Nectar Premier Mattress review: Supportive but pricey
Given its lofty price tag, Nectar’s flagship Premier Mattress doesn’t quite do enough to outshine its stablemates
Pros
- 365-night trial
- Supportive
- Luxury depth
Cons
- Premium price
- A little firm for side sleeping
- Limited edge support
Nectar’s Premier is the brand’s most expensive and deepest mattress to date, and a sure attempt at a luxury mattress. Joining the firm’s lineup alongside the original Nectar Memory Foam and Nectar Hybrid mattresses, it features two all-new “honeycomb micro-zone” layers. Working in tandem, these layers are designed to provide subtle support regardless of your build or body shape.
With a supportive feel, luxurious depth and a 365-night trial, the Nectar Premier certainly has a lot to offer. However, given that Nectar’s entire lineup benefits from the same unbeatable trial, the four-figure Premier may not represent the best value for money.
Nectar Premier Mattress review: What you need to know
As I’ve already touched on, Nectar’s 365-night trial is one of the Premier’s key selling points. The joint-longest home trial in the UK at the time of writing (matched only by Eve), it allows you to try out the Premier in your own home for a full year. If at any point during those 12 months you decide it’s not quite right for you, Nectar will collect the mattress free of charge and offer you a complete refund.
Unlike the spring-and-foam hybrid mattresses that seem to have become all the rage in recent years, Nectar has opted for an all-foam construction with the Premier. It has four distinct foam layers, with a 3cm of dynamic foam layer on top, followed by 4cm of pressure-relieving foam underneath. These comfort layers are followed by a pair of “honeycomb micro-zone” layers: a 7cm transition layer and a 14cm base layer.
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Nectar claims the relief depressions in these layers around the head, neck and shoulder areas provide more targeted comfort and support than Nectar’s other mattresses.
The whole mattress is then wrapped in a quilted cooling cover, which the brand says is designed to wick heat from your body. While the cover can be unzipped, it’s not washable, so you’ll need to pick up a mattress protector separately.
The Nectar Premier can be used on both slatted and solid bed frames and, as it’s only designed to be slept on one way, it never needs to be flipped. It will, however, benefit from being turned from head-to-toe periodically and, fortunately, there are handles to assist you.
Nectar Premier Mattress review: Price and competition
Nectar’s pricing for the Premier starts out at £1,349 for a single, running up to £1,749 for a double, £1,849 for a king and £1,999 for a super king.
The Nectar Hybrid mattress is slightly cheaper, starting at £799 for a single, £1,049 for a double and £1,149 for a king. Nectar’s original Memory Foammattress, meanwhile, is available as a single for £699, a double for £879 or in king size for £949.
The Premier’s most obvious rival is the Eve Premium. The Eve Premium offers a similar medium-firm feel, 28cm depth and bumper 365-night home trial. The Premium is available for £1,024 and £1,184 in double and king sizes respectively.
For those with an even bigger budget, The Tempur Supreme offers luxurious levels of comfort coupled with plenty of support. Starting at £1,399 for a single and running all the way up to £2,299 for a king, it’s decidedly more expensive than the Nectar Premier, but for those looking for the best that memory foam has to offer, however, it’s well worth considering.
The best alternatives and where to find them
- Nectar Hybrid Mattress | Buy now from Nectar
- Nectar Memory Foam Mattress | Buy now from Nectar
- Eve Premium Memory Foam Mattress | Buy now from Eve
- Tempur Original Supreme Mattress | Buy now from Tempur
Nectar Premier Mattress review: Performance and comfort
The Nectar Premier is a bed-in-a-box mattress, which means that it arrives rolled and vacuum sealed for easy delivery. Once you’ve manoeuvred it to your bedroom, you simply need to pierce the vacuum seal and wait for it to expand. The mattress can be slept on as soon as it reaches its full height, but Nectar says that it can take up to 72 hours for the mattress to settle completely.
As is typical with bed-in-a-box mattresses, the Premier has a slight chemical odour upon first unboxing. While it’s perfectly fine to sleep on, for those who are particularly sensitive to smells, it may benefit from being left to air out for a day.
Right away, the first thing that struck me about the Premier is how tall it is. At 28cm it stands 3cm taller than the standard Nectar Memory Foam and Hybrid mattresses. While that may not sound like much, it really gives the mattress a lofty, premium feel.
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On a firmness scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the firmest, Nectar claims the Premier is between 6 and 6.5. Personally, I’d lean more towards the upper end of that estimate when used on a sprung slatted base perhaps a little closer to a 7 when used on a solid base.
Avoiding the marshmallow-like softness found on some memory foam mattresses, the Premier has a firmer, more supportive feel. It also maintains this level of firmness even as it warms up, which is not something that can be said for all foam beds.
Sleeping on my back, I found the Premier offered just the right balance of comfort and support. The foam conformed to my body shape, relieving the pressure on my back and helping to reduce the need to toss and turn during the night.
However, thanks to its relatively firm level of support, it’s slightly less well suited to sleeping on your side. Indeed, the limited give from its top layer meant the mattress couldn’t fully accommodate my shoulder. That might not be a big problem if you sleep in multiple different positions, but you may prefer something just a little softer if you sleep exclusively on your side.
Also notable is that despite it being reasonably firm, there’s no extra reinforcement built into the sides. Although I didn’t notice this while laying down, the edges gave way and sank considerably when sat on. This is something to be aware of if you do often find yourself perched on the edge of your bed.
On the plus side, while foam mattresses have a reputation for feeling rather warm, I found the Premier regulated temperature very well. It may still be warmer than a traditional pocket sprung mattress with natural fillings, but I never felt stifled, even while testing the mattress during the hottest night of the year.
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The Premier also offers excellent movement isolation. Essentially, this means that if you share the bed with your partner, your movements are far less likely to disturb them than on a more traditional mattress.
Nectar Premier Mattress review: Verdict
If you sleep mainly on your back and prefer a firmer feel, the Nectar Premier is a great choice. It offers a good balance of comfort and support, regulates temperature well and minimises motion transfer from whoever you share your bed with.
The only major caveat is its price. With the mattress costing well over a grand in all sizes bar a single, the Premier is tricky to recommend over Nectar’s other mattresses, which also come with the brand’s excellent year-long trial. Indeed, if value is what you’re looking for, you’re probably better off looking at the more affordable Nectar Memory Foam and Nectar Hybrid.
