Nectar Mattress Review

In This Review
Performance Tests | Firmness | Support & Sleeping Positions | Design | Materials | Comparisons | FAQs

At NapLab, we put each mattress to the test.

We test 9 different factors that impact the comfort and feel of the mattress. Testing categories include:

~T21

Test	Rating
Cooling	Very Good
Sinkage	Moderate
Motion Transfer	Extremely Low
Response Time	Very Slow
Bounce	Very Low
Edge Support	Fair
Sex	Good
Pressure Relief	Excellent
Off-Gassing	Excellent
Company	Exceptional

The cooling performance of the Nectar mattress was pretty good for a memory foam mattress. Here’s the full rundown.

Our surface temperature tests went pretty well, with surface heat not exceeding 90.6 degrees.

During our tests, I felt a slight degree of warmness, but it wasn’t excessive.

That said, I do still worry about heat retention issues for other sleepers on the Nectar, especially for larger-weight sleepers.

• Baseline Temperature – the temperature of the mattress before anyone lies on it
• Maximum Temperature (0 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after lying on it for 15 minutes
• Ending Temperature (5 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after being lied upon and having no one on it for 5 minutes

Heat Dissipation Over Time

The Nectar’s classic memory foam feel creates deeper sinkage and more contour, which can exacerbate the buildup of heat.

In addition, it’s an all-foam mattress with no perforations within the foam and no convoluted air-cut channels.

These factors combine to create a less-than-ideal cooling dynamic.

That said, our surface-level temperature data was impressive. The max temperature was only 90.6°, putting it on the very low end of mattresses we’ve tested thus far. In addition, it quickly dissipates heat from the surface.

Within 1 minute, it hit 85.7° and there was no significant heat dissipation beyond that.

As you can see, I get quite a bit more sinkage when wearing the weighted vest. This indicates that sinkage may be deeper than desired for heavier sleepers.

The level of total pressure point sinkage during our medicine ball test was fairly moderate at 2.03″, however, it still creates a high degree of tight body contouring.

It very much has that classic memory foam feel. The slower response takes time to allow sleepers to sink deeper within the foams, but once you do, you receive ample body contouring.

The level of motion transfer is documented in the video below.

As you can see from the video, motion transfer is super low (as expected).

The classic memory foam absorbs a ton of energy, so there is very little risk of disturbing a sleeping partner. It is the 2nd lowest motion transfer we’ve tested to date.

You can see a similar story in the motion transfer graph. Notice the initial energy transfer from the ball drop. Although energy levels were high, motion transferred as a result is quite low.

By 0.3 seconds, most energy has been absorbed into the mattress. This is about what we’d expect from classic memory foam.

Response time is also quite slow. The Nectar is the slowest-responding mattress we’ve tested to date by a significant margin.

Nectar’s foam materials take time to adjust to the shape of sleepers. When you change positions, get up, get in bed, or otherwise move around, the mattress will need time to respond and change to your next shape.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

Most sleepers prefer a mattress that responds faster, as it means the mattress materials adapt more quickly to your shape when you change sleeping positions or get up in the night.

For some, the slower response can result in a “stuck” feeling, as the layers of memory foam maintain their deep contour for several seconds even after the weight is removed. The more you weigh, the more dramatic this feeling and the slower the material response time will be.

There is very little bounce on the Nectar. While this is great for motion transfer, some sleepers may find the lack of bounce less than ideal.

The level of bounce is documented in the video below.

When we drop the medicine ball you can see a certain “deadness” to the foams. The memory foam does such a great job at isolating motion and dissipating energy that when it comes to bounce there is almost zero rebound from the initial drop.

As it relates to motion transfer, having low bounce is excellent.

However, as it relates to sex and other feel factors it’s a more notable issue.

More or less bounce isn’t exactly black and white. Some sleepers like higher bounce for a more traditional feel, while others may not mind the low bounce at all. In any case, you should absolutely expect very little bounce with the Nectar memory foam mattress.

The edge support on the Nectar is okay, but not great. You can see the exact level of edge support while seated documented in the images below.

The thick layers of memory foam just don’t have the support when you get all the way out to the edge.

This has been a historic problem with many traditional memory foam mattresses.

The level of edge support while lying is documented in the images below.

The high contour of the memory foam cuts both ways, when on the larger sleeping surface area it’s a huge benefit, but that high contour on the edge leads to an edge support that’s lacking whether you are lying or sitting.

The Nectar has the deepest edge compression that we’ve tested in any mattress to date by a healthy margin (1.25” more than the next deepest).

The best mattresses for sex have high bounce, good edge support, quiet materials, and good pressure relief and cooling.

These 5 factors make up the NapLab sex performance score.

Sex Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Rating
Bounce	60%	8.7	Very Low
Edge Support	20%	8.4	Fair
Noise	10%	10	Minimal
Pressure Relief	5%	9.5	Excellent
Cooling	5%	9	Very Good

For Nectar, these individual factors generated a sex score of 8.8.

Two of the biggest factors that hurt Nectar’s sex score include bounce and edge support. Being a classic memory foam, the bounce is basically zero. Also, the edge support is really lacking.

This can create a surface that is non-engaging for sex and unsupportive for activities on the edge.

Overall we found pressure relief to be excellent. The memory foam gradually allows your body to sink into the mattress.

It creates an excellent contouring hug that relieves pressure up and down your body. The 4” thick comfort layer also gives it more foam to better relieve pressure for both lightweight and heavyweight sleepers.

Some memory foam mattresses that utilize less than 4” of comfort foam can result in issues where heavier sleepers come into contact with the less pressure-relieving support foams.

