Much like a lot of products you purchase for personal use, hunting for a mattress is a test of how well you know your preferences. Just because someone you know likes a particular model, doesn’t mean it would be right for you, because people are different. For example, your neighbor might sleep in a different position compared to you, or their body weight may drastically differ, or they may have latex allergies that stopped them from buying a different product that they were originally considering. It’s not an easy choice to make, because there are many factors in play, and most of them are unique to you.
Still, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t objective qualities to evaluate and document when it comes to mattresses and bedding products overall. If a model is poorly constructed, it will have negative consequences for anyone who chooses (or is forced) to use it. It is only after the product passes strict but straightforward performance examinations that you can apply your subjective preferences and other criteria. However, with so many options on the market, choosing a mattress can be a nightmarish process – and that’s where we come in.
This article, along with similar ones on our website, aims to explain what makes a specific mattress good, even if that quality is meant for a niche demographic. Our goal is to make your decision-making process easier by helping you identify the qualities you’re looking for in your ideal model. In this case, we will be looking at the Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Hybrid mattress and examining how well it performs in many important ways. These properties will be examined one by one, to eliminate any potential confusion. By the end of this article, you will know exactly how well it fits your specific needs, and whether it’s worth investing in. Without further ado:
Information About the Manufacturer, Price, and Shipping
Headquartered in Albany, California, Nest Bedding have been in the bedding equipment business since around 2011. Something is interesting about the period between 2010 and 2012 when it comes to mattresses, and it isn’t obvious to the inexperienced. You see, mattress warranties and life expectancies range from around 6-10 years depending on price and overall quality. Nest Bedding company is just old enough that the durability of their products can be tested – younger companies operate on trust until their models can be thoroughly examined after enough time passes.
Aside from making quality products, they are known for having excellent customer service. Over 70% of their clients report having a positive experience dealing with the company. When you consider the stereotypical customer support nightmares we sometimes have to endure with other services and products, this is quite a feat. As a result, their reputation in the mattress circles keeps growing.
The price of a mattress isn’t a direct measure of performance, but it’s often a useful indicator. If a product is incredibly cheap, it should arouse suspicion, not temptation, because that often means certain costs were cut during production. Maybe they decided to use cheaper materials, or simplify (and worsen) their production process. Caution is always advised if you run into something that’s shockingly cheap. What it all comes down to is finding an offer that is affordable but comes with a safety net when considering quality. Buying from known and reputable brands may be more expensive on average, but you are much more likely to get your money’s worth. In this case, you can expect to see a price tag of around $800-1,500, depending on size. The industry standard is typically the Queen-sized version, and that one will set you back approximately $1,200.
Not many hybrid mattress manufacturers will ship right to your front door, but Nest Bedding manage to do it without noticeable delays. Your product will not need assembly, as it will come in one piece, ready to be used. The mattress is crafted according to your specifications, in a process that takes up to 4 days, and then takes up to a full business week to arrive at your doorstep.
Performance Analysis
When testing a mattress, or planning a purchase, there is no substitute for smart planning and preparation. There are around a dozen things you want to be aware of for each product you’re considering. Every manufacturer worth their salt will grant a trial period of anywhere between 90-120 nights because they know that the best way to know how well a mattress performs is to try it out for yourself. You want to make sure the model is not only well-made and durable but that it fits any number of your personal criteria. Ask yourself questions about how important the following factors are:
Supportive Ability and Comfort
When reading various mattress descriptions, words such as “support” end up being thrown around constantly. What it represents is the ability of your model to relieve pain and pressure from your joints and other important points on the body, as well as distribute your weight in a way that makes it easy to relax and doze off. Have you ever had back problems after waking up? Maybe some (or a lot of) pain in your shoulders, neck or lower back? If you have, then your mattress probably wasn’t able to alleviate enough pressure on those parts of your body.
For example, side sleepers face a unique problem – their entire upper body weight ends up resting on the shoulder they lean on. Their spine also can’t achieve proper alignment without the aid of the bed itself. If these problems aren’t solved, side sleepers end up feeling sore in their shoulders and have trouble functioning during the day and relaxing at night. For this reason, they often have products designed specifically for them.
Fortunately, the Alexander Signature Hybrid mattress provides more than adequate support for every weight category and every major sleeping position and conforms well enough to alleviate lots of pain and pressure without “sticking” to your body. Performance drops off slightly for heavier sleepers and stomach sleepers and is at its worst when those two circumstances are combined. In any other case, the performance is quite good, especially because Nest Bedding offers different firmness options when you place the initial order.
