What about one's mattress?

Has anyone ever tried a foam topper on top of a waterbed?

Here's the unbiased review/report we gave consideration to with our recent purchase:

http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/bed-mat ... -home.html
http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/memory- ... mfort.html

That site has a lot of information on a lot of different types and brands of mattresses.

After lying on a lot of mattresses in a lot of different local stores over several months, and even taking and studying pictures of each other's body postures cradled by each mattress while lying on them , we ended up purchasing the Serta iComfort Genius Queen, with the 120 day trial:

http://www.serta.com/icomfort-mattress- ... l#overview
http://www.serta.com/icomfort-mattress- ... ort-models

We signed up with Serta to be notified of special offers, and when the notice came of one of their promotions offering to include their standard $200 foundation without extra charge with the mattress, we took it to one of the local Serta-authorized stores which had bugged us the least on our earlier visits, and they honored the promotion plus at our request during negotiations they met Sam's Club additional offer of a $200 gift certificate by also knocking that amount off the discounted price. As a result, we purchased it for a net $1174 for the Queen including the non-adjustable matching foundation. (We prefer to read and watch TV in the living room, so we had no need for the adjustable foundation.) Although this promotion has ended, there will probably be another one soon, or some dealers may be willing/able to agree to it on their own initiative. Consumers Reports says mattress list prices are often heavily discounted. Some store sites were claiming fake list prices as high as $4000 on this set, in direct contradiction of Serta's own website. That was really irritating.

Since we knew what our second choice model was if the Genius proved too hard, we also had them write into the contract the exact extra amount we would pay to trade up to the slightly softer model if we chose/choose to do so within the 120 days, thereby preserving the benefit of the deal even after the promotion. You might consider asking for this too.

It was delivered on February 19th. The first two nights it felt too hard, but starting about the third or fourth night it felt wonderful and still does. And their claim about no heat build-up seems to be true. We haven't noticed any extra warmth compared to our old spring mattress.

Regards, Nate

Buying a mattress is like taking a trip into Hell.

Trying to do a warranty exchange on a mattress is like taking a trip into Hell, with Hitler.

It's hard to offer an objective recommendation. Even Consumer Reports almost never, ever reviews mattresses because of the subjective nature of comfort and the vast number of different designs -- even with the same manufacturer.

I recommend:

1.) Buy a brand manufactured as locally as possible. Warranties require YOU to pay to ship a bad mattress back for repair/replacement.

2.) Pick the best warranty you can afford.

3.) Pick something with the least amount of polyurethane foam in it as possible. It is cheap and compacts quickly.

4.) Some tempur-type beds sleep very hot, and leave one feeling supported, but sunken in feeling in the mattress.

5.) Latex should be as thick as affordable. Thin, cheap layers (1/4, 1/2 inch) of latex will compact and deteriorate faster than thicker layers.

6.) Try to order a two-sided 'flippable' mattress or hotel grade mattress if possible. They are generally built better and offer two sides to rotate to extend the life of the bed.

7.) Some manufacturers now make lines of beds for obese people -- not kidding. They are built with heavier duty springs and thicker, more durable foams and are well worth the extra cost. Even for thin people they are great because they last so much longer -- the way mattresses used to be made.

Do not buy from anyone who will not show you a cutaway or spec sheet on what exactly is used in building the mattress. Sears is very good in this respect.

Make sure you get a no questions asked, free return trial period on the mattress.

Cover the mattress with a waterproof cover the minute you get it home. One drop or mark on the mattress of anything (Sweat, food, ink....) will void the entire warranty.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Sometimes retailers (like Macy's) offer a "covers everything" warranty-
-far exceeding the sneaky toilet paper printed for the manufacturers.

I noticed that depending on the support, I have different outcomes with different beds.

Queen foam mattress upstairs in guestroom - HARD AS A ROCK: AHI between 1.0 and 1.5 + got up in the morning as stiff as a board.

Sealy Posterpedic King pillow top - chunk of change mattress: AHI between 4.5 and 7 + a lot of hip and lower back pain + got up in the morning walking like I have a hunchback.

Water bed **blows kisses at it**: AHI between 1.5 and 2.5 -- NO hip pain, NO lower back pain, no hunchback walk, now stiff as a board walk. Oh my word, I LOVE this bed. I'm still working on the AHI - but I won't give up on it, I've haven't been this painLESS in thirty years.