Nectar Mattress review

Nectar Mattress: Review in brief 

• Good price for a mid-range bed-in-a-box 
• Deceptively firm for an all-foam model
• Gel memory foam delivers good pressure relief

The Nectar Mattress has nestled nicely into the affordable end of the bed-in-a-box market with its starting price of $499, and sits highly in our best mattress guide because it delivers good support and comfort without charging the earth. Also known as the the Nectar Memory Foam, this medium-firm bed-in-a-box suits many types of sleeper, with a few exceptions as we'll explain further into our review.

The Nectar has a cushiony top layer complimented by a rigid foam base, and during testing we felt this provided a nice balance of contouring comfort versus supportive pressure relief.

(Image credit: Nectar Sleep)

It works well for most people who prefer a medium-firm bed with a little 'hug', though heavier than average sleepers (especially if two are sharing the same Nectar) may sink in a little too much here, and lighter bodies who enjoy soft beds will find the Nectar Mattress to be too firm.

Our reviewers tested a queen size Nectar Mattress and commented on how the medium firmness was deceptively cushioning, cradling pressure points at the hips, knees and shoulders, while also feeling stable and supportive.

Motion transfer between co-sleepers was decent during our testing phase, as was edge support, which is always welcome on an all-foam model (they don't usually have as strong an edge support system as hybrids).

Is the Nectar Mattress breathable? Yes, thanks to cooling gel foam and a heat-wicking cover, but this isn't a proper cooling bed. So if you sleep very hot or are dealing with night sweats, look at the Nectar Premier Cooling model instead (from $1,149 at Nectar Sleep).

There are five layers to the Nectar, made from a mix of premium materials such as contouring gel memory foam, soft and responsive transition foam, a supportive higher-density foam base, and a cool-touch top cover with temperature regulating properties. You'll get all of that for a lower price compared to most competitor models too. A queen size Nectar Mattress, for example, costs $899 and you'll get up to $499 of free bedding with it too.

On the brand's website, the Nectar Memory Foam has over 41,000 user reviewers, generating an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Nectar also offers a 365-night risk-free trial, which is over three times longer than the average boxed bed trial period. It also comes with a Forever Warranty and free shipping and returns. Here's our full Nectar Mattress review if you're still undecided...

Nectar Mattress: Materials

• Gel-infused memory foam
• Quilted, cooling polyblend cover
• Made with toxin-free, Certi-PUR-US materials

The Nectar Memory Foam is made in the US using materials sourced from Malaysia, Vietnam, Mexico and America, and as mentioned earlier in our review, the Nectar is constructed across five individual layers. At the top you’ll find a quilted, cooling polyblend cover with heat-wicking properties, and there’s a nice, soft feel to the cover too.

Beneath the surface sits three inches of high-density, pressure-relieving gel memory foam. This delivers a comforting, body-hug feel that nicely cradles the shoulders, hips and knees during side sleeping, and minimizes pressure points during longer periods of back and stomach sleeping too.

(Image credit: Nectar)

Next up is two inches of dynamic adjusting foam, which provides a little sink to this Nectar Memory Foam. Finally, a seven-inch layer of sturdy foam makes up the mattress base and delivers support and stability throughout. The Nectar also features a shift-resistant lower cover to ensure it stays put as you sleep.

If you're looking to make your sleep set up as healthy as possible, the Nectar Mattress is a good choice because its made with CertiPUR-US standard foam. This gold-standard certification guarantees that any foams use to make the Nectar contain no harmful toxins.

Nectar Mattress: Prices and deals

• A queen size retails for $1,398
• It comes with up to $499 of free bedding
• The Nectar is frequently discounted

Price-wise, the Nectar Memory Foam sits squarely within the affordable mattress sector. That means you will find cheaper memory foam models, such as from Zinus, Linenspa, Brooklyn Bedding and Cocoon by Sealy, but also plenty of comparable models that charge a lot more for the same levels of build quality, comfort and support. In other words, the Nectar Mattress is good value for money, even though there have been price increases on some sizes in the past year.

