Nolah Original vs. Bear

Sleep plays a crucial role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough of quality and sound night’s sleep can help protect both your physical and mental health, improve the overall quality of your life, and your safety.

A comfortable night’s sleep is especially important for those with an active lifestyle and to help them get enough of it, we have selected the two unique all foam mattresses with special features that we’ll be comparing in today’s review: Nolah Original and Bear. Last updated Dec 2, 2020 @ 4:31 pm

Nolah Original

The Nolah Original mattress is unique in that it delivers the benefits of memory foam without the use of the memory foam. Nolah created their own proprietary foam, Nolah Air Foam, which sleeps cooler than memory foam and is more durable than latex.

Nolah Original mattress

Construction and Materials

The Nolah Original mattress is 10″ thick and made up of 3 layers of proprietary foam:

• 2″ Top Comfort Layer – This layer is 2″ of proprietary cooling Nolah Air Foam designed to provide superior pressure relief and comfort and ensure cooling during sleep. It will contour perfectly to your body without making you feel trapped in foam.
• 1″ Transition Layer – This layer is 1″ of deep supportive high-resilience foam that is stronger and more durable than latex. It provides a healthy and responsive bounce and aids in transitioning motion between the upper and lower layers.
• 7″ Support Layer – This layer is 7″ of high-density breathable base foam that provides durability and stability to the mattress, excellent support as well as deep compression support for the body.

Nolah Original mattress layers

The cover of this mattress is a new snow-white Botanic Origin Tencel cover. It is a sustainable cellulosic cover of botanic origin that has a nice soft textured pattern and feel to it.

Firmness and Support

The Nolah Original is a universal comfort model and it only comes in one firmness option, which we rate at a 6-7 out of 10 (10 being the firmest). It initially may feel a little bit firm, but after a week or two, it totally adapts to your body.

This model is ideal for all sleeping positions as it offers enough give in the top comfort layer to support your shoulders and hips and has necessary firmness if you switch to your back or stomach.

Nolah Original mattress, corner view

Comfort

Although the Nolah Original mattress initially feels rather firm and not as cushioned, as the time passes your body adapts to it and molds to memory foam.

The Air Foam and the other layers in its construction work well together to provide the classic memory foam feeling of body hug and contour without causing you to feel trapped in a mattress.

The layer of high-resilience foam does a good job at supporting your body and providing good responsiveness when changing positions during the night without causing excessive motion transfer.

Sleeping Hot

The Nolah Original does a good job at creating a cool sleeping surface due to the use of the proprietary Nolah Air Foam. It retains a minimal amount of heat which is typical for most all foam mattresses, but it’s nothing too serious to cause sticky, sweaty feeling and deprive you of sleep.

Sinkage and Motion Transfer

With the Nolah Original mattress sinkage and motion transfer are reduced to the minimum. Andrew who is 230 lbs compressed the mattress to a certain degree, but he did not sink all the way down through it and come to rest on its foundation which is often the case with other all foam mattresses.

Nolah Original mattress – profile

Edge support is also good with this mattress as edges don’t compress when sitting or lying near them, and they don’t cause the feeling of rolling off the bed.

Smell / Off-Gassing

The Nolah Original had an average amount of off-gassing when taken out of the box and packaging. This is to be expected due to its all foam nature and the fact that it is delivered wrapped in a plastic package within a box, but any smell that was present dissipated within a few hours.

Customer Service:

• 120 Night Sleep Trial Period
• Lifetime Warranty
• Made in America
• Free Shipping

Price

This model is reasonably priced coming in at $799 for a Queen, which is a good price given the quality materials used in its construction.

Get the Nolah Original Mattress

The Nolah Original is a great all foam mattress built of the proprietary new foam that sleeps cooler than traditional memory foam and offers 4x more pressure relief.

Save $125 on the purchase of the Nolah Original mattress! Use code: MFTALK

Claim Discount Now →

Click here to read the full Nolah mattress review.

Bear

Construction and Materials

The Bear mattress is a 10″ thick memory foam mattress made up of 3 layers of graphite gel-infused memory foam, quick response foam, and core support foam wrapped in a Celliant cover.

• 1″ Top comfort layer – This layer is made of 1″ of graphite-infused memory foam designed to provide cooling and comfort. Graphite-infused memory foam has been shown to be 7 times cooler than traditional memory foam.
• 2.5″ Middle support layer – This layer is made of 2.5″ of quick response foam and provides responsive support and pressure relief. The special proprietary Bear Quick Response Foam used here provides faster responsiveness when changing positions during the night.
• 6.5″ Bottom foundation layer – This layer is made of 6.5″ of core support foam that provides deep compression support and serves as the foundation for the layers above.

The Bear has a cover made of polyester and Celliant. Celliant cooling technology within this cover converts body heat into infrared light, helps with muscle recovery, and ensures a quality sleep, which makes this mattress ideal for athletes and those with an active lifestyle.

