not worth it. i am currently in LOVE with a slab of natural rubber latex (the same stuff that goes inside one of those fancy brocade covers for a gazillion dollars). it's wonderous.

i can't feel mr. fidget move next to me at all. i never ever wake with sore hips or a sore back (which for me is Big News). the only drawback is that it's not so much fun to bounce on.

Economy Foam on Allen and Houston.

Ditto on the natural latex (Dunlopillo). I'm a poor sleeper and have back and hip pain and I've tried everything. Finally got a Superkingsize Dunlopillo on an Ikea frame and it is heavenly. I hear from friends they last forever and never sink (at least not until 30 years later!). The best thing I ever bought.

Gosh, this sounds like an advert! I agree with the memory foam thing btw - I don't mind it in a pillow, but its sinister in a mattress. And no need for any sort of a topper when you have latex.

I got our mattress from 1-800 Mattress and so far it's been good. it's a sealy (i'm not sure which model) but because i had a very small budget, i chose the plush top, which was the next step down from pillow top. It was $365 3 years ago, including delivery and hauling off my TWIN size old mattress. I would give them a call and tell them what you are looking for. They were really helpful on the phone.

I don't really know much about pillow top, but the plush seems to be very nice. I think you just have to flip it over a little more.

by the way- my grandparents got a mattress pad for their bed that is from that company that makes that memory foam bed (the one where the lady jumps up and down next to the glass of wine) and said it's incredibly comfortable at a fraction of the cost of the foam mattress.

Don't know about the pillow top but agree with the first two ladies, latex rocks! My latex mattress is over ten years old now but still firm and comfortable. BF can move around and I don't wake up, plus no back pain!

I grew up on a hand-me-down and firm and perfectly fine mattress like you!! =)

The reason why I voted "No" is because I've been sleeping the last year and half on a futon. Yeah, on the floor. It's great because you can fold it up and reclaim your space, and you hang it outside to get air every day, and it's fairly inexpensive. I don't know about the 'States, but here it's the most practical thing to do.

You could always get a futon to go over your mattress... or one of those Eggfoam thingies for on top of your mattress if it gets uncomfortable.

When I asked my chiropracter about this very same issue, for the same reasons and same divisions of sleep styles that you describe, he said, get a really really firm mattress that you would never sleep on alone. Futons are really excellent when you get past the 6" sizes. Stick it on a slat foundation, or you can get a standard super firm over boxspring, but will have a shorter shelflife than a futon over slats.

Then, get a feather bed. Cover said feather bed with an oversized top sheet, as opposed to a fitted on. Tuck it in deeply, etc. Add usual linens. Sleep like rock.

We can't wait to do this for ourselves. :)

The pillowtop thingie is something I don't often see used over here in Belgium. I first learned about it through a catalogue of Ikea.

Anyway, I sleep on about anything without much problems, but my boyfriend has a very problematic back. The best thing for him has been a very hard mattrass. Those last forever, I tell you. Now we do have softer ones as we have those movable beds (where you can put the head or feet up electrically). We spent more on the bed as it's my boyfriends only extra he has during the week! Anyway, with those beds you can't take those really sturdy mattrasses but we still took the hardest one possible. Also, on the hard mattress you generally aren't disturbed by the other moving (as my boyfriend is a very rowdy sleeper I'm way happy with the 2 seperate mattresses and boxes we have.

Ok, I probably didn't help much, but just wanted to give my opinion.

Love!

I've got some pillowtop love right here! Pillowtops with an egg crate. Softest thing ever, seriously- and after a year of sleeping that way, I'm still happy.

No! Get a regular mattress, then get a foam top (2" +), plus a padded mattress cover to protect both. I like flipping my mattress and turning it from North to South often to reduce depressions, etc. Pillow tops have lost their softness in my experience. I found that pillow tops make the mattress too high with the other stuff put on to make it soft again. Good luck.

