The Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress Helped Me Get Rid Of My Hip Pain

Forbes

28-03-2025

A good night's sleep can make or break your whole day—and after countless sleepless nights tossing and turning and waking up with hip pain, I knew it was time for a change. The catch? My husband leans on the warm-blooded side, while I cocoon myself in a pile of blankets. To complicate matters further, while my husband usually doesn't budge until morning, I shift throughout the night, starting on my side, then onto my stomach and then onto my back. Finding a mattress that could handle both our sleeping styles felt like a gargantuan task, and the Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress promised to be a catch-all for our wildly varying sleep preferences.
Promising a medium-firm support, my husband, three cats and I slept on it for over 100 nights to test its comfort, durability, pressure point relief and more. In this Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress review, I detail all my thoughts on the mattress along with who I would (and wouldn't) recommend it to.
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Type: Hybrid | Nectar's firmness rating: Medium-firm (6.5) | Trial period: 365 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Height: 13 inches
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The Nectar Premier comes in both an all-foam and hybrid model. The hybrid build uses a couple of foam layers on top of an innerspring coil layer. In all, you get six layers, including:
The mattress arrives compressed in a box at your doorstep. First, plan to unroll it from its packaging and let it poof to its full shape. Keep in mind that Nectar says it can take up to 72 hours for the mattress to completely form and recommends waiting a day or two to sleep on it—so don't panic if it's still a little flat at bedtime. Also, make sure you ventilate the room: The chemical odor was pungent, though it reduced after 72 hours, and it took a few more days for it to completely go away.
Nectar rates this mattress as a 6.5 out of 10 firmness, or what's known as medium-firm. I thought it was firmer than that at first and felt more on top of the bed rather than sinking into it. As you continue to sleep on it, though, the mattress gets 'broken in" and you find yourself sinking into it a little bit. It's a balanced firmness that keeps me comfortable as primarily a side and stomach sleeper, while also supporting my husband as a side and back sleeper. You still get a bit of that stuck feeling, though (more on that in a minute).
Personally, I'm happy with the firmness level—after all, as I switch from my side to my stomach as the night progresses, the innerspring and memory foam combination provides enough support so I don't feel like my hips are sinking too far into the foam and putting my spine out of alignment. However, I think stomach sleepers who weigh more than I do (I'm 165 pounds) may find their hips dip too far into the mattress for comfort and should look for a firmer option.
The Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress was built for a range of sleepers, from side sleepers who are easy to overheat to back sleepers who deal with stiffness—but that doesn't mean it's the right fit for everyone. In order to see where this mattress shines best, I paid special attention to its pressure relief, support and other features I cover in depth below.
Because my husband and I have different sleep styles, I also asked him for his feedback, especially since he's a hot sleeper. And, because I'm usually a cold sleeper who shifts throughout the night from my side to my stomach and back again, I considered how sleepers who share my style may benefit from adding this mattress to their bedroom.
I usually have a few cats curled up with me throughout the evening, often right smack dab in between my knees. In addition to sleeping on my stomach, I have to account for sleeping in some gymnastics-worthy positions because I simply have to keep my cats happy. And, in addition to considering my cats, my joints regularly experience aches and pains due to my hypermobility. Especially when I slept on my old mattress, I awoke with severe hip pain that would linger through my entire day.
The very first night I slept on this mattress, even though it was still softening and expanding, my hip pain vanished. The Premier Hybrid has a set of 2-inch foam layers, called the Pressure-Relief Layer and the Responsive Support Layer. This combination helps support my joints for a comfortable night's sleep. My hips, specifically my right one, is the main offender, and I've noticed that unless I get a bad night's sleep (due to noisy cats, not the mattress), I no longer experience hip pain. To me, that's huge. It's not going to be the catch-all, cure-all for those who experience similar pains, but it definitely helped. My husband also noted that he's been sleeping better, too.
