Thanks SP.
My Physical Therapist is msking progress I think.
+1 on the hammock. Best outdoor night’s sleep I’ve ever had. The trick to hammock sleeping is laying on the diagonal not along the centerline. Once you get diagonal it’s really flat and very supportive. Hammocks aren’t always practical where I paddle, so my Exped pad is pretty comfy.
Good luck with your mattress. Poor sleep and a cranky back are no fun.
I bought the February (?) issue of Consumer Reports mag which had an extensive review of dozens of the most widely distributed models of mattresses and several articles on the various materials and features of them, all sorted by category. Their usual rigorous testing (30,000 passes per mattress with a 308 lb test dummy) and rankings for sleeper body size and sleeping position.
The Saatva came in 27th out of 39 non-foam innerspring coil types with an overall score of 66 – it’s lowest evaluations were for large/tall back sleeper and for poor stabilization (meaning there is higher than normal transfer of movements to the other sleeper).
Highest rated in that category was the $1500 Charles P. Rogers Powercore Estate with 80 points – it was the only mattress besides the Sleep Numbers that earned “excellent” comfort ratings for every size of back or side sleeper. The $500 Denver Mattress Doctor’s Choice was in the top 5 with 76 points and the $775 Sealy Posturepedic Grant Park was not far behind. There was no correlation in ratings between quality/user satisfaction and price. In fact, some of the most costly had the lowest ratings and most flaws.
Personally, I have never had a bad night’s sleep nor awakened achy or stiff on the basic Simmons Beautyrests that I have owned over the years. Even when I have come back from vacations where the hotels had “luxury” bedding, my first night back home in my own bed is “Aaaahhhh.”
@willowleaf
Thanks - will have to read that issue. I just wish stores wouldn’t change the model names on the mattresses they sell.
@Raftergirl said:
+1 on the hammock. Best outdoor night’s sleep I’ve ever had. The trick to hammock sleeping is laying on the diagonal not along the centerline. Once you get diagonal it’s really flat and very supportive. Hammocks aren’t always practical where I paddle, so my Exped pad is pretty comfy.Good luck with your mattress. Poor sleep and a cranky back are no fun.
I don’t think I’ve tried laying diagonally on a hammock. I don’t recall ever being comfortable on a hammock.
Diagonal is the way hammocks are supposed to be used. Most people use them incorrectly and lay right down the center line, which is indeed very uncomfortable. They aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I find them extremely comfortable. Many people with back issues use them as their full time bed at home with very good results.
I have a simpler sleeping solution. I got tired of spending days researching mattresses online and traveling all over the state only to find that manufacturers intentionally avoid using the same model name at different stores to prevent you from comparing prices and specs. Meaning, a “Toyota Corolla” would have a different name at each store.
My solution: buy a cheap firm mattress and put a good camping mattress on top of it for a good combination of support and softness. I’m using an Exped Synmat 3-D 7 at the moment. Best sleep I’ve had in a long time. The REI Campbed 3.5 would work great as well. Firmness can be fine tuned.
The main point: SIMPLICITY. Do we really need a bed and mattress that cost $1500 or more and weigh a couple of hundred pounds? Come on, paddle campers, you know you can be comfortable with less than that. Millions of people sleep in hammocks every night, whether in the jungle or in Western homes.
I hope your frame holds up. I have some large friends who house sit while we’re on vacations. The typical metal frame will warp. I ended up getting a heavy duty frame for our posturepedic mattress, with a middle support and thick rails. Once the frame warps, the mattress will also be deformed. The bad thing about some foam mattresses is they can’t be flipped, only spun. This causes premature smooshing.
So far, so good on the mattress. It still beats the old Tempurpedic .
We added 3" of “egg crate” foam to the very firm RV mattress. Night and day difference. Essentially we made a “Pillow Top” out of the RV mattress.