I vote no. I bought a mattress/boxspring set for around $900 five years ago, and topped it with a Ralph Lauren featherbed from a big box store. It's the comfiest, most luxurious combo, and the featherbed can easily be replaced when it gets lumpy (although I have yet to replace mine!).

i am currently in search of a new mattress also, but my choices are limited by lack of funds.
i bought my pillowtop almost 9 years ago for about 800 for a queen. it was ridiculously comfortable for about 8, but has rapidly developed a huge sinkhole in the center. i think 8 years of great sleep was pretty good for 800 though.
good luck in the search!

TEMPURPEDIC!! actually - looking on the internet i had found a site that makes something like a tempurpedic but you can get it with a latex core - and you can get each side with a different firmness for each occupant.

http://www.foamorder.com/memory.html

someone gifted me a tempurpedic so i didn't actually follow thru - but the site has TONS of info about Latex and Memory foam and specs and how foam is graded - check it out

Everyone I know that got a pillow top mattress regretted it very quickly. They totally become lumpy. Besdies you can get mattress covers that are very pillowy and thus perform the same function whilst also being washable. And you can just get a new one when the old one becomes lumpy. I think that's the way to go.

We have had our pillow top for 3 years, and yes there is a lump, right where the small of our backs go...but that lump actually helps the mattress conform to our bodies, it's not an uncomfortable princess-and-the-pea sort of lump. I really love my pillowtop, and it's the unflippable kind...so it's kind of scary to think i'll never need to flip my mattress! HAHA!

We had a very expensive pillowtop (pillowtop on both sides) for at least five or six years. I never had a problem with it - but my husband didn't like it anymore. I'm not sure he ever gave me a good reason though. Add to that the fact that we had an opportunity to buy a five star hotel mattress for extraordinarily cheap (brand new.) This mattress is also a pillow top, but only on one side. Again, I love it.

I say buy a mattress where you can return it if you don't like. That way you can try it and see. The only way you'll ever really know is to sleep on it.

I like the pillowtop. With a featherbed. And really soft sheets and a down comforter. But I like a bed that is like a giant fluffy cloud you never want to crawl out of. Kind of like a marshmellow.

i have a sealy posteurpedic with a foam top like kym. god do i love my bed. i wish i could be in it 24 hours a day. my husband really loves it too. he was eager to get rid of his old one when we moved in together. we're both side sleepers (i have hip problems and literally can't walk the next day if i sleep on a hard bed). i bought the mattress in 1998 and it's still kickin' 8 years later. i flip it every six months or so. no biggie. just like to get all the lovin' that mattress can give me.

is it bedtime yet? almost :)

I think it all depends on the brand. I have a queen size Serta Pillowtop that I've had since 1999 and it's in great condition. My parents brought some other brand 3 years ago and are already looking for a new mattress. Another thing is that I flip it 2x a year so it will wear evenly.

Even though I love my bed I would give anything for a Heavenly Bed or a Sleep Number bed. Best sleep I've ever had were on those two beds.

I've had a pillow top for about 6 years and it still as comfy as the first day I got it. It was quite expensive though (1000$ CAN) but that included the boxspring. The only complaint I have is the size of the thing, very hard to find sheets for it. It's a Sears matress.

I suggest you get a "regular" mattress. Go to the store and lay on them, find one that's not a pillowtop and is kinda squishy. Then spend $20 and get an eggcrate. My roommates and I all have $200 featherbeds/memory foams on their beds and they aren't half as comfy as my $20 egg crate.

de-lurkign to say no to pillowtop.

You can only flip head to toe and not top to bottom.

AND have you thought about not getting a boxspring and just getting a platform bed? It saves a big pile of $$ and is just as comfortable.

(we just did that w/ our new KING and it's superb!)

My husband and I have had a natural latex pillowtop on our bed for 5 years and it's awesome! Highly recommend.