However, Nectar’s 4” comfort profile provides protection against this and a better sleeping surface for a wider variety of sleepers.

Off-gassing on the Nectar is pretty typical. There was a moderate level of smell initially, but it did not linger for an excessive length of time.

For many high-quality foams, I would say that 2-4 days is a standard amount of time for the materials to off-gas.

Company Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Data
Trial Period	25%	10	365 nights
Warranty	25%	10	Lifetime
Shipping	25%	10	$0
Returns	25%	10	$0
Country of Origin	0%		China

For Nectar, these individual terms and conditions generated a company score of 9.0.

Overall, Nectar Sleep has very good company policies like a 365-night trial period and the lifetime limited warranty.

Shipping and returns are free as well. Materials are sourced and fabricated globally, but all finished Nectar mattresses ship from the USA. Having shipping state-side helps to keep the shipping speed fast and cost down when delivering within the 48 states in the continental US.

The firmness of the Nectar mattress is around a 6.5 out of 10, where 10 is the most firm.

In all honesty, it’s a pretty typical firmness, only made slightly more firm by the more traditional memory foam feel.

It relies on the heavy contour of the memory foam to provide pressure relief. Lightweight sleepers may find it feels slightly firmer (6.5-7.0), as the memory foams require a certain level of weight and pressure to fully activate their contouring pressure relief.

In the same way, heavy bodyweights may find the feel slightly softer (close to a 6).

When it comes to who will find this mattress comfortable, generally speaking, most people will fit in that category, based on firmness alone.

But I do think that it’s important to also look at the mattress materials.

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleepers	Side Sleepers	Back Sleepers
Under 150 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
150-250 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
250-300 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes

Even though the Nectar is around a 6.5 out of 10 on the firmness scale, the memory foam also plays a big role.

Check the images above of the sinkage and contour when lying on my side on the edge.

Generally, side sleepers benefit from the extra contour, but this isn’t always true for back and stomach sleepers.

For heavier-weight sleepers, you may find that this level of contour does not provide enough for support.

Design

The Nectar offers high hug, high contour, high sinkage, slow response, low bounce, low motion. It takes several seconds to form to the shape of your body, and will take several seconds each time you change positions.

Overall, it creates excellent pressure relief, but there are drawbacks for ease of movement and potential heat retention.

Edge support isn’t great (see photos above). It’s not a complete collapse, but it’s not far from it when lying directly on the edge. Still, a good value for the money all things considered.

Where Nectar is good it’s very good…so that means contour, pressure relief, and memory foam feel.

However, by going so hard into the classic memory foam direction it means slow response and not great edge support. It cuts both good and bad at both extremes.

Materials

The materials that are used on the Nectar include a thin cover and a blend of foams. You can see the exact material breakdown below:

• 3.0″ gel memory foam
• 2.0″ poly foam
• 7.0″ support foam

The Cover

The Nectar cover is thin, breathable, and has a zipper. But take note, the zippered cover does not make it washable. In fact, Nectar advises to not take the cover off as doing so will void all manufacturer warranties.

The Comfort Layer

There are two foam layers that combine to make the comfort layer. The top is a 3.0″ gel memory foam layers. This is the layer that provides the shower response and deeper contouring.

The second part of the comfort layer is a 2.0″ poly foam. Poly foam is slightly denser than memory foam which provides faster response, support, and also tends to dissipate heat more quickly as well.

Both of these layers work together to provide comfort, support and contribute to the overall feel of the mattress. Despite the use of poly foam, this is still a pretty traditional memory foam mattress, as we’ve mentioned above.

The Support Layer

The support base is 7″ of support foam. As heavier sleepers fully engage through the top comfort layers, this bottom layer foam is designed to provide support and pressure relief.

Product Evolution

The Nectar mattress was first launched in 2017 as traditional memory foam. It was a 10″ mattress that was made up of a 3.0″ gel memory foam comfort layer and a 7″ support foam layer.

Today, the Nectar mattress is mostly the same as the original version, but it adds the 2.0″ middle layer of poly foam.

Poly foam improves response time, breathability, and pressure relief. It also increased the mattress thickness from 10″ up to 12″. Adding 2″ of extra comfort material also improved the feeling for a wider variety of sleepers, ensuring that even heavyweight sleepers feel well-supported and comfortable.

How is Nectar Different?

The Nectar Original mattress has a performance score that is pretty significantly lower than average with a price tag that is also lower than average (as expected). Compared to the average memory foam mattress, the Nectar Original is priced over 50% less.

Factor	Nectar Original	Average
Overall	9.01	9.52
Price	$629	$1,292 (Memory Foam only)
Cooling	9	9.4
Max Sinkage	2.03″	2.19″
Total Motion Transfer	2.67 m/s²	7.95 m/s²
Response Time	3.0 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	4.76″	9.59″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	6.25″	4.23″
Mattress Thickness	12.0″	11.9″
Sex Overall	8.8	9.6
Comfort Material	5.0″	4.1″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Moderate	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	4 days	4 days
Trial	365 nights	161 nights
Warranty	Lifetime	29% have lifetime warranties, average of other 71% of mattresses is 14 years

Performance factors that scored below average include cooling, response time, edge support, and sex.

Motion transfer levels are also significantly lower than the average which is certainly the benefit of the classic memory foam feel for Nectar.

Other Mattresses to Consider

If you’re still not sure if Nectar is the right choice for you, here are a couple of other recommendations that may be a better fit. Check out our recommendations below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Here’s a list of some of the most frequently asked questions about Nectar.