DH and I have been sleeping on a flotation mattress for the last 17 years. I really liked our bed. A couple of years ago we sprang a leak. Had a hard time finding the leak and thought about switching to a "regular" mattress. We were NOT prepared for the cost of a new mattress! Anywhere from $600 for bottom of the barrel to $1600 for top of the line. Eventually we found and repaired the leak and slept peacefully for a couple more years. Then recently we developed another leak. Well, I guess you'd have to call it more than a leak. It was actually a rupture. There was water everywhere. Well, what did we expect after 17 years? So now we had to decide whether to replace the mattress with another flotation or a regular mattress. The older we get, the harder it is to "roll" out of bed in the morning, but remembering the cost of a regular mattress, it was a hard decision to make.

Well, a couple of months ago my daughter discovered Mattress-in-a-Box and ordered one for herself. Full size was $200 online at Overstock.com. She says she loves it. So I headed over to her house to try it out for myself. I couldn't believe how good it felt. It is 11" thick, with a 2.5" thick pillow top. We needed a queen size and the price for that was $299 with free shipping.

It actually comes vacuum packed (think "space bags") in plastic to about an inch and a half thick, is folded in half, then rolled up and boxed. The queen size mattress came in a box about 5 tall and 24 inches square. Of course, the whole family had to gather to watch the mattress become its full size. After you unfold it and place it on the bed, you cut the plastic along one side and it "grows". It does NOT inflate. It was absolutely amazing. I would have thought that it would be flimsy, but it definitely is not. It has springs, but you can't feel them. It is quite firm, yet cushy.

I thought for sure that after sleeping on the flotation bed for so long, I would suffer at least a few nights of back pain while I got used to the new mattress, but I didn't. By the way, we visit long distance friends for a weekend every month and they swear that the mattress we sleep on in the guest room is a great one, but after 2 nights I always have a sore back and can't wait to get back home.

This is not a sales pitch. I am not affiliated with the company. I just thought I would share my experience for those who may have heard of this and wondered. And maybe many of you, like me, have never heard of such a thing. The only downside (which turned out NOT to be a downside is that you cannot lay on it in a store to see how it feels.

For the price, I believe we made the right choice. Here is the link if you are interested in seeing the process.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mattress In A Box