<p>Our mattress has gotten so bad that we’ve moved into the guest room where the bed has a new mattress. Since the last time we had to make this purchase (10+ years ago), a lot has changed. </p>
<p>Does anyone have experience with the new mattresses? Temper-pedic or Sleep Number? Or even the ones with the really thick pillow top. Are they worth the extra money? I have a bad back and could make the investment (although not easily.) </p>
<p>Any advice is much appreciated.</p>
<p>I have a 3 or 4 inch tempurpedic topper. I LOVE it. Much cheaper than buying an entire new mattress.</p>
<p>My wife is a light sleeper and has all sorts of aches and pains. She loves the Tempure-pedic style mattress that we got from Costco. Just a couple of warnings. These mattresses are heavy. The delivery guys couldn’t/wouldn’t take the mattress upstairs. My wife and I had to get help to get this up the stairs. Second, once the mattress is opened up it can take quite a while - several weeks - for the mattress to relax and even out.</p>
<p>We have a sleep number mattress. I have a bad back and this mattress is heaven! I’ve had several very expensive mattresses and none were close to being as good as this. And, I like/need a very hard mattress and H likes it softer so it works great for us.</p>
<p>Thank you for the input. I have a follow up question on the tempure-pedic.</p>
<p>My husband tried a tempure-pedic pillow a few years back and it got so hot that while it was comfortable, he had to trade to a regular pillow half way through each night. We assume it must have been an off brand. Do tempure-pedic beds hold heat? We live in the deep south, so staying cool is important.</p>
<p>Kate, we have a Tempurpedic matress which we bought about 5 years ago when our spring mattress got too uncomfortable. Our choice between Tempurpedic and the “sleep number” kind narrowed down when the salesperson for the “sleep number” beds could not answer our question whether the air feature was resistant to cat bites (one of my cats was notorious for biting into objects). It is a great mattress!</p>
<p>We bought a tempur-pedic mattress and pillows last year and absolutely love it. For us it was a huge splurge, but it will last, and nothing compares for us in terms of comfort. </p>
<p>Though I will say it took about 6 mos to get to the right comfort level (like the right sinky-comfort level of the one in the store). I think it needed to break in or something. And we weren’t thrilled with the toxic smells that came with it at the beginning. It does run warm but we adjust with less bedding.</p>
<p>We just completed the long process of buying a mattress (to replace a 25 yr. old one). Our problem has been that we couldn’t agree on a type of mattress. My husband thought he preferred tempurpedic memory foam (which I didn’t like the feel of) and I thought I preferred an innerspring-type of mattress. It wasn’t until a City Mattress salesperson showed us an all natural latex mattress that we both fell in love with the same bed and felt the comfort surpassed any of the other mattresses we each previously preferred. Just yesterday, we ended up saving about a $1000. by essentially “building our own individually customized” latex mattress/bed by ordering the same components online at [Green</a> Mattresses, EcoMattress, Eco Friendly Mattress, Organic Sleep Systems, Natural Products from FloBeds - FloBeds.com](<a href=“http://www.FloBeds.com%5DGreen”>http://www.FloBeds.com). They also offer memory foam/latex mattress combos. It sounds difficult at first, but it really isn’t once you educate yourself. They have a fun tutorial online to guide you through the process, plus they have great customer service/return policy. We had read rave reviews about FloBeds from [What’s</a> the Best - Mattress](<a href=“http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com%5DWhat’s”>http://www.whatsthebest-mattress.com), which has a forum discussion (like CC) and reviews on all types and brands of mattresses. It is a wealth of information. Good luck, whatever you end up with!</p>
<p>I’ve had a Tempur-pedic mattress for a few years now and like it. It really does reduce any pressure points while still giving support. I like it to be cold when I sleep and haven’t had an issue with the mattress seeming too warm. It shows no sign of wear after the few years of use.</p>
<p>I purchased the Costco equivalent Novaform mattress for my mother. It was less expensive than the Tempur-pedic but IMO not nearly as good. It was unable to maintain its shape and had to be turned and rotated - something that’s never been a problem on the tempur-pedic. It also doesn’t seem as comfortable as the Tempur-pedic.</p>
<p>I looked at the sleep-number one but just didn’t like it - it seemed too much like just an air mattress with a bit of foam on top. I don’t ever plan to go back to springs.</p>
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<p>Some tempurpedic-filled pillows are filled with crumbs and pieces of this material, and they are increadibly uncomfortable since they compress easily and do not represent the tempurpedic material well (I’ve tried those pillows). The mattresses (as well as some more expensive pillows) are slabs of the material.</p>
<p>We have a Tempurpedic mattress and we love it also. It does hold your body temperature. But we have never been uncomfortable even on hot summer nights. My husband loves his pillow too…personally I found it to be the most uncomfortable pillow I had ever used. The mattress is wonderful. Ours is five years old and just as good as when it was new. I will say…buy both the mattress and the foundation (platform). Do not just buy the mattress and stick it on your box spring.</p>
<p>Tempurpedic has a money back 30 day guarantee if you buy the mattress and foundation…so if you really don’t like it, you can return it…check to see if this is still the case. It was when we bought ours…but only if you bought the set.</p>
<p>Also, we have friends who bought a “generic” and they had to replace the platform…it collapsed. They replaced it with a Tempurpedic platform.</p>
<p>thumper, we never bothered to buy a matching foundation for our mattress - we have a Dania platform bed supplemented with a couple of quality birch plywood cutouts. So far, so good. Tempurpedic mattresses, as we were told, are European-designed, and they are intened to be used on a solid, flat platform. Boxsprings are an American phenomenon, apparently.</p>
<p>Bunsen…the tempurpedic “foundation” IS a platform, not a box spring. </p>
<p>My point is that the money back guarantee is NOT able to be used if you don’t buy both the platform AND the tempurpedic mattress. If you only buy the mattress…you don’t get the guarantee.</p>
<p>Agreed…you can use the Tempurpedic on any platform. We had a relative who tried it on a box spring…THAT was not very good.</p>
<p>I’ll just throw out a comment on the ubiquitous pillowtop mattresses. We bought one a year ago because it seemed comfortable in the store and pillowtops were the dominant type at every retailer, the trendy mattresses everyone seemed to be choosing. I hate it. The pillowtop surface naturally compresses and shifts from one’s body weight being in the same place all the time (it’s not flippable), so I feel like I’m sleeping on an increasingly lumpy surface. The surface also kind of cuddles up around you, so it hugs the sides of your trunk and limbs. Some may like that, but I find the effect suffocating and hot, especially if I’m lying on my stomach. The undulating surface makes it impossible to pull the top sheet taut. We spent a fortune on the thing, so I’m stuck for the foreseeable future. Think twice!</p>
<p>In D’s dorm the mattress was lousy. She felt the springs and there was a dip in the middle. On parents’ weekend (end of Oct) I went to BB&B and got her a 2-inch memory foam topper for about $100. When she was home just now she said that her bed is so comfortable now that she doesn’t ever want to get up-- a whole different set of problems, if you ask me! You might just try getting something like this. Don’t know the cost for bigger than twin size, but probably less than a whole new mattress.</p>
<p>Buying a mattress — somewhat like choosing a college! You can’t really know if it will be right for you until you have experienced it over time.</p>