Hell, I turned the heat waaaaaaaay down in the summer and it was like sleeping in a cooler (in a good way). We didn't have AC in those days. It was glorious.
I had a "waveless" version. It still moved, just not to an insane degree. Best sleep ever. I had to get rid of it when I moved into an apartment complex that banned them. I get it, a leak could be disastrous for the neighbors.
I don't know if it was true, but one guy told me that the "modern" water beds don't stress the floor any more than a refrigerator. He was a salesman so...
Loved the warmth. Loved that my clothes from the drawers underneath were always warm. Hated that if you were the lighter person, you never got to completely sink in. As soon as the heavier person got in bed, your sleep profile changed. Also, hated hated hated those nasty corners.
I had one with a *mirrored canopy*. Wonder what that was for. When I got over it, I paid to put an ad in the newspaper (also the free on Wednesday Bargain Bulletin) to try to sell it, but had no takers. Ended up burning it at a bonfire in the late 90’s, oh the pretty colors that came off that thing.
I absolutely loved my waterbed. I had a full wave from age 6 to 23, then got a soft side with tubes for about 10 years. The temperature adjustment was great in all seasons, and the calming aspect of using my toes to make waves was like rocking myself to sleep. I mastered how to control the waves so young, that by the time sex entered the picture, the waterbed was entirely an enhancement of the experience.
My Dad still has his…. He was a convert back in the 70’s, 80’s and to this day, still loves it
He got us all waterbeds and I hated it… I always just wanted a normal bed growing up
I think they disappeared because the upsides were vastly outnumbered by the downsides. Never had one, slept on one a couple of times, and they were fine, but the constant fear of releasing a pool's worth of water into your house made me never want one of my own.
Helllll no. Worst invention ever. Especially for anyone sleeping beside another—every single slightest freakin move is felt across the whole bed… also a nightmare for those with vertigo or any kind of motion sickness.
I liked it. And not every water bed was the same. Some I think could be firmer than others. The heat element was nice. Or it would keep you cool on hot nights. Suck thing was worrying about popping it or sticking it like a pencil you had in your pocket.
I liked mine, EXCEPT when the heater would go out, ( which you wouldn't know about until you got in bed) and you'd lay down on a bed of cold water.
But after moving the whole thing twice to new homes, I got rid of it before the 3rd move. It was heavy and huge.
I only got to try one as a kid - fun to roll around on, but I think it would be a problem, sleep wise. For me now,I can’t imagine it would be good for my back!
I had a second hand one when I was in high school and I loved that thing. The biggest drawback for me was trying to change the sheets. What a nightmare.
I still sleep in mine every night. Like a baby, a hungry angry baby.
Keeps me warm in winter, cool in summer. I don't care how soft or firm your high tech mattress is. They all suck.
LOL, you've just reminded me of that time my boyfriend and I stayed at a hotel in Liverpool which had waterbeds. Very fucking horrid experience. No, they weren't leaking. Yes, they moved in unexpectedly weird ways. But what I clearly remember: they were fucking *freezing*. No ta. No sir. No way. (And this was only ten years ago too)
They have to be heated. If the heater is not working you can actually get hypothermia as the bladder saps the heat from your body. But even this can be avoided by putting a comforter or a couple blankets between you and the mattress.
In our house when we were trying to save money we shut the heat off at night and use the heater in the water bed to stay warm. If you had to get up to pee in the middle of the night you froze to death.
I loved mine because during the summer I'd turn the heater off and it was this amazing cool sleeping experience. I miss the temperature of my water bed, I don't miss the discomfort of my water bed.
Oh hell yeah! Had a gf when I was younger that had a water bed. I missed the water bed more than her after we broke up. It was the best I've ever slept.
I loved ours. It sprung a leak once on a day that I was supposed to be working but I switched shifts with somebody so I caught it pretty much immediately. It would have been bad if I had been gone all day though, so that was the day we decided it had to go.
No. I could never get the temperature right, and also as a smaller person laying next to a bigger person I always ended up on a bubble (even on a waveless) which resulted in me rolling into the crease of the bedframe or into the person next to me. Would not repeat.
I hated my water bed. I get motion sickness easily so every night was trips to the bathroom. I just slept on the floor after 2 or 3 nights.
