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The Nectar Mattress is made by one of the relatively new mattress companies operating in the UK. It got our attention because it was offering a ‘forever’ guarantee and a whole year to try it out.

Since then it has expanded its range so it now offers a mix of foam-only mattresses and ‘hybrid’ mattresses that combine springs with foam.

But is the Nectar brand any good? And what about the Nectar Mattress?

We’ve taken a look at customer reviews, awards and specification, as well as testing out one of the five Nectar mattress models ourselves.

So strap in, put on your safety gear and prepare for an exhilarating ride on the Nectar rollercoaster (Ed: really?)

Which mattresses do Nectar sell?

As I type this, there are five mattresses manufactured by Nectar. The brand started with just one, which was called – wait for it – The Nectar Mattress.

After the success of that model, they expanded and added other options. Other modern mattress brands share a similar story. Simba Sleep started with one ‘perfect’ mattress before adding another 11 different mattresses to the range.

There are several similarities between the five Nectar mattresses. Most notable is that they all come with an extraordinary 365 night trial and ‘forever’ warranty. They all arrive squashed in a box, for easier transport and for lifting it up the stairs. All models are single sided and can’t be flipped over.

There is no official difference in firmness rating between the Nectar mattresses. All are described as 6.5/10 by Nectar, with 1 being soft and 10 being firm.

Nectar’s two 100% foam mattresses

There are two Nectar mattresses which are just made from layers of foam.

1. Nectar Memory Foam Mattress (££)

The ‘Standard’ Nectar mattress is now called the Nectar Memory Foam mattress. I don’t have sales figures, but my guess is that this is the biggest seller amongst the Nectar range.

As you may have gathered, it’s a foam mattress which doesn’t include any springs (the more traditional option for a mattress). Instead, there are several layers of different types of foam, including ‘memory foam’ which aim to offer a more consistent support than you’d get from springs. 

Foam mattresses have become more popular in recent years. In case you’re interested (I don’t blame you if you’re not) memory foam was originally developed to help keep astronauts cosy and then it was developed by mattress companies. Tempur were one of the pioneers in this area.

What the science says about memory foam

A number of noteworthy studies have been carried out into the topic of whether sprung mattresses or memory foam mattresses are best. For example, Tonetti, Martoni et al published work in 2010 which compared a ‘traditional spring mattress’ with a mattress with ‘expanded polyurethane and visco-elastic’ (i.e. a memory foam mattress). Although it wasn’t the Nectar mattress they examined, it was a product with a broadly similar design so there is some relevance here.

They concluded that the foam mattress led to a ‘significant improvement’ how quickly participants fell asleep (‘sleep onset latency’) and how well they slept (‘sleep efficiency‘). However, I would caution that the study has limitations because a ‘traditional spring mattress’ is not as supportive as a more expensive ‘pocket spring mattress’. 

A lot of guides I’ve read on memory foam suggest that they can make you feel a bit hot in bed and this was reiterated by an academic study by Chiba and Yagi in 2018.

Solutions to the heat issue on a memory foam mattress

Bed in a box mattresses such as Emma Mattress have tried to get around this by not putting the memory foam on the top layer. Instead, the Nectar mattress has an ‘Adaptive Cooling Cover’ and then ‘Smart Memory Foam’ beneath it. 

The Nectar Mattress also has an extraordinarily high weight limit. According to Nectar Sleep it has a 46 stone weight limit. This is mentioned on the US version of their website, but we checked with Nectar Sleep’s customer support in the UK and they confirmed it was the same here.

It’s also a “100% climate neutral mattress”, so that’s good.

2. Nectar Premier Mattress (£££)

The other 100% foam mattress made by Nectar is called the Nectar Premier Mattress.

The Nectar Premier Mattress arrived in 2022, as an upgrade version of the standard Nectar Memory Foam mattress.

The upgraded model is 3cm deeper and has six layers instead of five. The main difference is that the ‘7 Zone Supportive Base’ of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress has been replaced with two ‘Honeycomb micro-zone transition layers’.

We’re drifting into a rather jargon heavy description, but it’s all to do with ‘zoning’ on a mattress. The theory is that different parts of your body need different types of support. After all, you’ve got curves and bumps around your waist and shoulders rather than being shaped like a plank of wood (apologies to those of you in the ‘Plank-Shaped Community’).

The other upgrade is that the Nectar Premier MAttress has 4cm of memory foam, compared to 3cm on the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress.

Nectar’s three Hybrid Mattresses

Nectar started out as a foam-only mattress brand. It later expanded into the hybrid market – and they now offer more of these than they do foam mattresses. How times change eh?

