Hello! It’s been well over a month since this post, but I wanted to update as I have now gotten a chance to sleep on the Nest Bedding Raven Flippable Hybrid Mattress for about 2 ~ 3 weeks (I didn’t want to set up the mattress until I had a bed frame. Unfortunately, that was it’s own dilemma and I ended up just buying something from Amazon, paralysis analysis is very real).
As promised, I wanted to give my overall thoughts on the mattress. Without further delay, here is some of my experience.
Important Stats (Male)
- Height: 5’10" (5 feet, 10 inches)
- Weight: 135 lbs (135 pounds OR 61.23kg)|
- Fitness: Fairly athletic build
- Sleep Style: Combination Sleeper (Stomach Sleeping > Back Sleeping > Side Sleeping) I sleep on my stomach most times, but may wake up on my back, rarely am I sleeping or waking up on my side, but it may happen.
Experience with Nest Raven Mattress
September 2023: First Month
Unboxing
TL;DR: Make your life easy, move the mattress to the desired location first, then carefully cut through the plastic wrapping
I probably made the unboxing experience harder than necessary. When lifted out of the box, the mattress was tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Rather than cut right through the layers of plastic, I decided to unwind the plastic. Took too long, but its alright. After some time, the mattress started to decompress during which I had to lug it to the bed frame and cut off the rest of the plastic wrap there.
Expansion/Off-gassing
TL;DR: Expanded pretty quickly (< 30 minutes), but Nest recommends a few hours for full expansion (go with this metric). No off-gassing smell/odor
Once the mattress started to expand, it was pretty much good to go in less than 30 minutes. I didn’t sleep on it for a few hours afterwards because I wanted to put a mattress protector on first. I don’t remember how long it took to fully expand, but it was definitely not that long, and I did not notice any off-gassing smells as some have mentioned with foam mattresses. I would recommend following Nest’s recommendation on their website for full expansion.
Design/Comfort
TL;DR: My mattress did not have the medium/firm embroidery, but the cover pattern (and feel) will let you know which side is which. In terms of comfort, I found the cover very soft, plush, and inviting.
Design
The Raven is a flippable mattress, so one side is rated for Medium and the other is rated Firm. When unboxed, Nest claims the following on their FAQ for the Raven:
A flippable mattress could be confusing, so we’ve embroidered Medium/Firm at the foot of the mattress to identify which feel is being used easily.
My mattress did not have this embroidery. I’m not sure why, and I didn’t bother to ask since the follow-up sentence did state the following:
You can also look at the cover’s quilted pattern to determine which side is which. The tufted pattern is medium, and the diamond quilted pattern is firm.
This was true for my mattress, so I went with that. Perhaps some people get both, I only got one of the indicators of which side you sleep on.
Comfort/Feel
NOTE: I’ve slept on a (probably no longer sold) Tempurpedic Twin innerspring mattress for most of my life (> 10 years), and the occasional college mattresses, so keep in mind my sensitivity to comfort is probably wildly skewed.
The mattress cover is incredibly soft and plush on both sides. I’ve never felt more comfort from a mattress than I did in that very moment. From then I knew that I would genuinely enjoy sleeping on this mattress. Then reality set in and I realized that I needed to put on the mattress protector to further extend it’s lifespan. I’ll get to that at the very end of this update in the bedding section.
Sleeping (Medium/Firm Side)
NOTE: These comparisons were done sleeping on top of the Nest Wool and Cotton Mattress Protector and Organic Cotton Sateen Sheets. No pillow 
(yet).
Medium (Tested first):
- Short adjustment period (woke up mid-sleep a few nights in first week)
- Sleep was more consistent by week 2
- Not comfortable/supportive for sitting/working in-bed due to mild sinking
- Comfortable for back and stomach sleep positions when I slept and woke up
Firm (Tested second):
- Quick adjustment period (likely due to overall adjustment to mattress)
- Sleep was very consistent; I slept like a rock (also likely due to overall adjustment to mattress)
- Much more supportive of sitting/working in bed (less sinking)
- Surprisingly comfortable for stomach sleeping which is my primary sleep position
- Side and back sleeping was also very comfortable and supportive
Both (Medium & Firm):
- Incredible edge support on the left/right side
- Awful edge support at the foot of the mattress
- Cover is very comfortable, breathable, and soft
Bedding (Sheets/Protectors):
Wool & Cotton Mattress Protector
TL;DR: Removing it might yield more comfort, but even with it, I still found the mattress very comfortable, breathable, temperature regulated, and of course, well protected.
Surprisingly very comfortable, cooling, and breathable. I was pleasantly surprised as I would arrive on a nice and cool bed, but quickly transitioned to a warm/inviting bed. This protector was easy to put on, very comfortable, and is also water-proof (dumped some water on it to test before first wash). I haven’t tested the dust mite resistance (and I pray I never have to), but overall the comfort here was incredible, and much better than I expected. I didn’t find any issues with plastic/crunching sounds.
Organic Cotton Sateen Sheets
TL;DR: Not mandatory for a great sleeping experience, but they look and feel good. Came with 4 envelope pillowcases and the color is nice and neutral.
The sheets were amazingly breathable and had a mild sheen to it (as expected of Sateen). It’s not going to get you the same sheen as silk sheets, but still looks very nice and very breathable. Made for a great sleeping experience in my opinion, but you don’t have to buy these sheets to achieve peak comfort with this mattress. For some time, I just slept on the mattress protector and I was just as comfortable.
Cooling Cotton Mattress Protector (Encasement)
- TBA currently not using it.
First thoughts here. After I washed these, I wasn’t super excited to put them on for a few reasons:
- The material didn’t feel as comfortable as the Wool & Cotton protector
- In comparison to the Wool & Cotton, it also feels quite thin
- I couldn’t figure out how to get the encasement on.. and I was too tired, so I said I’d circle back to it (Spoiler: I haven’t yet).
- I haven’t tested how waterproof/protective it is is yet, but I assume it should be fine since it uses the same material as the Wool & Cotton, plus its an encasement
Conclusion
If you got this far, I hope this has been somewhat helpful or entertaining. I probably won’t update for a while again, but if I do (I doubt I’ll discover anything new), I’ll update this thread. I will try out the Medium and Firm for an entire month as well and update at the end of the year in December.
- October: Medium
- November: Firm
- December: Review and decide on favorite
If you have recommendations for the following, I would really appreciate it. Ciao/Adios!
- Finding a good comforter and/or duvet cover set
- Finding good Latex pillows to try for the first time