Nectar Classic memory foam mattress review: an outstanding budget buy
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Memory foam has been called the Marmite of the bed industry. Nice soundbite, but I think it’s more like butter – because many mattresses now include a “comfort layer” of this squishy material to make them more palatable. You wouldn’t eat a whole block of butter, though, and you probably wouldn’t want to sleep on a mattress made entirely from memory foam. Too much squish, too little support.
The Nectar Classic memory foam, like so many of the best foam and hybrid (foam and springs) mattresses, tempers the marshmallowy feel of true memory foam by sandwiching it between other types of foam, namely breathable polyfoam and dense support foam. As I discovered when testing it, this creates a lovely balance of comfort and firmness that feels more like a hybrid mattress, only without the bounce.
At £449 for a double, the Nectar Classic memory foam is also excellent value, especially as it comes with a lifetime guarantee that genuinely deserves to be called “industry leading”. Here, I tear myself away from its cosy embrace to reveal why I loved it, despite wanting a fight with its washing label.
I was sent a double-size Nectar Classic memory foam mattress in May, just as temperatures first punched past the 30C mark. Once I’d given the mattress a couple of days to expand to its full size and firmness, my family testing panel came over to rate it out of 10 for comfort, aesthetics and other subjective factors. They also helped me run lab-style experiments with heat pads, weights and wobbly cups of water to measure its sinkage, motion isolation, heat retention and edge support. Here’s more on our mattress-testing shenanigans – cats, bottoms and all.
My husband, Alan, and I slept on the Nectar for six weeks in June and July, after positioning it on a slatted Ikea base and covering it with a mattress protector and cotton bedding. It was the worst of times for sleeping. The room temperature occasionally dropped below 28C with the help of an electric fan, but for the most part it hovered around 32C. The fact that we managed to sleep on the Nectar, rather than just lie on it, shows how well it performed on temperature control.
Delivery, sustainability and manoeuvrability are vital considerations every time I test a mattress. Quick delivery, plenty of text updates, helpful handlers and recyclable packaging are big green flags. Factors such as UK manufacture, low-carbon processes and mattress recycling schemes help boost the otherwise low sustainability ranking of foam.
Then there’s price. Instead of looking for cheapness per se, I want value for money and durability, especially from a product that’s as difficult to dispose of as a memory foam mattress.
The Classic memory foam is Nectar’s most popular mattress, according to the brand, and part of a range that also includes another all-foam mattress (the Premier), two foam-and-spring hybrid mattresses, and a kids’ mattress. The Classic memory foam is the most affordable of Nectar’s adult mattresses: £199 for a single, rising to £649 for a super-king. The double I tested costs £449. That’s cheaper than the Tempur Ease – another all-foam mattress with a feel and performance similar to the Nectar.
The Nectar Classic isn’t just a massive chunk of high-viscosity memory foam. As with most modern foam mattresses, it combines layers of foam of different densities. Immediately below the fabric cover is a top layer of breathable polyfoam to help regulate body temperature and add a little bounce, followed by a thick middle layer of memory foam for cushioning, then a base layer of dense foam for support and durability.
Nectar rates the mattress as “6.5 out of 10 (medium-firm)”, but it feels firmer than that when you first sleep on it. My testing panel gave it an average 8/10, and then, after Alan and I had slept on it for a month, we rated it 7/10 (where 10 is firmest). This isn’t a fault: all foam mattresses soften after being slept on, then settle after a while to their intended tension level.
The fabric sleep surface is made from synthetic fabric (9.5% low-density polyethylene and 90.5% polyester), while the bottom cover is 100% polyester. Nectar says the fabric is woven with “cooling fibres” and describes it as “menopause-friendly”, explaining that it “wicks heat away and encourages airflow”.
The Nectar’s cover isn’t removable, despite having a giant zip that you can unzip all the way round to, yes, remove the cover (I agree, it makes no sense). When I unzipped it, partly to investigate the layers inside, I found a washing label that warned: “non-removable cover”, “do not wash”, “do not dry clean” and “zip for manufacturing use only”. So while you can remove the cover, you’re not supposed to.