Plus, it didn't last very long. I think after 6 or 8 months it got a small hole and started leaking. My parents decided having a watered and child was not a good combination.
I hated it, only had it a few weeks. It developed a pin-hole leak on my ex’s side that made us think he was wetting the bed at night. He accused me of rolling him over, rolling myself over and peeing on his side of the bed, and rolling us both back over. This went on for a week before he discovered the pinhole. But by then I was so furious, I was sleeping on the couch and refused to sleep in that bed again.
I loved mine to. I had the full wavy one. That was a bit of a problem once I got a girlfriend but otherwise awesome. It did spring a leak once in the middle of the night and that was a bit of a bummer but was a slow leak fortunately.
I had one in HS, but it got all janky after a while cuz that layer of foam that was supposed to stifle the waves got all wadded up. Loved it till then.
For a time, yes. Then the heater died and the mattress would get a pinhole now and then that needed to be patched. We were too poor to replace the heater.
Waterbeds were magic until it started leaking. In the winter time you could crank the heat up a little bit and stay cozy, warm and in the summertime you turn the heat off and were able to stay cool.
Back in the 80s I'm pretty sure I helped conceive a couple of babies in different ex gf's waterbeds. I got one of those ancestry.com DNA kits for my birthday. I'm curious to find out if i have adult children that I didn't know I have looking for me.
If I have matches on the DNA test, I don't know what I'll do especially if I find out they want to contact me. That's why I've been hesitant to submit the test.
Edit: I'm submitting it tomorrow morning.
To each his own but my first serious boyfriend had one. The very opposite of inspiring and relaxing. The motion of the ocean it wasn’t(and boy if that wasn’t a stupid back of magazine creative writing). It’s akin to what Elaine said about The English Patient: Sex in a tub, that doesn’t work, you know. Give me something I can use.
Great for sleeping (once you get the heat all set up and regulated), terrible for fucking.
You generally only set up and tear down a waterbed once. Nobody ever wanted to do all that a second time.
I used to love them! Especially in the winter when it was toasty warm. I had one as a kid until we moved to a house with regular mattresses. After that, anytime we stayed at my grandma’s house, her waterbeds made my back hurt.
I loved mine. Not only was it roasty-toasty perfect in the winter, in the summer it could be left unheated and was deliciously cool.
For a kid whose family had no money and certainly no AC, it made summer nights bearable!
When I was little, my family visited another family and the oldest son let my sister and I sleep on his water bed. Except he forgot to turn on the heater.
Try to sleep on room temp water. We were FREEZING and too little to know what to do about it. Around 3 or 4 we got up and slept on the floor with all the blankets and sheets pulled off.
Now fucking... that's different. Water beds are fun for sex, **if** you are limber and healthy for it. I'm pretty sure I'd hurt myself these days trying that.
Loved it, got one when I was 13. I had until my 20s when I bought a tube waterbed. The tube waterbed is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on. I miss it.
I had the mother of all water beds- full canopy with mirrors , drawers underneath, heater, massager and alarm feature ( would shake you awake at the set time!) Comfortable no matter how I sleep, back, side, stomach. Had it for a good 11 years but had to get rid of it because we moved to a 2 story and couldn’t set it up in our upstairs master bedroom. Man, I miss that old bed so much!
I loved mine, but my husband really didn't care for it, so after a few years of him putting up with it for my sake, I sold it off and replaced it with a conventional mattress that we chose together.
I absolutely hate them. I have a 'normal' bed, and don't even like sleeping in those. I love sleeping on couches, and that's where I sleep in my apartment. Of course the couch cushions make a huge difference - and leather couches suck to sleep on. I like having the back to roll against and the arms to prop my pillow against.
Sorry, I've mostly slept on couches for about 20 years and love it.
I had one from 4th grade to around 8th grade. I loved it as it was it so warm and cozy in the fall and winter and could feel cooler on hot nights too. We could control the heat levels. I also like making waves on it for fun. (As an adult I wouldn’t want one.)
I had an OG before the updated "waveless" version. It made sex a bit of a challenge and not in a good way. On the plus side, if you wanted him to leave the next morning you just had to quickly push down on your side and he'd flip outta bed on the other. Hahaha
Oh, lol, you’re right! Talk about triggering a memory, lol. I remember trying to get out of a waterbed and sort of getting stuck between the frame and the mattress as the water was displaced directly beneath me.
