Joe: Should you get the Leesa?
Should you get the Nectar?
It's a tough question, but I'm here to help.
I'm going to be telling you what's similar about these mattresses, what's different.
I'm going to walk you through why you should get one over the other, so stay tuned.
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Joe: Let's talk about the key similarities between these two mattresses.
Number one, they're just wildly popular.
As far as online mattresses are concerned, these are two of the very most popular mattresses
out there.
Number two, they're both all-foam mattresses.
They also have memory foam somewhere in them.
Nectar has it on the top, and Leesa has it in the second layer.
They also have a very similar base layer, as well.
Now let's talk about the key differences between these two mattresses.
Number one is firmness differences.
I believe that the Leesa is just a little bit firmer than the Nectar.
Martin on my team agrees, so there are firmness differences.
Materials differences, as well.
Leesa has Avena foam, and has it on top, so it's a latex-like foam that is something that
Nectar does not have, that just has more of a memory foam feel.
Just feel overall, if you like the quicksandy, slow-moving feel, that's what the Nectar provides,
versus more of a balanced foam feel from the Leesa.
Let's talk about the construction of the Leesa and Nectar mattress and what the differences
are between the two mattresses.
Starting with the cover, pretty similar covers.
I would say the one big difference is that there's actually gel memory foam quilted into
the Nectar cover, which will add some softness and pressure relief to that mattress.
That's really the big difference there.
Moving on to the mattresses now.
Really, the top layer is where you really want to focus your attention on.
Avena foam is the top layer of the Leesa mattress, versus more memory foam in the Nectar mattress.
That's really going to make the feel quite different.
Avena foam is very bouncy.
It's latex-like.
There are holes poked inside the foam, so it's going to be pretty breathable, as well.
You're not going to really sink in too much because of just the nature of that Avena foam,
whereas Nectar is really just that slow-moving, classic memory foam feel.
You're going to sink into the mattress more with the Nectar, versus sleeping more on the
Leesa.
The base layers are pretty similar, so there are some similarities overall.
Really, the differences come down to the top layer.
There is memory foam in the Leesa, so you're going to get good pressure relief if you're
on your side, that deep-down pressure relief.
But the feel overall is going to be more of a balanced foam feel, versus just a true memory
foam for the Nectar.
Let's talk about differences in firmness and feel.
As far as firmness is concerned, I put the Leesa at about a 6.5 out of 10, and the Nectar
a 6 out of 10.
I truly believe that the Leesa is just a little bit firmer than the Nectar is.
Martin on my team will have a different take.
He does agree that the Leesa is firmer versus the Nectar, but he has a different overall
score for each one.
As far as feel is concerned, there are some pretty stark differences.
With Nectar, you get just that slow-moving, quicksandy, memory foam feel.
You'll lie down, and it'll take a while for that memory foam to melt that pressure away.
It'll be a little bit harder to move around, as well.
Whereas the Leesa does have memory foam in it, the Avena foam is the key to that mattress.
It's going to be a breathable foam.
It's going to be very bouncy, as well.
The Nectar has almost no bounce, whereas Leesa has a good bit of bounce because it has that
latex-like layer on top.
The Leesa is more of a balanced foam feel.
It doesn't take four or five seconds like the Nectar does for that memory foam to kick
in.
It's going to be a little bit easier to move around.
It's really just that balanced foam feel versus that true memory foam feel.
I'm going to talk through how I feel in different sleeping positions on each mattress.
On my back on the Leesa, I felt very good overall support.
My hips sink in just a little bit, but the rest of the mattress holds me up.
I felt like it was a really good match for me.
On the Nectar, I felt pretty good, as well.
It was pretty good match for me there.
I would probably say that the Leesa provided me a little bit better overall support.
On my side on the Leesa, I felt pretty good pressure relief, just a little bit of pressure
overall on my shoulders and hips.
On the Nectar, I felt like side sleeping is where it really shines.
That memory foam really gets to work and just melted that pressure away after a couple of
seconds.
I felt like the Nectar was probably a better match for me on my side.
Switching onto my stomach now, I think the Leesa is probably the better match for me
here.
I just felt it's a little bit firmer.
Felt a little bit more overall support.
The Nectar was decent, but I think you'd probably want something a little bit firmer, if you
sleep on your stomach.
I've gone over the construction differences and given my subjective opinion about firmness
and feel.
