The humble mattress has come a long way since it was stuffed with straw, goose feathers, or horsehair. Typically, modern options have been the coiled, innerspring variety. However, there is an increasing preference for all-foam and hybrid varieties for comfort and individual support.
Nectar mattresses use memory foam technology. Notwithstanding some advantages to this technology, like cooling gel foam, and drawbacks, untested warranty claims, memory foam mattresses are increasingly popular and continue to gain market share.
In this article, we’ll look at some of the technology that makes memory foam mattresses like the Nectar so popular. Read on to discover some of its features and benefits, as well as any issues to consider before you purchase one.
Update June 6, 2023: Save $200 now on the 12″ model at Amazon here.
This guy is a fan on day 1 and he only posted this two days ago (Sept 17, 2020).
First Choice: Coil or Foam?
Let’s briefly compare memory foam to innerspring types to see if this is the right mattress for you.
Innerspring Mattresses
This traditional construction style still has a slight but diminishing market edge in North America. In their simplest form, innerspring mattresses comprise a spring “core” made of steel spring coils, covered by layers of upholstery called “ticking.”
The level of firmness and support provided by the mattress depends on the spring coils’ gauge or thickness.
The individual spring coils are joined together by interconnecting wires, which retains the mattress’s general shape. Four different coil types have been developed, including the basic “Bonnell” coil of the late 19th century.
The more recent “Marshall” coil or “pocket springs” is a thin-gauge coil individually encased in a fabric sheath, providing better motion isolation.
The upholstery layers covering the springs of an innerspring mattress provide cushioning and comfort. Upholstery is made from a wide variety of materials, including various polyurethane and other foams, and a range of cotton, polyester, wool, or synthetic fibers.
Gel-infused foams are increasingly used to mitigate the effects of heat build-up.
I have to admit that I was not expecting to find positive real reviews, but I was wrong. This is two in a row, although neither have had it for a long time.
Foam Mattresses
First introduced in the 1980s, foam mattresses consist of high-density polyurethane, sometimes coupled with an innerspring system, or latex — either natural or synthetic.
Memory Foam
Memory foam was developed in 1966 as part of a NASA project to cushion astronauts from the tremendous g-forces experienced during space flight.
The technology was released to the public domain in the early 1980s and soon found applications in a variety of products, from football helmet liners to medical equipment and mattresses (source).
The viscoelastic properties of memory foam are ideally suited to the manufacturing process.
Viscoelastic means that the foam is at the same time viscous, meaning it moves slowly, like treacle, when you apply pressure, and elastic, meaning it returns like a rubber band gradually to its original shape.
So, the memory foam used in Nectar models can mold its shape to the sleeper’s body contours in response to temperature and body weight.
The Nectar Memory was introduced to the market in early 2017 as a foam mattress with four separate layers.
This included a dense 5.25-inch support core of 2.2 pounds per cubic foot polyfoam, a 1.75-inch transition layer of 3.5 pounds per cubic foot memory foam, and a comfort layer comprising a 3-inch gel-infused memory foam plus a 1-inch gel-infused quilted cover.
All of this is encased in a Tencel cover material.
Two-month review that I thought was mostly neutral, but she is happy with it and recommends it.
Hybrid Mattresses
Hybrids attempt to incorporate the benefits of both coil spring and foam technology by placing one or more layers of memory foam on top of a core support base of coil springs (source).
Typically, foam mattresses are made from two to five layers of different materials and densities to achieve different outcomes in terms of comfort, cooling, support, motion isolation, and pressure relief.
Criteria for a Good Night’s Sleep
How do the dimensions of Nectar mattresses affect the quality of a good night’s sleep? While many personal factors and idiosyncrasies determine the subjective experience of restful sleep, we’ve highlighted a few key examples.
He did not end up returning it but comments mention the company is terrible, cannot return it, and one has not received it after 45 days.
Sleep Position / Firmness Level
The preferred firmness and support offered by a mattress depend to an extent on whether you sleep mostly on your back, tummy, or side.
The Nectar mattress is rated as medium-firm, which is about a 6 on a 10-point scale, where 1 is super-soft, while some liken sleeping on a 10 to sleeping on a concrete slab.
The key to the perception of comfort is the bodyweight of the individual sleeper.