Another vote for the firm mattress with a separate feather bed. Splurge and get a feather bed with baffles to reduce feather migration. The great thing about a feather bed is that it can be flipped and fluffed separate from the mattress. And occasionally you can do without it. (I'm one of the odd balls that likes a very firm mattress and prefers to sleep without the feather bed during hot weather.) Our mattress is going strong after more than ten years. We replaced the feather bed once during that time.

we've had a pillow top for 5 years, and it's held up great. no lumps or cave-ins or anything. i second the no box spring comment! my hubby built a platform bed last year and we threw out our box spring. we've never slept better.

Sweden says: If you have an Ikea nearby, go get your stuff there. Priceworthy and with a 25-year warranty. I've had mine for five years and the only thing I regret is that I didn't get a thicker matress pad. I think you can get a good bed at Ikea, with all the padding/foam/fluff you'll ever need and within you budget. I love Ikea.

I have ambivalent feelings about our pillowtop. Yeah, it is soft, I sleep great, don't wake dh when I move....BUT. That lump that runs across the middle of the bed really bugs me. We can't flip ours top to bottom only north to south. Within a month of buying the thing we had the people from Mattress Discounters come out because of the lump--I'd never heard that the p-top would do that. Guy told us flatout--never buy a pillowtop. Great. The mattress guy says never buy a pillowtop. Wish we would have found that out a month earlier. He suggested what others have mentioned--regular bed with feather bed or those thick mattress pads on top. That is all a pillowtop is--a piece of foam lying on top of the regular mattress. You can achieve the same thing for a fraction of the price by getting one of those egg crate things. Learn from my mistake. Don't get me wrong--it's still comfy (5 years later) but who knows for how long. It just looks like we're hiding a dead body under the sheets.

So far, so good with our pillowtop. It's the Mattress Discounters in store brand and cost about $800 for a queen with split box spring about 3 or so years ago. We sleep like rocks on it. Everyone else who's ever slept on it gets up late in the morning with confused looks on their faces because they slept more soundly than they had in ages.

My mattress has the pillowtop on both sides, so we flip often. I buy really posh sheets and haven't had any problem with them fitting. I think most companies take the pillowtops and other thick mattresses into consideration now.

I've always been paranoid about this bed, since it's the store brand, but it was so much more comfortable than any of the others we could afford. If it's awesome for 8 years, I'll consider it a good purchase. We're almost halfway there and it's still the same as when we got it.

Good luck finding one you love, Jess! It's great to get into bed at night and just groan with comfort. We had been sleeping on an antique cast iron bed from my great-grandmother (that came complete with antique mattress), so I can attest to the happiness a good new mattress brings.

Totally worth it!! Consider it an investment when you spend the money to buy a good one. Like anything else, it'll last much long when you do.

I've had two pillowtops, one for five years (abandoned, but nothing wrong with it) and one for six-ish (still using), and I've never had lumps. Both were pillowtop on both sides, and both I regularly flipped over and around. We don't put anything on top of the pillow top except a regular mattress pad. I seem to notice a difference here between commenters whose pillowtops are two-sided and those whose pillowtops are one-sided -- perhaps the lumps are more common in the one-sided models?

I don't know what a pillowtop is, but here's my two cents: We bought a firm queensize from 1-800-mattress (whom I HEARTILY recommend) and then have a featherbed on top of that. The featherbed does get lumpy eventually, but i just fluff it up when I change the sheets. It's heavenly. I sleep like a log in all seasons, even with 2 cats fighting for the space behind my knees and the 6-yr-old climbing in in the middle of the night and sleeping perpendicular to us and my husband's titanic snores.... but that's all another story....

I have a firm mattress with a feather bed and love the combo. THe great thing is that you can have the feather bed cleaned for $40 once a year. Just spend the extra $100 and get a feather bed cover (machine washable). It will keep any moisture away from the down and that way you only need it cleaned yearly.