The mattress comes with a cooling top layer, called the Cooling Cover, that's designed to help reduce your body's heat footprint as you sleep. The coils in the mattress also allow air to more easily flow through it. During testing, the mattress was somewhat successful with cooling. Both my husband and I felt that it helped to regulate our temps at night. My husband, who overheats easily, especially felt the difference; he felt he slept more comfortably through the evening.
It's pretty subtle—it's not going to solve all of your heating issues, especially if you're a super hot sleeper, and I recommend adding cooling sheets and a comforter for hot sleepers to take full advantage of the cooling effect. My husband still gets warm throughout the night, but not to the levels he originally felt, which were pretty sweltering, according to him.
On the other hand, I tend to sleep cold and pile on the blankets. For my sleep style, the mattress does a pretty solid job of keeping my temperature regulated throughout the night, especially when our pre-war radiators kick on in the early mornings.
Because the queen-size mattress sleeps up to two humans and three cats at a time, it's no surprise that I experience some motion transfer, even though the foam layers, pocketed coils and Base Foundation are designed to minimize it. Most of the time, I don't notice my cats moving around until they begin wrestling right beside me; it's when you sleep beside a human that you feel any motion transfer. Sometimes, I wake up to my husband shifting around on the mattress. It's not the end of the world, but it is noticeable.
When I asked my husband about his experience, he reported sleeping soundly without noticing any movement from me or the cats. Even our 17-pound cat lumbering across the bed didn't wake him. So, all this to say: Your mileage may vary, especially depending on your sleep habits. If you're a light sleeper, you may wake up from movement, but compared to our last mattress, motion transfer feels significantly reduced.
If you sit on the edge of the bed frequently, the Nectar Premier Hybrid's greatest weakness is that its edge support is far from strong. Every time I sit on the side of the mattress to pet one of my cats, I feel like I sink into the bed. It throws me off. For a mattress that has a supportive center—it feels firm when I lay down or curl up with a book on it—I expected the innerspring coils to work better. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case during testing.
And again, unlike the edge support, the center support is solid. My body sinks a bit, but it feels supported and comfortable, whether I sit cross-legged or rest with my legs stretched out. I attribute this to the 8-inch coil layer, which Nectar calls the Hybrid Motion Isolation Layer. I weigh 165 pounds and my husband's around 180 pounds, and we don't feel like we sink into each other like we sometimes experience with our travel air mattress. Nectar says its mattresses can support up to 650 pounds, or 325 pounds per side. If you weigh more than 250 pounds though, we recommend checking out one of the best mattresses for heavy people for better support.
When I'm shifting positions, because the mattress does soften over time, I've noticed that I have to put a little effort into moving. Memory foam is notorious for a 'stuck' feeling in the bed. The memory foam in this mattress lives up to that notoriety; there are moments when I have to physically lift myself off the mattress in order to roll onto my opposite side. That said, if you're coming from a traditional, quicksand-like memory foam mattress, it feels so much more supportive and responsive for when you move. Just note you might still have some issues with that 'stuck' feeling here and there.
It's also easy to rotate the mattress to help evenly distribute wear. You can't flip it, but you can use grab handles on the side to turn the mattress to help elongate its lifespan. Nectar recommends shifting the mattress every six months.
Launched in 2016, Nectar's mission is to make comfortable, affordable mattresses that feature pressure-relieving memory foam to help you sleep better. It's owned by Resident Home which also owns mattress brands DreamCloud, Awara and Siena. While DreamCloud offers mattresses with a luxury feel, Siena is Resident Home's budget-friendly line. Awara focuses on creating sustainable, comfortable mattresses.
When you order a mattress, shipping is free. Don't expect white glove delivery—it ships in a box. You must unfurl the mattress yourself. The mattress ships in one to two business days from the purchase date.
Nectar offers a 365-night trial period for its mattresses. If you unbox the mattress, you must wait 30 days before you're able to initiate a return (this is to give your body a chance to adjust to the bed). After that, you can return it at any time during that return window. If you decide to return the mattress, shipping is free, and they'll either recycle the mattress or donate it to local resources.
