20s: It’s great!

30s: My back!

Indistinguishable from the floor.

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Hi OP,

I think it might be useful if you added a photo or a link to an image of a similar futon to what you have in mind. I’ve seen the word take different meanings in different countries and skimming through the comments… Well I didn’t know there were Japanese futons. Sounds like they are completely different from the other futon types I heard.

I’ve slept on the couch style futons. YMMV and it depends a lot on the size, hardness of the couch and your prefences. I wouldn’t say they’re any better than beds on average.

I found the important thing was to keep it dry and well-aired. If you lay the futon directly on the floor, even wooden and/or carpeted, the heat from your body will cause condensation, and if you don’t let the futon air out by rolling it up, it will go mouldy. In Japan, futons are laid on tatami mats, which I imagine would cause the least condensation, and rolled up every day as a matter of course. I found it increasingly annoying having to deal with the futon every morning, especially in the winter when there was more condensation and it was harder to keep the futon completely dry. I like a firm mattress, but no more futons for lazy me.

I’ve slept on futons (thick, dedicated bed futons, not the couch/bed combo) basically all my life, I personally think they’re fantastic. Reading these comments it seems like the sort of thing that either really works for you or really doesn’t–I am fairly tall and have a back that loves to complain, but it gets along swimmingly with my futon.

Cheap, thin futons are a nightmare though. Even nice futons tend to be cheaper than most traditional mattresses, so it’s never worth cheaping out if you don’t need to.

I have do it for one year with bad result because when someone say futon forget to mention what kind of room you want to have a futon. I placed mine on marble floor, cold and hard, in a little room with no space to breath, where I wake up sometimes with a cockroach on my face. I did not suffer backpain because I was younger but maybe neither because it was soft, still bad experience for the above listed things. Who plan to sleep on futon wants a medium size room with a window and a wooded floor.

It takes some getting used to, but I actually really like sleeping on a futon.

But its terrible to just relax/hang out on

I have had 3 futons. There is a big difference in comfort and longevity based on their inner materials.

Like anything between you and the ground, paying more is generally a good investment.

My back (which has had several surgeries) is happiest on a futon but that’s generally because we used a frame vs placing it on the floor.

My son says, “A futon is a very honest piece of furniture. It has F U right in the name.”

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After a year of sleeping on one, I wanted to introduce it to an air-to-surface missile. Mattress is the only way to go.

Tried it in Japan.

Heavily disliked it.

I love mine and have tatami underneath. Well it got ruined actually and now I just use a boxspring topper and that’s fine too.

I had a futon in my 1st apartment as a couch, and a mattress on the floor in my 2nd apartment. All I felt were the springs in the futon. I definitely prefer the mattress on the ground any day.