I just slept on my first feather bed (atop a mattress) this past weekend and I would highly recommend it... I do think it might be too hot for summer sleeping, so not a year-round comfy option.

We got our pillow top for under a grand at Mattress Giant. It's the perfect combination of cushiness and firmness. I can't sleep on a hard bed and my husband has a bad back and doesn't like soft beads. But we BOTH sleep like a dream (yuk yuk) on this bed. I'll never again NOT have a pillow top.

I bought a pillow top less than 3 years ago and it has 2 huge dips where my husband and I sleep. It's horrible and though it was soft and wonderful at first, I regret buying it.

We have a regular firm matress that I have a nice cushy matress pad on and we both sleep really well on it. I've been debating about a feather bed, but just haven't taken the plunge for the king size price. Good luck on your search.

I voted for pillowtop because I love a firm mattress, but don't want to feel like I'm sleeping on a rock. With my old mattress, adding a featherbed didn't help because it got all mashed down by the sheet. I love my Restonic pillowtop and i've been sleeping on it for 7 years with no change.

You can buy the Westin's Heavenly Bed....sheets, comforter, pillows and all. It's expensive, but absolutely worth it...it's the Heavenly Bed in your own home after all.

My fiance and I bought a new bed in January after sleeping on a very old hand me down for waaaaay too long. We decided to say NO to a pillow top because of the horror stories I heard from a long time friend about how hers was not worth the money she paid for it. I saw her bed after she had it for about a year, and the mattress was full of lumps and divots. Not comfy. Not sure if it was brand thing, or maybe just an "off" mattress, but it turned me off of pillowtops for good. I love our nice firm mattress, and had have great results with a featherbed for softness. For some reason switching to higher thread count sheets helped us stay cooler when using the featherbed as well.

Weighing in on the matter...I have had a pillow top mattress for almost 12 years and it is still amazingly comfy to sleep on. I have had no lumps or problems, just rotate and flip it twice a year.

I've never owned a pillowtop mattress. I have always had a decent regular mattress and put a big fluffy featherbed on top (the kind with channels). Everytime I change the sheets I give it a flip and shake it to redistribute the feathers.) I'm not embarassed to admit that I love Northern Nights bedding from QVC - they have great featherbed and comforter sets at a great price. Great quality and will last forever.
http://www.qvc.com/asp/frameset.asp?class=0010&dd=/navigationapp/QVCNavigate.aspx?type=leftnav!class=0010&cm_re=HP-_-MASTHEAD-_-HOMEDECOR&qic=y

Good luck Jess!

I've had two pillowtop matresses over the past eleven years. I upgraded a twin for a queen, and now the twin is my spare bed. I'm a big fan of the pillowtop but it's true that it can make for a very tall bed (I really haven't had problems buying sheets thoug, just look for ones with deep pockets). I also have admittedly little to which I can compare it. I've had my current mattress for four years and both my husband and I like it a lot. Neither matress is showing signs of breaking down yet, but y'all are starting to make me a little nervous...

We are completely in love with our pillow-top. I've had it for about 5 years and it's still like new. I say set your budget and get the very best pillow-top mattress that you can afford within your budget. You'll feel like you're in paradise compared to what you've had. I'll never be sorry that we go the mattress we did. :)

I love my pillow top. I agree with the it's gets lumpy people, but I've never found that to be a problem. I love it. Can't say enough good things about it the pillowtop. If you can though, I'd suggest finding a mattress with pillowtops on both sides, that way you can flip the mattress if you need to. I have a onesided, did I tell you I love it yet?

Featherbeds are lovely but must be fluffed (a two-person job to do it right) every few night or they form depressions and compress (much like a down pillow does.) They are quite comfy. I have found that featherbed covers (like gigantic pillowcases) are a pain in the butt. I put a fitted sheet on the mattress, put down the featherbed and then cover it with another fitted sheet. Much easier to manage and I find the fitted sheet stays in place on the featherbed whereas a flat sheet placed on top of it works loose really fast. It means you need two fitted and one flat sheets, but you can use a neutral for the mattress and use the matching fitted and flat sheet for the featherbed and the top sheet. Good luck and sleep tight.

