Tell me about your sleepnumber bed.

In My Humble Opinion
1

After going through two king size traditional mattresses lasting less than 7 years each (dips/pits) I’m pretty set on us getting a sleepnumber bed.
I know it’s a polarizing mattress but my 75 year old neighbors love theirs after 3 years and my brother-n-wife love theirs after 5 and, well, I’ll take my chances.
My main question has to do about the various models. I think I’m set on the C3, however:
1- Which model did you get?
2- If you were to get another one, would you get a more expensive, cheaper, or same model?

I’d also like to save $400 and use my exsisting box springs that are just fine rather than buying their platform. Doable?

2

We hated ours. If you like different levels of firmness it is impossible to cuddle in the middle. Got a Novaform foam mattress from costco, love that one so much we bought one for the guest room and one for the camper.

3

Have you tried one? They have (had?) them in Radissons and it was the worst night’s sleep I’ve ever had.

4

We’ve had one for 12+ years - had a waterbed prior to that which we loved, but the quality was going downhill: our first liner lasted at least 5 years, but after that we were replacing them about every two years or less.

It took my husband a while to find a setting he could live with, he hated it for a while. He got used to it.

It comes with a plastic panel “box spring”. Those do not work well on a wooden slat-type of bed. We originally had a plain metal bed frame that provided adequate edge support, but when we got a nice wooden bed where it has side-to-side slats to support the springs, that put enough pressure on the plastic that it crumbled it in places. All our weight was on 6 4-inch-wide spots because of the slats. We got a replacement, same thing happened. We finally bought a regular box spring instead - which defeats the purpose of that nice, lightweight and dis-assemblable base, but it hasn’t required replacing yet either. If you have a slat-type bed, you’ll need to either get a regular box spring or put plywood underneath the plastic base so it has a better surface to sit on.

The top is too lightweight. We have to shove it back against the headboard every time we go to bed as otherwise it slides away from the headboard and our pillows get lost. If you had a substantial footboard that would be less of an issue.

The side foam pieces lose their shape after a while. Ours was so collapsed that I literally could not sleep in it without a pillow wedged in place to keep me from rolling out. We got replacement foam recently and it helps a lot but I can see it’ll be a problem again in a year or so (will have to try to rotate the pieces regularly to extend the life).

If the sides are vastly different pressures, it poses some… logistical issues. :D.

The mattress does not retain a nice rectangular shape. Partly because the foam wears out, but partly the nature of the beast. This means that when you try to shove it back to the head of the bed, it doesn’t ever really go flush and you will ALWAYS have a gap.

The mattress casing on the top (that holds the foam / air bladders in) is badly torn on my side of the bed, on the underneath part, which we didn’t realize until we replaced the foam. Possibly replacing that will help with the non-rectangular issue.

The advantage of the Sleep Number bed is that you can replace bits of it. Once we replace the mattress casing, the only original equipment we’ll have will be the air bladders and the pump.

I honestly don’t know that it’s more comfortable than a good quality regular mattress. I tried a Tempur-pedic when we were shopping for this one and found that to be awful; my understanding is that they’ve got a lot more varieties of those now including ones with a much softer top layer; I tried one of those in a store a couple years back and it seemed pretty nice. If I were shopping for a mattress now, I’d look seriously at one of those.

5

Our mattress is 32 years old and lays on a Ikea frame which has wooden slats across it to stop it sagging. It’s so comfortable we wouldn’t dream of replacing it. It cost $650 back then.

6

Yep, every hotel I’ve stayed at that has one has been a terrible experience.

7

I can’t fathom why hotels would have Sleep Number beds for the unaware public. If you have one at home, it would be great to be able to check in and set the bed to your number, but if you’ve never slept on one and have no idea how to set it, I can easily predict a bad night. It’s as if you rented a car and when they hand you the keys, they say “Oh, by the way, it’s a manual transmission.” If you can drive stick, no problem, but if you’ve never driven one, it will be a rather trying experience.

We’ve got one and it did take a couple of nights to get used to, even after going through the process at the store to determine settings.

If we were going to get another, it would probably be another P5, but the new “Sleep IQ” addition is intriguing.

8

About 15 years ago I tried one (I forget which model). I sent it back after the 90 day trial. I just did not feel it was good enough to justify the money. However, in the intervening years my body has changed (deteriorated would be more accurate) and I wonder if it would be good for me now.

If you want more information about mattresses check out the mattress underground.

9

I’ve slept on one for about 10 years now. Basically, it’s an overpriced, adjustable air mattress but it does eliminate the periodic need to flip or rotate a conventional mattress.

10

I’ve always loved water beds. But my Wife likes a firm mattress. When we married, we got a firm king size. It actually took me a couple of years before I realized that the firm mattress was way wrong for me.

Now, I’m a poor sleeper anyway, but the firm mattress was not helping.

Sooo, we have the sleep number now. Different pressures on each side. I would not call it ideal for me, I’d get a water bed for that, but it’s been a good compromise.

I agree that the ‘divide’ in the middle is a little odd. But don’t see how you could get around it.

One plus with the two different air bladders is that when one of us get’s up in the night (I get up a lot) the other really does not feel it.

11

We love ours! Going on 10 years so I don’t know the model. Got a cal king. The middle foam piece doesn’t bother us. Your number may change. We adjust it up n down a few times every year. Maybe it’s the temp change, not sure. I was worried about my cats claws but no problem! We’ll get another when this one gives out.

12

When there’s a storm coming through, the SN will seem harder or softer for a day or two unless you fiddle with it. A short power failure with find you looking at a 5 on the control, when the power comes back.

13

Love ours!

It did take a few nights to get the setting right, worth it though. I still play around with the settings if I’m particularly body sore or it’s really cold and I want to burrow in.

Worth every penny, for us anyway.