Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress review 2023

Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress review in brief

• Nectar’s top-end hybrid model upper-mid range price
• Design includes two layers of different-sized springs, plus memory foam
• Back and side sleepers should feel cradled and supported

The Nectar Premier Hybrid sits right at the top of this hugely popular bed brand’s range, and promises the ultimate in night-time comfort and support. We’re big fans of Nectar’s original, all-foam model, rating it amongst the best mattresses you can buy (find out why in our full Nectar memory foam mattress review). We were interested to see how this pricier, more advanced hybrid model stacks up in comparison.

We slept on a double mattress for three weeks, testing it on all major areas of performance such as pressure relief, motion isolation, edge support, cooling and ease of setup. We’ll expand on these points throughout this review. 

Note: we’re reviewing the UK Nectar Premier Hybrid here. There’s a US version of this mattress, and although it has the same name, the design is different from the model we tried out..

Nectar Premier Hybrid has an advanced design that includes an impressive eight layers of coils and memory foam. The brand rates it as a 6-6.5 out of 10, making it a medium-firm mattress. We’d agree with this rating – the Premier Hybrid may be firmer than an all-foam mattress due to its springs, but it still has the distinctive ‘hug’ of memory foam at the top. Based on our experience, we’d say it’s particularly suited for back and side sleepers. However, we felt it was too soft to support stomach sleepers, who need a firmer mattress to keep their hips lifted and spine aligned.

The Nectar Premier Hybrid is one of the best hybrid mattresses we’ve tested for motion transfer, with motion being extremely well isolated. This is a great choice if you share your bed with a restless sleeper. Despite the memory foam (which can trap heat), temperature regulation is also good, with even our resident hot sleeper feeling cool throughout the night – this is mainly down to the excellent airflow in the two layers of springs. However, edge support on this mattress is disappointing and, although the cover can be removed, it isn’t washable and is only designed to be removed as part of the manufacturing process. 

Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress review: Price and deals

• The Premier Hybrid sits at the lower end of the luxury mattress market
• Consistent offers throughout the year with up to a 50% discount
• Nectar also offers generous discounts on bundles

The Premier Hybrid is Nectar’s most expensive mattress and we’d place it on the lower end of the luxury mattress scale. The RRP of a UK double is £1499, but thanks to regular Nectar sales you’ll usually be able to find the mattress with up to 50% off. Bookmark our mattress sales guide to keep up with the best current prices. 

Here’s the pricing for the Nectar Premier Hybrid:

• Single: RRP £1,249 
• Double: RRP £1,499  
• King: RRP £1,599  
• Super king: RRP £1,709 

Nectar is one of the most generous companies when it comes to discounts and promotions. When on sale, Nectar mattresses are typically reduced by 40 to 50%, meaning you could pay as little as £749 for a double mattress. Expect to see some of the highest discounts in the Black Friday mattress deals.

Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress UK review: Materials

The Premier Hybrid mattress is Nectar’s top of the range mattress, with a design that includes many of the features you’ll see in the best hybrid mattresses on the market. Let’s take a closer look at the design.

First up is a quilted cooling cover that’s designed to dissipate heat, followed by a dynamic support layer that’s also temperature-regulating. Beneath these you’ll find a layer of micro springs, which Nectar says are custom designed to circulate fresh air as you move (this might just be marketing chat, as any spring layer will naturally boost breathability by providing gaps for air to move around in).

Next comes pressure relieving memory foam to contour to the body, and an ‘engineered transition layer’ to optimise spinal alignment. The second layer of springs has up to 832 individually wrapped 12cm pocket springs, with supportive foam around the perimeter for edge support. The mattress is finished off with a supportive base with spring support and a non-slip material to keep the mattress in place on the bed frame.

Nectar Premier Hybrid review: Firmness and comfort

• A medium firm mattress with a 6-6.5 / 10 rating
• Contouring memory foam to hug the body
• Ideal for back and side sleepers

With a 6-6.5 out of 10 firmness rating, the Nectar Premier Hybrid is a medium firm mattress that will suit back and side sleepers. However, due to the contouring ‘hug’ of the memory foam, this isn’t a mattress that everyone will enjoy. 