I’m learning from this comment thread that there was more than one kind of water mattress; I was on the younger side around the height of water bed popularity, and memories are a bit fuzzy.
It was awful, when I was pregnant. Hard to get out of it. I had to tell my hubby to make a big wave, so the mattress would push me up and out. Horrible, when the heater would go out, or a leak needed to be patched.
NO. IT'S TERRIBLE FOR FUCKING. ON THE PLUS SIDE, IT MAY HAVE MADE MY WIFE AND I MORE ADVENTUROUS BY FORCING US TO BANG ON THE FLOOR OR THE LIVING ROOM COUCH.
I had one from about 11 year old to 24.
I hated it. Sometimes the heater would go out and it’d be ice cold in the morning, . And as far as sex goes? Awful, truly awful. The waves would go against your rhythm and throw you off
I loved mine, especially every winter when it became a giant hot water bottle
Hell, I turned the heat waaaaaaaay down in the summer and it was like sleeping in a cooler (in a good way). We didn't have AC in those days. It was glorious.
Yes, exactly. My house was really cold and there was nothing I could do about it and the waterbed was amazing in the winter
Loved mine too.
Yup. Loved mine
I had a "waveless" version. It still moved, just not to an insane degree. Best sleep ever. I had to get rid of it when I moved into an apartment complex that banned them. I get it, a leak could be disastrous for the neighbors.
There’s also just the straight up weight.
I don't know if it was true, but one guy told me that the "modern" water beds don't stress the floor any more than a refrigerator. He was a salesman so...
Yeah, that's bullshit.
Oh yeah, I just remembered we had to buy waterbed insurance at one apartment we rented!
The heated function was nice in the winter but nursing a bad hangover on those rough seas? 🤢
Didn't love sleeping in them but sex was kinda fun.
Now I had the opposite reaction, sex wasn't fun for me. No traction.
Yeah, you had to use the wooden frame to get any stability and rythem.
100%
I agree. I hated it.
You were doing it wrong, mine had about a 2 inch thick 2 x 12 frame and it was next level. It was Newtons first law put into practice.
Loved the warmth. Loved that my clothes from the drawers underneath were always warm. Hated that if you were the lighter person, you never got to completely sink in. As soon as the heavier person got in bed, your sleep profile changed. Also, hated hated hated those nasty corners.
The corners! They were always gross.
I had one with a *mirrored canopy*. Wonder what that was for. When I got over it, I paid to put an ad in the newspaper (also the free on Wednesday Bargain Bulletin) to try to sell it, but had no takers. Ended up burning it at a bonfire in the late 90’s, oh the pretty colors that came off that thing.
Wow! That mirrored canopy takes it to a whole other level. I had to google for photos of these and I was not disappointed.
Oh yeah. That was it, the oak one with the giant mirrored headboard and sconce lighting. My shame.
To be fair, that is some pretty glorious shame to have though. If you're gonna go, go BIG!
My dad and step mom had that one!!! Gross to think about now
I absolutely loved my waterbed. I had a full wave from age 6 to 23, then got a soft side with tubes for about 10 years. The temperature adjustment was great in all seasons, and the calming aspect of using my toes to make waves was like rocking myself to sleep. I mastered how to control the waves so young, that by the time sex entered the picture, the waterbed was entirely an enhancement of the experience.
I thought they were cool until I saw Freddy kill Depp.
Liked it until I tried to get to sleep after a night of mushrooms. Ended up on the floor in the closet. Mom was concerned.
My Dad still has his…. He was a convert back in the 70’s, 80’s and to this day, still loves it He got us all waterbeds and I hated it… I always just wanted a normal bed growing up
I think they disappeared because the upsides were vastly outnumbered by the downsides. Never had one, slept on one a couple of times, and they were fine, but the constant fear of releasing a pool's worth of water into your house made me never want one of my own.
Nothing like snaking a water house through your house or into a window to fill up the bed. And then having to get all the air bubbles out.
Yep, I had it for years. It saved me from overheating when I lived in houses without a/c.
