Alternatives to waterbeds?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve slept on a waterbed for the past 15 years or so, and I love it. It is sooooo much more comfortable than a regular mattress. But…

Eight years ago I bought a new waterbed, the modern type with the water sack inside of what looks like a regular mattress. I’ve always been good (not great) about trying to keep everything clean, and I add conditioner to the water every six months. Four years ago, I noticed the underside of the top part of the mattress cover was starting to get a little moldy, even though there were no leaks and the top of the cover was fine, meaning I don’t think it was perspiration. Baffling.

I tried to clean it, but after a couple more months it was getting worse, so I threw the whole thing away. I then went to Sears and bought a foam pad, and it serves the same purpose well enough - mainly that it keeps my body away from the cold vinyl, so that I don’t have to heat the bed.

This morning I woke up feeling wet. WTF? Yep, the damn bed had sprung a leak. No biggie, it was easy enough to patch the hole. But I noticed the mold problem is back on my foam pad. Grrrr.

Anyway, that’s the background. I’m starting to think that as much as I love my waterbed, perhaps it’s more trouble than it’s worth: having to add conditioner every six months, the cleanliness/mold issue, and now the leak… my thinking there is now that I’ve had one leak, more are sure to follow. Oh, and then there’s the whole issue with having to drain/fill it whenever I move, but that’s not very often.

I can’t imagine going back to a regular mattress, though. I’m always bummed when I sleep away from home, and I love returning and sleeping on my bed. It’s not that regular mattresses are uncomfortable, I don’t have any trouble sleeping; they just aren’t as comfortable as my bed.

So, has anyone here ditched a waterbed and found a nice alternative? I’ve heard about air mattresses and adjustable mattresses (“Sleep Comfort?”), and those foam ones, but I’ve never slept on any of them. Would these things be worth looking into?

2

We had a waterbed from 1988 to 2002 (or thereabouts) - it too was one of the soft-siders. We started having a lot of trouble with frequent leaks - always somewhere where the entire liner had to be replaced, not repaired. We got sick of this.

So we wound up switching to a Select Comfort air bed (the “Sleep Number” bed).

It’s OK. It’s not a waterbed, but it’s tolerable. Typo Knig has had trouble finding a comfortable setting and has wound up setting his side to very, very low (my side is more mid-range). The disparity causes some problems with overall comfort, I think.

We tried out a Tempur-Pedic when we were looking at the Select Comfort, and I hated it. In hindsight, I laid on a different model of the TP bed recently, and found it much more comfy. I think the difference was the different model had a softer top layer. The original one was too new or too firm or something (I gather some of them have to be “broken in” to be comfy). I think I could live with a Tempur Pedic mattress if I got one of the softer-topped ones.

3

I slept on a regular water bed for many years. No wave control, just a bladder.

But, after I got married, my Wife wanted a regular bed. No problem by me, or so I thought. I suffered on that thing for far too long. We have now switched to a Sleep Number bed. Sort of a mid-range one.

I have my side softer than my Wife and am sleeping much better now. A good compromise IMHO.

4

Tried a sleep number bed, returned it, decided the problems with a water bed were well worth it. I don’t have a soft side, I do have a waveless with a 2 twins inside a CA king size frame with dual heaters. The dogs really love it.

5

Waterbed = brown chicken brown cow!