Here is the official pricing for the Nectar Mattress, as well as the price it's normally discounted to in the Nectar mattress sale: 

• RRP Twin: $873 (normally priced $499)
• RRP Twin XL: $1,043 (normally priced $669)
• RRP Full: $1,298 (normally priced $799)
• RRP Queen: $1,398 (normally priced $899)
• RRP King: $1,698 (normally priced $1,119)
• RRP Cal king: $1,698 (normally priced $1,119)
• RRP Split king: $2,086 (normally priced $1,338)

The queen size Nectar is currently $899 and comes with $499 worth of free bedding, including a sheet set and mattress protector, plus two of Nectar's best pillows for cooling comfort. During the big mattress sales periods such as Presidents’ Day, Labor Day, the Memorial Day mattress sales, and when the Black Friday mattress deals arrive, Nectar rarely increases its discounts, however the actual price of the mattress has been known to drop. So the same deal will save you more.

For the past couple of years, Nectar has run a Flash Sale (around 25% off) in early November, so look out for this too. Competitors such as Purple also launch regular savings to lower the prices of its various memory foam and hybrids. The Purple Original is the closest rival to the Nectar and its normally on sale for $1,249 in a queen size at Purple, saving you $150. 

For a cheaper yet equally top-rated alternative to the Nectar, we'd recommend the Cocoon by Sealy Chill Memory Foam, priced just $799 for a queen plus you get up to $178 of free bedding too. That's excellent value for money and something not even Nectar can beat right now.

The Nectar Mattress' ace card, however, is the 365-night trial and Forever Warranty. Few other US bed-in-a-box brands currently match this, with the exception of WinkBeds, Avocado Green Mattress, and a few select others, including Nectar stablemates DreamCloud and Awara.

Nectar Mattress: Firmness and comfort

• Plenty of pressure-relieving support
• Might have too much sink-in for heavy, side or back sleepers
• Might not keep very hot sleepers cool enough

The Nectar Mattress has just one firmness option of medium firm, plus one height of 12 inches. We support the firmness rating of 6.5 that Nectar gives its Memory Foam mattress, and all members of our testing panel enjoyed this level of firmness too. It's also quite rare to find a true medium-firm memory foam model, so Nectar has achieved this brilliantly.

(Image credit: Future)

The quilted cooling cover feels soft and plush to the touch, but the layers of gel foam and dynamic foam creates a supportive yet still cozy surface that cocoons the sleeper and relieves pressure points. During our review period, the Nectar Mattress was comfortable when sleeping on our backs and sides. However, anyone who is heavier than 230lbs in weight or who sleeps particularly hot may not find it as comfortable as we did.

Firmness is very subjective too, and one person’s firm may be another person’s medium-firm, which is something to bear in mind, especially when it comes to reading customer user reviews of the Nectar Memory Foam. Compared to similar models we have tested, this mattress’s medium firmness feels just right, and stomach sleepers should also enjoy the combination of plushness plus support.

If you are unsure whether a medium-firm feel would suit your body and sleep needs, and you have a bigger budget, then we would recommend taking a look at our Saatva Classic mattress review too. This luxury innerspring hybrid and foam bed comes in three different firmness levels, including Plush Soft for side sleepers.

Nectar Mattress: Performance

• Cooling quilted cover
• Adequate motion transfer
• Medium edge support

Our main reviewers for the Nectar Mattress are both side and back sleepers, but we also had stomach and combi sleepers on our wider testing panel. One of our reviewers sleeps warm to hot, so testing the Nectar’s cooling and comfort was key. Over a period of several weeks testing, we looked at all aspects of comfort, support and performance, generating ratings for each of these features and design aspects.

We tested a queen size Nectar Memory Foam by sleeping on it for several weeks, and by inviting various members of our testing panel to try it too. Here's what we discovered during our review process... 

Set-Up

This is the queen size Nectar Mattress we used for testing (Image credit: Future)

Score: 4.8/5

The Nectar Memory Foam is shipped in a sturdy cardboard box, which allows you to easily remove the wrapped mattress. Nectar supplies a small plastic cutting tool to help open the vacuum-sealed, tough plastic. 

