My wife and I love the Original Casper. We tried the Purple mattress and sent it back because it felt like a rock to both of us (to their credit, they came and picked it up/refunded it for us with no issues at all). The Casper is firm, with just enough sink to be comfortable and fit my body. Most importantly for me is that the foam doesn’t get hot like some other memory foam beds do. I can’t sleep if my body heat is being trapped and I feel like I’m in a wetsuit.

We bought a Tempurpedic when we had a condo in Florida. I found it comfortable and didn’t notice any smells or chemical outgassing. When I picked out a mattress for my nephew’s guest room later though, I got a good quality pillow top and that is the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on.

I had a memory foam for a couple of years. I think it was a Sealy. My issue was that it did conform to my body, but if I wanted to sleep in a different position, I would roll back into the indentation that it previously made. A co-worker has the same issue. I got a sleep number and love it.

@gorillapaws The issue of a hot foam mattress is probably what kept me away from them all this time. Thanks for the tip on the Casper I like that it is a hybrid and the wave looks pretty spiffy.
@janbb I am finding it hard to let go of the notion of not sleeping on a pillow top and why I asked this question. Thanks!
@chyna Before the doc recommended the memory foam the sleep number was on my radar. Now I will have to go check it out! Thanks.

@Vignette I can’t comment on the Hybrid version or the Wave. The one we have and love is solid foam. What’s great is that you can try them and call them up if you don’t like it, and they’ll pick it up for free (I think you get up to 100 nights or something, though you’ll know in the first week—if not the first night). That’s a lot better than sitting on one in the mattress store for 10 minutes.

@gorillapaws The pillow top I bought also had a return policy.

We bought ours at Sears. It was located next to the floor jacks and torque wrenches.
Most importantly, it can take a beating.lol

@gorillapaws What I meant is it looks as the Original Casper and the Wave both still do use coil springs in the lower half of the mattress and one paper that carries a lot of appeal for me.

I follow the start-up community closely. For some reason mattress companies are considered tech companies. There were a bunch of articles that looked into the boom of mattress companies. It is essentially, at this point, cheap Chinese shit with some fancy box and a lot of VC funded advertising money. Casper, Purple, all of them are the same shit competing for your money with marketing.

What I am saying is try a mattress IRL before buying it.

My sister got caught into the trap when she bought her new house. I had a Purple mattress in my room because she wanted me to be comfy when I was going through chemo. Worst fucking mattress ever. Like sleeping in a bowl. And I am six feet tall and 120 pounds.

It is now sitting outside my room and I got a proper mattress.

@johnpowell I have concerns over the novelty factor of these beds in a box. All I can envision is people brain storming what can we send through the mail and still call it a bed. I do plan on test driving beds IRL. Pretty much had settled on a inner spring mattress with the bone doc said the foams were the best for sore backs and shoulders so will continue kicking tires.

You can try out foams in a mattress store too. They don’t all come in a box.

@janbb We have tried them and not been wowed by them. But the orthopedic on Monday did strongly recommend the mem foams for best type of bed for bad backs and shoulder problems and he also said to lay on them at least 10 minutes to allow the foam to warm up to body temp to really seem how the foam will feel before making a decision so back to the stores we go.

@Vignette Good luck with your decision! I struggle with aches and pains from poor sleep too.

@janbb Thanks! I will report on here which bed wins out and why.

The verdict is in…we opted for a hybrid and went with Beautyrest Carbondale firm. Much more comfortable than the Tempurpedic medium oddly enough which I also really liked. They threw in a weighted blanket which I think I am most excited about. Now I just have to hurry up and wait for delivery. Thanks for all the input everyone!