Nectar Mattress Review: Budget-Friendly With a Dense, Supportive Feel

The Nectar bed has been making a name for itself in the online marketplace and is becoming a well-known bedding brand. You can even find Nectar mattresses in some of your local brick-and-mortar mattress retailers. The company offers three different mattress options in the US: the original Nectar mattress, the Nectar Premier and the Nectar Premier Copper mattress. The one thing you can expect from any Nectar mattress, though, is memory foam. If a new memory-foam bed is at the top of your wish list, our full-length Nectar mattress review should help you decide whether or not it's worth the buy. 

First impressions

Sometimes, beds have just a tiny trace of memory foam that's hardly noticeable. This is not the case with the Nectar bed. If there was a picture under memory foam in the dictionary, it could be the picture of my handprint in the top layer of this mattress. Honestly, it reminds me of the nice Tempur-Pedic mattress my parents have in their bedroom. I also appreciate the quilt-like detail on its cover which gives it more of a luxe look. It'll end up being covered with my sheets, but at least I know how pretty it looks underneath. 

The Nectar bed is a true memory-foam mattress. I stayed on top of the memory foam for a few moments when I first laid on it before I slowly began to sink into it. It clings around your curves, and before long, makes a little you-shaped cocoon. It feels really cozy if you like that nestled-up feel, but it does make it a little harder to switch positions. Since this memory foam is far from bouncy, you'll have to allow a few seconds for your body to get nestled into a new position. People who love memory foam won't mind this feeling, but it's something to keep in mind if you're unfamiliar with the material. 

Video: Nectar Mattress Review

Watch CNET video producer Owen Poole review the Nectar mattress.

Firmness

The Nectar mattress used to have a feel that hovered around a six out of 10, but after its update last year, it's a little firmer. I rate it around a true medium-firm or seven out of 10. Though, if you weigh over 230 pounds, your experience with the Nectar will likely feel more soft and pressure-relieving. For lightweight sleepers under 145 pounds, it should be firmer than a seven. Generally speaking, the more you weigh, the softer a mattress is going to feel, and vice versa. 

Comfort

There isn't anything super fancy going on with the Nectar bed. It's a simple but comfortable foam mattress. It sits at 11 inches tall and is stacked in three layers:

• The base layer of the Nectar sleep mattress is a thick slab of dense polyurethane foam. To make things less complicated, polyurethane foam is essentially just standard, basic foam. Its role is to act as a supportive base for the mattress.
• In the middle is what the company calls the "Adaptive Response Transition Layer." It acts as a neutralizer sandwiched in between the other two layers. It softens up the bed so you don't feel the firm base, but it's firmer than the top comfort layer to keep your body more supported.
• The top foam layer is more plush and made with gel memory foam. A gel-like substance is infused into the material to make it sleep more temperature-neutral, to combat its reputation of sleeping hot. This is the layer you can thank for the Nectar's memory-foam comfort.

The cover on the Nectar memory-foam mattress is made with Tencel and has a thin layer of gel memory foam quilted into it. It doesn't make the mattress sleep cold, which some might expect based on the language in their website. It feels super soft and airy so it's a nice touch on top of the bed. 

Motion isolation

If you're like me and sleep with a significant other (your German shepherd counts, too), motion isolation is an important mattress characteristic. Some beds creak and wiggle when you or your partner make any kind of movement, and motion transfer is a huge buzzkill when you're trying to get a good night's sleep. 

Thanks to the Nectar's motion-absorbing foam construction, it's safe to say that it suppresses motion like a charm. It makes no noise, and I could hardly tell when my boyfriend was switching positions during the night. 

Edge support

If you plan on sharing a full- or queen-size bed with somebody, or maybe your S.O. is a bed-hog, edge support might be an important factor to you. This addresses how supportive the bed's sides are. An extreme example of bad edge support is on an air mattress. If you're pushed to the very edge of a blow-up bed, you'll either feel like you're rolling off the side, or you actually will roll off. 