The idea of a hybrid mattress is to combine the weight-spreading benefits of memory foam with the more familiar springy feel of a sprung mattress. Nectar Sleep also claim that the spring ‘enhance breathability’ and ‘facilitate localized movement’. In other words, they suggest you won’t get too hot in bed and you won’t feel your partner moving about as much.

1. Nectar Essential Hybrid Mattress (£)

The cheapest of Nectar’s five mattresses is the Nectar Essential Hybrid Mattress.

It has a thin layer of memory foam (2cm) for comfort, but most of the support is offered by a layer of large pocket springs.

In traditional mattress making, there are two main types of springs used. The cheaper option is an ‘open coil’ spring which is one long piece of metal twisted into several springs. The better and more expensive option is lots of smaller springs which are wrapped in individual pockets. These are known as pocket springs. The main downside of pocket springs is that they are fiddlier to recycle than open coil springs.

The number of springs used in the Nectar Essential Hybrid Mattress is relatively low at 756 (that’s the king size number, it will vary depending on the size of the mattress).

2. Nectar Hybrid Mattress (£££)

Mattress historians may like to note that the Nectar Hybrid Mattress was the second mattress to appear in the Nectar lineup.

Unlike the Nectar Essential Hybrid Mattress (£) it uses ‘micro-springs’ which gives it a similar specification to the Simba Hybrid Essential mattress (although that model is much thinner at 20cm).

There isn’t a definitive answer on whether larger springs are better than smaller springs on a hybrid mattress. Each manufacturer will proudly tell you that they’ve got the ‘recipe’ just right but it is partly down to personal preference. If you favour sprung mattresses then you might find a hybrid mattress with larger springs is better for you. If you prefer foam mattresses then you may well find that the micro springs of the Nectar Hybrid Mattress are just right for you.

The environmental credentials of the Nectar Hybrid Mattress (£££) are similar to the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress (££) – they are both ‘100% carbon neutral’ in their manufacturing process. The foam is ‘free from heavy metals, harmful dyes or ozone depleting chemicals’.

3. Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress (££££)

Finally, we have the priciest mattress in the Nectar range – the Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress.

With this model, you get a combination of the features that come with the Nectar Essential Hybrid (£) and the Nectar Hybrid Mattress (£££).

You get the large pocket springs of the Nectar Essential Hybrid and the mini springs of the Nectar Hybrid Mattress. That adds a bit of extra depth to the overall size of the mattress. The total spring count is more than 2400 but that includes about 1600 mini springs and 800 pocket springs.

The memory foam layer is also a little deeper than you get with the Nectar Essential Hybrid (3cm instead of 2cm).

Right then, that’s the Nectar Mattress range covered. But how does the brand compare to its rivals?

Pros and cons of Nectar Mattresses

How firm are Nectar mattresses?

In terms of firmness, Nectar’s own website says it is ‘medium-firm’ or 5.5-7.5 on a scale where 10 is very firm. If you do a bit of Googling you’ll find that most mattress review sites say it is about 6 or 6.5 on the firmness scale. As a slight side note, it’s worth realising that there’s no industry wide agreement on firmness. One company’s ‘firm’ mattress could be the same as another company’s ‘medium’ firmness mattress. As a result, it’s worth trying out a mattress or at least reading a few reviews.

Which awards have the Nectar mattress won?

Most awards given to Nectar are for the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress, as it was their first mattress. It has won a number of awards, including:

• Good Housekeeping gave it an ‘approved’ rating. They said that ‘Our testers praised the ‘Adaptive Cooling Cover’ commenting how this mattress would be perfect ‘all-season long’’. They also said that ‘the mattress offers the ideal balance of comfort and support’. Good Housekeeping added that ‘Our panel loved the ‘sleeping sound’ initiative of this mattress with one of our testers noting it is ‘the best mattress’ she has ever had for previously she was kept up by her partner restless movements’.
  
• Expert Reviews gave it a ‘recommended badge’. They said that it’s a ‘very similar sensation’ to the Simba Sleep which is a rival mattress which uses layers of foam along with mini springs (Update 2024: this mattress has changed a bit and is now called the Simba Hybrid Original Mattress and uses a mix of larger springs and smaller springs. If you want a similar feel to the original Simba Sleep mattress I would try the Simba Hybrid Essential Mattress). They said it is ‘quite different’ to the Emma mattress, which is a close rival. Expert Reviews felt both of those mattresses feel softer than the Nectar mattress. Overall though, they said that the ‘foundation’ of the mattress is ‘firm enough to feel stable even when used on a sprung slatted bed’. Their only criticisms were that the mattress gets ‘noticeably softer as it warms up’ and it doesn’t have a washable cover.
  
• Ideal Homes gave it an ‘approved’ award. They said it was ‘on the firmer side’ of most medium-firm mattresses. They said that it was good for front and back sleepers but ‘wasn’t so great for a heavy side sleeper’.