Now I want to give you a very objective test that shows exactly how well each mattress
relieves pressure.
To do that, I have a pressure map.
I get down on my back, side, and stomach, and you see anywhere from blue to no pressure,
all the way up to red to high pressure.
What really matters is the side sleeping results.
In this particular case, you can see that the Nectar has just a slight advantage as
far as pressure relief is concerned.
I think that makes sense to me.
I classify that Nectar as a softer mattress.
I think memory foam being on top, versus in the second layer, memory foam is very good
at relieving pressure.
I think that's why Nectar has just a little bit of an advantage, as far as pressure relief
is concerned.
Martin: Hey, guys.
Martin here to offer a different perspective.
Joe is 5'9", 160.
I'm 6'7", 230.
I have a different body type.
Wanted to give you my experience on these two mattresses.
Today we have the Nectar, and we have the Leesa.
In terms of firmness for the Nectar, I said it was a 6 out of 10, for the Leesa I said
it was a 7.5 out of 10.
Now, Joe and I had different experiences.
However, we did agree that the Nectar is the softer of the two mattresses.
Let's talk through how I felt in different sleeping positions.
On the Nectar here, on my back, really good overall support.
I felt the foam pressing up into my lumbar area gave me good support overall.
Then, on my side, good pressure relief, a little bit of pressure on my shoulder and
my hips, but it did soften up after a bit.
On my stomach, though, I definitely needed more support.
I was bowing in at my hips.
They were getting out of alignment.
Moving over to the Leesa here, on my back, also good support on my back.
On my side, a little bit more pressure on my shoulder and my hips.
On my stomach, I still needed more support in that position.
I'm also bowing in at my hips, getting out of alignment.
What does that mean?
If you are a side sleeper, they're good on both.
However, I think I felt a little better pressure relief on the Nectar.
Back sleepers, about even for me on both.
I think if you're a back sleeper and my size, either one would be good for you.
However, if you're a stomach sleeper, I don't think either would work for you.
You probably need a firmer mattress overall.
Joe: If you sleep with a partner, there is two additional things you're going to want
to consider when looking at a mattress.
That's motion transfer and edge support.
Motion transfer is if your partner is moving around on that side of the bed, is that motion
going to be isolated, or is it going to transfer all the way over to you and maybe wake you
up at night.
Edge support is basically can you sit on the edge of the bed without falling off.
Can you sleep towards the edge of the bed without getting that feeling of falling off,
as well?
This particular case, as far as motion transfer is concerned, I would probably give Nectar
a little bit of an advantage.
It has memory foam on top, which is well known for doing well in this area.
As far as edge support is concerned, I'd probably give Leesa the advantage.
It's a little bit firmer and just in my experience, the edge support is a little bit better.
Nectar a little bit better with motion transfer, and Leesa a little bit better with edge support.
Now let's talk about what everyone wants to know.
Should you get the Leesa over the Nectar, or should you get the Nectar over the Leesa?
As far as who should go for the Nectar, it is a little bit softer than the Leesa.
If you're just looking for something that's a little bit softer, this is the softer of
the two, so you might want to go for the Nectar.
Also, it did a little bit better as far as pressure relief on our pressure map testing
on the side.
I think it may be more appropriate for side sleeping.
It's a very classic memory foam feel.
If you've had success memory foam in the past, you want to sink into your mattress more rather
than sleep on it, the Nectar might be the right choice for you.
As far as who should go for the Leesa, I think back and stomach sleepers might find this
to be a better match.
It's a little bit firmer.
Just for me, I felt better overall support on my back and stomach.
Also, if you're just looking for a little bit bouncier of a sleeping surface, this is
definitely the better choice.
If you're just looking for a balanced foam feel, you don't want to sink into the mattress,
you'd rather sleep on top of the mattress while still getting pretty good pressure relief,
the Leesa might be the better choice.
To wrap up, these are two very popular mattresses for very good reasons.
I think the differences are pretty clear.
Just understand the type of feel that you want and the exact type of firmness that you
want, as well.
If things still aren't clear, you can leave a comment below and I can give you personal
recommendation, as well.
If you're just getting started with your research, definitely check out mattressclarity.com.
If you want to see a list of our top picks, you can simply Google, "Mattress clarity best
mattress."
Let me know, once again, if you have any questions.