A softside waterbed mattress is a great choice if your buying a water bed. Hardside beds can be difficult to move around and changing sheets can be awkward, but with a softside bed you get the best qualities of a waterbed, all the comfort benefits of supported sleep, easy to change sheets, great choices of mattresses without the heavy cumbersome frame of a traditional hardside bed.
Soft side mattress inserts generally consist of a quilted replaceable foam sheet outer that provides support to the bladder within the mattress. To the naked eye they look very similar to normal mattresses. Access to the insert within the quilted outer is usually straightforward. The bladder is generally held within a zipped compartment. Within the same compartment you’ll get a safety liner to prevent damaging leaks in the rare event the bladder is damaged and you may optionally have a heating system.
Choosing which type of softside waterbed mattress to buy is not the straightforward choice it may seem to be at first glance. If your ‘dipping your toe’ into waterbeds for the first time you need to be aware of the choices your going to have to consider.
First up, are you going freeflow or waveless? For the uninitiated a free flow softside mattress insert is essentially a bag of water, clearly when your on the bed any movement is going to cause waves and ripples, some people enjoy this, others don’t. If your sharing with someone else the problem is amplified as you got to get on with their movements as well as your own. Is that your cup of tea? If your restless or a light sleeper a free flow mattress may not be the best choice.
A waveless softside mattress may be the answer if you don’t fancy the idea of riding ripples all night. In a waveless mattress the inner of the bladder is baffled or has fiber inserts or a design mixing both features. These features reduce water movement and dampen down waves and ripples eliminating to much movement.
The next choice you’ll have to consider is whether to go with a soft side single, dual waterbed bladder or go with a mattress filled with a tube set up. The tube set up has a number of benefits, namely it makes moving your bed around a little easier as tubes can be removed individually to reduce overall bed weight, any damage to individual tubes is easier to repair and potentially leaks are less damaging, if you have a partner who prefers a harder or softer bed to you then you can selectively fill tubes on either side of the bed to suit both tastes.
Replacement waterbed tubes if/when required are straightforward to buy off the net. That been said, a single bladder can still be a great choice, and at the end of the day it pays to try each to see which bed rides best!
Once you have decided on which style you want you should take the time to decide on which essential extra’s your going to go for. Are you going to go for a heater or can you get away without one? If you have a single bladder are you going to need an electric pump or a fill/drain kit or risk leaving that purchase till you need it? Which conditioner or treatment are you going to use? If you want the best and to ensure a good lifespan for your softside waterbed mattress insert getting a supply of conditioner will be essential, although sourcing these things on the net isn’t hard. Once these choices are made your good to go!
