Best setup I ever had was a Sleep Number bed that The Bionical Woman advertised. I got the cheapest setup imaginable, JUST the mattress and air-pump. No frame, no box-spring, no display on the controls just buttons to inflate/deflate, and that’s it.
Stick that in a… “mattress baggie”… not sure what they’re called. Plastic zipper-thingy that you use in case kids pee themselves and you don’t want it soaking into the mattress itself. Extra layer of thick plastic to help prevent anything from poking holes in it.
Yeah, it’d still be dead in like 24hrs with my cats, so I dare not get that again.
Thin “breathable” topper (fleecey/sheepskinny, no idea of the actual material) on top of that, then a fitted sheet.
Anyhoo, that was like sleeping on a cloud. I’d deflate it nice and soft to sleep on, then firm it up hard when sitting on it. Unfortunately the constant inflating/deflating caused a seam to flex and pull apart to the point of leaking. Another replacement, and another leak in the same exact spot. Lasted 1yr each before the leaks, and after that I just left it on “cloud” and sat my ass down almost on the old box-spring anyway. Lasted like 7yrs after that.
I’m downstairs now and not in that room anymore, 'though the mattress might still be in good condition and usable, but I never got a more comfortable sleep as I did on an air mattress.
Oh, prior to that, I used to buy Intex and/or Coleman air mattresses from Target for like 20bux a pop, including the inflator thingy. Each lasted between 1-2yrs before springing too many leaks. Rubber glue would patch small splits on the seams 'til they’d just give way catastrophically.
After going through a few of those is when I decided to go bionical.
I don’t like foam mattresses because I don’t like that sinking-in-quicksand feeling, nor the heat buildup underneath.
Don’t like spring mattresses either, especially when the springs poke up and stab me in random places.
If I had to go back to a regular bed, yeah, it’s an air mattress or nothing.
