Sleep Number Bed. Great or regret.

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garyb1st

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We need to upgrade our bed.  I know several members have commented on the Sleep Number Bed and if memory serves most of those comments were favorable.  However, I know that beds can deteriorate over time.  For those of you who have owned and more importantly slept in the bed for several years, how do they hold up? 

We have a standard queen.  We need an RV king.  Same length only 12 inches wider.  It will fit with minimal modification of the bedroom.  I've never seen a Sleep Number bed in an RV king size.  Do they exist?  If not, can they be custom ordered?  If so, where? 

If you have a different brand and model you like, please comment re: name of bed and how long you've owned it or slept in it.   

Thanks for your response. 
 
I am on my second sleep number bed. I replaced the bed in my last RV, and it took some getting used to. When I bought my current RV I ordered it with another sleep number bed.  On both beds I have discovered the secret for the comfort in the air beds.  You can't sleep on just the air chambers, they are not comfortable. The secret for us was to add a good quality egg crate foam pad under the zip cover on the bed. In fact my new bed came with the egg crate already in place. It made a huge difference in comfort. Then just adjust the air chambers to your level of firmness.  I like a firm comfortable surface so my side is set at 70. The DW likes 65. 

I seriously doubt that the beds can "deteriorate" as they are just air chambers. If the bed becomes uncomfortable, it will probably just take a new piece of foam.  I think you have nothing to fear from it.
 
We had a sleep number bed (queen size) for a little over 20 years in the house.  When we bought the Toy Hauler last fall, the mattress that came with it was pretty uncomfortable for my wife.  So, we ditched the mattress that came with the T.H., moved the 20 year old SN bed to the RV, then bought a new one for the house.  In my experience, they are the most comfortable bed I ever slept on.
 
Can't speak for an "RV king", but we've had (CA king) Sleep Number beds in our last two homes for over 20 years. We replaced the OEM queen foam mattress in our current coach with a knock-off brand; One of the air bags failed, and I replaced the mattress with a Sleep Number mattress 7-9 years ago.

To Marty's point, SN mattresses come with a choice of foam toppers. My wife likes a 'soft' bed, whereas I like 'very hard' one. As a compromise, we bought the SN mattress at home with a 'medium plush' topper. Chris has her side inflated to 35 or less, and I have my side inflated to 100. At the store, I asked if I could get one air bag that inflates to 150, and if they could replace the foam topper on my side with a piece of plywood, but of course they couldn't do that.

On the length, our OEM foam mattress was an RV queen, but the Sleep Number is a full size queen. I've thought about adding a short extension to the base of the bed, but the short overhang doesn't affect how the mattress lies or how it fits with the slideout retracted.
 
We love ours in the house. We have a standard mattress pad and then dual controlled Sunbeam heating mattress pad. We can keep the coach or house cooler with the heating pads in both. You can get them in 12v too.
 
We bought a king-size Sleep Number bed before Select Comfort coined the term. We had a waterbed back in the 90s. We decided to move to a more conventional sleeping arrangement, but we weren't sure if we would like it. Mattress stores offered to credit a mattress if we didn't like it. Since we were only looking at top of the line units, that wasn't good enough. Select Comfort had a 90-day money back guarantee so we bought one. I don't remember the year, but it was when UPS was on strike, since it took more than 3 weeks to get all the boxes in the shipment.

When we sold the S&B, our coach had a queen sized mattress so the Select Comfort went into storage. When we got a new motor home that had room for a king size mattress and it came out of storage. We had it in our Winnebago and now it's in our Bus. After more than 20 years, it's still going strong, including the air pump and remote. It may not be the latest model or have the fluffiest top, but it's still the most comfortable mattress we have ever had.
 
we got a S/N with our motor home and we love it, If this one ever goes bad I will buy another one.

I loved the water beds of the 60's and 70's but when one person moves everything moves...not so on the Sleep Number,  I never feel it when my wife gets in or out of the bed.
 
We had a sleep number in our previous coach. It felt too much like what it is, that is, like an air mattress. We slept OK, but a regular mattress is more comfortable for us.

That being said, there are many folks on here who love them, some who don't, and perhaps a few like me who won't go out of their way to get one, but can live with it if necessary.
 