Temperature Neutrality
In almost every scenario, the best mattresses are ones that sleep cool. What does this mean, exactly? When you spend time lying on your bed, it absorbs your body heat, and what happens next depends on the quality of your product. Bad ones will trap that heat inside, slowly heating up throughout the night until your bed feels like an oven, and you wake up sweaty and unable to find a comfortable and cool area to sleep on. This can single-handedly ruin your sleep for a night, and you don’t want that liability if you’ve got important work scheduled for the following day.
Good mattresses will dissipate most if not all of that heat, remaining close to their original temperature and allowing the sleeper to avoid those heat trap moments and sleep comfortably for the entire night. Once summer rolls around, everyone wishes they had the coldest bed possible, so you want to get ready in advance. Two design decisions help this model sleep relatively cool – the innerspring coils that provide most of the structural support allow for better airflow, and the foam is infused with a special cooling gel and copper. These two elements add extra heat dissipation into the mix, surpassing many foam models on the market, which are known for sometimes lackluster temperature neutrality.
Durability and Longevity
How many times have you owned a product that initially performs really well but quickly devolves into a piece of scrap metal (or plastic)? Maybe a blender that was just affordable enough to tempt you into making a commitment that didn’t pay off? The lower your budget is, the more concerned you need to be about a product’s durability. A degraded or broken item serves only to take up space, so you want a mattress that lasts.
The Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Hybrid hasn’t been out for long enough to allow objective and thorough testing to produce conclusive results, but the performance so far has been excellent, so we have no doubts that this model can fulfill the 10-year promise made by the warranty with only minor issues if any. The firmness and stability of the innerspring support core help prevent sagging, although you may see decreased results over time (though not catastrophically so), especially if you’re a heavier sleeper.
Off-Gassing
When cars get discussed, the concept of the “new car smell” gets brought up as something of sentimental value. It signifies the beginning of a long-term partnership between a person and their vehicle. For mattresses, it’s a bit different. You see, when you unpack a new mattress, you will almost always be greeted by a rubbery smell of varying intensity and level of unpleasantness. If you develop a nose for it, it can even serve as a subtle indicator of the product quality you’re dealing with. Bad mattresses will smell much worse than good ones, and the smell will linger for longer. In most cases, the scent disappears after a day or two, if not sooner (sometimes after only 12 hours).
The Alexander Signature Hybrid mattress is made using high-quality materials and thus doesn’t stuff the bedroom with a horrible smell. What you do detect initially disappears after just one day in most cases, so you can easily adjust to your new model and start sleeping comfortably.
Couple Support
Sharing your bed with another person can be frustrating, even if that person is your significant other. They say that all it takes to get sick of a person is to spend enough time living under the same roof, and the bed can often exacerbate that, so you want to make sure you’ve made the correct decision when the time comes. Couples worry about a few more things than single sleepers because their interaction (conscious or otherwise) can directly affect their ability to get proper rest each night. We’ve separated this section into three properties that lovebirds will want to focus on (not counting the size of the mattress) – noise reduction, motion isolation, and responsiveness.
Noise reduction should be the easiest to understand. Almost everyone has had to deal with a creaky, noisy, annoying bed at some point in their life, a bed that turns your every movement into an ear-piercing note that can keep you awake. Now imagine if that movement wasn’t yours, but your partner’s. Every time they leave the bed, get into bed, toss or turn, there’s a chance that a noisy mattress can wake you up. That’s why noise reduction is important – it helps you rest and preserves your sanity. This mattress performs well in this field, although it’s not completely silent.
Motion isolation is similar to noise reduction, except it deals with movements. The worst case scenario you want to prevent is when one of you leaves the bed or performs a similar action, and that movement ripples over to the other side of the bed and disturbs the other person. These things are nobody’s fault, yet they can create tension between the two sleepers. The model we’re looking at today has enough foam in the comfort layers to absorb most of the movement, but don’t expect the mattress to remain completely still.
Finally, we get to responsiveness. This property isn’t so much tied to sleeping as it is to sex. Sexual activity is vital to any healthy relationship, and it’s only natural that a couple would want their bed to facilitate and enhance it. Mattresses that are considered.good for sex often have a certain bounce to them, and enough responsiveness to allow freedom of movement without making one of the two people feel trapped. This hybrid model is quite responsive, and you shouldn’t expect to feel any significant restriction when it comes to movement.
The Verdict
The Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Hybrid Mattress is a very safe pick for a lot of people. Its versatility makes it more tempting than a lot of specialized models on the market, especially if you plan on sharing your bed with someone who might not share your ideal sleeping position or weight category. Everything we know about this product’s performance is average at worst, and excellent at best, so there’s nothing to lose by trying it out for yourself.
Sleep Related
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Michael is a professional writer based in Boston and someone who has always been fascinated with the mysteries of sleep. When he’s not reading about new sleep studies and working on our news section, you can find him playing video games or visiting local comic book stores.
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