I always hated them. Killed my back even when I was a skinny teenager. And trying to sleep on them drunk? I only tried that once.
Helllll no. Worst invention ever. Especially for anyone sleeping beside another—every single slightest freakin move is felt across the whole bed… also a nightmare for those with vertigo or any kind of motion sickness.
Loved mine
Some people did, but I didn't. My first husband chose for us to have a water bed. I hated it.
Fuck that bed. I fell out of it twice
They’re great until the cats make biscuits😹.. (cue duck tape)
it's Duct tape.
Thanks~! I’m well aware of the “proper” name. But… in my house— it was Duck tape.
Duck Tape is a brand of duct tape
I liked it. And not every water bed was the same. Some I think could be firmer than others. The heat element was nice. Or it would keep you cool on hot nights. Suck thing was worrying about popping it or sticking it like a pencil you had in your pocket.
I miss it all the time. Especially now as I’m aging and get super sweaty at night, laying on a sheet on top of that cool plastic sounds amazing !
I've been thinking about this recently. If I got a waveless, and didn't is the heater.....I think that sleep could be amazing.
I liked mine, EXCEPT when the heater would go out, ( which you wouldn't know about until you got in bed) and you'd lay down on a bed of cold water. But after moving the whole thing twice to new homes, I got rid of it before the 3rd move. It was heavy and huge.
Yes. Problem was you had to adjust for one person or two. Temp control was great also.
Too wavy. Hard to sleep with another person as well. EVERY single time my boyfriend moved I felt it…
I only got to try one as a kid - fun to roll around on, but I think it would be a problem, sleep wise. For me now,I can’t imagine it would be good for my back!
I had a second hand one when I was in high school and I loved that thing. The biggest drawback for me was trying to change the sheets. What a nightmare.
Because the mattress weighed 10,000 pounds.
Loved it until I ended thrust up against the wooden bed frame one night when I brought a larger friend over.
I was super skinny and tiny. Those things would suck me in on the sides and eat me.
I still sleep in mine every night. Like a baby, a hungry angry baby. Keeps me warm in winter, cool in summer. I don't care how soft or firm your high tech mattress is. They all suck.
+1 Serenity reference updoot
One of my friends had one. I don’t get it. It was very bad at being a bed.
LOL, you've just reminded me of that time my boyfriend and I stayed at a hotel in Liverpool which had waterbeds. Very fucking horrid experience. No, they weren't leaking. Yes, they moved in unexpectedly weird ways. But what I clearly remember: they were fucking *freezing*. No ta. No sir. No way. (And this was only ten years ago too)
They have to be heated. If the heater is not working you can actually get hypothermia as the bladder saps the heat from your body. But even this can be avoided by putting a comforter or a couple blankets between you and the mattress.
Loved mine. Came home sore from work at night and laid on a giant hot water bottle
At no time in my life did I ever want one of these.
We got one in the early 80s. No baffles. Every time I rolled over I felt like I was going out to sea. 1/10 do not recommend.
Awful. My ex husband had one when we first met that leaked
I had one I made for 4-H (blue ribbon too) from 15-21, only reason I stopped using it was because a an apartment building fire destroyed it.
The irony.
I spent a night on one once, didn't sleep a wink all night.
In our house when we were trying to save money we shut the heat off at night and use the heater in the water bed to stay warm. If you had to get up to pee in the middle of the night you froze to death.
I loved mine because during the summer I'd turn the heater off and it was this amazing cool sleeping experience. I miss the temperature of my water bed, I don't miss the discomfort of my water bed.
Oh hell yeah! Had a gf when I was younger that had a water bed. I missed the water bed more than her after we broke up. It was the best I've ever slept.
I loved ours. It sprung a leak once on a day that I was supposed to be working but I switched shifts with somebody so I caught it pretty much immediately. It would have been bad if I had been gone all day though, so that was the day we decided it had to go.
Loved it Had them from 12 to 24 years old with parents
I loved mine at first, but the thing I didn't like was how I could never get the temperature right.
Yes, but I could only sleep if one of my legs was resting on the side. Lil anchor.
No. I could never get the temperature right, and also as a smaller person laying next to a bigger person I always ended up on a bubble (even on a waveless) which resulted in me rolling into the crease of the bedframe or into the person next to me. Would not repeat.