What reviews do customers give Nectar mattresses?

Personally, I like to find out the general consensus from hundreds of customers rather than just relying on individual reviews. TrustPilot is a good starting point for such things, so we spent a happy couple of hours looking up overall ‘Trust Scores’ for big mattress brands. We did our most recent search towards the end of 2023, so you might like to do this yourself if you want to see the latest scores and if there’s nothing on telly.

So, the Nectar brand is scoring highly although there are several mattress brands scoring a fraction higher. It’s worth noting that some of these brands make just one or two mattresses, whilst others make dozens. It’s also interesting to see that more than half of the top 10 are ‘bed in a box’ mattresses rather than traditional mattress brands. Also, we need to acknowledge that some big brands aren’t on TrustPilot so this isn’t an exhaustive list.

Elsewhere, the Nectar Mattress scores 4.3/5 on Amazon.

What guarantee and trial period do you get with Nectar Mattresses?

‘Bed in a box’ mattresses generally offer trial periods where you can return the mattress after a few weeks if you don’t like it. They arrived squashed up in a box and then expand upon arrival. Most of them have trendy one word names (e.g. Emma, Simba) and many of them get great reviews.

Nectar Mattresses are unusual in that they come with a 365 night trial, whereas most other ‘bed in a box’ mattresses offer a 100 night trial or a 200 night trial. There are obviously terms and conditions you need to read, but it’s an appealing option.

Secondly, the range of Nectar Mattresses are unusual because they offer a ‘forever’ warranty whereas most of its rivals offer 10 years. Cheap mattresses usually offer one or two year’s warranty, whilst most traditional mattress makers offer somewhere between 5 and 10 years. Some posh brands give longer warranties on some mattresses, such as Vispring’s 30 year warranty. Again, check the terms and conditions, but the only other mattress I’ve found offering a ‘forever’ warranty is DreamCloud which is a more expensive mattress that is owned by the same parent company.

It’s also worth mentioning that Nectar Sleep will take away your old mattress for a fee. This isn’t offered by all ‘bed in a box’ brands, so you end up having to get the local council to collect it or you have to squeeze it into your car which is a) hilarious to watch and b) likely to end in injury.

Where can I buy the Nectar mattress? Do they offer discount codes?

Most of the best deals and discounts I’ve seen have been on Nectar Sleep’s own website. It’s also sold by Argos, so you can go for them if you prefer a name you’re familiar with. A small online retailer called Amazon is another option – it tends to match the best price.

Brand comparison – how does the Nectar Mattress compete with its rivals?

Our super-table below shows how the Nectar Sleep Memory Foam Mattress shapes up alongside the competition. We chose a selection which also offer long warranties, trial periods and arrive in a box.

On price, it’s a good result for the Nectar Sleep. Studio by Silentnight comes close, but the rest of the mattresses are somewhere between £100 and £300 more expensive for a double model. The caveat with this is that discounts and deals are a big part of the bed in a box market. You will find good discounts and offers around dates such as Black Friday or Boxing Day, so take a look at the final price you are paying rather than the headline figure.

Most of the brands featured below are scoring marginally better than the Nectar Mattress when it comes to overall brand reviews but the differences are quite small. 

Our comparison table

The winning warranty of the Nectar Mattress

Warranty length is a clear victory for Nectar Sleep. It is described as lasting ‘forever’ but we noted it as 25 years on our comparison graph for easier comparison. The next nearest rival is the REM-Fit 400. The important thing to note with warranties is that they often have clauses and exclusions which you might not expect. A common one with mattresses is a description of the level of acceptable wear or rules about the required gaps between slats on a bedframe.

Meanwhile, we can see that memory foam mattresses in general compare favourably to pocket sprung mattresses when it comes to warranty length. We searched for pocket sprung mattresses costing £600 – £700 sold at Mattress Online and found that the majority offer a five year warranty. About a third offered an eight year warranty and just one in seven came with a 10 year warranty. We picked the £600 – £700 price bracket, as that tends to be what several memory foam mattresses cost.

The terrific trial period of the Nectar Mattress

Our comparison of home trial period also shows Nectar Sleep in a good light. Its 365 night trial is nearly twice that of rivals Emma and Simba Sleep. 

There are a couple of important notes. Firstly, trial periods have their own small print such as requiring mattress protectors to be used or requesting that you wait a certain number of days before returning a mattress. There is also some variation in what your options are if you aren’t happy. Some will take away your mattress and give a refund whilst others such as Silentnight will give you the chance to swap it for another mattress. 

Where a mattress brands makes several mattresses, we included their ‘standard’ model rather than a budget model which may not have the same trial period. For example, we included the Silentnight Studio mattress.