College of Agriculture and Life Sciences“People buy shoes online even though you can’t try them on… a mattress is no different, right?” Faced with buying a new mattress two years ago, I uttered these words to Mrs. Frugalwoods and then embarked on a frugal slumber experiment. My goal was to see if my wife and I could buy a mattress online, save tons of money, and still get a great night’s sleep. Let’s start at the beginning. Mrs. Frugalwoods is what we would lovingly call an “active sleeper.” She is a tiny woman with powerful kicking legs. Must be all that yoga. We had a double bed for the first several years of our marriage and I have the scars to prove it! So when we moved back to the Northeast a few years ago, getting a bed large enough to provide Mrs. Frugalwoods with room to roam and myself to sleep without being pummeled was on the top of my list. And holy mother-of-pillowtop are king sized mattresses expensive! This low-end tempurpedic is $2,400!
Our car isn’t worth $2,400! The Mrs. and I saw those prices and were not impressed. It also quickly became apparent that mattresses are extremely profitable and sold in a manner similar to used cars. I do not need a salesperson to assist me, thank you very much. But we really needed a mattress. So we made a list of our snoozing requirements and asked the internet. anyway (gloves for hound teeth brushing, for example) so it was a natural place to start looking. Turns out, they have an entire mattress section. After reading through a bunch of the firm mattress reviews, we settled on the LUCID 8″ Memory Foam Mattress. It checked all the boxes and 2 years ago was only $279 for the king size. Plus, and this is the really crazy part, Prime Shipping! That’s right, Amazon shipped a king sized mattress to our door in a mere 2 days from ordering it, FOR FREE. When it arrived, we warily eyeballed the heavy, awkward, long tube that the mattresses was vacuum packed into. The box was plastered with warnings to put the box in the room where you want the mattress before opening it and releasing the tightly coiled foam.
We carefully put the box in the bedroom and then slit the straining plastic holding back the surging foam mattress. As dramatic as it sounds (and as we had imagined it), in reality the foam just slowly unrolled itself and started gaining the shape of a mattress. Did it smell a little “new car-ish” (for lack of a better term)? Yes, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The box suggested leaving the windows open for a few hours while the foam attained its shape. We opened the box when we got home from work and by the time we were ready to go to bed, the smell was no longer noticeable. So how does a $279 mattress from the internet feel? I actually remember chuckling as I lay down for the first time. We picked the 8″ version specifically because it was the firmest (they also make 10″ and 12″ which are softer) and wow does it deliver. Firm but comfy and extremely supportive of our backs. Two years later, internet mattress is still firm and supportive! Since this mattress has foam layered in a specific order, you can’t flip it but you can rotate it.
We do that every 6 months to try and keep the wear level the same. So far I haven’t noticed any significant settling of the foam. One of the things I was most concerned about was how it would feel during the summer. I’d heard from some people that memory foam can hold the heat next to your body. In practice we haven’t noticed any additional heat. In short, it’s been a great mattress and we expect to get many more years of good sleep on it! Over the past two years, I’ve evangelized buying a mattress from Amazon to coworkers and friends, several of whom have bought the same or similar mattresses. So far no complaints! Take a look at the Amazon mattress section, in particular the Lucid foam mattress, and keep it in mind the next time you’re in the market for a bed. Have you purchased a mattress online? Ever thought about it? Think it’s the weirdest thing ever? Let me have it! Note: I bought the mattress with my own money. No one paid me to do this review, I just think it’s a pretty awesome way to save money. T
he links to the mattress are affiliate links, which means if you also score a deal on a great mattress, Amazon will pay the Frugalwoods Family a small percentage of the sale. Frugal Hound thanks you in advance! Never Miss A Story Sign up to get new Frugalwoods stories in your email inbox.Sleep Number bed mattresses are among the most reviewed mattresses on the market, with more than 600 Sleep Number Bed reviews on Viewpoints alone. If you’re thinking about purchasing a Sleep Number bed mattress, but don’t have time to scroll through hundreds of reviews, you won’t want to miss this round up of Sleep Number bed reviews from some tech savvy, smart-shopping, and sharp-eyed Viewpoints members. “The machine pumps air in the bed all night long to keep it at your number…I can hear it and then I can’t sleep! You know how when you go to sleep on a camping air mattress it gradually deflates…the pumps stop this but do you really want to hear the machine turning off and on all night?” – busycharles, Reviewer since 2007
“My husband and I were TOLD by the sales person that we would be able to sleep on this bed for 30 nights and then for ANY reason we were not completely satisfied the bed would be PICKED UP. We were not happy with the bed and when we called to arrange a return we were told we would have to pay $29.95 per shipping label to ship the bed back in 5 boxes! We already had to unpack and put it together ourselves…now we have to take it down, pack it up (without the aid of shrink wrapping) and pay almost $150.00 to send it back, besides having to take it to a UPS facility.” - rsvr29, Reviewer since 2010 “Sleep number firmness is misleading. The counter-force to support your weight is due to the elasticity of the mattress walls not air compression. I found the sleep number bed to not vary in firmness. Air simply moves around from one area to another. The firmness is the same regardless of the number. There is no bounce to the bed. Just air.” - ajbisesi , Reviewer since 2012
“I would recommend that when purchasing this, or any other Sleep Number bed, double check the number of air chambers in the bed. My husband and I were led to believe that the bed would have dual air chambers, one for each side of the bed so that we can adjust it to our own preferences. The bed they gave us only had one air chamber.” – SaraBethD985, Reviewer since 2009 “ I purchased a Queen. But queen sheets do not fit this bed. It is slightly larger than a standard Queen and I am sure that their own brand of sheets fit just fine, except I don’t want their sheets. The sheets that I buy (even deep pocket sheets) pop off at the corners all the time. “ - residae, Reviewer since 2010You are supposed to air up the bed to 100% when your not in it for it to keep its shape. Otherwise it will sag just like any other foam bed.” - sleepnumber000, Reviewer since 2013 “Apparently, there is a 10-year warranty, but the parts are covered goes down a percentage every year.
So, to get a new pump it cost me $130. Break the wireless remote and you are looking at $50 plus tax and shipping! It isn’t covered under the warranty.” - pitcherday , Reviewer since 2009 “I bought the c2 series sleep number bed about six months ago. Since I bought the cheapest model, it doesn’t actually come with a remote that tells you what your number is. You just inflate it, lay down and deflate until it feels comfortable.” – LisaLMB , Reviewer since 2010 “The biggest issue we had was that mold started growing inside the air chamber and all over some of the gray foam inside the mattress. I kept getting sick (allergies & cold type symptoms), which finally led us to look at everything around us to start eliminating possible sources of allergens. That’s when we found the mold & mildew.” - psychoanalyst , Reviewer since 2010 “If you want to breath in flame retardants that are offgassing from your mattress, all night, every night, then by all means, buy this mattress.
We had this for about a week and it smelled bad like chemicals.” - woolmama, Reviewer since 2010 While these Sleep Number Bed reviews bring some little known facts about Sleep Number bed mattresses to light, keep in mind that every consumer has a different experience. Overall, Sleep Number beds have positive scores on Viewpoints, provide a unique style of support for people with back pain, and offer a nice compromise for couples who prefer different style mattresses. To avoid the issues mentioned above, make sure you purchase your mattress from a reputable dealer and go over all the warranty fine print. In the event that you discover mold in your mattress, users are advised to call Sleep Number customer service immediately. Editor’s note: If you have professional experience with mattresses, Viewpoints is recruiting experts in priority product categories to write for our blog. Check out this overview of the Viewpoints Category Expert Program, including qualifications, compensation and how to apply.