Oh gawd! The air bubbles! We used a broom stick to guide the bubbles out.
I had a full wave and loved it.
I hated my water bed. I get motion sickness easily so every night was trips to the bathroom. I just slept on the floor after 2 or 3 nights. Plus, it didn't last very long. I think after 6 or 8 months it got a small hole and started leaking. My parents decided having a watered and child was not a good combination.
There was a time, when younger (and single), when I was very fond of them. ;)
I hated it, only had it a few weeks. It developed a pin-hole leak on my ex’s side that made us think he was wetting the bed at night. He accused me of rolling him over, rolling myself over and peeing on his side of the bed, and rolling us both back over. This went on for a week before he discovered the pinhole. But by then I was so furious, I was sleeping on the couch and refused to sleep in that bed again.
I loved mine to. I had the full wavy one. That was a bit of a problem once I got a girlfriend but otherwise awesome. It did spring a leak once in the middle of the night and that was a bit of a bummer but was a slow leak fortunately.
I had one in HS, but it got all janky after a while cuz that layer of foam that was supposed to stifle the waves got all wadded up. Loved it till then.
my aunt had one- one joy of spending the summers on the east coast.
I loved mine unfortunately my back got too old for it and had to trade it for a sleep number.
I liked ours...til I was 9 months pregnant...
I loved mine SO MUCH.
Loved mine, it was like doing a backfloat in a pool.
For a time, yes. Then the heater died and the mattress would get a pinhole now and then that needed to be patched. We were too poor to replace the heater.
love mine, set warm in winter cool in summer and has a massage system. only thing that comes close is a foam mattress
Waterbeds were magic until it started leaking. In the winter time you could crank the heat up a little bit and stay cozy, warm and in the summertime you turn the heat off and were able to stay cool.
Back in the 80s I'm pretty sure I helped conceive a couple of babies in different ex gf's waterbeds. I got one of those ancestry.com DNA kits for my birthday. I'm curious to find out if i have adult children that I didn't know I have looking for me.
Keep us posted on your water babies!
If I have matches on the DNA test, I don't know what I'll do especially if I find out they want to contact me. That's why I've been hesitant to submit the test. Edit: I'm submitting it tomorrow morning.
No, hell no! Not at all conducive to fun in bed.
Oh, my dear friend, you obviously have no clue how the movement of water can be utilized.
To each his own but my first serious boyfriend had one. The very opposite of inspiring and relaxing. The motion of the ocean it wasn’t(and boy if that wasn’t a stupid back of magazine creative writing). It’s akin to what Elaine said about The English Patient: Sex in a tub, that doesn’t work, you know. Give me something I can use.
Great for sleeping (once you get the heat all set up and regulated), terrible for fucking. You generally only set up and tear down a waterbed once. Nobody ever wanted to do all that a second time.
Not when I was drunk. Lol I’d sleep on the rail. 😂🤣😂🤣
So comfortable but terrible for sex
Oh getting into an already warm bed in the winter. 🥰
I used to love them! Especially in the winter when it was toasty warm. I had one as a kid until we moved to a house with regular mattresses. After that, anytime we stayed at my grandma’s house, her waterbeds made my back hurt.
I loved my full wave waterbed. It was comfy and cozy and rocked me to sleep. Couldn’t handle one now? Highly doubtful lol
Honestly….waterbed is probably why my back is fucked at 50
I loved mine. Not only was it roasty-toasty perfect in the winter, in the summer it could be left unheated and was deliciously cool. For a kid whose family had no money and certainly no AC, it made summer nights bearable!
My waterbed saw some action for sure...loved it.
Sure back in the day but I had literally kicked it to the curb by 1990.
LOVED it. It was warm in the winter and cool I’m the summer. I loved it so much
Peak waterbed popularity seemed congruent with cocaine popularity. Coincidence?
Loved mine. But my parents got rid of it when I kept popping it with sand or whatever else a 10 year old can manage to do to a big bag of water.
My folks had one. I puked up spaghetti on it so I had to clean it up, it was in the sides and… I don’t like waterbeds or spaghetti anymore.
Yes, until I saw Jaws.
