Find the best mattress for your family and learn which bed comes out on top. I put both beds to the test in this Sleep Number vs Tempur-Pedic review.

Keep in mind that this review of Sleep Number and Tempur-Pedic is based on my experiences with these products and I am in no way affiliated with either company. All thoughts and opinions are my own and your results with these products may vary. This is just my experience with both Sleep Number and Tempur-Pedic.

Sleep Number vs Tempur-Pedic

Tempur-Pedic commercials have been running since I was a kid, I remember watching the wine glass test more times than I can count. In case you missed them, the wine glass test was basically a group of different people, dancing and jumping around. Once the camera zooms out to reveal the entire scene, you see that they are dancing on a Tempur-Pedic mattress that is also supporting a glass full of red wine. The wine glass is undisturbed by the commotion and this really sells the idea that a Tempur-Pedic mattress will allow anyone a peaceful night’s sleep, no matter how much they or their partner move around.

Sleep Number hasn’t fallen short on advertising either. In fact,  I would venture to say that Sleep Number advertises more than any other mattress brand. This may be due to the type of content I consume regularly and maybe you don’t hear their ads as much while listening to your shows but Sleep Number has made its way to lots of radio shows and podcasts. There is nothing quite like learning the sleep number of your favorite radio personality. They start off by saying how well they slept the night before and what their sleep number is, letting you know that there is a variety of preferences with this remote-controlled bed. So much variety that everyone in the studio has a different number, one guy has a 100 because he likes a firm mattress while the token woman on staff enjoys a 30. They have successfully planted the question in your head and you are left wondering, what is my sleep number?

Advertising works and there are entire departments dedicated to studying what the best ways are to market products and how they are going to create a buzz to get people talking about them. Sleep Number and Tempur-Pedic both put a lot of effort into marketing and when looking for a new matress, both of these brands come to mind. They really did a great job when it came to product recognition and making their brand a household name. Unfortunately as a consumer, these advertising campaigns can make it difficult to make a smart decision and buy the mattress that truly is best for us. Especially when everyone claims that their bed is the best and that you need to try it for yourself. Cue the risk-free trials! What a perfect way to get that bed into your house, offer a “risk-free trial”, too bad that trial is not actually risk-free in some cases.

Sleep Number offers a 100-night In-Home Trial and if that sounds too good to be true it’s probably because it is in fact, too good to be true. We tried the Sleep Number in our home for a few weeks and when we decided we were unhappy with our purchase and wanted to get our money back, we were informed that there were still going to be charged for pick up and delivery. We were also told that if we purchased the FlexFit™ adjustable bases we were unable to return those even if we returned the rest of the bed as this sale is final. This also applied to any Sleep Number bedding or pillows, upholstered furniture, and any of the demo or display products that we may have purchased.

After deciding that Sleep Number just wasn’t for us, we were out many nights of sleep and spent about $400 on the 100 Night Trial. That was the price to satisfy our curiosity because we really wanted to know if this bed would live up to all of the hype.

The idea that my husband could have his bed as firm as he wanted without compromising my preference for a soft mattress, made it seem like Sleep Number was the only mattress for us. I didn’t know of any other brands that could offer the ability to have a person with a Sleep Number of 35 and a Sleep Number of 100 sleep happily in the same bed so I was willing to take the gamble on their 100 Night Trial.

Another potential issue came up that I had never thought about until I tried the Sleep Number 100 Night Trial. It turns out that in order to get your Sleep IQ score, you have to download an app and connect your phone to your bed. Unfortunately, the app and the bed would not connect and after spending a couple of hours on the phone with their tech department I learned that my phone was not compatible with the app. After a lot of troubleshooting, I was able to update my bed by using a flash drive and connecting it to the bed.

Underneath the mattress, there is a door with a motor and lots of working parts. That area wasn’t short on blinking lights either, it kind of made me uncomfortable to know how much electricity is going on underneath me while sleeping. At the risk of sounding like Chuck from Better Call Saul, having my bed connected to the internet and electrical outlet just didn’t seem like a healthy move.

Plus with all of those working parts, there are more things to go wrong with the bed and that will cost you more money down the road. To find out exactly how much these things will cost you down the road is not an easy task either. I asked the people in the store that I bought the bed from and also asked the two delivery guys that delivered it to my house but nobody had any answers for me. This seems like important information because if the bladder goes bad or the hoses fail to work, these are parts that you will have to pay to replace.

