Sleep Number Mattress Review iLE (Limited Edition) 360 Smart Bed

My husband and I had the same mattress for 22 years. We have had back problems and sleeping problems. He normally wakes up about five times a night and I am constantly tossing and turning. So we decided to give Sleep Number a try. The main reason we wanted the Sleep Number is because my husband is a heavy man and I am a pretty small woman, compared to him. So whenever he would get in bed, the bed would sink down where he was and it would cause me to roll towards him. For this reason, I wanted a firmer bed. But he wanted a softer bed. So we figured with the Sleep Number, we would both get what we want.

We went to a local Sleep Number store on Black Friday and tried out all the beds. I am so glad that we did because each bed feels so different! I almost wish that the salesman wouldn’t have even told us which bed was what so we could just try them all and find out which one we like the best without thinking about the price or anything else.

Amazingly, the bed both of us liked the best was an iLE 360 Smart bed, the most expensive bed. Luckily, it was 50% off. We also bought the base and frame, which was unfortunately not on sale.

Surprisingly, when we got home and set it up to our number preferences, mine was a lower (soft) number, 35, and his was a higher (firm) number, 50. He liked it more firm and I liked mine more soft because of our weight difference.

When we first purchased the bed, we had to totally rearrange our room. Our tiny 12 x 12‘ bedroom with my office and sewing supplies in it would not fit a king size bed. King-size beds are huge! I didn’t want one so big, but my husband likes to spread out and hog the entire bed.

So I removed all of our old furniture and got rid of it and bought all new furniture. Then we repainted the bedroom. (Bedroom remodel on my next post.) I think this alone has made a huge difference in how well we sleep. When before, the last thing we would see is a horribly messy cluttered bedroom with ugly paint and peeling wallpaper border. Now the last thing we see when we go to bed, is a beautiful bedroom. It makes me feel like I’m in a hotel.

We have had our bed for a week now and have had the best week of sleep that we ever had. I only get up once a night to use the bathroom. My husband only gets up once or twice. I am no longer tossing and turning. I think it was well worth the price.

One thing that I did not like, is that it did not come with headboard brackets. When we were at the store, I specifically told the salesman that was working with us that I wanted a headboard. We have never owned a headboard and I really wanted one and I liked what they had in their store room. But he said that they don’t have headboards and we couldn’t order them. (I later found out that was a lie. They have headboards right on the website!) And then he failed to mention that we needed headboard brackets if we were going to buy our own headboard. The way the frame is set up, it cannot hold a headboard unless you buy their headboard brackets. I chatted online with a customer representative to see if I could get the brackets sent to me for free since we spent so much money at their store and they never said that we needed headboard brackets. She said that we couldn’t get them for free and she didn’t even mention the “InnerCircle” where you actually can get stuff for free. I ended up ordering a headboard at Walmart. (Once it arrives, I'll update the picture.) I joined “InnerCircle” on Sleep Number and watched a bunch of videos and looked at a bunch of their blogs and quizzes so that I could get rewards. I was able to get enough rewards to get the headboard brackets for free, as well as some other small things.

Another thing that I don’t like is there is not much room under the bed. Because we got rid of all of our furniture in our bedroom, we are forced to store a lot of our stuff under the bed. If you have anything over 5.5 inches, it will not fit! But the frame and base and mattress combined is almost too tall. If it was any taller, it would be too tall, making it difficult to get in and out of bed. So buying bed risers was not an option.

The sleep logs are pretty neat, using the SleepIQ app.  When you are in bed, it starts counting sleep time.  It logs your heartrate, your restlessness, HRV, breath rate, and any time that you got up out of bed.  Something I did not like about the sleep logs is that if you were in bed reading a book or on your phone, it logs it as you are sleeping. So if you are in bed for a couple hours before you actually sleep, it will say that you slept for a couple hours longer than you actually did. But the nice thing is, you can edit it.  And if you are in bed while you are trying to look at your sleep log, it will not let you. It will say "In bed tracking sleep."  The photo on the right shows how often I woke up to get a drink of water.  I have a water bottle by my bed so I don't even have to get up.  (I drink a full 20-oz bottle every night.)

Another thing that I realize is not sleep number‘s fault specifically, but when the delivery guys delivered our bed, one of them stunk so bad, we had to open all the doors and spray Fabreeze everywhere just to get rid of the smell after he left. He reeked of B.O. and cigarette smoke. I couldn’t even be in the same room as him because I almost threw up.

And last but not least, the cooling top that claims to have a cooling affect, keeping you cool when you get hot and keeping you warm when you get cold, did not seem to make a difference at all. So if you are looking for that specific feature in a mattress, I wouldn't count on it.

Other than that, we really like our new bed and do not regret buying it.