Ahhhhhhh, we hate to get out of bed now!
Written: May 02 '03
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Pros: Extremely comfortable, best sleep ever
Cons: Expensive and no local dealers
The Bottom Line: This mattress has solved our sleep problems, and we would definitely recommend it.
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| ktz_mom's Full Review: Nautilus Sleep Systems Ultimate Series Mattress |
We've had our Nautilus Ultimate (Eastern King) for about 2 months now, and we really love how comfortable it is.
Background--When my husband and I were first married, we started out in a queen size waterbed. We thought it was great, but I was having a lot of back problems and a pinched nerve in my neck, so eventually we bought a traditional firm mattress. The firm support from the traditional mattress definitely alleviated my back and neck pain, but now both my husband and I were tossing and turning through the night, unable to get comfortable. After months of lost sleep, we decided we needed to do something and started looking at different options...
Why an airbed?--Right away, we discovered that both of us were intrigued by the airbed idea. First off, my husband prefers a softer mattress, whereas I like a lot of firmness, so an adjustable airbed would allow each of us to set our side of the bed the way we like it. Also, traditional mattresses seem to "squish down" and get dips in them so quickly. We thought maybe the airbed would hold up better.
Researching options--During our search, we considered basically three options, the Nautilus series and the
Select Comfort series which you've undoubtably seen the commercials for on TV, and the Boyd Air Mattress which isn't as well known but is offered through our local Bedroom Store chain.
We discovered a Select Comfort dealer at our local mall and headed out. Immediately, we fell in LOVE with this mattress. It was very comfortable, and we thought the way you could select a "number" for your comfort level was pretty cool. And we figured with a 20 year warranty, how could you go wrong? The downsides to the Select Comfort though were that we'd have to set it up ourselves, their deluxe system was very expensive (about $3200 if I remember correctly), and they have a foam divider down the center of the bed between the air chambers--pretty uncomfortable to lay on.
Next we headed to the Bedroom Store and tried the Boyd air mattress. It offered an extra advantage of having a separate lumbar support adjustment, was much less expensive (I think about $1200), and offered local delivery and setup. Unfortunately, it just wasn't anything like laying on the Select Comfort, so we decided this probably was not what we were looking for.
Last, we called up the Nautilus folks and ordered their promotional package. We were skeptical at first--not wanting to buy something without trying it, but after we reviewed their materials and spoke with their sales rep, it just seemed like this would be a good option, so we gathered all our materials together to do a comparison:
Select Comfort......Boyd...........Nautilus
Price....$3200............$1200...........$2700
Warranty..20 year.........20 year.........20 year
Air cham..Normal..........Lumbar feature.....Interlocking
Rubber....Normal..........Normal..........Heavy
Rails.....Center..........Center..........No center rail
Trial.....30 day..........30 day..........90 day
Warranty Info--Now, don't be fooled by the "20 year warranty" into thinking that 19 years from now you're going to be able to get replacement parts free. We did our homework and found that on all three mattress options, it is a prorated warranty, meaning that the longer you have the mattress, the less the manufacturer covers as a percentage of the total cost. And each option had their own schedule for this, so it ended up that the Boyd warranty was probably the best, followed by Nautilus, then Select Comfort.
Selecting Nautilus--After all of our research was complete (about 3 months had transpired) we finally decided it was decision time. Though we liked the local availability, low price, and better warranty of the Boyd mattress, it just wasn't as comfortable as we wanted it to be. So we narrowed our choice down to Select Comfort and Nautilus. Between the two, everything pointed to Nautilus (we especially liked the interlocked air chambers, the use of heavier rubber, and the extra pillowtop)...but we were really concerned that we couldn't try it out in the store as we had the Select Comfort. Sure, they offer the money back guarantee, but it doesn't cover shipping charges so we knew if we did end up deciding to send it back, we'd be out some $$$. But we finally decided to gamble and went for it!
The purchase--I called up Nautilus with my handy $100 off coupon $100 free "gift" (turned out to be two pillows) in hand, and before I knew it, our mattress was ordered. With the $200 shipping charge, it came to $2700, they do offer financing, but it's not same as cash so we didn't use it. They told us to expect the bed to arrive in about 4 weeks. It actually came in about 3. In lots and lots of boxes!
Foundation Construction--We had recently moved to a new home and my husband had bigger fish to fry, so I decided to tackle bed construction myself. Now, I'm not the most handy person in the world, but I'm fairly competent with a cordless screwdriver (and trust me, you'll need one if you order the foundation). It took me about half a day to put the foundation together with my 18 month old daughter's "help" (so I'm guessing I could have had it done in under two hours unassisted, ha ha). I no longer remember how many screws there were, but there were dozens of them! Then I moved on to the mattress construction...
Mattress Construction--This went pretty fast, actually. Probably the longest part of it was taking everything out of the boxes and figuring out what went where. You start by putting the mattress outer cover on the bed, then adding the contour cut rails and the pump, then the air chambers, then layer after layer of foam and the mattress covers (which zip all the way around). It all fits extremely tightly, so it took some tugging, but when it was all said and done it looked great--just like any quality mattress you would buy.
Inflating--Time to inflate the chambers, which you do one side at a time. I started with my husband's side, and found that the pump sounds a little like a vacuum cleaner. So I made a mental note not to make too many adjustments in the middle of the night! But, it was quickly done, and I moved to my side of the bed. Hit the buttons...nothing. Hit them again...nothing. After trying everything I could think of, I called Nautilus and was told to unplug the system for a half hour then try again. Which I did, and still nothing. I started to develop a cold sweat, thinking I had just made a $2700 mistake! I called Nautilus back, and they said they would overnight us a new pump.
I admit I was very dismayed at that point, but their customer service was very quick and courteous, and true to their word the pump arrived via UPS Red service. I installed it, hit the buttons, and everything worked great! In fact, it turned out to be a faulty remote control that had caused the problem, not the pump.
Ahhhhhh, this is comfort!--It was time to give it a try. I can't describe how comfortable it felt. True, we didn't have a "number" readout telling us what our comfort level was, but the Nautilus is still fully adjustable and allows you to quickly set your favorite comfort level to the "Instant Comfort" button. Our first night we were amazed how comfortable it was, and even though we had to get used to the new feel, we slept better than we had in our old mattress. Within a week I noticed I was actually sleeping fewer hours each night and getting up more rested (even though I really hated getting out of that comfy bed!).
Two months later--So now it's two months later, and I'm getting ready to recycle all those boxes. There's no way we're giving this bed up. It remains very comfortable, and we've found that we rarely make adjustments to the air level since we got each side adjusted as we like it. At the same time, however, there's no big internal "division" in between the two sides of the mattress as there was on the Select Comfort.
We definitely feel that we made the right choice. Even though $2700 is expensive, for a good night's rest it is worth it. And, most quality mattresses are expensive anyway! If it lasts us to 20 years, we'll be thrilled!
Recommended:
Yes
Mattress Size: Eastern King
Mattress Firmness: Somewhat firm
Amount Paid (US$): 2700
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Epinions.com ID:
ktz_mom
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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