The mattress is fairly heavy (the queen weighs 66lbs), so it might need an extra pair of hands to be unboxed and place on your bedframe for you to unroll. Once free of the plastic, the mattress soon springs to full form and within 30 minutes to an hour it's ready to sleep on, although Nectar advises leaving it for up to 72 hours to inflate fully.

Off-Gassing

Score: 4.8/5

New foam mattresses are often prone to off-gassing as a chemical or plastic smell is released when you unpack it – this is down to VOCs (volatile organic compounds) being let out. However, there was no noticeable off-gassing with the Nectar Memory Foam, despite it being a gel foam model. 

As we unboxed the Nectar, we were unaware of any unpleasant or chemical odors. However, we made sure we still opened the windows to let plenty of air circulate around the room. We should also add that the bedroom where the unboxing took place was fairly large, so you may have a different experience of off-gassing when unboxing the Nectar in a smaller room.

Pressure relief

(Image credit: Nectar Sleep)

Score: 4.5/5

There's ample pressure relief with the Nectar Mattress, but it does depend on your sleeping position and your body type, as we'll now explain... 

Even though it's made with foam, which typically has a different feel to innerspring or hybrids, the Nectar Memory Foam surprised us (in a good way) with its firmer feel. It's unusual to find an all-foam bed that is a true medium-firm, but of course this has its pros and cons for different types of sleepers and body weights. 

Lighter side sleepers may find it too firm around the hips and shoulders, while heavier back and stomach sleepers may still sink in too much (and fall out of alignment) despite the firmer feel. 

The quilted cover on our review sample felt soft and plush, yet underneath there was a sturdy, solid mattress, which only gave slightly under our pressure points. Saying that, we felt well supported and comfortable, which was great for us, but not ideal if you don’t like the feeling of being cradled during. Some may think this sink-in is too great, while others may enjoy the cocooned feeling.

Our overnight guests had no complaints about the performance of the Nectar Mattress either, although one said they did sink in a little bit more than they would have liked, which made rolling over when changing sleep position a bit of an effort.

Motion transfer

(Image credit: Future)

Score: 4.5/5

Motion transfer is about whether you feel your co-sleeper (or pet) shifting around on the other side of the bed. Really well-designed foam mattresses will have good motion-transfer ratings as the foam will be solidly held in a surrounding core for stability. Flimsy foam models, however, tend to have more motion transfer because they aren’t as solid, thick, or deep.

Our reviewers gave the Nectar Mattress 4.5 out of 5 for motion transfer, which is on par with more expensive memory foam options. During testing, we dropped a 10lb weight from a height of eight inches and then four onto the mattress and near an empty wine glass. The aim? To assess how much movement occurred.

During the four-inch test the wine glass barely moved, which indicates the motion on the other side of the bed when someone tosses or turns. For the eight-inch drop, which simulates a person getting in or out of the bed, the wine glass shifted only slightly, meaning you may only feel slight movement when your co-sleeper gets up in the morning or comes to bed later.

Temperature regulation

(Image credit: Future)

Score: 4.3/5

Two members of our testing panel are warm sleepers and, during their weeks sleeping on the Nectar Mattress, they had no complaints about overheating. The Nectar Memory Foam isn't noticeably cooler than room temperature, but the cooling quilted polyblend cover does a good job of keeping the mattress at a neutral to slightly cool temperature.

If you’re a very hot sleeper, you may not find this mattress as cooling as some other options that are specifically designed for the job, such as the Cocoon Chill Cooling Foam mattress by Sealy. But for most people, the Nectar Memory Foam will keep your temperature comfortable. In the interests of review fairness, we used cotton bed sheets that are breathable during sleep.

