Sleep number bed reviews?

Smokin' Toaster

Smokin' Toaster

May 10, 2007
1,123
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4,866
The REAL LA -- Lower Alabama!
#1
After a bad experience with a memory foam bed from an online company, my wife and I are considering a sleep number bed. Have any of you owned or currently sleep on one of these? Any information you can share about your experiences with this product would be helpful. I'm specifically interested in the reliability of the air pump and the durability of the mattress. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
 
#5
Thanks for the replies, I appreciate your opinions very much. My wife and I went to the local Sleep number store and tested several yesterday. The C2 is the bottom of the line, and it felt pretty good. The C4 with 2" padding felt a little better, but the cost goes from $799 to $1599, basically double. I'm trying to decide if it feels twice as good. The literature says the C4 has three zones, I'm assuming the C2 has only one. Consumer reports says the bladder and pump are basically the same throughout the line.

I'm pretty sold on the idea of the air bed. I've had innerspring mattress lose support, memory foam mattresses lose support, but I can't see an air-filled mattress losing support, unless the actual air bag integrity weakens. Air pressure shouldn't lose support.

A couple of more questions, if you don't mind:

Which model did you purchase, and what were your reasons for choosing it? If you had to choose again, would you choose the same one?
I realize that if you've had yours for 4 years or ten years there might not be a directly comparable model now.

Have any of you experienced any issue that required a warranty claim or repair, and how well was it handled?

I really appreciate your help. I don't spend a lot of money - This purchase ranks up there with house, cars, and bass stuff, and I've actually spent less on some cars that I drove for years. It's important to me to get this right.
 
#7
We bought the basic model, not sure what it was called. Like I said, it's just a mattress with no foam on top and a separate bladder on each side of the king size area. Basically it's two doubles made into one. My wife and I can each sleep in our own zip code if we want, which is good because she's a side sleeper and I'm a back sleeper. So she sets hers on 35 and I set mine on 65 or 70, which works out perfectly. No issues at all after 4-5 years. We keep toying with the idea of getting some foam for the top, but it never seems a priority. I used to have back problems caused by a sagging spring mattress, and I have none now. We would choose the same model again in a heartbeat.
 
#8
Smokin' Toaster said:
After a bad experience with a memory foam bed from an online company, my wife and I are considering a sleep number bed. Have any of you owned or currently sleep on one of these? Any information you can share about your experiences with this product would be helpful. I'm specifically interested in the reliability of the air pump and the durability of the mattress. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
Click to expand...

I have never used one, but have heard that the warranty on the air pump is only 1 or 2 years and they are the majority of the cost of the bed. A few mattress places in my area quit carrying them altogether because of this very reason. It was giving them a bad rap.
 
#9
After using a fairly pedestrian Serta boxspring mattress for years, the missus and I switched to a Sleep Number mattress (this was maybe ~8 years ago).

We lasted less than 2 weeks on it.

I admit that some of our discomfort may be related to Option Anxiety: When you know that you could make the mattress just a little bit firmer or just a little bit softer, you spend an awful lot of time trying out all those possibilities...at the expense of a relaxing good night's sleep.

But we were really underwhelmed with the construction quality; it just seemed to be a toy compared to the Serta we'd been used to. And in spite of the easily adjustable firmness, it never felt better than a glorified camping air mattress. We returned it before the 30-day test drive period expired.

fwiw, we replaced it w/ a Tempurpedic Memory Foam mattress, which both of us also hate (!) ...but we've managed to tolerate hating it for 8 years, whereas the Sleep Number mattress we couldn't tolerate for more than a couple weeks.
I think our next mattress will be a conventional boxspring from Serta. What goes around comes around.
 
#10
DwaynieAD said:
I have never used one, but have heard that the warranty on the air pump is only 1 or 2 years and they are the majority of the cost of the bed. A few mattress places in my area quit carrying them altogether because of this very reason. It was giving them a bad rap.
Click to expand...

