Mattress Forum

First, the background info: my husband and I spent a lot of money (at least a lot for us) on a new king size S&F on sale at Sears after sleeping on what had become a truly horrible Ikea spring mattress. We have had this S&F for somewhere between 5 and 6 years. I like pretty firm and hubby prefers a bit cushier -- we were both pretty happy w/ this bed -- esp after we got a memory foam topper from Costco (Novaform I think w/ 3-4 lb). This past spring/summer we starting hating the bed and feeling it was very hammocky. Finally we took off the topper and low and behold the bed was better! I assume the memory foam had just 'lost its memory' and was worn out and so made what are not very deep impressions feel much worse. While the bed is a LOT better w/out the old topper -- it is not wonderful and I think it is at least partly because of the firmness of the bed -- I wake up and ache in various places -- shoulders and mid-low back. And my husband feels a bit achy too. I am REALLY hopeful that a new topper will help us both be much happier sleepers as we really really don't want to spend more money on another bed (we are spending a lot right now on out of pocket therapies for my 8 yr old son who has some issues). I am 5'2" and about 170 (working to be less!) and husband is 6'4" and around 215 lbs. I have 2 kids and have been up LATE researching this for a while (as well as latex toppers and whole beds). We are both ready to just pull the trigger and just try something -- we both liked memory foam before and figured that was a good place to start. I could research this FOREVER and my husband just wants me to decide on SOMETHING and tell him what to order! He originally wanted a 3-4" and I told him that the recommendation from here (at least from what I have read thus far) was that 1-2" was probably better. I am open to latex and like the idea of it -- but we've not really tried it IRL (except for a latex bed from Ikea -- and hubby was not in love).

At this point I am thinking of the Sensus 2" 5lb from Overstock for  $140. I am a bit concerned about not being able to return it and the (admittedly few) negative reviews about it being too soft. From what I have read here, most folks have been pretty happy with it and I like the price.

Also on the list is the 2.5" Costco Eco Memory foam 4lb density for $230. Obviously it's a LOT more expensive -- but we can return it at any point to our local Costco and get refunded. Also it's a lower density and I'm wondering if it will feel even less because of the 'open cell' construction. I do like the more 'green' aspect as I can be very sensitive to smells (though it wasn't an issue w/ the last topper at all).

I also looked at the Aerus 5lb at Sam's -- but we'd have to get a Sam's membership which would bring the total cost to $240. And I looked at the mem-cool 2" 4lb one from Overstock for $127. But the first 2 are where I am most strongly leaning right now.

Would anyone be able to give a poor tired mom some feedback and just help me decide one way or another? I recognize that it might not be the final answer -- but I figure we have to start somewhere!

Thank you!!