As for cooling, our hot sleeper found the bed cool enough considering the all-foam construction – something that can accumulate heat. Many mattresses have air channels and other innovative ways of dispersing heat, but the Nectar Memory Foam simply provides a quilted heat-wicking fabric cover and cooling gel foam. Our hot sleeper didn’t notice the Nectar feeling warm, and experienced no instances of waking in the night due to discomfort or overheating.

Edge support

(Image credit: Future)

Score: 4/5

How the edge of the bed acts under compression is a good indicator of a quality mattress, and weaker, sloping edges are a common problem among memory foam models. However, the Nectar Mattress has good edge support for an all-foam model, and we never felt as though we would tumble off if we slept too close to the edge. 

Likewise, sitting on the edge of the Nectar was comfortable, with only a little give. During testing, we placed a 50lb weight near the edge of the mattress and noted how it only sank in about 2.5 inches or so, which was impressive. You can certainly sit on the edge of this one without discomfort or risk of slipping off.

Durability

Score: 4/5

We rated the Nectar Memory Foam high for durability even though we only slept on it for several weeks. We placed it in a guest bedroom and went through several members of our testing panel, including one person who slept on it constantly for a week while recovering from illness. Despite feeling sick, they were comfortable and reported that the Nectar felt comfortable and supportive night after night.

While it’s far too early to show any signs of wear or tear, Nectar Sleep makes this a non-issue anyway by offering a Forever Warranty. This means that if you ever notice sagging, fraying, or other problems with the construction of your mattress, you can contact Nectar to discuss your options for repair or replacement. 

We would still recommend reading the terms and conditions of the warranty though so that you know exactly what will and won't be covered by Nectar.

Nectar Mattress: User reviews

There are more than 41,000 customer reviews on the Nectar website, with an average star rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. There were plenty of positive reviews for the Nectar Mattress, which included, “This bed is amazing. I was a little worried about not being able to choose a firmness, but it ended up not being an issue”. Another stated how, “Delivery was prompt, and the mattress is great for its price. It’s met all of my expectations for a good night’s sleep.”

While some reviewers loved the feeling of sinking into the Nectar Memory Foam, others didn’t so much, and thought the mattress was too soft. One negative comment described how, “I was looking forward to loving this mattress, but after two weeks, I'm still not feeling great when I wake up. It's probably too firm for me.” Others mentioned that the Nectar is not supportive enough for heavier people (over 230lbs).

Some reviewers did notice an off-gassing smell, which lasted for several hours to several days, but most user reviews were positive, with many saying that the Nectar Mattress relieved their back or hip pain. Others said that the sink-in feel helped them sleep better than ever, and that the medium-firm feel is comfortable.

If you struggle to get comfortable on a new bed, consider investing in one of the best mattress toppers to boost its softness until you break in your new bed more. 

Should you buy the Nectar Mattress?

(Image credit: Nectar)

The Nectar Memory Foam is an affordable, durable and reliable bed-in-a-box that we would recommend to most sleepers and budgets. If you like to feel supported by a medium-firm mattress while also feeling cushioned, then you will enjoy Nectar’s plush top layer and stable support.

Based on our extensive testing, we'd describe the Nectar Mattress as durable, with adequate edge support, limited motion transfer and a neutral temperature that works well for most sleepers. However, if you’re heavy (or very light) in body weight, you sleep very hot, or you prefer sleeping on your stomach, then this might not be the right fit for you. There is a slight cradling feeling here, which you'll either love or find a little too restrictive when changing positions during sleep or getting out of bed.

If you’ve now decided that you're after a completely different feel, then the innerspring hybrid Saatva Classic (priced from $887 at Saatva) comes in three different firmnesses. And it needn’t be expensive either with frequent Saatva mattress sales often offering up to $250 off. Elsewhere, the DreamCloud Luxury Hybrid (priced $999 for a queen at DreamCloud) provides a firmer feel without the sink-in sensation. 

Ultimately though, with its 365-night trial and Forever Warranty, we feel confident in saying that the Nectar Mattress is a reliable and affordable gel memory model that works well for most sleepers. And with its market-leading year-long trial, you’ll have plenty of time to know whether it’s the right choice for your body and sleep needs.

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