I'm in the same boat as you. I was thankful to get 3 hours at any one time,
due to a junk back. I tried the tempurpedic pillow with the intent of buying
the bed. Didn't work for me. I finally settled on the select comfort about a
year ago, pricey, but I sleep 8 hours all the time, visits to the
bonecrusher are once every couple of months rather than a couple a week.
Here's the addy www.selectcomfort.com  ymmv

Roy

well i just have to reply to this

i was in the same boat

back is shot
can't sleep on a regular mattress

now i have a space foam bed and sleep like a baby  !!!
no joke
and the pillow too.

how did i do it ?
made my own .....

so here's the deal.
i can't afford the mattress either.

when i checked them out i found out that it is only the top 1 or 2
inches that is the space foam.
the rest is just different density foams.  the base is more solid.

through out the research, i also looked into air beds for the same reason.

in the end here is what i did.

got a second hand water bed frame.
put inside it a Coleman air mattress.
    bought at target   --  high end  -- about 30 bucks
    this one even even has separate sir chambers for each side ( great
cause the wife likes the bed softer on her side.

MAKE SURE and spend the money for a Coleman  they DO NOT LEAK

i have been using it for over a year now

on top of the mattress i put the space foam topper.

i bought it at costco for about 100 bux. and its 2 inches thick.

so the topper gives you the space foam that you want.  mmmmmmmm
the air bed gives you the support you need and its adjustable by adding
more air
the water bed frame supports the air mattress so it does not move around
or lose shape

for a bottom sheet i bought a jersey knot duvet cover.
it acts like a pillow case over the air mattress and topper.

this it the BEST bed i have ever had !!!!

and for under 200 bux !!!

I just got a no name version of the pillow at Sam's Club, and after a
couple of days of a sore neck, I really like it. $26 bucks..

As far as the bed goes, about 9 months ago, my crappy tube type waterbed
started leaking. I made some emergency repairs and started thinking
about what I was going to do to replace it. I was either going to by the
quicksand type of waterbed (where you really sink into it), the Tempur-
Pedic, or the sleep number bed. I had been having major back problems
since I got into a major wreck in Jan 03, and I decided to pass up the
waterbed, and started asking people if they had any experience with
either of them.

A guy I work with had the Tempur Pedic and had one complaint, it was
HOT. His wife loved it, but he wasn't comfortable due to the heat it
seemed to hold. Well, that's one of my major complaints when trying to
sleep, so that was it. I decided on the sleep number bed.

I got the cheapest one, $1150, and waited for it to show up. In the
meantime, my back went out big time, and I was pretty miserable. When it
came, I was kind of dissapointed, it's made out of garbage can plastic,
and the parts had a fair share of flash that needed to be trimmed.
That's not to say it's flimsy, it isn't. It seems to be indestructable,
but it's too light weight. My 60 pound dog jumps on it and the matress
section moves several inches.  I thought the instructions were pretty
sad, but it wasn't hard to put together. The compressor is loud as hell,
and scared the crap out of my dogs. I think it's overpriced by 50%.

The first week and a half was miserable, my back killed me, I couldn't
seem to find a number that was tolerable for very long, and slept better
in my chair by far than in the bed. I was going to send it back, and get
the waterbed, as I could buy it locally and have it set up in a few
minutes. After 10 days, it was better, and I seemed to be getting
settled on a number around the 50-60 range, but I was still a lot of
pain. About three weeks after I started sleeping on it, I got up one
day, and had no back pain, not even a twinge. I went all day without any
pain, and the next day I was pain free too! Well, over six months later,
I still am pain free and keep it set at 50, 55 with my usual one dog in
bed too. I love the thing. It makes crealing noises, and slides around,
but other than that, and the price, I have no complaints..

BDK

Mold is an issue on some of the air beds.
http://www.kstptv5.com/article/stories/s1497.html

Latex Mattress Links
http://latexmattress.nexuswebs.net/