Looking for a firm mattress that will last!
We're tired of buying "quality' only to have a wallowed out area around the hips in two-to-three year years.

No pillow tops, no gel tops, no temperpedic...just a good old school mattress that is firm and will last. Recommendations?

;D been looking for a decade, no luck. closest thing I have is a Thermarest luxury map (camping mattress), on a hardwood floor. I have been sleeping on that since May. The $3500 tempurpedic works for the wife but I can't do it any more.

I spent about an hour today trying to get a store to show me a firm mattress. FInally I told them, "look, when I sit down on the bed and sink in for 10 seconds, and end up with my knees about even with my eyeballs...... that is not a firm mattress"


BEST OF LUCK, though!

Just hope that my pillow SOB doesn't start making mattress' too.....

Tag

I've been sleeping on a futon on a wood slat frame for many years. They're pretty firm, are reasonably priced and last a decade or more for me. A traditional futon is made entirely of cotton but they have variants that have some foam in them that are a little softer.

Go online to Costco and look at the Kirkland Signature (firm) by Stearns and Foster Hope Bay Mattress.

The delivery and return price is included in the cost, and it has a 10 year warranty.

If you don't like it anytime before the 10 years is up, they will pickup at no charge and refund your money. I did verify this with Costco before purchasing.

The wife and I went to Macy's and bought one for about $3,500. The return charge would have been 15% if we didn't like it. Its really hard to lay on a mattress in a store to see what you may or may not like. Cancelled the order and just got the one listed above a few days ago. So far so good.

Sleep Number. Then you can adjust it to where you want it. My wife likes it softer so she sets her side lower than mine. You can crank it up until it feels like sleeping on the floor.

Budget?

Straw mat, floor, works fer me.

If you both like different comfort levels get 2 TXLs and put on a king frame. Beautyrest Black Tight Top is going to be one of the best. I work for a bedding company and own a house with a lot of extra rooms. Hands down the one Everyone including my FIL with a really bad back and myself with a bad back both prefer it over all the others. Before I worked here I had bad injuries so I bought a few other brands higher end lines so have a few to pick from. Legends, Beautyrest Platinum, Serta's higher end matt, Sealy, no Tempur but knowing what I do now I wouldn't buy a foam core bed.

Believe it or not, my Friend who is about 65 has a handmade mattress his Parents received when they were married on a frame with the spring suspension deal his Grandmother owned. It could have been hunting all day in the cold that made sleep great though.

Tuft and needle in my camp trailer is much more firm than the temperpedic in the house bedroom. I was not sure the first few nights but now we like it better than the temperpedic. 3000 bucks for temperpedic, 700 for tuft and needle no contest.

That tuft and needle is about perfect.

'nuther vote for Sleep Number. Any setting from "marshmallow" to "morgue" is a button touch away. And she can do the same on her side.

I'd figured I'd spend a grand if I had to, but by the looks of it, that won't do it.

I'd spend $1500 for some (#&@^ back support.

We are at 12 years on one of the top of the line Beauty Rest mattresses and it was firm enough that we added a foam topper to soften it a bit.. Cost around a grand when we bought it.

We also bought a Serta mattress for the spare room from Costco around the same time for around $400, and it is almost as good as the Beauty Rest.

You can dink around with a standard mattress that does the standard thing after a few years, or you can spend the coin for a mattress that's guaranteed to be the same as the day you bought it for the next 20+ years. Sleep Number.

So, let talk sleep number....when one hears "morgue' firm, its that firmness throughout that 'side' and dialed number of the mattress? I can't help but envision a blowup pool raft that gets saggy where you pressure it; with a knee or elbow... sorry to sound naive, lol, I've not used a sleep number.

Anyone use Helix or Casper matterss in a box?

It's a different breed of air bed. It'll maintain support throughout. It'll be the same firmness all over. If your back condition changes, you can change the pressure to accommodate it. You won't be lying on your back with your butt on the frame and your knees hitting your chin. Once you set it, it'll hold it, year after year. The so called 'sleep number' is a reading on the controller that's just a reference. It doesn't mean lb of pressure or anything. It's just a number so you can later adjust the pressure back to it if you want to.

