Comfort & Feel

There are three aspects that make up our assessment of comfort and feel. We call these "preference-based characteristics" because no rating here is better or worse – rather, the attributes that are most desirable to you will be determined solely by your personal preferences. We apply the same classification standards to each mattress so you can more easily compare apples to apples.

Softness ( what’s this )

We class the Nectar mattress as a Medium-Soft mattress (i.e., just to the softer side of Medium).  The surface layers of the mattress are particularly soft, with more firmness down below.

Not sure what softness is best for you? Take our Mattress Match Quiz and find out.

Cushioning Depth ( what’s this )

Especially compared to non-memory foam mattresses, you get more of a “sink in” feeling. Compared to other memory foam mattresses, you feel “hugged” but it isn’t super deep.

Responsiveness ( what’s this )

The gel memory foam top layers are very slow responding, taking their time to spring back. That means the Nectar mattress will give you a good amount of that slow-melting sensation that memory foam is known for. Our standard GoodBed bounce tests showed almost no bounce during our bowling ball bounce test, nor in our 200-pound bounce test.

Back Support & Pressure Relief

The two things that you should always be sure to get from your mattress are spinal alignment (commonly thought of as "back support") and pressure relief. Unfortunately, no mattress will deliver these two things equally well for all sleepers. In particular, spinal alignment and pressure relief capabilities will vary across sleepers with different weights, body shapes, and sleep positions. To help you determine how this mattress will perform for you, we break down our spinal alignment and pressure relief assessments by sleeper type.

Overall, we thought the Nectar mattress offered very good support, especially for back and side sleepers. Because the top memory foam layers are relatively soft, stomach sleepers and heavier individuals (250 lb.+) may find that the spinal alignment and/or pressure relief are not as good for them.  That said, the Nectar bed does have firmer support layers underneath to prevent most people from sinking too far.

Spinal Alignment

The key to good back support is maintaining proper spinal alignment while you sleep. This means that the mattress should hold your spine in roughly the same position it's in when you're standing. The ability of a given mattress to do this will generally depend on your weight, sleep position, and body shape.

Here is how we break down the spinal alignment of the Nectar mattress:

Back Sleepers:

Our 200-pound tester felt his hips sinking a tiny bit more than with other mattresses, but still well-supported overall.  Likewise, we believe that back sleepers lighter than him should also be well-supported in this position.  While do have some concern that back sleepers significantly heavier than him might find their hips sinking too much, the firmer support layers could ultimately limit any hammocking effect they may experience.

Side Sleepers:

Spinal alignment for our tester in the side position was very good.  The conforming memory foam allowed his shoulders to get deep enough into the mattress to allow the top of his spine to remain level.  Overall, we believe the Nectar mattress would provide good spinal alignment for most side sleepers.

Stomach Sleepers:

In general, mattresses with four inches of soft memory foam don't tend to be a great fit for stomach sleepers. That’s because in this position the top priority for spinal alignment is to avoid the over-arching of your back (which can lead to back pain) by preventing your hips from sinking too far into the mattress.  For that reason, we gave the Nectar mattress a lower rating for stomach sleepers.  That said, we do think that lighter stomach sleepers (e.g., 150 lbs. or less) would probably be fine on this mattress, as would occasional stomach sleeping.

Pressure Relief ( what's this )

Other Characteristics

Beyond the preference-based characteristics of comfort and feel, and the body matching for spinal alignment and pressure relief, a mattress will have a number of other attributes that can make it a better or worse choice for you. We call these "priority-based characteristics" because they are areas in which a mattress can be better or worse, but that will have differing amounts of importance to each sleeper. So, determining how much importance to give to these features will be entirely a matter of your own personal priorities. As always, we apply the same ratings standards to each mattress so you can more easily compare apples to apples.

Motion Isolation ( what’s this )

With a bowling pin standing upright on the Nectar bed, we tested motion isolation by dropping a 16-lb. bowling ball on it, as well as the whole weight of our 200-lb. tester. In both drop tests, the bowling pin barely moved and never toppled over, which means that motion disturbances on one side of the mattress barely registered on the other side of the mattress. That means the Nectar bed could be a good choice for couples who don’t want to feel their partners movements (or don’t want to feel their dog jumping onto the bed).

