I've now owned this bed for more than a year and do love it. I've never spent so little on a mattress and this is clearly the best I've ever had as far as sleeping comfort. I used to have some joint pain, particularly in my hips, that entirely went away when I switched to this mattress. I did have to switch to a fairly thin pillow, from a thicker memory foam I had been using with my previous innerspring mattress, otherwise I woke up with a sore neck.That said, I am in the process of replacing this mattress. This does sleep a bit hot, and my girlfriend and I tend to be hot on a regular mattress. Also, it isn't great for cuddling, you tend to get stuck together in a hole from the memory foam. Bedroom activities are similarly impacted by the memory foam. A latex topper might help this, but that is another $300 for king-size.SUMMARYI've been very happy with this mattress on a steel frame. At $500/king (price has gone up since I bought), it's less than half what I paid for my previous bed 20 years ago, and was less than a quarter of mattress+box spring sets that I was looking at from Simmons. But I'd call it every bit as comfortable. It's a steal at the price, but I'd be hard pressed to say it is any less comfortable than the Simmons memory foam mattress I nearly bought at the store.For sleeping solo, I'm not sure you can get a better bed.My issues with it largely revolve around sleeping with someone else.OVERVIEWI mostly sleep on my side. I've had some issues with hip and shoulder pain in both my previous bed and my girlfriend's bed. I tend to sleep hot and also tend to only be comfortable in a fairly limited temperature range, between 65 and 75F. I have some arthritis in my hips and on a firmer beds end up with hip and shoulder pain. During the night I change positions many times usually. Previously I've had good innerspring mattresses, mostly Sealy Posturepedic. This is my first memory foam mattress but I put a 3" memory foam topper on my previous mattress, mostly as a test to see if I would be too hot.FIRMNESSI read many Amazon reports of excessive firmness, and I was a bit worried about this. Because often on firm beds I wake up sore. The manufacturers site rates this middle of the road, but a number of people called it firm in Amazon reviews.I'm not sure exactly what to call it... I've slept on firm spring mattresses before, and this isn't anything like those. I'd call those hard. But when I'm laying in this mattress it feels firm, but NOT hard, not painful. I guess I'd say that I feel well supported.I decided to go with this rather than the Linen Spa mattress that is listed as less firm. That mattress doesn't have the gel foam, which I really wanted because I tend to sleep hot. I also decided that because I've heard it said that you should buy a mattress that is on the firm side and if you decide it is too firm add a topper. I haven't added a topper to this.After a year of sleeping on it, I wouldn't call it too firm at all. Especially once the bed warms up, it tends to be a bit faster to react to movement and a bit more supple.TEMPERATUREI do tend to be hot when sleeping in a traditional innerspring mattress, and I also don't sleep well if it's much above 75F or below 65F. So I've been concerned about memory foam because of frequent reports I've read that people tend to complain about them being hot.I found the gel foams which are supposed to help with sleeping hot, and I had previously had an "ISO-Cool" mattress pad that is also supposed to help. I don't think I would say that they keep you cool. I do sleep a bit hotter on this than on other beds, which I have managed by using thinner bedding.Especially if you sleep with someone else who is warm, this may be a bit too much.PAIN RELIEFI have a bit of arthritis in my hips and before I got this bed also had some recent issues with my other bed with waking up with my shoulder that I was sleeping on sore, or that arm asleep. The hip pain at times has woken me up, but was resolved by putting a pillow between my knees. An easy remedy, though a bit of an annoyance because I tend to switch sides a number of times during the night.This mattress has basically solved all these problems. My hip pain while sleeping has gone away, even without a pillow between my knees, and it also has stopped occurring during the day, even when I stand for an extended period of time. In the months I've had this mattress, I've only had one instance where my arm was funny from sleeping on it "wrong".NECK PAINI previously had some fairly big memory foam pillows and found that they were causing serious neck pain on this mattress. I've switched to a thinner pillow and that has resolved that issue. I would recommend trying different pillows if you run into neck pain.MEMORY/CHANGING POSITIONSWhile this is a mixture of lower density foams (4 pound gel layer over 3 pound layer, compared to others that are up to 7 pound foam), it still does hold one position after you change position. It responds fairly quickly, maybe 10 or 20 seconds, but sometimes when I roll from my side to my back, I feel like I'm laying on a slope for a bit. Some of this I think is real, but I also think I imagine I'm still on a slope after it has evened out for maybe another 30 seconds.This is only when I'm not yet asleep, I've never found it waking me up or anything.But you do definitely sink into it a bit