Originally Posted by chipcom
If, after adjustments and a few weeks of riding you are still uncomfortable, then you can start shopping for new saddles - some of the saddles that come on new bikes are just plain junk. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with a Brooks B17 leather saddle.
Brooks saddles are good since they're made of leather and will over time conform to the shape of the rider's bum. But it doesn't really make sense shelling out the $$ for the Brooks to install it on what might be a rather cheap bike that'll only see a couple hundred miles a year. I have no idea what sort of bike the OP has and how much he's going to ride it, but most people who own bikes do not ride them very much, so such an expense will not really be justified for them. They might not even ride the bike enough to break a Brooks in!
Now onto the question. Comfort and softness/cushiness have nothing to do with each other. In fact, broad soft seats may be less comfortable because you'll likely to get chafed thighs riding on them and because they can really numb your bum because they put pressure everywhere even where there should be no pressure. For some people the effect may not be as pronounced as for others, but it exists. Most people who ride a lot prefer rather hard saddle for this and a couple of other reasons (such as a better feel of the bike).
Anyway, on to saddle comfort. First of all, there are two bones in your bum called "sit bones". A bike seat is supposed to support them. If your sit bones are spaced widely apart (as is the case with most women as compared to most men), the saddle will not support the bones and you'll be sitting on.. well, different body parts which are not made for sitting on. It can be very agonizingly painful. Also if your sit bones are narrowly spaced and the seat is very wide, they will not be placed on the seat where they're meant to be and that again may cause discomfort. So the number one thing in picking the right seat is making sure it's the right width. It's usually not too difficult: you can locate your sit bones quite easily (you know, those hard bits of your bum) and you can tell if they're resting on the saddle or not. Some people try to solve this problem by buying gel covers for their seat, and that's just very stupid. They are just wasting money and not solving the fundamental problem.
The next thing to consider is, um, genital comfot. Some seats end up pressing rather hard against your tender bits, numbing them or causing them pain. Sometimes people would tilt the saddles a bit downward to relieve the pressure on the jewels/soft tissues but then they end up constantly sliding forward and supporting a lot of weight on their arms which starts causing problems in that department. So you should just really pick a good seat. Unfortunately, it's not easy to tell which seat is going to be good. Some have cutouts in the middle portion of the saddle (this is especially common on women's saddles) which might help.
Ultimately, anatomies are unique and there is no one good saddle that will satisfy anyone. Moreover, the only way to predict if a saddle is going to be good for you is to try it out. Sometimes it just takes a second to realize that the saddle is not going to work, sometimes that only becomes apparent after several hours of riding. Find a store that will allow you to return a slightly used saddle if it doesn't work out. Since an uncomfortable saddle basically ruins the cycling experience, it's worth investing some time and a few dollars to make sure you get a saddle that's good for you. It might be wise to try to get used to the saddles you have now (most newbies' bums get sore when they first start out riding), but if after some regular riding they still feel bad, it might be time to get a replacement.