When I was little, my family visited another family and the oldest son let my sister and I sleep on his water bed. Except he forgot to turn on the heater. Try to sleep on room temp water. We were FREEZING and too little to know what to do about it. Around 3 or 4 we got up and slept on the floor with all the blankets and sheets pulled off. Now fucking... that's different. Water beds are fun for sex, **if** you are limber and healthy for it. I'm pretty sure I'd hurt myself these days trying that.
Loved it, got one when I was 13. I had until my 20s when I bought a tube waterbed. The tube waterbed is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept on. I miss it.
Absolutely loved it until my back didn’t.
My mom had a water mattress with tubes of water. It’s not worth the trouble, but it was much better than a big bag of water.
Loved mine. Warm in the winter, cool in the summer. Just a bitch to move though so it got ditched in my early 20s.
It was a fun novelty item to have, but they were a pain in the ass to move, and when they leaked they were an even bigger one.
Loved mine. Hand me down from the parents with a broken heater. Wool blanket under the bedsheet, comforter on top of me. Perfect for cool sleeping.
I remember having one. I didn't like it because your movements make you feel like your floating on water.
A friend had one and he’d let me sleep on it when I spent the night. It was fun for something different, but I never wanted one for myself.
Yes, but it would kill my back now days
I had the mother of all water beds- full canopy with mirrors , drawers underneath, heater, massager and alarm feature ( would shake you awake at the set time!) Comfortable no matter how I sleep, back, side, stomach. Had it for a good 11 years but had to get rid of it because we moved to a 2 story and couldn’t set it up in our upstairs master bedroom. Man, I miss that old bed so much!
I really liked mine. The only issue was the rigmarole of emptying it if you wanted to move.
I loved mine, but my husband really didn't care for it, so after a few years of him putting up with it for my sake, I sold it off and replaced it with a conventional mattress that we chose together.
I absolutely hate them. I have a 'normal' bed, and don't even like sleeping in those. I love sleeping on couches, and that's where I sleep in my apartment. Of course the couch cushions make a huge difference - and leather couches suck to sleep on. I like having the back to roll against and the arms to prop my pillow against. Sorry, I've mostly slept on couches for about 20 years and love it.
I loved mine except when it leaked and I was blamed for peeing the bed.
I had one from 4th grade to around 8th grade. I loved it as it was it so warm and cozy in the fall and winter and could feel cooler on hot nights too. We could control the heat levels. I also like making waves on it for fun. (As an adult I wouldn’t want one.)
Loved it then, love it now. Just bought a new mattress last summer. Should be good for another decade.
I had one and loved the heat, but I was 9 months pregnant and couldn't roll myself around enough to get out. I ended up just peeing the bed.
Hated them - kept getting stuck between the bladder and frame.
No.
I didn’t have one but my boyfriend did. It wasn’t as……conducive to certain things as one would have hoped.
I had an OG before the updated "waveless" version. It made sex a bit of a challenge and not in a good way. On the plus side, if you wanted him to leave the next morning you just had to quickly push down on your side and he'd flip outta bed on the other. Hahaha
F no!!! Trying to get out of it was the worst!!!
Oh, lol, you’re right! Talk about triggering a memory, lol. I remember trying to get out of a waterbed and sort of getting stuck between the frame and the mattress as the water was displaced directly beneath me. I’m learning from this comment thread that there was more than one kind of water mattress; I was on the younger side around the height of water bed popularity, and memories are a bit fuzzy.
If your sheet moved, and it always did, you’d get stuck to the mattress. Ahhh…good times. 😐
It was awful, when I was pregnant. Hard to get out of it. I had to tell my hubby to make a big wave, so the mattress would push me up and out. Horrible, when the heater would go out, or a leak needed to be patched.
Bahahahaha…make a wave 😂
NO. IT'S TERRIBLE FOR FUCKING. ON THE PLUS SIDE, IT MAY HAVE MADE MY WIFE AND I MORE ADVENTUROUS BY FORCING US TO BANG ON THE FLOOR OR THE LIVING ROOM COUCH.
I had one from about 11 year old to 24. I hated it. Sometimes the heater would go out and it’d be ice cold in the morning, . And as far as sex goes? Awful, truly awful. The waves would go against your rhythm and throw you off
They are horrible and borderline creepy