Nectar offers a warranty it dubbed the Forever Warranty. Alongside the 365-night trial period, so long as you own it, the company offers a warranty to cover manufacturing defects. For the first ten years of ownership, the brand will replace the mattress with a new one of equal or greater value for free. After ten years, the brand will completely repair and recover your mattress, or potentially replace it depending on the situation. It's important to read through Nectar's warranty policy to make sure you understand it and don't do anything to void it, such as remove the cover.
Nectar offers four different mattresses that are all offered in an all-foam or hybrid version and range from soft to medium-firm.
If you're seeking a blend of comfort and affordability, we rated the Nectar Classic as the best affordable mattress overall. 'The Nectar used to offer doughy sinkage, but the new Nectar Classic model has a contouring memory foam feel with a little more responsiveness,' says senior mattress and sleep editor Bridget Chapman. See more in our full Nectar Mattress review.
This is Nectar's softest and most luxurious model. It has a prominent memory foam feel that is especially good for side sleepers seeking comfortable contouring around their should and hip. Back sleepers who like a softer feel should also enjoy this mattress.
If you're a side or back sleeper, the Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress is a great choice to help relieve joint pain and provide support, and you should love the medium-firm yet plush feel when crawling under the covers at night. Though some stomach sleepers who weigh around 165 pounds or less (like me) may be comfortable, others who sleep in this position may find that the memory foam allows their hips to sink too far into the bed, and they'd do better with a firmer option in order to promote healthy sleep posture.
This is also a great mattress for couples who don't want to feel their spouse tossing and turning throughout the night. Motion transfer is pretty minimal, and the cooling features help with temperature regulation for hot sleepers. However, it's worth noting the Premier Hybrid doesn't have the strongest edge support, so keep that in mind if you like to sit on the sides of the bed or need them for stability.
I slept on the Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress for over 100 nights to get a sense of how its memory foam and pocketed coils felt in different sleeping positions. I unboxed it, considering how easy it was to remove from the box and how long it took to unfurl. I also did a 'sniff test' to see how strong the chemical odor was after the unboxing. I then noted how long it took for the smell to diffuse.
I pressed my hand into various areas of the mattress, focusing on the edges and center to see how each section felt and making notes. From there, I took to sleeping in the mattress across various room temperatures, including nights where my pre-war apartment's radiators made the room sweltering to evenings where I threw all the windows open to keep the temps as cool as possible. Using those temps, I reviewed how well I slept under both conditions on the mattress to help consider the mattress' cooling features.
In addition to sleeping on the bed and gauging how well I slept, I spent time reading on the bed to test how my joints felt for long periods of time in one spot. This way, I could test whether the mattress provided support for the main points, including but not limited to shoulders, hips and knees. In addition to sleeping on the mattress as a 165-pound person, I enlisted the help of my husband to test how the mattress performed with a combined 345 pounds on the springs and memory foam.
I've been a journalist for over five years, including more than a year as the consumer tech and electronics editor at Forbes Vetted. In addition to testing mattresses, I've tested the best gaming TVs and the best TVs for bright rooms, I've spent time interacting with the latest smart wearables and audio devices currently on the market, from the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova GameBuds and more.
When testing mattresses, I focus on aspects of interest to everyone, from folks who need to relieve joint pain to hot sleepers who need a little extra cooling to sleep soundly through the night. As a result, my mattress testing encompasses all kinds of sleepers, from side to back sleepers.
In addition to testing mattresses, I've spent plenty of time testing a slew of mobile devices. I've deep-dived into the Apple ecosystem with the iPhone 16 Pro and reviewed plenty of Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Google Pixel 8. Before writing this list, I tested the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, the very latest Android device to launch so far this year.
Based on our testing, the Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress is good for side sleepers. It's also supportive and comfortable for back and combination sleepers.
The Nectar Premier Mattress is designed to be more cooling than the original Nectar Classic, and it comes with twice the memory foam for extra pressure relief. Because of this, it is more expensive than the Nectar Classic.
No. You do not need a box spring with a Nectar mattress. You need a supportive frame with slats, though. Nectar recommends that the slats should be no more than four inches apart.