We have a box spring, semi firm mattress, and a separate wool topper (not sure what to call it) that we love. We don't like firm but also not mushy soft, and to me this is heaven. Granted, we splurged on all organic (from a shop in California) and it probably cost 2x your budget, but the set up is great. I like the separate wool piece on top, which you can flip and turn (I understand you're supposed to do that with your mattress too) and put out in the sun if possible to fluff up. Did I say it's heaven? Much better than our old lumpy featherbed, wouldn't do that again.

we have a padded, not pillow - top and I highly recommend it as the alternative - it's not fastened at weird places, it just covers the top of the mattress. worth looking into.

When my mom bought her Tempurpedic she let it air out for a few days and that pretty much took care of the smell. I try every trick in the book to sleep on it when I visit.
I have a pillow top and have never had any problem with compression; I also have a feather bed but take it off peridoically because I get frustrated with how much it shifts.
Bottom line, a good matteress is a good mattress no matter which features you choose.
These links may help:
WebMD
Consumer Reports

We have a Sealy Posturpedic pillowtop - had it for about a year and it's still as wonderfully comfy as ever. So I recommend it. Ours also has memory foam in it - which is a little hot, especially for Houston. so I'd say you're right to skip out on that. We too were sleeping on an ancient cheap mattress (actually, a futon) for years and having this new mattress is so heavenly! Have fun.

I'd say no. Invest in a good "basic" mattress and then buy a good featherbed (or something similar) for the top. You can get them with baffles to keep the filling in place, and straps to keep them in place on the bed, and they're easily coverable with a fitted sheet . . . but when they start to show wear, well, it's cheaper to replace a featherbed than an entire mattress! (I have one on my bed--I keep a sheet on the mattress itself, a second one on the featherbed--it's easier than trying to get a sheet to fit over the featherbed AND the mattress and helps the featherbed wear longer.)

Make sure you check out how deep the mattress and boxspring will be. Compare that to your bedframe if you have footboard. We got our mattress with the regular boxspring, and when we brought it home the mattress just dwarfed our antique iron bed (garage sale find $25). So we had to take the boxspring back and exchange it for the low profile version--perfect.

Seems to me ours is also a Simmons--hey it is--and a Beautyrest, ta boot. Huh. Still has that bump in the middle, but it is comfortable, bump and all.

I know you've got a lot of comments already but . . . I had a pillow top from Macy's that I bought in 1998 and by 2003 it started to sag in the middle. I was so uncomfortable but I had convinced myself this couldn't be so. I endured two more years with this mattress. Last year I finally bought a non-pillow top Simmons from 1800 MATRESS and it's so comfortable. Plus no more turning over the mattress - which is such a PITA!

There must be different grades of featherbeds--ours is, as expected, compressed into two pathetic dents (instead of the much cozier big one in the middle) and the feathers migrate through the covering to stab us repeatedly in the thighs all night long. It is great for support (I guess my dent is the exact shape of me, so I like it) but it can be like sleeping on needles. And the more we shake it to get the dents out, the more needles appear--you could spend an hour picking them all out. Ugh. Go with latex.

I have this exact mattress. We originially bought it for our spare room, but I loved it so much, I made it our bed and it's sweet. We've had it less than a year and so far, sooo good. If you really like it and it doesn't blow your budget, go for it.

I just stayed at the Westin Edmonton and had a king size bed all to myself. I've never slept so well in a hotel. I'm converted.

I had a hard time choosing between memory foam and latex for a mattress but eventually decided for a latex. Memory foam is too chemical for my taste and the feel of them both is similar.

I came across this site http://www.myfoammattress.net/compare/mattress.html where you can compare head-to-head different mattress types. Thought others might find it useful.

Cheers

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