Pros and cons of air mattresses

[Bob Rufener]

Our mattress is getting old and uncomfortable. I've had two back operations and have been waking up with some back aches. We are considering an air mattress. I know that there is a brand called Select Comfort but don't know if there are other manufacturers out there. Have any Creekers had experiences with air mattresses and, if so, what are the pros and cons I should consider before we spend a lot of money and possibly be disappointed? Any and all comments are appreciated.

[Matt Meiser]

Interesting thread--we've been looking too and I'm leary of the select comfort because I haven't heard much about them besides advertising. A Hilton Garden Inn I've stayed at several times this year has something like these and I sleep well there. But theirs are not Select Comfort and I can't remember what they are. We are also looking at the Tempurpedic mattresses. Either are a lot of money but with the latter I've heard people say that its the best money they've ever spent.

[Chris Weishaar]

Bob,

We have a select comfort bed and have been very pleased with it. I got it when I have having back problems from our old mattress. Of course the wife and I slept on futon mattresses before that. Something about hitting 40 makes the futons not so comfortable any more. We tried one of the memory foam toppers and ended up getting up in the middle of the night to pull it off because we were in so much pain.

The good of the select comfort is that it is really comfortable, my back has been great since we got it. I am about twice the size of my wife and each of us being able to adjust to our liking has been nice. In a normal mattress something soft enough for me would be really soft for her. The big thing we noticed is we both have pretty crazy intense dreams that we didn't before. It seems that we are able to get into a deeper sleep for longer periods of time allowing for better dream sequences.

The are a couple of cons with the mattress. One is in the least expensive model that we got you can feel the center dividing line between the two sides. We first tried the mattress at a condo in Tahoe and that was a higher end mattress (more topping) and you couldn't feel the difference between the two sides. If I got another (and I will) it will be a higher end model with a better topping. Another issue is that if one of us is away then you pretty much have to stay sleeping on your own side of the bed. This is because without weight on the other side it stays soft. You can offset this by resetting both sides to your number, not a huge deal. And finally while I don't think the bed leaks at all, it does seem to respond to a difference in temperature or atmospheric pressure. Every now and then you need to double check the settings.

Overall we have been very pleased.
Good Luck!

[Chris Padilla]

We've had a Select Comfort air mattress for about 8 years now...best thing I ever did for my back. Our daughter also has one...about 3 years now. We like being able to dial in our own "sleep number" for our respective sides of the bed (queen).

Spend the extra dough for the super-duper-extra-soft-pillowtop-etc.-etc. extra thick-blah-blah. In other words, go high end on the top...we've never felt any "seam" or "delineation" other than the difference in firmness between our sides (I'm a 45, wife likes to sleep on granite...she is a 95).

I'm working on a murphy bed for the guest room and when it is done one of these decades, we'll put our SC air mattress in there and drop coin on a new air mattress from SC. We get postcards in the mail several times a year as they are always having pretty good sales.

[Bruce Page]

How is the edge support when sitting on the SC?

[Martin Shupe]

Go check in to a Radisson, and try before you buy. They have converted to select comforts in their hotel line.

I am told you either love them or hate them. I hate them.

If I want to sleep on an air mattress, I'll go camping.

[Jerry Bruette]

Been sleeping on a Select Comfort clone for 9 years and I like it alot, LOML doesn't like it as much. When we bought ours the SC didn't offer as plush of models as they do now. Also the brand we bought is made locally by a family owned company.

I think what's important is the topper over the air chambers. The visco-elastic foam we have seems to be prety nice, if it's just egg crate foam you probably won't like it as much. The sleep number thing didn't mean anything to me, you just inflate the mattress until you're comfortable, and you don't have to change the firmness very often unless you want to.

Jerry

[Bonnie Campbell]

We'd bought a tempurpedic mattress a bit over a year ago. We wondered why we'd had a waterbed for so long (each thinking the other liked it we came to find out). The mattresses aren't cheap, that's for sure. And we had to get two inches of extra foam added to the top so it'd fit our waterbed frame.