and changing positions can be a bit more difficult than on an innerspring mattress, if you know what I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more. Scooting over to cuddle takes more of a deliberate motion than just a squirm or a scoot...BACK SLEEPINGPreviously, I have rarely if ever slept on my back and recently I've found it painful after as little as 15 minutes laying on my back in my previous bed. This mattress is much more comfortable when laying on my back, though I still find that I prefer to sleep on my side. I think less because it's uncomfortable and more because it's what I'm used to.FOUNDATIONI got a fairly inexpensive steel frame for this mattress and really love it. The king size base is two twin bases that bolt together, so it has 12 legs instead of 6. It is super sturdy. I'll often flop down into bed now, and the bed doesn't move. I usually can't feel my girlfriend getting up or in to bed, where my previous bed I'd notice if the cat jumped onto it.There is no box spring, it's just the mattress on the foundation. I'm quite happy with it.SMELLI unpacked it and then went to have dinner for half an hour. As I was walking towards the bedroom, the smell was quite overpowering. I opened the windows to help air it out. I didn't really find the smell objectional, but it it was quite strong right after unpacking. That night I slept on it and had no problem.Over the next couple of days I kept the windows open and the smell reduced dramatically. It was still present but with a mattress pad and sheets on it I really didn't notice it while sleeping on it. After about 2 weeks it was more or less gone. After 2 months, I don't recall the last time I noticed the smell.UNBOXINGIt comes in a surprisingly small box, considering the end result. They recommend either 24 or 48 hours for it to fully expand, but I ended up unpacking it at 8pm and then sleeping on it that night and found it quite comfortable. Before I went to sleep I measured it and it was around 10 inches. The next night it was a solid 11" but I wouldn't quite have called at 12" and the sides of the cover were still a little slack.Since then it seems that the cover has gotten more tight, so I imagine that at some point it got up to the full 12".WARRANTYThe warranty is 25 years which seems like a long time for a $500 mattress. We will see how long it lasts... But in general, reviews of memory foam mattresses are that buyers are slightly less satisfied with them when new compared to innerspring mattresses. But people tend to stay about as happy with memory foam over the years, where innerspring mattresses people tend to get less happy with. There definitely have been reports of some brands of memory foam mattresses developing indentations where you sleep, but I couldn't find any data for this brand. I took a chance partly because the Amazon reviews were quite positive, partly because it was inexpensive. So far I haven't been disappointed at all, but it's only been a few months.However, note that the warranty says it may be void if there are any stains on the cover. That seems a little draconian, but I imagine it protects them from someone spilling a bottle of nail polish remover on it, which I could see just destroying the foam. But on the other hand, I have seen minor instance of stains getting through the mattress pad and I hate to think about that voiding the warranty.Buying a mattress is such a subjective thing and deciding what is the right choice can be difficult. Throw in that you're now ordering online sight unseen and it becomes virtually impossible. There are over 1000 reviews on this product and who knows which to believe right? All I can do is to tell you what our process was and how we eventually settled on this mattress. Short and quick version I will tell you we are happy with it.I've always been a pretty big guy but then last year I was in an accident and had several surgeries including my right shoulder. The rehab period has taken so long and my activity levels have decreased to the point I picked up a bunch of extra weight. The old Serta coil spring pillow top mattress just didn't cut it anymore. Waking up with back pain every morning became misery. My wife is much smaller than me but even she was complaining about body aches. A friend advised we look into memory foam and the first place I came was Amazon to do research. I checked several brands covering all the price points and eventually settled on one (not the Lucid) that I was ready to try. However my wife was skeptical ordering online without testing and wouldn't let me pull the trigger. She insisted we go to a store and buy it. Off we went to JC Penney where they offer a fairly decent variety of foam mattresses as well. We laid on several of the them and finally decided we liked the feel of the Tempurpedic medium density foam. Our local JCP does offer some bed in a box models however nothing in King and the Tempurpedics are $2000+ which I was not willing to pay. So the sales girl took us over to the in store computer, and I found a Lucid mattress with medium density and ordered it. Basically the same thing I was going to do on Amazon, but this made the wife happy...I think she thought we were getting the Tempurpedic we had tested and I didn't correct that notion! Lol!So we get the thing a week later, unrolled it on our existing box springs and let