Originally, it came with a frame and a split box-spring (to get it up the curved staircase), and when we moved we got a frame with wooden slats. Because of this, it is a bit less firm, and I do feel movement a little more than I did with the steel frame and split box spring. It is warm – which is nice in winter (ours is the colder bedroom), and in summer we are comfortable with the ceiling fan, a sheet, and sometimes a light quilt.

Tempur Sensation 25 (the actual name might have a few more words in it). It’s quite firm base but has a very soft top layer (top 5cm or so) so it feels like lying on a duvet on a firm bed. It is incredibly comfortable.

I had a foam mattress when i was younger. I loved it!
I currently have 2 Sleep Number beds (one for each house). They have improved my quality of sleep, and a bad neck and shoulder pain I had before getting them.

OK @filmfann…of the 2 which would you today go to buy for your primary sleep platform??

@Cruiser – I am overweight, and while I don’t notice any ‘slumping’ or ‘sagging’, I am mindful that it might happen, so I do rotate the mattress periodically – because of the layered construction, it can’t be flipped; so I spin it around so that the top where most of our body weight had been, is now at the bottom by our legs and feet.

My son needs a new mattress, so we’re thinking of giving him mine (which he loves and sleeps in whenever we go out of town), and getting a new one for us that might be better suited for the slat bed. I am intrigued by the SleepNumber mattresses, and like that each person can set their own level in the Queen and King sizes. It’s not in our budget right now, though; but I’m glad you asked this question!

About my sagging mattress, my husband only weighs about 170, give or take 5 pounds either way. I can’t help but think the seperate springs are more likely to have sagging then a regular spring mattress, but maybe the quality just wasn’t fanstastic on what we bought. We have not turned the mattress in 4 years, so I am sure that is part of the reason. The mattress is just over 6 years old. Our last mattress we kept for about 12 years it never sagged in one specific spot like this one, but the last few years it seemed like the whole thing was old and worn. The ticking was in great shape, but you could tell it needed to be repaced.

I had a foam mattress, not the new kind, for many years and it was very comfortable. I don’t know if they even make mattresses like that anymore? I also was thinner then with fewer health issues, so I was comfortable on almost anything. Once you develop more bumps and lumps you need the mattress to conform to you in the right places. As a young child I could sleep on the floor.

I don’t like the number mattresses at all. I have tried them many times, but only slept in one for two nights.

The one thing that I was disappointed about my tempurpedic was that it was much firmer with sheets on than it was without sheets in the store.

@JLeslie I have recently read more than one Mfr. warranty that say the warranty is void if you rotate or flip the mattress.

Don’t know, I found it in the alley behind my house. But it’s nice, seems to be made of some sort of memory foam like substance, but it’s a little firm for my taste.

Mine came with the bed and is nothing special. I love it as it combines firmness with softness and always gives me a great night’s sleep.

@Cruiser Interesting. I never heard that before. Was it a pillow top? I assume you defintely can’t flip those.

This is the brand of mattress I bought from Sleepy’s this past October. I don’t remember exactly which series I bought, but whatever is the firmess is the best bet. I went in needing a firmer bed because I sleep on my stomach (bad squirrel) and if it is not firm, my back hurts. So while it’s not a “sink in to it and die there” type of feeling mattress, I need it for support. has little pillow top, but I don’t sink into it. I think the warranty is 15 or 20 years (I’d have to check paperwork). So far, I love it. Much better than my old mattress. I only wake up with a backache is I sleep too long, like 12 hours+ too long lol. I also bought a memory foam pillow that I love and has helped with my neck. Also, Sleepy’s has an evaluator thingy in the store and spits out what mattresses are best for you. The one I bought turned out to be one of the ones that it suggested.

We have a king sized Tempur-Pedic and absolutely love it. The very best part is that a year or so ago I took the cover off and noticed the foam was cracking. It was around 12 years old and since it was still under warrantee, within a month we had a brand new mattress and box spring without any hassle and not a penny out of pocket.

We have an older pillow top mattress (no idea what brand). We couldn’t afford to replace it with something good, so I recently topped it with a mattress pad that is a combination of a 2 or 3 inch layer of memory foam with a plush poly-fill topper/cover (which keeps it cooler). It improved the comfort level dramatically! Based on this, I would definitely buy a mattress made in the same way.