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Sleep Number Bed (Select Comfort) → Review & Ratings Based on 1,600 Owner Experiences
Page last updated September 18, 2011
What You Need To Know
Owner Satisfaction: 78% based on 1,600 Sleep Number Bed owner experiences. Pricier models (p5, p6, p7, i8, i10, iLE) tend to rate slightly higher than less expensive models (c2, c3, c4, cSE).
Price: $1,000-$4,000 for a queen depending on Sleep Number Bed model.
Pros: Adjustable firmness; pain-relief potential; good longevity possible; relatively lightweight.
Cons: Middle area; uneven sleep surface possible; fair durability; can lose air; some noise from air pumps; only 2-year non-prorated warranty.
What Is It?: The Sleep Number Bed is a permanent-use airbed. It uses air chambers for main support instead of innerspring coils or foam. An electric air pump can adjust the firmness by adding or removing air from the air chambers. Each side of the bed can have an independent firmness setting, making the bed potentially well-suited for couples.
Main Competition: Comfortaire and several other air bed brands. Learn how the Sleep Number Bed / Select Comfort Mattress compares to competitors in the Air Bed Reviews – Summary.
Comprehensive Sleep Number Bed Research Report
Sleep Like The Dead collected over 1,600 owner / consumer reviews and comments on the Sleep Number (Select Comfort) bed from diverse, credible sources. We report the findings of our research on this page and the following three pages.
Table of Contents
Sleep Number Bed Ratings-Overview
Lying on a Sleep Number Bed
Owner Satisfaction
Longevity / Durability Ratings
Sleep Number Complaints/Problems
Sleep Number Positives/Benefits
Warranty & Return Policy Ratings
Better Business Bureau Rating
Love Making Suitability
Sleeping Positions
Suitability for Men & Women
Model Ratings
Sleep Number Bed (Select Comfort) Ratings: Overview
Sample size: at least 1,600 actual owners / consumers of various models including Classic (c2, c3, c4, cSE), Performance (p5, p6, p7), Innovation series (i8, i10, iLE) as well as discontinued models.
| Owner satisfaction | B- | |
| Durability | C | |
| Longevity | B+ | |
| Price | C | |
| Less pain | B+ | |
| Firmness variety | A- | |
| Motion isolation | B- | |
| Easy to move on | B | |
| Even sleep surface | C- | |
| No initial odor | C+ | |
| No sleeping hot | B- | |
| Good for sex | C | |
| No noise | D | |
| Dust mite resistant | C+ | |
| No turning / flipping | A- | |
| Lightweight | A- | |
| Warranty | C+ | |
| Customer service | B | |
| Better Business Bureau (BBB) rating | A+ | |
| Number of BBB complaints | D- |
Sensation of Lying on a Sleep Number Bed
The below chart shows words/phrases that consumers often use to describe the sensation of sleeping on a Sleep Number Bed and how commonly the words/phrases are used.
The less expensive models – c2, c3, c4, cSE – are usually described as being more firm (on any setting) than the pricier and more padded models – p5, p6, p7 and i8, i10, iLE. Otherwise, the various models are generally described similar.
Owner Satisfaction
Sleep Number Beds overall have 78% owner satisfaction. For perspective, this rating is competitive with other airbed brands, higher than the rating for any innerspring mattress, and somewhat higher than the rating for mattresses as a group overall.
Sleep Number Bed owners who use very different firmness settings for each side of the bed tend to have considerably more dissatisfaction than owners who do not. This dissatisfaction is mainly the result of a problem in the middle where the two air chambers meet.
Sleep Number Bed Durability / Longevity Ratings
With most mattresses, durability and longevity mean basically the same thing. But with the Sleep Number Bed (and airbeds in general) durability and longevity must be evaluated separately.
Durability
Mattress durability refers to how well a bed will hold up to regular use without something breaking or deteriorating. On this issue, the Sleep Number Bed performs about average or worse compared to mattresses as a group. This is because the bed, unlike other mattress types, is mechanical in nature and, as a result, more can conceivably go wrong with it.
At least 20% of consumers report, regardless of model, a breakdown of some kind over the life of the bed, such as leaking air chambers, broken pumps, sagging pillow tops, and compressed foam.
Longevity
Longevity refers to the lifespan of a mattress. The Sleep Number Bed has better longevity than most mattresses because any problem that the bed develops can be repaired with a replacement part sent to the owner. (The part is likely to be at least partially covered under warranty.)
By contrast, with other types of beds, such as innerspring or memory foam, if something goes wrong with the mattress, such as sagging, it usually needs to be shipped back to the manufacturer and largely if not entirely replaced.
Ownership length
The ability to replace any part of the Sleep Number Bed, and the relative ease by which it can be done, can result in significant length of usability and ownership.
Owner data, in fact, shows the bed to have one of the longest life spans of any mattress included in our research with an average length of ownership of around ten years. As the graph below shows, some owners keep the bed for longer than this average and some for less.
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