it air up over night. After one night of sleep I knew the choice was right. The medium density feels stiff but you do sink in ever so slightly as the foam conforms to your contours. It's a hard feeling to describe. You can tell you are laying on something quite firm but it isn't unpleasant; almost like you are suspended. I woke up very refreshed and no back pain. The sides hold their firmness when getting in and out. Motion transfer is minimal. I don't know about dropping a bowling ball and not spilling a glass of wine, but rolling around on one side doesn't bother the other partner at all. Wife was happy as well. After about a week I decided to come back to Amazon and see if our mattress was listed here. Lo and behold here it is at about $150 cheaper so we ordered it. This one has the 1" layer of bamboo charcoal foam which the other did not but that seems to be the only difference. On the advice of several reviews we are using deep pocket, 100% cotton sheets to help keep things cool and so far heat has not been an issue. Between the gel beads and cotton sheets heat is shunted away. About the only negative I can come up with is side sleeping is somewhat uncomfortable but that could be attributable to the extra weight I'm carrying right now. I am able to sleep on my sides, but if I stay there too long it's painful when I roll over or get up especially on the surgery shoulder. The medium foam may be a touch too firm for side sleeping by a heavy person. I believe they sell pillow top covers for foam mattresses which could be an option we try. I want to shed some pounds first before deciding however.This was a little bit long, but I figure maybe it's more helpful if you know the details and how we went about making our decision. What I can say is don't be afraid of ordering a bed online. I think testing in a store is not a bad idea either, but these cheaper bed in a boxes are just as quality products as the more expensive name brands, and the prices on Amazon can't be beat. The only thing remaining is to see how it stands the test of time but we're not there yet. My philosophy on that is we spent anywhere between one and two thousand dollars on Serta and Sleep Number beds in the past that required replacement after about 10 years. So if I can get five years out of a $500 mattress then what have I really lost? Likely I give this mattress 4 1/2 stars taking off a 1/2 star for the side sleep issue (which could maybe be attributed to me in which case possibly 5 stars).EDIT 1: So much to my chagrin I have made an error in the above review but will attempt to correct it here. It turns out the JCP mattress we bought comes with 9" of base foam and 3" of top foam and is labeled as medium density. This mattress comes with 8" of base foam, 1" of bamboo charcoal foam and 3" of top foam and is considered medium-plush density. I knew about this slight difference before ordering but figured there would be no or little effect on sleeping and while both are 12" they definitely did sleep differently. All my previous comments above were based on the JCP medium mattress WITHOUT the bamboo charcoal layer. Amazon does sell that mattress however at this time not in King which is what we needed and why I bought this one. We did sleep on this medium-plush mattress however and these are my impressions: it took a little while longer to inflate...about 36+ hours with the corners taking quite a while longer to fully inflate. Once inflated the edges never did get as firm or hold their shape as well when swinging legs over or sitting on the side. It is a much softer mattress, and we both sunk into the foam quite a bit vs. the medium. Personally I woke up feeling pretty good and probably due to the pillow'y softness it was much easier side sleeping than the other (as mentioned above). I also woke up in a fairly deep divot so while I did recv. back support, it was much deeper into the mattress. My wife was not as happy. She woke up with neck pain and did not like the softer, sinking feel. We became concerned how the plush foam would stand the test of time since we were sinking in so far; it seems like eventually it may not spring back fully every morning. In the end we decided to stick with the medium and much firmer mattress since the back, shoulder and neck support are much more evident. If you prefer a softer, pillow'y, sinking sleeping surface then the medium plush should suit you. If you are like us and prefer a more solid, firmer foundation then you may want to go with the medium. Hopefully Amazon will start selling it in King. Sorry for the mix up but hey, you got two beds reviewed for the price of one!EDIT 2: After a month of sleeping the bed still performs well with respect to back support, but the side sleeping is just too painful. So we spent another $150 for the Lucid medium-plush 2.5", gel infused, mattress topper and laid that out on top of the 12" medium mattress. Problem solved. Basically this hack combines the best of the two beds described above. A nice firm base with a couple inches of plusher foam on top and no sinking or waking up in a divot. Side sleeping and shoulder support are very comfy now. The topper sleeps a little hotter than the mattress and doesn't seem to shunt away the heat as well, but it's a small price for comfortable side sleeping IMO. Only other issue is in the month since starting this