My brother had an air mattress. His ended up leaking, don't know what kind it was though.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

We have had the Select Comfort (AKA Sleep Number) bed for almost 7 years. We love it! I have had back pain from an injury 44 years ago. The pain disappeared when the bed arrived. If faced with giving up my shop or my bed--well I would need a new hobby. It's been that good for us!

[Chris Padilla]

How is the edge support when sitting on the SC?

It is about as you might expect, Bruce...a bit on the soft side but supports well enough IMO.

I think SC has a 30 or 60 day money back guarantee. Laying on one in a showroom for 10 minutes isn't going to tell you much...you need a good week or two on it to give it a fair shake to see if it'll work for you.

[Matt Meiser]

I think SC has a 30 or 60 day money back guarantee. Laying on one in a showroom for 10 minutes isn't going to tell you much...you need a good week or two on it to give it a fair shake to see if it'll work for you.

They do but read the fine print. They charge $179 for delivery which is not refundable. And you have to pay $199 for pickup if you return it. I'm not saying the charges are out of line, but its a pretty substantial chunk of change if you return it. Tempurpedic has a similar charge.

[Eric Larsen]

They do but read the fine print. They charge $179 for delivery which is not refundable. And you have to pay $199 for pickup if you return it. I'm not saying the charges are out of line, but its a pretty substantial chunk of change if you return it. Tempurpedic has a similar charge.

If they didn't charge freight, I'm 100% sure there are people who would buy a Tempurpedic, use it, return it, then get the next model with a money back guarantee. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Chris Padilla]

They do but read the fine print. They charge $179 for delivery which is not refundable. And you have to pay $199 for pickup if you return it. I'm not saying the charges are out of line, but its a pretty substantial chunk of change if you return it. Tempurpedic has a similar charge.

Good point, Matt! It has been a while since I purchased a airbed and since I'm a satisfied customer.... :)

[Matt Meiser]

I don't doubt it Eric. I wasn't suprised to see that there was a "catch" on the return policies.

Since as I mentioned we've been looking at new beds, here are some numbers just for comparison. These are the ones that we seriously considered and thought to be the most comfortable model for us at each store. All are queen size.
- Select Comfort P5, including foundation, legs, pillows, mattress protector, and pad. About $2900 delivered and set up.
- Tempurpedic BellaFina $2999 plus mattress pad plus tax.
- Denver Mattress Richmond plus a mattress pad, metal frame, and pillows. $1500. Included a free 30-day trial. At 30 days you could select something different and either pay or get a refund on the difference. At another 30 days if you still weren't happy you got a full refund.
- Sealy Posturepedic "natural series" with bamboo fabric (really--new one for me), foundation, good frame, some kind of fancy pad/protector, and a "free" set of sheets. $1400. Its got a 90 day comfort guarantee which would allow us to switch to a different model for $40 plus the difference if we aren't happy. We decided this afternoon to go this route.

[John Fricke]

We have had a King Sized Select comfort for about 8 years now. My parents had had it for 4 years prior to that. We inherited it when they moved to Arizona. It sits on a home-made platform that is a little taller than standard as my dad and I are both tall/heavy guys. Makes it easier getting out of. My wife and I have significantly different tastes in bed hardness and these beds are ideal for this. Since our bed is older there is a noticeable dividing line in the middle. It is not unbearable and my wife actually likes it as she said it keeps me from taking up my 1/2 of the bed out of the middle. (keeps me on my side in my sleep)

We have both suffered from frequent back ailmenst in the past, since the SC we rarely wake up stiff and sore. Never say never but I don't see us ever going back to a regular mattress.

[Jim Becker]

We have owned a Select Comfort bed for a number of years now. It's outstanding. Like John, it's unlikely we'd ever go back to a "regular" mattress.