Temperature ( what’s this )

Memory foam mattresses have a reputation for feeling hot, and if you know you are a “hot sleeper” then memory foam may not be the best choice in general. However, the Nectar bed does have a few features that help manage heat. First, it uses gel in its foam, which helps channel heat away from the body. Likewise, the cotton-Tencel mattress cover has moisture-wicking properties. Lastly, it uses foam that is less dense than than in many other memory foam mattresses, which allows for a bit more airflow.

Edge Support ( what’s this )

Memory foam mattresses aren’t typically very supportive along the very edge of the mattress—important if you like to sit on the edge of the bed, or if you tend to sleep along the edge. As expected, our tester did experience a substantial amount of dip when sitting on the edge of the mattress.  However, the compression was mostly in the top two memory foam layers, with the bottom two layers of firmer foam providing support and stability.

More surprisingly, while lying down along the edge, our tester found himself to be stable and well-supported – he felt some leaning, but never felt like he was slipping off.  Compared to other memory foam mattresses, the Nectar appears to have very good edge support. This will be important to you if you like to sleep right on the edge, or if you have partners or pets that tend to push you that way during the night.

Ease of Repositioning ( what’s this )

Certain people with mobility issues may have trouble repositioning in general -- for people in this camp, a slow-responding deep memory foam mattress like this one may make things a bit more difficult. Our tester found the ease of moving / rolling around on the Nectar bed to be on par with other memory foam mattresses in this regard, but did not feel this would pose problems for most people. He also found it to be easier to "make your turn" into the relatively softer memory foam in the top layers of the Nectar than it would be on firmer memory foam.

Green Features ( what’s this )

For mattress shoppers concerned with the use of natural materials, sustainable manufacturing practices or the like, we offer our subjective evaluation of any efforts taken by the company to make the mattress more green, healthy, or safe.  These types of things can be of particular concern for a mattress that is made in China.

In the case of the Nectar, the company makes no claims about the use of natural materials in the mattress, however all of the foams used are certified to the CertiPUR-US standard, while the Tencel in the cover is certified to the OEKO-TEX standard, both of which verify that a material has low VOC off-gassing as well as a lack of chemicals and other substances regulated by the CPSC. You can read about the company's eco-policies on their website.

When the Nectar mattress was first unboxed, we did detect a faint chemical aroma but felt that overall, the amount of "new mattress smell" was in line with most of the other online mattresses we unbox.

Adjustable Base Compatibility ( what’s this )

If you plan to use your mattress atop an adjustable base, the Nectar is a good choice (and a Nectar Adjustable Frame is available). This mattress is made to bend so using it on an adjustable base shouldn’t put undue strain on it. In our testing, the top and middle of the bed stayed in place when raising and lowering the mattress, thanks in part to some clever little bumps on the bottom that seem to help the mattress hold its conformed position even when you get out of bed. We did observe a little bit of quilting bunch-up in the “valley” when both the head and foot were fully raised, but this only happened in places where no one was sitting. While the foot of the mattress didn’t quite lay flat when the foot of the adjustable base was fully raised, this is not uncommon for new mattresses, and in our experience the mattress would likely “relax” over time.

Price, Value & Longevity

What It Costs

Prices shown are list prices. Remember that GoodBed keeps our site current with the best available discounts on online mattresses, many of which are exclusive discounts for our readers.

What You’re Getting

The Nectar is an 11-inch mattress with memory foam over foam construction, including 4 inches of premium comfort material (memory foam). Topping the mattress is a quilted cover, made with moisture-wicking Tencel and cotton.

How Long We Think It Will Last

When it comes to estimating the comfort lifespan of a mattress, we tend to use foam density as our best, albeit imperfect, predictor of how long a foam will retain its shape and resiliency.  In the case of the Nectar, the foam densities are a little lower than some of the other online mattresses we've reviewed (especially in the memory foam layers at the top).  So based on that factor, we wouldn't expect this to last quite as long as those.  That said, it also has a lower price than those other options (see our overall assessment of value below).

Overall Value

On balance, we feel that Nectar offers a compelling product at a very aggressive price point, part of which is due to the fact that they make this mattress in China.  Looking at what you're getting for the money, we believe it compares quite favorably to not only what you'd be likely to find in a local store, but also to its online peers.