Our two main testers are primarily back sleepers and of a lightweight and average weight build respectively. They both felt that the mattress was supportive when sleeping on their backs, with their spines aligned and some good pressure relief around the shoulders in particular.

However, our lightweight sleeper really didn’t like the sinkage from the memory foam around their hips, feeling too enveloped by the foam. They are not generally a fan of traditional memory foam mattresses and felt that the Nectar Premier Hybrid, even with its two layers of springs, still felt quite soft. They did, however, think the mattress was an excellent mattress for side sleeping, with the softer foam helping to cradle the shoulders and hips. We think that all weights of back and side sleeper should find the mattress supportive, with the double layer of coils preventing heavier weight sleepers from sinking too far into the mattress. 

The Premier Hybrid isn’t a great choice for stomach sleepers of any weight though. The slightly softer feel of the memory foam in this mattress doesn’t provide enough rigidity to keep the hips elevated and the spine in neutral alignment.

Of course, mattress firmness is subjective and influenced by factors such as body shape, weight, sleep style and whether you share your bed with a partner. The great thing about Nectar mattresses is that they offer a 365-night risk-free trial, meaning that if you don’t get on with the mattress you can return it to the brand and receive a full refund.

Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress review: Performance

• Excellent motion isolation
• Good temperature regulation
• Edge support isn’t great for a luxury mattress

We slept on a UK double mattress for three weeks, looking at all the major areas of performance. We rated it on pressure relief, motion isolation, edge support, cooling and ease of set up; all of which should help you to decide if this is the right mattress for your sleeping style. After only 3 weeks it’s impossible to make a definitive statement on the durability of the mattress, but the quality of the materials is high and we think it’s likely this will be a mattress with a good lifespan. 

Setup

Score 4.5 out of 5

Setup and delivery for the Nectar are pretty straightforward, although we’d recommend paying the £25 fee for Premium Delivery. With this service your mattress will be delivered to your chosen room – free delivery just brings the mattress to your front door. 

The Nectar is a mattress in a box, which means it comes rolled and boxed for easier delivery and maneuvering. It comes with a small blue plastic cutting tool which, although it was effective at slicing through the mattress, did lose its tip right at the end when we got a little too enthusiastic with our cutting moves. Make sure you cut open the plastic with the mattress positioned on your bed, as the Nectar doesn’t waste any time inflating. Nectar says it can take between 24-72 hours to inflate fully, we found it took around 48 hours.

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Off gassing

Score: 4.5 out of 5 

Off-gassing is where organic chemicals and gases are released from the foam as a mattress expands and is a completely normal process (for more information, read our guide on what is off gassing). All the foams in the Premier Hybrid are Certi-PUR certified, meaning they’re free from heavy metals, harmful dyes and ozone-depleting chemicals.

We found that the Nectar Premier Hybrid had a slight smell for around 4 hours after it was unpacked but it dissipated quickly after this. We would recommend leaving your window open to help the smell disappear even more quickly.

Pressure relief

Score: 4 out of 5

One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a mattress is how well it cushions common pressure points, such as the shoulders, back and hips. The Nectar Premier Hybrid is particularly supportive of sleepers of all weights sleeping on their backs, with the mattress providing some nice contouring around the shoulders and hips with its layer of memory foam. The springs also respond to body movements, adapting to support the body where needed. We would just note that if you’re not a fan of the ‘hug’ of memory foam, you may not find the mattress particularly supportive.

Side sleepers should also enjoy the contouring of the mattress, which is soft enough for pressure points at the shoulders and hips to be eased and supported. However, the Premier Hybrid isn’t firm enough for stomach sleepers, whose hips will sink too far into the mattress meaning that their spines won’t be aligned.

We also tested sinkage on the mattress by placing a 20kg weight in the middle of the bed. The mattress sank in to 3.5 inches, which is the same as the Emma mattress (head to our Emma mattress review for a closer look at that one). But if you’re looking for a firmer mattress, we’d recommend the Brook + Wilde Elite (opens in new tab), which comes in three different firmness ratings.