Both the store and the delivery guys wanted to assure me that if these parts failed after 3 years, I would pay for repair based on the amount of time I owned the bed. This would start at 28% of the retail cost in the third year and would increase by 4% yearly for the next 20 years. It seems to me that when you are already paying over $3000 for a bed you should not be in the dark about how much you will be on the hook for repairs if they were to pop up in the next few years. Instead of telling me that I shouldn’t have to worry about those kinds of repairs, Sleep Number should offer a price sheet with an average cost of the bed pump or other common repairs in addition to the sales pitch.

During the trial, I adjusted my sleep number both my husband and I tried to find comfort from the lowest possible number to the highest, despite what sleep number we thought was best for us. Unfortunately, we were unable to get very comfortable at all and agreed that sleeping on our Sleep Number felt like any other air mattress meant for guests or camping. It certainly didn’t feel like it was worth the thousands we paid for it and we were once again on our quest for the best mattress.

We headed to our local bedding store and put their salesmen to work on answering rapid-fire questions about every mattress in the place.

The three of us walked around the store, talked about sleep, and got to know all of the mattresses in the store. We sat on them, he sat on them with us. We laid on them, he stood over us awkwardly and watched as we pretended he wasn’t there. We toured the entire showroom and got involved with some mattresses. We were pushing them down and watching them spring back up, I’m not sure why but that’s what people always do when testing mattresses for some reason.

After learning every detail we could about every brand there, we eventually decided on the Tempur-Pedic brand and had to narrow down which one to get.

We did a test with the guy in the store, now I don’t know if this is standard procedure, the guy could have been freelancing these comfort tests but it seemed like he knew what he was doing. The test basically let him know which we prefer, the softer mattress or the firmer ones. This was really interesting to me because like I mentioned with Sleep Number, we thought that my husband wanted a firm one and that I needed a soft one. Well according to this test, we were both most comfortable on a hybrid mattress which was almost as firm as their firmest mattress that they had available.

I was really surprised because I am a side sleeper and have always read that side sleepers are most comfortable on a softer matress. I think it was due to the pressure on your shoulders and elbows, but it turns out that isn’t the case for me. My husband was really adamant about sleeping on his side, even when taking the “Tempur-Pedic test” at the store, he insisted that he would never sleep on his back so no need to try that out. He now sleeps on his back quite often, almost every night and I keep finding myself sleeping on my back, too.

I don’t know the significance of switching sleeping positions but my husband sure seems amazed by this turn of events, so I felt the need to share it. I guess it just goes to show you that the Tempur-Pedic mattress is versatile and will work for a broad range of people. It’s almost like no matter what your “number” is, you will be comfortable in one of these beds.

The Tempur-Pedic 90-day trial doesn’t seem to be risk-free either as it says on their website that a return shipping fee of $175 may apply. That is cheaper than Sleep Number but still a lot of money to just throw away if you aren’t happy with your bed purchase. Especially when you have to deal with delivery guys twice and then you are still without a bed. Scheduling pick up and drop off can be tedious and that $175 could have went to another bed. I bought a comfortable mattress in a box kid of deal just a couple of years ago for that price. Unfortunately when you get what you pay for as they say and it just wasn’t built to last but Tempur-Pedic seems to be. If not, their warranty sounds pretty awesome.

The Tempur-Pedic website states that there is no deductible if the mattress or foundations have a defect covered under warranty in the first 10 years. The guy in the store made it very clear that it is important to have a good mattress protector on your bed at all times because Tempur-Pedic will not cover water damaged beds even if that is not the cause of the defect. When you are paying $5000 for a bed you want to make sure the bed is going to last a long time and with a warranty like that, I believe it will. Plus, I know someone who just recently found a sag in their 18-year-old Tempur-Pedic matress and since they were covered under the old warranty which was 25 years, he got a new mattress for free. That is enough proof for me to see that they really do stand behind their product.

I hope this post helped you make an informed decision and gave you some information to consider before making that big purchase. What are your thoughts, who would you choose, Sleep Number or Tempur-Pedic?

About Thirty Something Super Mom

Melissa

Thirty Something Super Mom | Website

My journey started after a Crohn's disease diagnosis, inspiring a commitment to well-being. This site shares my distinctive approach to healthy living with my collection of nutritious recipes that boast authentic flavors, mimicking the indulgence of traditional dishes. I love sharing guilt free recipes for low carb, keto, gluten-free, paleo, and the specific carbohydrate diet. I also share tips on natural living, including homemade cleaners and cleaning hacks. I also share my experience as a veterinary technician and pet groomer, to integrate pet health tips, homemade dog food recipes, and grooming insights to ensure your pets thrive.