<p>S complains of his mattress being too hard. 13 years ago (when he moved into a “big boy bed”) we bought one that was firm but I think it was too firm. I have tried to soften it by putting a down mattress cover on it, but it shifts during the night and he says it’s still so uncomfortable. At some point, I’ll be in the market for a new mattress and I see all these wonderfully fluffy pillow top mattresses advertised.</p>
<p>Does anyone have one? Does the pillow top thing start to develop hills and valleys when you’ve slept on it for years? Am I better off either: getting a memory foam topper that he can take to college or getting a new softer mattress without the pillow top aspect?</p>
<p>Money is an issue so considering he’ll be off to school in a year and not using his bed all that much, maybe the memory foam thing is the cheapest option. But I’d also like to hear from anyone who has a pillow top mattress.</p>
<p>I love my pillow top mattress! So does my D1 who has an even “softer” one. We’ve had them for at least 5 years with no problems and neither of us has a box spring underneath (just a slatted wood bed frame).</p>
<p>That being said… I also got her a memory foam mattress topper for her freshman year. They had them at HomeGoods for about $45 for a twin size. I didn’t realize this at the time, but that is on the expensive side because it was a really good, really thick piece of memory foam. She loved it!</p>
<p>I got another one for our fold out couch bed (and it folds right in with the couch) and I have actually traveled with it to our inlaw’s house and other places where I have difficulty sleeping because of hard or otherwise uncomfortable mattresses. I’d rather have that couch bed with the memory foam than a firm mattress. </p>
<p>You want to get one that is at least 2" thick. It’s tough to say which is the better option for you. D1 loved her memory foam topper (we’re saving it for D3 now) but she moved into an apartment and insisted on bringing her mattress after freshman year. If your son will stay in the dorms, just go for the memory foam and get a good one.</p>
<p>We bought an extremely hard matress, so hard in fact I keep thinking we were sleeping on the box spring. Anyway, a 3" foam topper did the trick. It is very comfortable and I love it.</p>
<p>This is sooo subjective. We spent a fortune on a king size pillow top mattress, and I hate it. I wouldn’t say it gets hills and valleys, but it does have a lumpy feel. My biggest problem is that it’s hot. The pillow top kind of surrounds you a bit as you sink into it and the air doesn’t circulate as it would with a flat mattress. This is not a good result for a middle aged woman, but might be fine for a kid.</p>
<p>I agree, beds are subjective. I don’t like those pillow top mattresses. Better to put you own type of topper on top so you really know what the mattress feels like without all that fluff.</p>
<p>I sleep on a latex bed. We bought it online and my husbands’s side is softer than mine. The bed is made up of 2 twin sections of 3 layers of foam zipped into a cover. It was expensive but they mailed alternate foam pieces until we were happy. Bought it at Flobeds.</p>
<p>I have also used eggcrates but prefer the egg curved top down so it is smooth to sleep on.</p>
<p>wow – so much good information – I didn’t think of the heat factor. And it sounds like it is really a matter of personal taste. I think I’ll have to take S to our local mattress place and have him try out a few different models. </p>
<p>Thank you everyone who posted! Sweet dreams :)</p>
<p>I see that you’ve tried a down topper. Those things do shift and slide, but a real featherbed will stay put, because it goes on like a fitted sheet:</p>
<p>Fiberbeds are ok until the fake down gets all clumpy and lumpy, and it is impossible to fluff it (the 3 star review in the link is for a fiberbed).</p>
<p>We do not like pillow top mattresses in this house. Seems like the pillow top always gets worn out long before the rest of the mattress. The last two mattresses we have purchased have NOT been pillow tops…but we did purchase a very nice synthetic feather bed topper for one, and it is just like the pillow top feel. The difference…when it wears out, we can replace ONLY that topper.</p>
<p>When we recently went mattress shopping, we noticed that there were NOT very many pillow top mattresses even in the mattress stores…not like 10 years ago when they were all the rage.</p>
<p>Personally I would go with a good mattress, and buy a separate topper.</p>
<p>Agree with previous posters that the pillow top is hot to sleep on. We tried a memory foam in the store and it felt creepy to me . . . like it was trying to swallow me! :eek: Just this past January, we bought a new pillow-top mattress, which coincided with hot flashes ringing in the new year <sigh> . . .</sigh></p>
<p>I absolutely love my pillow top mattress. It is a bit warm but not too much. I’ve had this bed for about 7 or so years now and it’s still just as comfy as the day I brought it home. I do think that it has started to sag a tiny little bit (quarter to a half inch?) so I turned it around and my head is now at what was the bottom of the bed for the past 7 years. Now it will wear oppositely.</p>
<p>I bought mine as the floor model on clearance… paid 350 for the whole set. Was originally priced 2100. Beds are expensive. If you buy one, make sure you find a good sale.</p>
<p>I hate mattress shopping. I would be happy to pay a lot to have a really comfortable, good one. I find it really hard to part with that kind of money without sleeping on it the whole night to test it out. Ours tend to sag in the middle too soon and then I’m the one rolling inward.</p>
<p>Our current one is pillowtop. I don’t find them hot (yet?), but I prefer the regular ones that can be flipped over as well as end to end. Part B of the question–does one <em>really</em> need new boxsprings whenever a mattress is purchased?</p>
<p>greenwitch – good to know about avoiding memory foam to keep it cool (which would be my issue).</p>
<p>bunsenburner – thank you for posting that link – that is very helpful. I bet after your intense runs and work outs you appreciate a comfortable bed.</p>
<p>thumper1 – good point about wearing out before the mattress. I’d hate to throw out the mattress because the top fluffy section is shot. </p>
<p>mamom – does crate side up mean you sleep on the smooth side like lake mom?</p>
<p>fendergirl – glad you like your pillow top! I think flipping any mattress from time to time is key.</p>
<p>cgpm59 – I’m right with you. H and I have a featherbed and I am hot hot hot all night long. </p>
<p>sryrstress – exactly – what is a box spring for? I think they can definitely be recycled.</p>
<p>D swears by her tempurpedic memory foam topper. Thanks greenwitch for the value idea @ homegoods – I shop there all the time and $45 is a great deal.</p>
<p>lakemom - what is a latex bed? Like a gel bed? </p>
<p>If I can time a sale right, I’m going to use all this great info to get me and H a new mattress. Ours is 15-20 years old. Another one of those things we just didn’t want to spend $$$ for right now, but it’s suddenly very tempting. A good night’s sleep is increasingly elusive.</p>
<p>Shopping for mattresses is like shopping for cars. The “sticker price” is NOT what you should pay. DD and I went to a mattress place ( my husband says they are crooks). We went because they had two very good sounding Serta and Sealy mattresses on sale for $450…for the set. Well of course when we got there, these were NOT as nice as the ad sounded. The sales person then showed us several others that were in the $600 range. I hemmed and hawed. He then took us out to the trailer in the back…no kidding, where he showed us “the best deal he had”. I told him to schlep it inside so DD could lie down on it. He said he couldn’t t do that. </p>
<p>So…we thanked him for his (waste) time…and started to leave. But wait…he took us,to the more expensive side of the store. DD tried two mattress sets with $1800 price tags. I politely said that was out of our range. He sad he could "talk to his manager and get us a great deal. Sond like the car dealership?!</p>
<p>We left there paying $589 for the mattress set, a frame and the delivery. Seriously!</p>
<p>I love my tempur pedic…but I will say…it sleeps hot. Having said that…we have had ours for well over ten years. It is as comfortable as the day it was purchased. IF it ever needs to be replaced, I will buy another one.</p>