Firmness and Support

The Bear mattress is, just like the Nolah Original, a universal comfort mattress coming in at a 7 on the firmness scale (10 being firmest). The combination of graphite gel-infused memory foam and quick response foam in the comfort and support layers provides a somewhat firmer feel, but with time the mattress perfectly adapts to your body.

Andrew as a heavier sleeper than me felt the Bear was on the firmer side, which is often the case for him with many universal comfort memory foam mattresses. This is because he tends to compress through thinner top comfort layers and feel the underlying firmer foundation layers beneath, but I felt it was just right as I generally prefer mattresses with a firmer feel. With the time, however, it totally adapted to our bodies and seemed less firm to Andrew.

Bear mattress queen size

The 10-inch design of this mattress and the combination of different foam layers in its construction provide a good support for various sleep positions. The 3.5″ comfort layer provides enough responsiveness and bounce and works together with the underlying core support layer to prevent you from sinking too much in the mattress, and it is especially good for heavier sleepers like my boyfriend.

Comfort

The graphite gel-infused memory foam, a quick response foam, and overall construction of this mattress provide a comfortable sleep in all sleeping positions.

The mattress quickly responds to changes in position during the night, and like the Nolah Original does not cause the feeling of being stuck in foam typical for most memory foam mattresses.

The Bear mattress also has a good degree of bounce coming from the responsive foam layer used in its construction, which is especially beneficial for late night’s amorous activities of couples.

Bear mattress profile view

Sleeping Hot

The Bear mattress sleeps quite cool due to its use of the graphite gel-infused memory foam known to sleep 7x cooler than a traditional foam. It not only stimulates faster muscle recovery, but also prevents heat retention and creates a cool and comfortable sleep surface that allows continuous and restful sleep.

Sinkage and Motion Transfer

There was an average amount of sinkage with the Bear mattress, but this was mostly due to Andrew’s heavier weight (230 lbs).

When sitting up or near the edge, he compressed the mattress to a certain degree. However, when lying prone on the bed during the night, the mattress did a good job at supporting his body, and it distributed his weight evenly. As a lighter sleeper, I did not sink into the mattress so much.

As for motion transfer, there is a moderate amount of it with the Bear due to the use of the responsive memory foam layer in its construction, but it is nothing too serious to disturb your sleep during the night.

Smell / Off-Gassing

The Bear Mattress has a minimal amount of off-gassing upon opening the box, which is to be expected due to its all foam construction and the nature of its delivery. However, any smell that is present dissipates within a few hours.

Customer Service:

• 100 Night Sleep Trial
• 10 Year Warranty
• Made in America
• No questions asked return policy
• Free Shipping

Price

The Bear is reasonably priced coming in at $850 for a Queen, but you can get it for only $800 with $50 memoryfoamtalk.com coupon. 

Get the Bear Mattress

The Bear is an all foam mattress that focuses on faster muscle recovery and cooling and is targeted to athletes and those who live an active lifestyle.

Save $50 on the purchase of the Bear mattress! Use code: TALK50

Claim Discount Now →

Click here to read the full Bear mattress review.

Nolah Original vs. Bear Mattress Comparison

Below is our comprehensive side-by-side comparison of the Nolah Original vs. Bear mattress.

Which Mattress Is Right for You?

Choose Nolah Original mattress if you like:

• Memory foam feel – As it has been already mentioned, this mattress offers a classic memory foam feel without the actual use of memory foam. The company created their own Nolah Air Foam which sleeps cooler than memory foam and is more durable than latex. It perfectly molds to your body and provides a hug typical for memory foam mattresses without causing you to feel trapped.
• Supportive mattress – The Nolah Original mattress does an excellent job at supporting your body in all sleeping positions. It will not compress too much under your weight, and it will not cause you to sink down to the foundation.
• Sharing your bed – With this mattress, there is almost no motion transfer which means that it is perfect for couples. So, if you plan on sharing your bed with a partner, the Nolah Original mattress may be the right pick for you. It will allow you to move freely around your bed and get in and out of it during the night without disturbing the sleep of your beloved one.

Choose Bear mattress if you like:

• Memory foam feel without the feeling of being trapped – The layer of responsive memory foam within this mattress allows you to change positions during the night, and it does not cause the feeling of being stuck in foam typical for most memory foam mattresses.
• A cool-sleeping mattress – The unique design of this mattress combining the graphite gel-infused memory foam and the Celliant does a good job at regulating temperature and keeping this mattress cool throughout the entire night.
• Leading an active lifestyle – Celliant cooling technology incorporated within the cover of the Bear mattress converts body heat into infrared light, helps with muscle recovery, and ensures a quality sleep, which makes this mattress ideal for athletes and those with an active lifestyle