After selling my sleep number (which was one of the top 5 weirdest experiences of my life), I purchased a Simmons pillow top mattress. The store offered delivery for an additional charge, but like any red blooded American male with a pick up I balked at paying a fee for something I could do for free. I loaded the mattress in the bed of my truck and strapped it down. My 8 year old was concerned that it wasn't secure, but I assured him it was fine. We took off and were merging onto a 6 lane high way at 65 MPH when I looked in the mirror and saw the mattress levitate, hover briefly over the bed of my truck, then float majestically along the highway like a hover craft, finally coming to rest on the shoulder. Several cars and semi-trucks dodged the mattress thankfully. I stopped the truck and was trying to figure out how I was going to lift a queen sized mattress off the highway with only the help of an 8 year old. Just then an old hippie in a VW bus came from out of nowhere. He stood beside me looking at the mattress and said "Dude, don't sweat it, this has happened to me before. I'll give you a hand". Somehow I didn't doubt him. Turns out one of the tie down straps had failed.

We looked at the sleep number and my opinion was it was an overpriced air mattress.

We have the beautyrest cape horn series.

It is very firm, but that is the type of bed we like.

Sorry Thomas, but that visual made me giggle - a lot!

Don't they always appear that way? A cloud of smoke clears and "poof" Hippie.

So, to update, we landed on the Serta Perfect Sleeper Pillow Top.

It was modestly priced at about $800 at Sams. I told my wife if she hates this thing we can go for the SleepNumber next time. I'm moderately more nimble this morning.

Funny thing... We are staying in an apartment for a bit until we build a new home. The old mattress was placed by the dumpster and had vanished 15 minutes later. Perhaps it was the hippie...

We bought a similar mattress at Sams and have had it for several years. It is very comfortable and we are really pleased with it.

I've had a sleep number bed for probably 15 years now. In fact, my whole family is sold on them. I love my bed. I would recommend the king sized dual chamber bed as the chambers are wider and the construction changed which eliminates the center dip effect that can happen. I have a queen size dual chamber but have slept on my sister's king size bed and it was much better.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks. I would highly recommend you visit a sleep number store in person if you are even thinking about one of their beds. There are many different models available.

Update 2: This thing is also attempting to murder the Paperman Family one night at a time. As I sit here I can feel pain radiating up from my knee, through my hips and into my back. I told the wife to go buy her SleepNumber today. We think Sams will give us store credit for the current mattress.

I've been snacking on ibuprofen like they are skittles.

Hey - I resemble that remark.

Sorry you're having mattress issues. Let us know how the SleepNumber works for you. We could use a new mattress but I'm afraid to pick one.

We purchased the SleepNumber i8 about 1.5 years ago. We don't love it...and are now stuck with this bed for a while. We spent hours in the store trying out various models but until you sleep on it for a length of time its hard to judge right away. Don't waste money on the SleepIQ "technology", we had a 30 day free trial and it was very glitchy and some nights didn't track sleep at all. The remotes are sensitive and they work like cr@p most of the time. The remotes also go through batteries about every two months. My bed requires special sheets that you can only buy online from SleepNumber and it’s about $200. Maybe they have made some upgrades since we purchased. Good luck!

I actually did a tons of research on mattresses back in December and ended up purchasing a mattress from an online store and I LOVE IT... They offer a 75 day free home trial and will pick it up at anytime without any hassles... I have never slept so well. They also have the best customer service folks I've ever dealt with... http://www.saatvamattress.com/ True story: My folks, unbeknownst to me, were also researching new mattress at the same time and we ended up purchasing the exact mattress, on the same day, from the same company without the other knowing. (They live 4 hours away from me) It wasn't until their mattress was scheduled for delivery that I mentioned I had just bought a mattress and had I known they were in the market for a new one, I would have told them about this great online company. After a few more questions, we realized we bought the same mattress. They love their mattress too...

We had a knock-off Tempurpedic and it was killing us. We went mattress shopping and I told my husband that I am NOT going to pay a lot for a mattress. The prices on mattresses are stupid crazy.

Well, lo and behold I bought and would now marry Sleep Number if I could. We invested in one and have never looked back. I never, ever crawl into that bed without going "Ahhhhh". I still ask my husband weekly "Have I ever told you how much I love this bed?". It is the best miracle creation in the world. I know we paid a lot for it but both our backs have been so much better since we got it. We justified it as an investment in our health and the fact that we spend 1/3 of our life in that bed.

I cannot stand mattress shopping and I never know what to look for. I'm beginning to think sleeping on a zero gravity chair may be the answer for me! !

After the first day of being sore, sleeping on a camp pad on the ground was actually pretty comfortable. Maybe that's the problem; we are trying too hard.

I'd go back to the camp-pad in a heart-beat compared to this torture device!

I recommend the sleep number with the memory foam topper. I've had one of them for probably almost 5 years and we both love it. We started with the cheaper, non-foam model and were immediately dissatisfied. Exchanged it (receiving full credit) within the month for the memory foam version and problem=solved.

I'm looking at a futon to replace the traditional mattress and box spring.

There are some nice options where you can pretty much get a complete bedroom set and a frame that's set up like a traditional bed (not a couch that converts to a bed)

The only futons I have ever slept on were not very comfortable. Of course I haven't slept on one in probably twenty years so I'm sure they have improved since then.

I would have expected a nest or a burrow, possibly a cave.

Okay, I'll bite. So what makes it a futon?

It's a Japanese style. Like this

http://bedroomdecortips.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Japanese-Futon.jpg

We bought a Sleep Number a year ago and we absolutely love it. I sleep so much better and love that we can adjust the head and the feet and have different settings (my husband likes a firmer mattress than I do). Haven't had to replace the batteries in the remotes yet - maybe our is a different type? It's just such a comfortable bed and you can change the firmness with a touch of a button. I just got tired of replacing expensive mattresses over the years when they would lose their firmness and I would be laying in a dip. That's not supposed to happen with the Sleep Number - I'll let you know in about 5 years lol.

There are batteries in the remote? about 10 years now and have not changed them

I thought it was the mattress that made it a futon. I had one many years ago and it was comfortable. Now that I've seen them set up as a single use bedframe, I'm going to go with that again. The quality of the mattress will determine how comfortable it is.