Sorry I missed the update! Six months wasn't enough time to give this bed a proper review. The big question you probably have is would you buy it again? Yes.
This has been our nighty sleeper since purchased. We rotated the bed every three months. The wife has been very very happy with the bed as a back sleeper. She praises the deep, relaxing sleep almost every day. Around the 6 month mark, as a side sleeper, I started to have deep pressure points on my hips. I would move around a little and be fine, but I could feel the residual pain later in the day. That's where I'm at. Meh.
I've finally gotten to the point where I'm looking at another mattress in the next year. Wifey doesn't know this yet because she's super happy with the bed. I am too, but I want a better sleep. I miss the deep sleep I had the first few months.
These beds are perfect for growing kids or a guest bedroom. That's why I say I would purchase another, because I will for that application.
****
I wanted to make sure I put some thought into this review as I was once just like you. I was on the fence about buying a bed from Amazon. If your reading this, good job trying to educate yourself on this purchase! There are THOUSANDS of positive reviews on this bed and as of 5/19/17 mine is one of them. I set a Google calander reminder to update this review 6 months from today.
The wife and I purchased the Zinus 14" metal platform (no headboard) instead of using our old boxspring. We wanted to have the extra bed available in case we had over night guests. The bed frame was easy enough to put together, I'm pretty sure its only 20 wing nuts and bolts. I took the additional step of brushing thread sealant on the bolts to reduce the possiblity of *squeeks* and vibration as other reviewers have suggested.
Unboxing the mattress was pretty straight forward. I watched a few Youtube videos and I suggest you do the same. Carefully cut the tape on the cardboard box and dump out the big heavy white bag. The mattress itself is inside the white plastic bag that you rip open once you have the bag on the frame. Repeat. Open once you have the bag on the frame. DO NOT CUT THE WHITE BAG, RIP IT ALONG THE SEAM! Align the mattress on the frame and remove the clear plastic bag. Once the bed is completely removed from the packaging, measure the mattress thickness, do another alignment, pull the corners up toward you if they are folded under and start the clock.
I purchased the bed set in early April and the temperature wasn't exactly warm. As other reviewers have done, I brought in a small space heater to warm up the room. This seemed to help expand the foam faster and uniformly. After 2 hours the mattress was about 8 inches and I went to work leaving this project until later in the evening. Upon returning home, I found the bed had expanded to 11 1/2 inches! I was very tempted to sleep on the bed that night but my wife reminded me that I shouldn't ruin our new bed.
...a total of 36 hours have gone by...
The wife has agreed that the bed is now ready to sleep on! I measured the thickness of the bed in 4 different locations all of which were over 12 inches. I'd say our bed has expanded to 12 1/4 inches! There didn't seem to be any visible dips or lumps in the mattress.
I'm 6'4" 235lbs side sleeper, wifey is 5'9" 130lbs back sleeper and both found the bed to be very comfortable. I did not find the bed to be "marshmallow" soft, but more on the medium soft/firm level. Is this a complaint? Nope. If you've never slept on a memory foam mattress there is a bit of getting used to. It's not bad, the bed just doesn't react like a tradtional boxspring would. I was shocked at how well my wife and I both slept that night. Yes, there are a few days to acclimate yourself to this bed so don't jump into it expecting the magic floating marshmallow unicorn will usher you off to the deepest sleep you ever had on the first rainbow star lit night of spring. Did I sleep incredibly well the first few nights? You friggen bet Mr. Lahey!
Regarding heat... I read where others had to change how they layered the bed sheets/comforter and will agree with that. While this bed is not HOT it is warm so you may have to rethink having 6 layers of bed sheets. I sleep hot, but once I rethought my bedding heat was no longer an issue.
For people wondering how this bed handles adult fun play time I wouldn't worry. The wife and I made sure to diligently test this aspect of mattress performance and are happy to report... neither of us really noticed a difference. Our only real complaint was more with the bed frame than the mattress. There are no grooves/slots/tabs to secure the mattress to the frame or vice versa. Hence, the bed can move if your really really into adult fun play time.
I can say after a solid month of sleeping on this bed that it's amazing. I wake up rested, no hip pain, and groggy from the mass amount of REM sleep I just experienced. Only time will tell how this mattress holds up. Right now, it fit the bill and our budget. I will update everyone in 6 months.