I purchased a Bedinabox PacBed Original a little over two years ago. It cost me $700+ for a king mattress. I selected it based on rave reviews on sleeplikethedead.com and high customer satisfaction elsewhere. I even read up on it on this site. I saw the warnings about 3 lb. density breaking down too quickly and not holding up over time. I also read the claims on Bedinabox’s own website that their 3 lb density was different and therefore would hold up just as well as higher density, needlessly heavy and expensive memoryfoam mattresses. Given high customer satisfaction ratings everywhere on the internet and their great price, I ordered one.
I won’t lie, I was initially in heaven. What prompted me to search in the internet for a new mattress was that I noticed a pattern of discomfort I’d been struggling with. I would go to bed feeling great, and wake up with my back sore or tweaked. Took me a while to realize my spring coil mattress (purchased only 2 years earlier at Macy’s, for over $1800) was sabotaging me. So I set out to find a more supportive, more firm mattress, which eventually led me to Bedinabox.
When I first started sleeping on it, literally, overnight, my back (upper and lower) stiffness and aches went away. I was exuberant. I couldn’t believe that a mattress could make that much difference right away. I also discovered another surprise. For years I’ve had deep pain spots on both sides of my lower spine. I wasn’t necessarily aware of the pain, except for when I pressed down on the spots with my thumb. I’d hit on these excruciatingly painful, seized up muscles that were always tender to the touch. I never knew their cause or source, and just resigned myself to the fact that it was just part of my chronic lower back issue. Well, the PacBed even eliminated the deep pain spots. I dug around with my thumb trying to find them, and they were gone.
So yes, this was a wonderful mattress that exceeded my expectations and was shockingly well priced, especially compared to my parents’ original Tempur-pedic (which they still have, and which shows no signs of slowing down). It wiped out so many spine related issues and sorenesses that I’d just lived with on and off for years and assumed was just part of life. I used to wake up with a paralyzing stiff neck about 2 -3 times a year. I have not had a single stiff neck since buying the PacBed.
Unfortunately, about a year after I purchased the PacBed, I found I had to keep shifting to fresh spots on the mattress to get its full support benefit. I’m 5’4", 128 lbs, so I really don’t put a lot of wear and tear on a mattress. I started shifting all around the mattress, altering my sleep position like the dials on a watch. This strategy worked and I was able to stretch another year of good use and sleep out of my mattress, though I don’t think it’s reasonable for me to have to move around so much to find a supportive spot.
In the last two months or so, I’ve been unable to find a good spot on the mattress, no matter how much I move around. There’s no good support to be found anywhere. Although I still haven’t woken up to a stiff neck, the deep lower back pain spots have returned, and I frequently have difficultly falling asleep at night because I feel my hips sinking in too much and pulling me out of alignment.
If I had written a review about the PacBed right after I’d purchased it, it would be glowing. Almost 2.5 years later, my old problems are back , and the PacBed’s supportiveness has deteriorated. It may also be that the PacBed was at the very limit of the firmness I needed, and the slightest breaking in put it in too soft territory. I can also confirm another thing Phoenix regularly warns about: that people’s perceptions of firmness/comfort are utterly subjective. My PacBed was always too soft for my taste, but I was happy with it because it “healed” me and I got a great night’s sleep. When my sister slept on it while cat-sitting, she said it was so hard that it numbed her arms. Go figure.
This time I did better due diligence on this site, and just ordered a Novosbed Classic. Can’t wait for some nice firm, durable support because my back is desperate for it. Wish me luck!
