According to the ads, the Nolah Mattress is made from a cooler material than memory foam, promises to be more durable than latex, and claims to offer four times more support relief those with aching bones than the competition. The Nolah does not use any viscoelastic chemicals, which means that their version of memory foam doesn’t use body heat to mold to your shape. Nolah refers to their brand of foam as ‘Air Foam’ and they have patented it, just to be safe. Does this mattress live up to the hype and considerable expectations?
Nolah Original Mattress Specs
Free Shipping
120 Night Trial Period
15 Year Warranty
All About Nolah Original Mattress
• Comfort and Feel
When it comes to comfort, this mattress has received mixed reviews. Some consumers say it is perfect, others not so much. A few have complained that the mattress is hard when first taken out of the package. This is probably due to the use of Air Foam instead of memory foam. Since Air Foam doesn’t use your body heat to mold to your shape, it can take a few days to wear in like a good pair of shoes.
Many find that this bed offers particularly strong support to the hips and lower back of side sleepers. In fact, this mattress is widely revered as one of the best for side sleepers. Couples reported that they were not disturbed in the night when their partners moved around and the mattress also scored highly among those who suffer from night sweats (its cooling abilities kept them all sweat-free till morning).
The Nolah mattress also features a Viscose material cover which promises to ‘wick away moisture’ during the night to keep you dry and sweat-free. A good idea in theory, but we happen to know that ‘Viscose Material’ is another term for Rayon. That’s a fairly delicate material that is dry-cleaned only and depending on water density, isn’t particularly durable. Something much worth keeping in mind before taking the plunge.
Comfort And Feel Rating: 4.7/5
• Motion Reduction
In previous reviews, couples who tested this bed were not disturbed by one another during the night. We found that to be true as well. Nolah claims that it’s the combination of their supportive high-resilience foam (which allows a little bounce) and their cooling Nolah Air Foam (which molds to your shape) that makes for such good motion reduction. This mattress is designed to provide extra comfort and support to the body’s pressure points and that design also reduces the amount of movement you are subjected to in your sleep. The near-perfect combination of foams in this bed contains all but the slightest amount of movement and provides almost an individualized sleeping surface for couples/sleep partners.
Motion Reduction Rating: 4.75/5
• Delivery and Set-Up
Delivery of the Nolah mattress is FREE! It arrives compressed and rolled in a manner that simultaneously takes up less space and combats CO2 levels. Shipping generally takes between 8 to 10 business days. Once you receive the mattress, we strongly advise to take it into your bedroom before opening. Remove it from the box using a knife or scissors (taking special care to avoid cutting the fabric of the bed). Once it’s free of the plastic and the box, step back and watch your new mattress expand. Your mattress should fully expand within 24 hours, but you can sleep on it before then.
• Off-Gassing
When you remove the plastic from your Nolah mattress, you may notice that it gives off a slight “new mattress” smell. Off-gassing is standard in new mattresses. A smell is normal and no matter which brand you buy, it will have one (just like new shoes or a new car). In most cases, the smell will either dissipate or become incredibly faint within 12 to 36 hours. Once you cover it with a mattress protector and some fresh sheets, there should be no smell whatsoever. Pretty standard stuff. No cause for concern here.
Off-Gassing Rating: 4.7/5
• Temperature
Nolah mattresses boast a permanently cool temperature, so the company makes plenty of profit from those who sweat at night. Whether or not this mattress scores highly in this category comes down to personal preference. In our experience, the mattress does the job it promises and filters all moisture away from your skin, leaving you perfectly cool and undisturbed for a good nights rest. This is a cool mattress that imitates the feeling of turning over the pillow for the cold side, except that feeling lasts all night long. This is the ideal bed for anyone who regularly suffers from hot flashes during sleep. We have given the mattress a high rating in this category for delivering on its promises, but obviously this mattress won’t be preferable for sleepers who are perpetually cold during the night.
Temperature Rating: 4.7/5
• Edge Support
As a general rule, poly-foam or memory foam mattresses struggle when it comes to edge support. Memory foam mattresses are notoriously bad at preventing sleepers from sliding off the bed, and the Nolah doesn’t fare too much better. Even sitting on the edge of the Nolah might see you sliding off onto the floor. In spite of their high-density layers, the edge support just isn’t there. The fact that the mattress is just 10″ thick is also part of the problem. Nolah also offers a 12″ Signature mattress with dual firmness (firm on one side, medium soft on the other) that has better edge support. So, consider that option if the Nolah mattress intrigues you, but you need strong edge support.