The Nectar bed doesn't have the best edge support I've ever experienced, but you don't have a falling sensation when you're near the side. This is pretty typical for a foam mattress. Hybrid mattresses with coils, on the other hand, tend to perform better in this department. 

Temperature

You might get the sense this is a cooling memory-foam mattress by reading Nectar's website, but I wouldn't necessarily say it helped me sleep cool. Don't get me wrong, it's nothing like an outdated memory-foam bed that retains all your body heat in the center. However, it's not like the GhostBed Luxe or the Cocoon Chill, which are two other memory-foam bed-in-a-box mattresses with super effective cooling tech. 

Who should sleep on it?

Now that I've talked about how it feels and how it's built, let me dive into the types of people the Nectar mattress best suited for. 

Position

Considering the Nectar bed feels a bit more like a supportive and firm mattress, I think it's best for people whose predominant sleeping position is their back or stomach. The firmness was a little too much for me when I was on my side, but it felt really nice when I was laying flat. If you want a slightly softer Nectar mattress, I'd try out the Nectar Premier. 

Body type 

I mentioned how your body weight can influence how a mattress feels, but it should also help you decide the type of mattress you should get. Most all-foam beds are around 10 to 11 inches thick and are perfectly supportive for people who weigh less than 230 pounds. However, if you have a larger body frame, I would recommend a mattress made with coils. They'll be more supportive and your money will go farther in the long-run.

Price 

Honestly, one of the best parts about the Nectar is its price. It's a quality foam mattress, up there with Casper, Layla and Puffy, but it's several hundred dollars cheaper once discounts enter the picture.

Nectar mattress pricing

Size	Measurements (inches)	Price
Twin	38x75 inches	$798
Twin XL	38x80 inches	$968
Full	54x74 inches	$1,198
Queen	60x80 inches	$1,298
King	76x80 inches	$1,598
Cal king	72x84 inches	$1,598

Retail prices for the original Nectar mattress start at $798 for a twin and max out at $1,598 for a Cal king mattress -- but that's likely not the price you'll pay. They are usually running a promotion, and bigger ones during major holidays. Right now, Nectar is offering 33% off sitewide in honor of Cyber Monday. Head to our best mattress deals page to see other brands' discounts. 

Shipping, sleep trial and warranty

The Nectar mattress will ship for free to your home and arrive in a cardboard box. If you're new to the whole bed-in-a-box thing, it's kind of fun to watch it unfold and inflate into a full-size bed. 

Right out of the box, you'll probably notice a not-so-pleasant smell coming from your new mattress. It's completely typical for bed-in-a-box mattresses to omit this off-gassing smell, and it completely goes away after a couple of days. 

If you're like me, you won't buy anything online unless there's a reasonable return policy. Luckily, Nectar gives its customers an entire year to test out its bed. 

A lot of all-foam beds come with 10- or 15-year warranties, however, the Nectar is backed by a "Forever Warranty." Conditions apply, but I was still pretty impressed to see this. To me, the Nectar mattress warranty says the company is confident about its product. 

The final verdict

After all is said and done, the Nectar is a very comfortable, basic memory-foam mattress. It doesn't have the bells and whistles that might come with a TempurPedic, but it sure does offer a similar pressure-relieving feel. 

I think you'll like the Nectar if

• You're a fan of slow-responding memory foam, or if you're at least open to the feel of it. 
• It's also great for shoppers on a limited budget. Compared to other memory-foam beds I've tested, buying a Nectar can save you hundreds of dollars. 
• The Nectar is best for individuals who weigh under 230 pounds because it's made with foam instead of steel coils. 
• Because it leans more toward firm than soft, I think the Nectar is best for back and stomach sleepers, or combination sleepers who don't often sleep on their side. 

You might not like the Nectar if

• You want a responsive foam mattress like Casper, or an ultra bouncy bed like the Avocado mattress. 
• You prefer sleeping on your side.
  
• If you weigh over 230 pounds; heavier sleepers would be more accommodated on a supportive hybrid mattress. 
  

What the Nectar does best

• Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers
• Best Adjustable Mattress

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The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.