The mattress arrived a few days before they promised. I opened the box (VERY large) and worked it out, and drug it down the hall still in the sealed plastic bag, to my bedroom. I had already removed the old mattress from the foundation. Placed the mattress on the foundation and began pulling the plastic bag open. It immediately began to inflate and by the time the bag was off it was fully (almost) inflated! It measured 13 inches at this point and was rated at 14 inches. NO SMELL, either! I put the sheets on it and made the bed. It says that a lot of people sleep on them the first night. We did! No more backaches in the morning and every night is a good sleep night! It finally reached the full 14 inches and since my bed is sitting on a foundation with 10 inch legs, it's a TALL bed! I have learned how to mount and dismount, tho, and I wouldn't trade it for ANY other bed! My wife was hard to convince, buying a bed unseen, but she is now happy, too! What I like best about it is that it is a two-sided bed and you can flip it! Some of them I've seen were only one-sided. This mattress would sell for at least *** in a furniture store! It was quite a bargain at only about *** *** has some that are cheaper, but they are only single-sided beds. This is a winner and I can recommend it to anyone. It does not swallow you or let you sink too far into it, and I am not a light weight person! If you need the best sleeping bed around, It's also nice and cool, not hot like some beds are. THIS is the one for you!