But like everything else, there's no such thing as one size fits all. I love it. Some others hate it. I'm not sure how it works but they have a 3 month trial in which you can return it if you don't like it.

we've had ours about 7 years. They've made changes since then and I don't know what all they've done. We got one without a memory foam topper. At the time, toppers were considerably more expensive and it was far cheaper to just go to Costco and buy a mattress topper made of the same memory foam. Personally, I hate memory foam so we got rid of our topper and just use an extra thick mattress cover. I like it much better.

What if you have a very nice bedroom set and don't wish to break up the set?

Sleep number requires it's own frame i believe?

Not at all. You need a solid foundation that it sits on. It takes the place of a box spring. I built one out of plywood that sets over the frame rails. They'll gladly sell you a heavy plastic one for 10 times what I spend on plywood. 4x8 plywood isn't wide enough to make the foundation from 2 sheets so I made it as 2 half size boxes. It's easier to move that way. I think the factory one is that way, too.

Going to check out the sleep number...see how it feels.

Thanks for the insights here, appreciated fellas.

We have a plywood frame (self built), with just a good mattress on top. Mattress gets replaced every 10 years or so -- we are on the third... at" home" in Soldotna. of course, it's hardly been slept on in the last 8 years, butt we did buy our own apartment box spring/mattress 6 years ago up in Kotzebue apartment. That's getting pretty bad.. soft, formed, etc..

Wife keeps stealing my blankets too....

Even in my late 60's, I have no problem sleeping on the ground when camping, or a floor as required, with just a closed-cell insulating pad under me. It ain't the firm... I like firm....it's the cold!

You puzzies that need a camp cot while out hunting...... well.........

ROFL, continue counselor...

I’ve read this thread with great interest. Like a lot of you, I’m dealing with back pain. I’m on my 4th $$$ latex foam mattress and am sick of them. No matter how firm, the all sleep like crap. All guaranteed not to sag in the middle....horse hocky. Try to turn over in the night and you have that “trying to roll uphill” crap going on. Sex on the mattress is about impossible (don’t laugh) because of the contorted angles.

I’m going back to a coil spring mattress. I have a friend who sells appliances, bedding, etc, and he told me about a month ago that you’d be surprised at how many people are going back to coil springs now, especially the crowd that experiences back pain. He said they are much better made now, obviously much cheaper than latex foam. He suggested looking at a thousand coil spring mattress. He has em for $399 for queen size and they can’t keep em in stock. It’ll give you 5-7 years and then buy another one if need be.

Son and his wife bought a sleep number bed six months ago and neither can sleep on it...they hate it. They’ve tried to return it, taking advantage of their guarantee, and experienced all sorts of red tape bs from the sleep number folks. Turns out they aren’t the only ones who don’t like that bed. Seems there are about the same percentage of folks that hate it as love it.

If it was good enough for John McCain.........?

Based on posts by Rocky and others, we bought a Sleep Number bed earlier in the year. I thought it was not a big deal to me, but my wife has some spine issues from working as a floor nurse in an inner city public hospital in the days before OSHA had any teeth. It has made a huge difference for the both of us. She can sleep at night and I sleep better. We have a hard time sleeping in hotels now because of the beds.

We had thought about a Tempurpedic, but it costs the same and is not adjustable. It turns out that my wife and I sleep on vastly different settings.

Humans spend between a fourth and a third of their lives in bed, and good sleep impacts the entire day. It is worth it to invest in decent sleep, whatever bed one ultimately chooses.

I'm very happy for you both, Cheyenne.

Guessing Birdwatcher's habit is an Africa-obtained one.

Sleep number, it will ruin you for any other mattress.

Drawbacks,
Ours is not comfortable if you sleep right in the middle.

When you find yourself on your hands and knees in bed,
you discover the mattress is better for sleeping than playing.

But, anymore we sleep more than play,
and at playtime, I always persevere!

A sleeping bag on the carpet with one pillow will work miracles.

I hate any mattress with memory foam. 3 or 4" of the stuff on top is something I can't sleep on. I hate the way you sink in and can't roll over or get out of the hole.