Edge Support Rating: 2.55/5
• Trial and Warranty
Nolah offers a generous 120 night risk-free trial with this mattress. If you sleep on it for a few nights and aren’t impressed, simply send it back. Many companies offer deals such as this one and you can generally gauge the faith a company has in its product by the length of their free trial period. A hundred and twenty days is not to be sniffed at and 20 days longer than the industry standard of a hundred days. However, we feel that since this mattress has the potential to affect your sleeping temperature, a slightly longer trial period is beneficial. Just to be safe.
Nolah also offers an impressive fifteen-year guarantee with their mattresses. If it is damaged in that time they will either repair it or replace it, completely free of charge. This makes the Nolah a pretty solid long term investment.
Trial and Warranty Rating: 4.7/5
Materials
One of the primary reasons that we reviewed the Nolah, along with every other product on this site, is because it utilizes organic, natural, and CertiPUR-US Certified foams. CertiPUR-US is a certification program administered by a not-for-profit organization.
CertiPUR-US certified foams are:
- Made without ozone depleters.
- Made without PBDEs, TDCPP or TCEP (”Tris”) flame retardants.
- Made without mercury, lead, and other heavy metals.
- Made without formaldehyde.
- Made without phthalates regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- Made with Low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) emissions for indoor air quality.
As previously stated, the Nolah mattress sports its own specially engineered version of memory foam that makes it unique. The patented Air Foam that they use in the top two inches of their mattress makes for cooler sleeping and better contouring to your body.
The bottom layer of this mattress is comprised of a seven-inch layer of high-density foam. Nolah is very proud of the fact that this layer is one hundred percent made in America. They also state that it is more durable than regular memory foam and guaranteed to last for years to come. Since this is a fairly new company, we cannot substantiate this claim but the reviews have been uniformly positive.
In the middle, Nolah has placed a one-inch thick layer of supportive high-resilience foam, which definitely different than most mattresses. Normally, the second layer of a memory foam mattress is comprised of gels and latex to provide bounce and push, Not so with Nolah, who use this foam instead and claim it provides a super responsive bounce that won’t wake you up at night.
All of these layers are topped by a natural viscose cover that is soft, wicks away moisture, and keeps sleepers cool and dry all night. Nolah’s combination of proprietary foams and a natural cover combine to make this an excellent mattress that we feel is worth every penny.
Materials Rating: 4.9/5
Customer Reviews
Marty S. says:
“I bought my mattress about 2 months ago. Wasn’t able to use it until now. Being in the box that long didn’t cause any issues. Finally using the mattress, I find it quite comfortable. The first day it was incredibly hard, possibly just because it was still fresh. The next few days it has softened up a bit more and gotten more comfy to sleep on. I’ve noticed that I’ve been sleeping a bit better too. I used to toss and turn a lot while sleeping. I’d wake my self up constantly throughout the night. I’ve noticed I’ve been sleeping longer without as much tossing and turning. The cooling feature of the mattress is neat. If you are just looking to relax without sheets, you can certainly feel the mattress is a bit cooler. It’s nice for cutting down the night sweats. We’ll see how well it fairs against a warm summer around me. Overall I would recommend this mattress.”
Miranda M. says:
“My husband and I are both side sleepers and this bed is extremely comfortable for that. We don’t notice when the other moves around at night/changes sleeping positions. Would highly recommend this bed!”
Stuart Latta says:
“Our first week on Nolah and we love it so far. Before we used to sleep on memory foam, but the problem is that it often becomes too hot so we can’t sleep all night through. We bought the Nolah mattress because the company claims it to be “temperature neutral” so it sleeps cooler than our traditional memory foam. So far we haven’t been disappointed. You can really feel that it doesn’t trap in heat as we are used to from our old memory foam mattress. This feels like a 5-star mattress, but we started with 4 stars until we have slept on it a couple of more weeks. If it continues to sleep cool, we’ll update our review to a full 5 stars.”
Overall Value and Recommendation
The Nolah starts at $549 for a twin-sized mattress, which isn’t too high of a price when measured against the cost of a hybrid of memory foam bed. It is an ideal choice for those who like cool nights sleep undisturbed by their partner/dog/kiddies climbing in.
While the Nolah scores highly for price and temperature, it could use some improvement in its edge support. The Nolah does seem to keep sleepers cool as promised though and offers excellent motion reduction to help all the light sleepers out there. It’s also ranked amongst its customers as a top choice for side sleepers.
The bottom line is that the Nolah offers a fabulous value and room for improvement does not stop this from being a superb product. Finally, I would recommend this product for anyone looking for:
- A comfortable and cool nights sleep.
- Exceptional motion isolation for undisturbed sleep.
- A perfect mattress for side sleepers.
- A great mattress at a great price.
*All prices listed below are before our discount is applied
Overall Rating: 4.72/5