Lighter folks under 130 lbs may find the Nectar a bit firm, but all other body masses should discover its combination of firmness, combined with the give of memory foam just right.
Pressure Relief / Contouring
The sleeper’s weight and body heat react on the memory foam to contour to the body shape. This permits bodyweight to distribute evenly, with shoulders and hips sinking deeper into the bed, encouraging better alignment of the spine.
Nectar’s nearly five-inches of memory foam is one of the thickest on the market, providing superior levels of support and pressure relief.
Motion Isolation / Ease of Movement
Nectar memory foam mattresses do an excellent job of limiting movement during sleep as they mold to the sleeper’s body.
Foam models are generally good at providing stability, especially when sleeping with a partner, as there is no ripple effect of movement created by the joined coiled springs of the innerspring style.
One of the downsides of this movement limitation is the sleeper may feel they are sleeping in the bed rather than on the bed. For a sleeper who turns over regularly during the night, this may cause them to feel constricted or even cause them to wake up.
Mattresses like the Nectar are also quiet, so no squeaking of bedsprings, which contributes to a peaceful — and discreet — night’s sleep.
Temperature Control
All foam mattresses tend to sleep hot. They trap body heat by nature of the polyurethane material and by constraining movement. To some extent, Nectar has addressed these problems by adding layers of gel-infused memory foam that absorbs heat.
The three layers of memory foam also provide a little more “bounce” and ease of movement than many other mattresses and contribute to heat dissipation (source).
Value Proposition
Value for money is often in the eye of the beholder — no more or less so in shopping for a new mattress according to the trade association representing the bedding industry is the International Sleep Products Association (ISPA).
They and their consumer outreach and research organization, the Better Sleep Council (BSC), have been promoting a shortening of the mattress replacement cycle. They claim that replacing your mattress more regularly will improve the overall quality of sleep.
Price and Quality
Value is usually seen firstly in price and quality. Here Nectar continues to capture significant market share through aggressive online marketing in the bed-in-a-box market segment.
At under $800 for a Queen-sized mattress, the Nectar product line is well-priced compared to its competitors such as Casper, Purple, and Layla at around $1000.
As far as the quality of materials is concerned, Nectar has been certified by Certi-PUR US and OEKO-TEX, which speaks for its environmental and quality standards.
These standards also attest to a minimum of harmful off-gassing during the first couple of days of delivery and unpacking.
Replacement Cycle
The BSC takes credit for reducing the average mattress replacement cycle from 13 to 10 years, citing a 2006 Oklahoma State University study that encouraged the replacement every 5 to 7 years.
Most are expected to have a lifespan of about 10 years (source).
What about warranty claims? Here Nectar is a market leader in providing an almost unrivaled 365-night sleep trial period, coupled with a lifetime limited replacement or repair warranty, with free shipping and returns.
It’s a warranty policy that’s hard to beat, compared to many of their competitors that offer a 10-year warranty. The exception is the Dreamcloud hybrid mattress with a similar warranty to Nectar.
But is the Nectar “forever” warranty meaningful? It’s hard to tell since Nectar hasn’t been in business long enough to test it, having only launched in 2017.
Perhaps a better measure of Nectar’s promises lies in their levels of customer satisfaction. Here, the news isn’t that promising.
Customer Satisfaction
In one survey, only 6 out of 10 customers report a positive customer service experience with Nectar. The Better Business Bureau assigned them a B+ rating with 315 complaints in 2 years compared to an industry average of 5 complaints.
Complaints against Nectar focus on delayed deliveries, unresponsiveness, and difficult returns. The ratings support a perception in the market that Nectar’s customer service is average to inconsistent at best, and well below that of their main competitors, like Puffy and Layla.
Final Thoughts
The jury is still out on the best value for money in the mattress market. There are at least three reasons for this: (1) the technology is relatively new and evolving, (2) there are so many variables to trade off against each other, and (3) so many of these variables revolve around subjective choice.
As for the Nectar mattress, you’ll be drawn to its competitive price and industry-leading warranty claims that provide great value for money. Whether the company will live up to those warranty claims will have to stand the test of time.
Plus there are many complaints about customer service and difficulting executing returns. Also, although it may not be important to some but it is manufactured in China.
