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We are buying a new mattress in the next week or so. Our current mattress is, um, 22 years old. Our college daughter will be taking it for her final year at school.

I'm looking at Novosbed memory foam. Anyone have any experience with them? They are sold online only. Much cheaper than Temper-pedic. Seems like a good guarantee and trial period.

Consumer Reports was very limited in their reviews of mattresses. For memory foam, they recommend Novoform from Costco.

We may go with a traditional inner-spring because my wife is wary of the foam mattresses, but Novosbed has a 120 trial period where they pay shipping to and from.

Any comments or reviews are welcome.

The only time I slept on a memory foam mattress, it was wonderfully comfortable, but it was too hot to sleep. I ended up on top of the bedspread, then it was OK.

Good luck with your selection.

SportsFan68 wrote: it was wonderfully comfortable, but it was too hot to sleep.

That is our primary concern. My wife's sister had the same experience. Thanks for your input.

I don't know a thing about that one but I bought a locally-made generic one when I got my house in South Carolina and have been very happy with it. My wife didn't want me to buy her a new mattress so I bought just a memory foam topper that she loves. That cost maybe $50.

Your 22 year old mattress is probably half dust mites now. Buy a waterproof mattress pad for the new bed which will stop most of the mites from getting into the mattress as well as protect from sweat and other fluids.

Is there a Sleepy's near you? You might want to check what they have instead of ordering online.

BackInTex wrote:

SportsFan68 wrote: it was wonderfully comfortable, but it was too hot to sleep.

That is our primary concern. My wife's sister had the same experience. Thanks for your input.

The topper my wife uses is touted as being very cool. It has a wave pattern. Mine is flat but I don't find it too hot.

I have read a lot about pillow top mattresses recently - which I realize is not what you asked about, but it may be relevant.

The issue with pillow tops is that you can't flip them, only rotate, so you get half the lifespan and have to buy a new one much sooner. They also seem to create dents much more frequently than non-pillowtops.

So, the relevant part to your original topic: the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

Ritterskoop wrote:I have read a lot about pillow top mattresses recently - which I realize is not what you asked about, but it may be relevant.

The issue with pillow tops is that you can't flip them, only rotate, so you get half the lifespan and have to buy a new one much sooner. They also seem to create dents much more frequently than non-pillowtops.

So, the relevant part to your original topic: the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

Memory foam mattresses are not designed to be flipped --- they don't need it anyway --- so putting a pillow top on one doesn't halve its lifetime.

Bob Juch wrote:

Ritterskoop wrote:I have read a lot about pillow top mattresses recently - which I realize is not what you asked about, but it may be relevant.

The issue with pillow tops is that you can't flip them, only rotate, so you get half the lifespan and have to buy a new one much sooner. They also seem to create dents much more frequently than non-pillowtops.

So, the relevant part to your original topic: the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

Memory foam mattresses are not designed to be flipped --- they don't need it anyway --- so putting a pillow top on one doesn't halve its lifetime.

She was not referring to memory foam mattresses. She even says "which I realize is not what you asked about" because she is talking about pillow top mattresses and not foam ones.

Of all the 'reading comprehension' comments you make to me and others, you'd think you would at least demonstrate a little yourself.

Ritterskoop wrote:the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

What Skoop said. We need to replace a very old mattress but decided to try a foam topper first. It's amazing. The only more comfortable bed I've slept in was at the Indy Westin the night before my Jeopardy! audition.

BackInTex wrote:

Bob Juch wrote:

Ritterskoop wrote:I have read a lot about pillow top mattresses recently - which I realize is not what you asked about, but it may be relevant.

The issue with pillow tops is that you can't flip them, only rotate, so you get half the lifespan and have to buy a new one much sooner. They also seem to create dents much more frequently than non-pillowtops.

So, the relevant part to your original topic: the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

Memory foam mattresses are not designed to be flipped --- they don't need it anyway --- so putting a pillow top on one doesn't halve its lifetime.

She was not referring to memory foam mattresses. She even says "which I realize is not what you asked about" because she is talking about pillow top mattresses and not foam ones.

Of all the 'reading comprehension' comments you make to me and others, you'd think you would at least demonstrate a little yourself.

I know what she was talking about. I expanded on that to include memory foam mattresses with pillow tops.

Catfish wrote:

Ritterskoop wrote:the recommendation seems to be to get a standard, firm mattress, and get a good, thick foam topper. The toppers are relatively inexpensive and can be replaced every so often as needed without you feeling like you've had to buy a whole new bed system.

What Skoop said. We need to replace a very old mattress but decided to try a foam topper first. It's amazing. The only more comfortable bed I've slept in was at the Indy Westin the night before my Jeopardy! audition.

What Skoop said, redux.

We have a pillowtop on the full bed in the guest room. It's really comfortable and, because it's not constant use, we don't face the half-the-use problem.

We are going to be replacing the mattress at the shore. We have been using a featherbed on the older mattress and it's pretty comfortable. With the new mattress, we are going with the foam topper.

Well, don't buy the futon I bought from this local Boston-area store that sure talks a good game. You are in no danger of that, I realize.

The futon on my couch is great, but the futon on my bed is almost a pancake after 3+ years. A pancake with hard spots in it. No, can't trade them, couch takes a double, bed is a single. I may well invest in one of those foam toppers myself. Right now I'm using a pillow for the hardest spot, which is silly.


My sister, who is very into toppers, bought one for the fold-out bed on which she sleeps in her live-in caretaker role. I will ask her what brand, as its very good.


Don't give your daughter a mite-filled mattress. Splurge & get her a new one. I would recommend a futon, as its more portable, but not the one I bought.

We got rid of our 20-something year old mattress a couple of years ago. It took three tries to get it right. This despite our old mattress being more on the cheap side of average and deciding to upgrade a bit for the new one.

First attempt was a nice, firm pillow top. The pillow top did me in. I can get hot at night and can sweat an ocean. The pillow top wrapped around me and made a nice depression that I was able to drown in. Way, way too hot for me. As the mattress had one of those "return it for any reason within 90 days" warranties, back it went.

Number two was a similar firm mattress without the pillow top. Worked just fine but after about a year or so the side (where I sit each day to do things like tie my shoes) just broke down. It had about a 2" low spot. Back it went.

Final mattress was a Posterpedic foam. Really, really comfortable. No movement to wake Mrs. Jaybee when I got up at night. We've had it since late last year so it looks like a keeper. No problems with overheating for me on this.