Sharing a bed with someone who turns over all night is what sends a lot of couples looking at a mattress like this one. The Ultra Cool Hybrid is a Nectar memory-foam hybrid sold only at Furniture Village: a layer of Nectar's own memory foam, a support foam under it and a layer of individually pocketed springs, 30cm deep, rolled for delivery and graded Medium. It fills the gap between an all-foam bed, which keeps a partner's movement to itself but leaves you sinking, and an open-coil one, which pushes back but carries every turn across the bed. Lie down and you go in a little rather than a lot. The foam eases your shoulder and hip, the springs push back under it, and when the person beside you rolls over, very little of it reaches your side.
Next to the hybrids Nectar sells on its own site, the Classic Hybrid at 25cm and the Premier Hybrid at 28cm, this is the deepest of the three, and its memory foam is one Nectar calls Nectatex, under a cool-to-the-touch cover. It suits couples first, then anyone who sleeps on their back or side, sits somewhere between nine and eighteen stone, and likes a medium bed with a bit of give at the top. I'm a light sleeper and I wake easily, so on a shared bed the first thing I want is a mattress that keeps a partner's turning on their own side, and this build is made for exactly that. Front sleepers and anyone set on a firm bed should walk past it.
A Medium that lets your shoulder in, then stops it
On your side, the memory foam gives slowly under your shoulder, the way memory foam does, and then the support foam and the springs take your weight so your hip stops where it should and your spine runs straight. On your back it fills the hollow at your waist without letting your hips drop below your shoulders. That's the kind of Medium most people sleep well on, and it's where I'd start almost anyone. Firmer is not better for your back, whatever the man in the showroom tells you while he pats the paving slab.
Weight changes the picture, so start there and then think about position. If you're a slight side sleeper, under nine stone or so, you'll ride higher on it than a heavier person does, and the memory foam is what makes it work for you: a Medium with no foam on top can feel like a board to a light side sleeper, while this one still lets your shoulder in. Past about eighteen stone I'd want a firmer bed with a stronger spring under me than a foam-topped Medium. Front sleepers meet the same problem sooner, because the foam lets the hips settle, the lower back arches, and a firmer bed with a thinner pillow serves them better.
If you turn a lot in the night, the memory foam's slow give costs you a second's effort each time you move. The springs underneath take a good part of that away, which is why I'd put a restless sleeper on a memory-foam hybrid over solid foam every time.
Pocket springs under memory foam keep a partner's turning on their side
This is the reason to buy it. Every spring is wrapped on its own, so the ones under your partner sink when they roll over while the ones under you stay put, and the memory foam on top soaks up most of the movement that's left. Memory foam is lovely for couples for that reason, and kind on pressure points as well. One owner's verdict was that their sleep had "improved immeasurably", which is what you want to hear about a bed you're buying for calmer nights.
The edge is a band of high-density foam wrapped round the spring layer, there to stop you rolling off and to give you somewhere firm to perch while you get dressed. A soft edge is what turns a double into a small double, with two people crowded into the middle, so a firm band round the springs earns its place on a bed for two. If there are two of you and the room takes it, buy the king and give each of you room to turn.
The cover feels cool when you get in, and the memory foam warms as you sleep
Nectar says its Nectatex foam breathes far better than ordinary memory foam, and the spring layer underneath gives air somewhere to move, which is a fair point in the bed's favour. The cover is a cooling fabric and feels cool the moment you lie on it. I'm less convinced by cooling covers than by gel foam, because that first-touch coolness fades once the fabric has warmed to you, and the foam right under your body warms with you as the night goes on. If you run hot, look elsewhere: a sprung bed with natural fillings on top, a cool bedroom and a lighter duvet will keep you cooler than any cover. If you sleep at a normal temperature, you'll find it cosy rather than warm.
1,500 pocket springs in a king, inside a foam edge
The spring layer is Nectar's own, which it calls Nectacoil: individually pocketed springs, one of the three layers in the bed, with the foam band round them. The count is 1,500 in a king, a sensible number that spreads two people's weight without wandering into the territory where a count gets padded out to look impressive on a ticket. Ask Furniture Village what a double carries before you order.
Nectar's long trial comes with it at Furniture Village, on one condition
Buy it at Furniture Village and you still get Nectar's 365-night trial. A home trial this long is the fairest test a mattress ever gets, and I'd use every night of it. The condition is a mattress protector on the bed at all times, so put one on from the first night and keep the receipt. Before you order, read how collection and refunds work if you send it back, because that's the part of any trial people skip and then wish they hadn't.
Nectar's forever warranty comes with it too: if a flaw in the workmanship or materials turns up while you own the mattress, Nectar repairs or replaces it. Read it alongside the settlement clause: dips from the fillings settling, or from body weight, count as normal and not a fault. Most guarantees carry a sentence like it, and that sentence is what a claim for a dip comes down to.
Rolled, heavy in the bigger sizes, and particular about slats
It arrives rolled, and it's heavier than the parcel looks: 43kg for a double, 51kg for a king and 61kg for a super king, so plan who's carrying it upstairs before the van turns up. Cut it free where it's going to live, crack a window and leave it the four hours Nectar asks for, so it can air and rise to full size. The new-foam smell is normal and goes. Don't judge the feel on night one either, because new beds start a little firmer and soften as they settle.
On a slatted frame, keep the gaps between slats to 7.5cm (3 inches) or less. Wider gaps let the mattress dip between them and void the guarantee, so measure yours before it arrives. It's one-sided, so there's no flipping it; turn it round end to end now and then to share out the wear. At 30cm (12 inches) deep it wants fitted sheets with a deep pocket, and the foams are CertiPUR certified, a foam scheme that limits emissions and certain chemicals, which is the label I like to see on a foam bed.
Buy it for two, and buy it in a sale
For a couple who like a medium bed with some give at the top, this is the one to buy. Memory foam over pocket springs is the build I'd put in front of any couple who keep disturbing each other, and this one adds a foam edge to sit on, a deep body and the long trial to prove it to yourself at home. The price at Furniture Village moves a lot through the year, so watch it and buy when it dips.