Nectar’s warranty doesn’t explicitly discuss this, but I’d play it safe and keep that zip zipped. While the headline warranty term is “forever”, which genuinely beats any other mattress guarantee I’ve seen (besides DreamCloud, which shares a parent company with Nectar), limitations include any use “in violation of instructions” – such as removing the cover. If the mattress is defective within 10 years, you’ll get a replacement. From year 11, Nectar will completely repair and re-cover it.
Type: memory foam Materials: polyurethane foam filling; polyester and polyethylene cover Firmness: advertised as medium-firm; panel rated as 8/10 after two days, then we rated as 7/10 after six weeks Depth: 25cm Cover: do not remove Turn or rotate: “rotate regularly”, according to label; rotate “every few months”, according to the Nectar blog Trial: 365 nights Warranty:forever, with limitations Old mattress recycling: £60 Sustainability credentials: mattresses are made in the UK using CertiPur- and Oeko-Tex-certified foam; Nectar works with ClimatePartner to reduce environmental footprint; returned mattresses are donated to the British Heart Foundation
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Delivery
Nectar mattresses are shrink-wrapped into boxes and delivered by BJS Home Delivery, and the service was excellent in my experience. BJS kept me updated via text and WhatsApp, sending me a three-hour window on the day before delivery, and including a tracking link that proved useful and accurate.
The two delivery drivers asked if I wanted them to carry the box upstairs and even remove the packaging, but I was happy for them to leave it in the hallway. At 32kg for a double, the Nectar Classic is one of the lighter mattresses I’ve tested, and the box was small enough for me to lug upstairs by myself – a rare treat in my life as a mattress reviewer.
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What we love
The first thing I loved was how blissfully easy this mattress was to carry up the stairs and unpack. I use double-size mattresses in my tests for the Filter because a king-size pocket-sprung mattress would get stuck in our narrow, angled stairwell. But the Nectar Classic memory foam is so light and tightly rolled that even a super-king would have made it upstairs easily. Given the affordability and manoeuvrability of the Nectar Classic, I’d recommend buying the largest size your bedroom has space for.
After giving the mattress a couple of days to expand, we invited our family over for their verdict. My sister Maeve, who identifies as a memory-foam sceptic, declared herself “really surprised” by how firm and breathable it felt. Her husband, Ben, is easier to please (any bed works, as long as he can sleep in it immediately), but agreed: “this is better than the other foam mattresses [we’ve tested]. I can even sit on the edge of this one without sinking.”
When settling in for the sleep test, Alan and I also loved how flat, supportive and airy the mattress was. This is largely because the Nectar’s top layer is much less mouldable than the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool and the Panda bamboo mattress topper. The middle layer is more “sinky” and helps with pressure relief, but its top layer springs back more quickly than pure memory foam when you press it, which makes it feel less cloying.
I slept much better on the Nectar than I’d expected to, given the heat of June and July. Over the weeks, it softened slightly to cushion my pressure points, but it never softened too much. When we ran our sinkage tests in the first week, the sleep surface sank 2cm under 7.5kg of weights. By the end of week four, it sank 2.7cm – less than the Simba Hybrid Pro. I was still measuring 2.7cm in week six, which suggests the softening had settled.
The Nectar Classic’s motion isolation is outstanding, as is often the case with foam. While the “non-sinky” upper layer made it easy to turn in bed, the lower layer of adaptive foam seemed to absorb our movements so we never disturbed each other while fidgeting.
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What we don’t love
The Nectar was more comfortable in the heatwave than I’d expected from a foam mattress with a polyester cover. That’s damning with faint praise, though. It only performed moderately well on temperature control, and I suspect that my electric fan, cotton bedsheets and bamboo duvet (the summer edition of the Panda Cloud, which topped my best duvets test) did a lot of heavy lifting to help me sleep.
In my heat-retention test, the Nectar’s surface took marginally longer to fall back to ambient room temperature than Panda’s memory foam mattress topper, which I recently tested under similar balmy conditions. That said, I never experienced night sweats on the Nectar, unlike the Otty Bamboo topper, which I had to drag off our bed at 4am.
The slight softening of the mattress over our weeks of sleeping was expected given its foam composition, but it never sagged. If you sleep on your back or your front, however, it may become too soft for you. If, on the other hand, you crave the sink-in pressure relief of memory foam, it may feel too firm. There’s also no bounce, so this probably won’t be your first choice if you love a springy bed.