Sleep number warranty: two year no charge replacement. At 2 years +1 day to 20 years, you pay 20% plus 4% per year of ownership for the repair. Years 21-25 you pay 96%
 
#16
DwaynieAD said:
Thanks. I was just going off what a salesman at sleepys told me.

I appreciate the link to sleep like the dead as well.
Click to expand...


The Sleep Number warranty works out to about half price repairs at 5 years. Sleep number requires the customer to pay shipping both ways after the two year initial 100% coverage. Some of the others will pay postage.

Apparently parts are user-installable. I'll find out when I get it and install it.. It's a week lead time to manufacture the bed and 2 days shipping - from Greenville SC to Mobile AL.
 
#17
Can I ask which memory foam bed? I have (and LOVE) a Tempur-Pedic, but I fear I will lose that one in the divorce. I'm eyeing an alternative brand that has many positive reviews. I'm always interested in the other opinion, though.
 
#18
DigMe said:
Which online memory foam mattress company was it that failed you?
Click to expand...
Bed in a box. They got great reviews, and the bed felt great at first. Then it began to break down at pressure points, particular the area under my butt. After about a year it was like my behind was in a bowl and the foam under my butt sagged. I would wake up after 4 to 6 hours with a terrible backache. I'm large, 6ft 250lbs. I thought maybe my fat ass was the problem, but by wife is about half my weight and she experienced the same thing. You can lay in the middle of the bed and it feels like it did when new. They replaced the bed once, and the replacement did the same thing after 12-14 months. To their credit, I wrote them and told them the story, and said I no longer wanted a replacement unless they had changed the type of foam and had confidence that it would stand up better. They refunded me the entire purchase price of the mattress. I had bought the wooden support (box spring equivalent) and they did not refund the price of that. It did not fail, so I will not complain about that.
 
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#20
OK, Day one report - assembly and the first night. The bed was relatively easy to assemble. I did not order the Comfortaire foundation. I had a foundation for the memory foam that was sort of a lattice work box. Air beds require a solid surface. I got some 1/2" plywood and cut it to fit (3 sections) and screwed it down.

The bed consists of the fabric envelope with a quilted top (not much different from any other mattress), 4 foam pieces to form the sides, two air envelopes, and a convoluted foam sheet that covers the two air envelopes. diagram here, under details:

G10



I have to say, while the materials were of good quality, it didn't look like $1450 bucks worth. I'm sure some people would look at our basses and say they don't look like $1450 worth. But... $1450 is a bargain if it relieves my back pain.

I decided that I'd start on setting 50 (it goes from 1 to 100). Too firm. I went down to 40 and it took a while, but I fell asleep. I woke up in the night (not unusual) with my back hurting. I went down to 30 and slept the rest of the night, but my back still hurt this morning. I came to the realization that I was still shooting too high, too firm. I'm sure I was subconsciously trying to compensate for the old memory foam mattress.

The customer service rep that handled my order, who was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, sent some guidelines with our order acknowledgement that read as follows:

"The most common pressure range for your bed with the Q10 pump is 20 to 45. Whatever pressure you choose, stick with it for a week before deciding if you want to try a different setting. Pressure changes too often will make restless sleep as your body needs time to adjust. Lastly, don't go above 60 on the pressure setting - it is almost rock-hard at that setting and can make your back ache because it is too firm. "

I spent some time this morning dialing the pressure in, and I realized that at the higher settings (40 and above) it was a subtle sensation of being on top of a cylinder, and my body was subconsciously doing a balancing act to stay on top and not roll. It makes sense that would cause back pain. I dialed it down to 25 and felt very supported, no "balancing" sensation, and actually felt my back start to relax and get very comfortable. My wife settled on a setting of 35. I look forward to night #2. I am confident that with these settings I will get a better night's sleep and wake with little or no back pain. I have a gig tonight, so that will make the test a bit more telling. Stay tuned for further reports.
 
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