process the King 12" full mattress has risen $60 in price. If I could do it over I would look into getting the 10" medium mattress with the same medium plush topper. They also sell a plush topper that would be even softer I imagine. Maybe Lucid makes a mattress that offers both softness and firm support but who has the money to keep buying and trying mattresses? Combining these two products has given us a quality sleeping surface at a still reasonable price.I’ve had this for a year, it looks great and it’s just as comfortable as a tempurpedic for a fraction of the price, but there are some major downsides:1) this thing is WAY heavier than a spring mattress. I needed three friends to lug this thing into my apartment, the floppyness certainly didn’t help.2) this mattress contains fiberglass in its middle and top layers, so you need to be careful with it. You need both a plastic cover and a fabric mattress cover over this thing or you risk contamination if you ever get spills or stains on it. There’s also no way in hell you can move this thing as again any liquid exposure, high heat exposure or puncture will release it into the air, ruining every physical good in sight. Both Lucid and Purple are in the middle of a class action for not disclosing this.3) it sinks during recreational activitiesSo yeah, it’s the best mattress you’ll find for the price, you just have to keep in mind why it’s so cheap. For an apartment mattress you’ll throw away move out though, this is a perfect fitAfter using a saggy mattress for so long, it took a while to get used to this mattress, and it also took a little breaking-in. It is fine now and I sleep better and wake up without horrible back pain. The surface cushioning has softened up and is now cozy and supportive. I was just about to give up on it when it started getting better.Después de dos semanas de uso, solo tengo buenas cosas que decir del colchón. Yo mido 1.90 y peso unos 85 kg así que estoy dentro de los parámetros de límite de muchos de los colchones que usan gel o memory foam. Pero realmente este colchón es increíble, si tienes problemas musculares es lo máximo porque realmente no sientes tensión en los músculos o las articulaciones (lo dice alguien que entrena 6 días a la semana). Además que los movimientos de tu pareja no se sienten y no hace ningún ruido. Nosotros tenemos un niño de 12 que a veces se pasa a nuestra cama y en esta muchas veces me entero que durmió con nosotros a la mañana siguiente, a pesar que se mueve como un trompo.Al menos mi opinión es excelente por los resultados vistosWe bought 2 Twin XL mattresses to go with our Twin XL adjustable bed frames and put them together to make a split king bed. These mattresses are so comfortable that we not only get the best sleep of our lives we also no longer get the aches and pains we had when we slept on a traditional coil mattress.When we switched from our pillow-top queen size to this memory-foam king size, the difference in comfort was subtle. In the first few months, we were happy with the extra room, and we did not notice the gradual decay in comfort. However, after a few month, my shoulder started to be in pain. I thought I had pulled my shoulder or something. The pain came and went, but it started to be a new normal.One winter night when my sun had a fever, and we had to monitor him, we moved him in our bed, and I slept in the guestroom where our old pillow-top queen size had found refuge. The difference was like day vs night. I had a dreamful of sleep that night and I woke of rested!I would then sleep in the guestroom every time I had a shoulder pain, and the pain would go away after one or two nights. In the meantime, my wife has grown this back pain out of nowhere. So she started sleeping in the guestroom, and the pain would vanish. Since then, we have slept in the guestroom more often to a point that after less than three years, we almost never sleep in that bed. Our bedroom has become the guestroom!It is worth mentioning that we both sleep on our sides. However, on this mattress, when we get tired and sleep on our back, we both start snoring.It is hard to justify that we spent nine hundred Dollars for 30 months worth of low quality sleep nights.I looked for hours to find a good mattress which is not too expensive and stumbled upon this one. The mattress is absolutely perfect. You don't even have to let the mattress deflate for a long time. There is no weird or strong smell either. I only smelt a faint paint-thinner like smell for a few hours which honestly didn't even bother me. I feel very rested and refreshed after sleeping on this mattress and never wake up mid-sleep either. I would highly recommend!!If there were more stars, I would give this mattress and even higher rating. I only wish I bought it sooner. We absolutely love our new king size mattress and it is the perfect combination of supportive and firm yet soft and comfortable. If you are hesitating, don't. It will be the best money you spend on a mattress of this quality. It is far superior to my expensive spring mattress and was a fraction of the price. Absolutely love it. It did have a little bit of the degassing smell for a day or so but nothing too unpleasant and was gone quickly with an open window. Buy this mattress and sleep soundly. You and your partner won't disturb each other and it will help all your aches and pains.