Waterbeds...have an opinion?

Flashback to the 80's-I had a waterbed back then and loved it... of course it was a basic frame with the full motion mattress and the heater, etc... It was really comfortable and the heat felt good after working 2 jobs and coming home to a nice warm bed. But then I got a cat-and that was the end of the waterbed.

My cute little kitten had her toy stuck between the wooden box frame and the full motion mattress. And she was determined to get it. I arrived home late that Saturday afternoon to find a very soggy situation indeed. Living in a mobile home, the situation was already precarious having a bed that weighed over 1000 lbs on the floor-and now the floor was very, very wet. I ended up pumping out the rest of the water and hurrying down to the furniture store where I worked PT on weekends after making an emergency call. They set me up with another type of waterbed, one that has the cylinders INSIDE, so kitty couldn't get to them-and the outside looking like a regular mattress. Lucky for me, I only lived right up the road and was an employee, so I got a delivery after hours.

Lately Jose and I have been buying lower end mattresses for our queen bed-at about $300 a pop. We have been comfortable on them for about 8-9 months and then after that, the springs pop out or there are sink holes and we end up feeling like crap in the morning when we get up. These darn mattresses have a life of 1-2 years and it was getting quite expensive. So yesterday, I brought him to a store about 45 min. away that still sells waterbeds.

We both decided that at our age, we did not want the full motion waterbed. They did have the ones with cylinders, which Jose had never seen before and he was quite amazed at that. I made the salesman unzip it to show it to him because trying to describe it in Spanish just wasn't working. They also had a floor model of the classic waterbed similar to the one above-for about $975 or so. It included everything, the underbed drawers, headboard (which is slightly different-no glass doors just bookshelves) and the waveless king mattress. This bed is HUGE. The mattress is nice, waveless, no heater needed and it has a zip top so no kitties can wreck havoc with my new bed. I haven't gotten it yet-we are pretty sure we will-it does have a few dings and dents mostly on the footboard part of it for being a floor model, but those can be quickly fixed by hubby. A new setup like this would run about 3 grand or so the salesman says. I think maybe around 2 grand since I have been pricing them on the internet-but I definitely need a durable bed that the cats can't get into and ruin. (they like to dig, and have ripped out the bottom of the boxspring and hubby is NOT happy) With this setup, they can't even get under the bed, and we will have extra needed storage as well.

Any opinions on waterbeds? Do ya have one? Did ya have one? I enjoyed the time I had mine-and wish I hadn't sold it to a neighbor, but since I was moving I couldn't take such a huge set with me. Now that we have our own home, no more moving as I plan on staying put. My home may not be in the best area of town, nor in the best condition-but we are fixing it up little by little. And with taxes/insurance the mortgage is cheaper than any 3 bedroom apt. around here, which is why we bought it. Although we were approved for a higher loan, we decided to play it cautiously and bought something that we could afford even if one of us had a job or if we only had part time wages. Considering the crisis the housing industry is in now, I'd say we did just fine. So, back to waterbeds-whaddya all think? What are you sleeping on?