Foam and hybrid mattresses usually have fabric covers that you can unzip to wash in the machine, but the Nectar doesn’t (remember, ignore the zip!). This helps to keep its price down because there’s no inner lining to protect the foam when the cover is off. However, it does mean that you have to buy a mattress protector and use it diligently to keep the mattress in good condition, especially during its one-year trial period.
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Sustainability
Memory foam (viscoelastic polyurethane foam) is one of the least sustainable materials used in furnishings. It’s made using petroleum-derived chemicals including polyols and diisocyanates, and emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) when removed from its shrink-wrapping at home. That’s what the “off-gassing” smell is.
Nectar is working to limit the damage, though. It claims it has offset 43m kilograms of carbon to date, and has enlisted the help of ClimatePartner to cut its footprint rather than just offset it. Among its plans are a switch away from polyurethane foam to a “low-emission alternative”, and “updates on plastic packaging”. Meanwhile, all its foam is CertiPur and Oeko-Tex certified, and its mattresses are made in Manchester and delivered in FSC-certified cardboard.
Nectar charges £60 to collect your old mattress when you buy a new one from the company. Where a mattress can’t be resold, it’s donated to the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Nectar says this scheme has raised more than £1.2m for the BHF. Nectar’s lifetime warranty is also worth mentioning here because it will help you avoid having to dispose of your mattress for many years.
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Nectar Classic memory foam mattress: should I buy it?
The Nectar Classic memory foam mattress is an outstanding buy. It’s one of the lightest and easiest-to-manoeuvre mattresses I’ve tested, beaten only by the budget Ikea Valevåg. This makes it an excellent choice for anyone moving house or setting up home – or indeed, anyone blessed with a tight stairwell like mine.
It’s easy to sleep on, too. Side sleepers may initially find it too firm, but it adapts to cushion your pressure points and strike a lovely balance of comfort and support. Despite testing this mattress in a heatwave, I never woke up at 4am in a pool of sweat and misery, as I have with a few other memory foam products.
I wouldn’t call it a “cooling” mattress, though. If overheating is a problem for you, I’d recommend a sprung or hybrid mattress instead. Sprung mattresses also tend to be a more sustainable choice.
Those are the main reasons I gave this mattress four stars rather than five, although I’d give it four and a half if I could. It feels durable enough to last for many years, and its generous warranty backs this up.
The Nectar is no Marmite mattress. You may love it, but you’re highly unlikely to hate it. It’ll appeal to a wide range of people, including side sleepers, back sleepers and couples, and it’s well worth its price.
The firm-but-cosy feel of the Nectar Classic reminded me more of the brilliant Otty than any other mattress. The Nectar is cheaper, though (the Otty costs £599.99 for a double; currently £540 with the code FILTER10), and lighter, so it’s easier to move around. Why, then, did I give the Otty five stars, and the Nectar only four? The Otty, which contains springs as well as layers of foam, dissipated heat more quickly in my tests than the Nectar. It also felt more instantly comfortable, whereas the Nectar needed a couple of weeks to develop a bit of “give” under my pressure points. Its lower proportion of foam gives it the edge on sustainability, too. It won’t shout at you for removing and washing its cover, either.
The Tempur Ease doesn’t hide its memory foam layer in the middle like the Nectar, but puts it immediately under the fabric cover (which you can unzip to wash, hooray). The overall effect is still reassuringly supportive, but it feels more yielding and may be a better choice for side sleepers. If you crave a marshmallowy memory foam surface, though – and can afford the investment – I’d recommend the medium edition of Tempur’s Pro SmartCool mattress. I found it too soft, but it makes you feel fully suspended in your bed and is fantastic for pain relief.
I had some of the best sleeps of my life on the Simba Hybrid Pro. The foam layers give it fantastic motion isolation and a sumptuous feel. It softened quite a lot over my months of testing, though, and it’s heavier than the Nectar. Its price is weighty, too, at £1,299 for a double at RRP (£909.30 at the time of writing in the brand’s bank holiday sale).
Jane Hoskyn is a features journalist who’s spent three decades rearranging bookshelves and “testing” products while deadlines loom. She would always rather be in the woods, or napping, or napping in the woods
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