Our coach came with a sleep number bed...It was okay but, too thin.  We upgraded to a deluxe rv King and we love it.  We also have a king and queen in our house.  I haven't woke up with a back ache in 10 years.  Needless to say, we're hooked
 
Mattress type is a highly personal choice. Firmness, surface rigidity (that's different than firm), dual vs single adjustments, type of material, etc. We've had air-adjustables, foam, conventional inner springs, and water beds and all I can say is that each has its merits. We've gone back to a top quality inner spring type, but my wife and I agree on what makes for a comfortable sleep. If you and your other have differences on that subject, you need either a separately adjustable type or a split king (two mattresses on one frame) where you can get two different comfort-types in one bed.
 
We just purchased a king bed for the house.  It's an Eight Bliss that we purchased from Costco.  The deciding factor for me were the reviews.  While there were only 13, all were 5 stars on a 1 - 5 star scale.  For the wife and myself, at best it's a 1 star.  Might work with a mattress pad, but why is that even necessary on a new bed.  Guess we'll be returning it to Costco.  Sure wish I didn't sell the old F250.  :mad:

My point is, if we can't rely on the reviews, what are the deciding factors.  When I look at the reviews of the Sleep Number bed, there's a consistent 20% that rate them 1 star out of 5.  The responses to this post tend to bear that out. 

As mentioned we can manage a king bed with minimal modification.  We can't however manage a bed with a profile more than 8 inches thick.  Based on what I see, that leaves us with an entry level Sleep Number Bed.  All the others are too tall.  So the question is, will an entry level Sleep Number bed provide the support we need?  The price range is pretty significant.  From about $1,000 to more than $5,000.  So if the comfort level increases with price, I guess we need to look elsewhere.  Unless of course, an 8 inch Sleep Number is still a good bed. 
 
We love our sleep number too! We bought one for the S&B many years ago due to my severe RA so I could sleep better. We even bought the adjustable frame. We also replaced the queen mattress in our Winnebago class C with a sleep number.

So when we got the 5W I think we slept on the original mattress one time before replacing it with a king sleep number. Just wish there was some way I could make it adjustable  ;D

If you have a sleep number store any where close to you, you could go in and try out the entry level mattress. They do have a return guarantee but would be a pain.  Good luck.

Vicki


 
We love our SN bed. It's the king size bed that Winnie puts in their coaches, and it retracts so the slides can close. It has a different brand name (the name escapes me right now) but it's six years old and going strong.

Kev
 
Kevin Means said:
We love our SN bed. It's the king size bed that Winnie puts in their coaches, and it retracts so the slides can close. It has a different brand name (the name escapes me right now) but it's six years old and going strong.

Kev
Click to expand...

Ideal Rest
 
Massmerch said:
Our coach came with a sleep number bed...It was okay but, too thin.  We upgraded to a deluxe rv King and we love it.  We also have a king and queen in our house.  I haven't woke up with a back ache in 10 years.  Needless to say, we're hooked
Click to expand...

Massmerch, is the deluxe rv King you purchased a sleep number bed?  If so, where did you get it?  Also, how thin was the bed that came with the coach? 
 
When we purchased the SN bed for the Phaeton, I actually had to raise the platform of the bed because it was now too low. I bought the entry level SN bed as well, got it on one of their sales for $600.  The huge difference for us was buying and inserting an egg crate foam under the SN top pad. That created a lot more of the cushy top that made it comfortable, and then the air pressure made it firm.  I think the entry level SN was 6" tall.  The mattress that came with the rig was a 10" tall mattress. When I put the SN on it was too low for me to get in and out of bed easily. 
 
I thought the difference between the entry level model and the premium ones is the "pillow-top" padding that sits on top of the air-adjustable lower layer, anywhere from 1-3" of additional pad on top.  The amount of "support" is determined by the air pressure you select, not the thickness of the air cushion. The pillow-top is supposed to provide additional comfort, though. Suggest you go to a SN store and give the various models a try.

Also, SN isn't the only manufacturer of air-adjustable mattresses, just the most widely advertised. Some others are Bear, Personal Comfort, and Air-Pedic.

This review site may give you some clues about how people like them:
http://www.sleeplikethedead.com/mattress-reviews-air-bed.html
 
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