Greetings all,
I am looking to replace a mattress we’ve had for 10 years. I prefer to sleep on my back, but sometimes need to sleep on my side to manage mild/moderate sleep apnea. I’m a fairly bony guy (6’ tall 150 lbs) and our current mattress has always been too firm for side sleeping. Weirdly, I get some of my best sleep while camping on a 3 inch nemo backpacking air mattress or on 4 inches of home depot polyfoam stuffed in the back of my subaru.
Because I’m sort of a finicky sleeper, and I sleep well on my camping air mattress, I thought an airbed like sleep number might be a good choice. In the past I’ve also had issues laying on a mattress at the store, buying it, and then finding the feel at home very different than what I thought it felt like in the store. So I also thought sleep number could be good to help prevent me buying the wrong firmness, since I’d be able to adjust it at home.
We tested a bunch of the sleep number beds, and purchased a C4. I really liked the ability to make it good and firm for phases when I’m back sleeping, or make it softer if I need to sleep on my side. But the mattress we received feels completely different than the mattress we tested in the store - and the adjustability doesn’t get it to any point where it seems similar. We are about 1 week into the 100 night trial. I wonder if I’m uniquely flawed in my ability to test mattress in stores, or if they are actually using totally different comfort layer materials or different air-bladders in the showroom. I’ve read the article on airbeds on this site, and I do see how it’s an issue with hips sinking at a faster rate than other parts. Weirdly, I don’t notice this with my $200 camping pad. I think Nemo may have put enough “chambers” in their pad that it balances weight fairly evenly.
Are there other airbeds that have better systems with more chambers for more even support? Or am I better off trying to find a mattress with the perfect firmness in between my back and side position? I have seen some ads for “adjustable foam” mattresses like iSense, but not sure if they’re actually just airbeds.
We did get a Lucid L600 adjustable base also, and that I like. The ability to elevate my head with the bed instead of a pile of pillows is great and helpful for my breathing. It does mean that we’d be looking for a non coil mattress so that it can bend with the adjustable base (if I understand that correctly).
Any input is appreciated. Thanks - Sean