Friends don't let friends buy air mattresses (or cots). Unless you plan on doing all you camping only during summer, think again. There's a good reason both the US military and the Boy Scouts only use sleeping pads, rather than cots or air mattresses. Those two are only for use inside heated enclosures. Besides losing good sleep because your body is giving up calories to the heat-sink effects of the air mattress or cot, you risk catching hypothermia (most cases of hypothermia occur at between 30 and 50-degrees F). The hollow tubes of an air mattress and the empty space underneath cots work constantly to achieve equilibrium with the colder air around them, meaning you are constantly having your warmth drained away. Buy a ThermaRest self-inflating sleeping pad or one of the knockoffs made by REI or Slumberjack or one of the others. They are sold in many designs, widths, lengths and thicknesses and the ThermaRest brand carries a lifetime guarantee.

Aww, just take along some old heavy blankets and a good sleeping bag, and a nice pillow--drink 2 beers, or a hot toddy, go to bed and you'll sleep all night. No worry about the air mattress deflating on ya! Fold the blankets to make a pad under the bag. Heck, if ya need an air mattress to keep ya comfy, then go rent a room in a motel, and stay there! I've slept on the ground all over the world. The camping in France was a bit dangerous, but i survived it. The camping here in the states was a lot safer, but we survived that too!

Thank you all so much for your advice here. I guess the best thing to do when shopping for a mattress is to try them out for yourself, which is what I did today. I just came home, and I bought a mattress.... maybe I should have done more research, but I wanted to get this done and move on with my life. I didn't buy the first one I saw though, I went to three places. I was the ONLY customer in each of the three stores I went to, so I think the sales people were "hungry". I pocket dialed my a friend 3 times while trying out mattresses, I guess they make a keyboard lock for a reason! First, Mattress Firm. Sales guy was an eager, young, skinny whipper snapper, named Craig. He made me lie down on a diagnostic bed. Then he looked at the print out and would only show me mattresses on the print out (which were the firmest ones in the store, and I stressed I wanted soft, not firm). I really liked the Simmons Beauty Rest with pillow top, AND the Tempurpedic, but I was not about to spend 3000 dollars (or even the sale price of 2600). I also liked the Sterns and Foster, but again, way high end. The second place was one called Mattress One... a nice older guy named Humberto was the salesman there. He spent time showing me a lot of beds and listened. There was one that was called Therapepdic, which was a knock off of Tempurpedic. It was only 499... I liked it for the most part (super soft), but I sank way down into it, and could feel the box springs below. I told him I'd consider it, took his card, and went to Five Guys to have lunch. While inhaling my cheeseburger, I hopped online (on my phone) and did a bit of research on Therapedic. I discovered some bad reviews, they don't keep their shape after a few years! In the next plaza over, there was a Mattress Giant. I walked up to find a big fat guy in a yellow shirt smoking right outside the door... upon seeing that, I almost got back in the car, but instead went inside since I was already there... His name was Sergio, and he really took the time to explain things to me, and after listening, directed me to a brand called King's Down. It's memory foam on the inside (no coils at all), but it looks like a traditional mattress, and doesn't sink down and envelope you like a Tempurpedic does. I picked the softest one in the line, and it was just like sleeping on a cloud. Very nice! Mattress and box springs was 799, delivery 69, and mattress protector was 89, so with tax, it came to just over 1000, and will be delivered on Thursday. 100 day comfort guarantee (exchange policy), and 10 year warranty. I feel really good about my choice, and can't wait to sleep on a mattress that isn't sunken in in the middle! I called Humberto and told him that I decided on something else so he didn't count on me coming back... I had told him I'd be back if I didn't see something I liked elsewhere better. He was glad I let him know (I felt weird doing that, but he was nice, so I figured I owed him that), but I could hear the disappointment in his voice when he realized I wasn't going to buy from him. Thanks again for your advice here! Oh yeah, I told a friend about it, and he told me he bought the same bed from the same store about a year ago and loves it (but he got free delivery and a free mattress protector, I guess I'm not much of a haggler).

We have the EA Arcata sofa and I regret the purchase every day. We got all the most expensive cushion upgrades/options, and frankly, I don't think the sofa looks much better than the darn IKEA EKTORP we had when we were first married. Admittedly, my husband sprawls on it, but the cushions always look terrible. And they slide out of place very easily. I'm always having to fluff, turn, and stuff them back under the back cushions. This is our second "grown-up" sofa purchase in ::cough:: five years. And I'm anticipating having to make another very soon. Granted, these aren't the most expensive sofas ever ($1800-2k range) but...it's disappointing. We had one sofa during my entire childhood. One. And when my mother was finally tired of it, it lived in a cousin's house for eight more years. I'm not asking for 25 years, but 25 MONTHS isn't too much to ask, is it? So, I would shy away from an EA sofa where I could not flip and fluff the cushions.