I started looking at feather beds for a slightly unusual reason--two years ago, I decided it was time to replace my very old, traditional spring mattress with a brand name memory foam one. With a mattress pad it was soft enough... But it seemed to be smaller than the traditional full sized mattress dimensions. The top of the mattress fit oddly against my headboard so that my pillows constantly sank down between the mattress and headboard. To add to the annoyance, my standard fitted sheet wouldn't remain taught--it wrinkled and crumbled within two days of being washed. I needed something to add bulk to my mattress. I've used memory foam toppers before, but found that they retained body heat and, probably due to lack of support, made me sore. I stumbled on feather beds as I was looking for a down comforter, and decided to give it a shot. I looked and researched for several weeks before deciding on this one. I was attracted mostly to the fact that the top layer is down, and secondly by the extra height it would give my mattress. I ordered a queen for my full bed--in the past, I have found that many toppers run small and that sizing up is necessary to ensure adequate coverage. In this instance, I think a full size would have fit very well. I kept the queen though, and put a traditional queen size mattress pad/cover over it for protection. I was basically able to turn a full size bed into a queen size, which was awesome! And my standard full size sheets were nice and tight. I've had it on my bed for about two weeks, and absolutely love it. I personally do find that it is like sleeping on a cloud. It's very soft. If it were any softer, I think it would hurt my back. As it is, it's perfect. I'm lazy, so I only fluff it once or twice a week when I change the sheets. The down and feathers pack down a little (as all feather/down products do), but even without fluffing it's soft, cozy, and super comfy. I haven't had one feather poke through either.