Motion transfer

Score: 4.5 out of 5

The Nectar Premier Hybrid is surprisingly good at isolating motion, particularly as it has two separate layers of springs. Motion transfer is minimal and you won’t feel a partner moving about in bed. Both the dynamic support layer and memory foam layer do a great job of absorbing movements. 

We tested the motion transfer on the Essential Hybrid with a simple drop test, using a 6kg weight and a wine glass (empty, to be safe!). Dropping the weight at various distances from the wine glass gives a good indication of how much motion transfer you’ll experience with this mattress. The wine glass wobbled at 25 inches, 10 inches and 4 inches but never fell over – this was with the weight dropped from a height of around 4-5 inches. These tests mimic a person in bed moving position or getting out of bed.

Temperature regulation

Score: 4 out of 5

Whilst the Nectar Premier Hybrid isn’t a dedicated cooling mattress, it does a decent job of keeping sleepers cool at night. Memory foam can often sleep hot, but Nectar has added other features to prevent the bed from overheating sleepers. The quilted cover is cooling and the dynamic support layer underneath is designed to enhance airflow and regulate body temperature. The two separate layers of springs (micro and pocket) also encourage airflow with the spacing between them.

Our hottest sleeper didn’t feel overheated at night, although the mattress doesn’t feel completely cool to the touch. For information, we tested the mattress with a summer duvet (4.5 tog) and a thick fleece blanket in a bedroom of around 16C.

Edge support

Score: 3 out of 5

Edge support on a mattress is important as it allows sleepers to use the full width of the bed, as well as providing a stable surface for people to sit on while getting dressed. Unfortunately, edge support on the Premier Hybrid was a little disappointing, particularly when sitting on the mattress. 

This is due to the memory foam in the mattress, which dips to contour around a body but doesn’t provide much stable support for sitting on. The mattress also dips a little when you sit on the edge.

The weaker edge support isn’t as noticeable when you’re lying on the bed, due to the ‘hug’ of the memory foam and the way the bed is designed. It’s certainly not the worst bed for edge support and you most likely won’t notice it when lying down, but the mattress isn’t the best for sitting on. 

Durability

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Although we can’t fully judge the durability of a mattress after three weeks, initial signs for the Nectar Premier Hybrid are good. The mattress is made from high quality materials and is extremely sturdy in structure. And with a 365-night trial and Forever Warranty, Nectar is clearly confident in its product.

Help keep your mattress in top condition by rotating it as recommended by the brand (see our guide on how often to rotate or flip your mattress for more detail), always using a mattress protector and cleaning the mattress regularly.

Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress: Customer reviews

In addition to our own experiences sleeping on the mattress, we’ve also looked at customer reviews to see why other sleepers thought of the Premier Hybrid. Reviews on the Nectar website are from TrustPilot, where the brand as a whole has a rating of 4.3 out of 5. This is for a mix of Nectar products, with over 12,000 reviews of which 72% are 5*.

Overall, reviews of the Premier Hybrid are positive, with many customers praising the mattress for its supportive qualities. A recurring theme is how well the mattress helps with aches and pains, and back pain in particular. Of course, not all customers got on with the Premier Hybrid and there are a few complaints about the mattress sagging. Of course, this could be down to the fact that some sleepers won’t get on with the distinctive feel of memory foam.

Should you buy the Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress?

If you’re a fan of the contouring ‘hug’ of memory foam, but don’t find all-foam mattresses supportive enough, the Nectar Premier Hybrid could be a good choice. Back and side sleepers will find this mattress does a great job of relieving pressure points, with contouring around the shoulders and hips. Motion isolation is particularly impressive for a hybrid mattress, particularly one with two layers of springs and we think this mattress is an excellent choice for those sharing their bed with a restless partner. 

The mattress isn’t firm enough for stomach sleepers, as it won’t provide enough support to keep the spine aligned. Edge support is also a little disappointing. 

If you’re looking for a mattress with excellent edge support, we’d recommend the Simba Hybrid Pro with its reinforced edges. Stomach sleepers should consider the Emma Premium mattress, which is firm enough to keep their spines aligned.