Sealy Posturepedic Response Performance Santa Paula IV Cushion Firm

• Review
• Specs
• Comments

The time has come to buy a new mattress. This can be exciting, but you don’t want to make your final decision in haste. This is a product that will be responsible for making a huge impact on your quality of life for the next several years. The great news is that, using the online business model, you can save time while exploring far more options than traditional shopping allowed.

We’re here to help you make an informed decision. I recently had the chance to take the Sealy Posturepedic Response Performance Santa Paula IV Cushion firm mattress for a spin, and I think it offers pretty good overall value for a mattress under $1,000.

Sealy offers white glove delivery, so there’s no need to go through unboxing and setup. They’ll even remove your old mattress, so this makes things convenient. I found that, since the mattress is never compressed and put in a box, offgassing clears off pretty quickly. I’ve been using this product for the past several weeks. As a part of our complete review, we’ll be taking a look at:

• Firmness
• Durability
• Cooling capability
• Edge support
• Layer construction
• And a whole lot more!

Santa Paula IV Plush Specs Sheet

Offgassing – Cleared off within the day of delivery

Firmness Level (Scale of 1-10) – 4.8

Trial Period – 120 nights

Warranty – 10 years

Experience You Can Count On

There are so many new mattress companies popping up. Since the introduction of the bed-in-a-box model, this has made it easier than ever to get mattresses from the factory into the homes of people who need them. However, new companies have less time in research and development. This puts limitations on the spectrum of customers they can accommodate.

Sealy has been in the business since 1889. It was at this time that Daniel Haynes, a cotton gin builder in Sealy, TX, began creating cotton-filled sleep products for his friends and family. They were so happy with the results that word spread. Soon, Haynes was in business. By 1952, the company had developed innovative Posturepedic Technology that’s still in use today. When it comes to experience in the mattress industry, Sealy’s got as much as you can ask for.

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An Inside Look at the Santa Paula IV Cushion Firm Mattress

Let’s start by taking a look inside the mattress to get a feel for how it works. It’s split up into three primary sections that we’ll look at one at a time.

The Cover

The comfort loft cover is made of soft knit fabric with durable spun yarns. This provides a plush feel next to your body, an important aspect on a firm mattress to ensure you enjoy comfort while maintaining that harder sleep surface. The FlameGuard AirLoft Fiber helps protect you against fire hazards.

Comfort Zone

Beneath the cover, the comfort zone kicks off with a two inch layer of Sealy Cushion Air Foam that offers your first line of contour and breathability. The foam is convoluted, and this is noted in its egg carton shape. You can see how this allows for ease in air flow with the peaks and valleys. It also allows for a degree of softness and comfort which can be difficult to combine with a firm product.

The next half inch layer of SealyCool Gel Foam incorporates Posturepedic technology to boost support to the lower back and enhance durability. It’s followed by a three inch layer of SealySupport Firm Foam that acts as a solid foundational comfort material and, along with the expertly designed coil system, provides you comfort that’s firm without compromising on contour.

Since the support system is a coil unit, it’s important to ensure there’s a proper buffer in place, and these three materials work to provide different types of comfort.

Support System

We now move into the Comfort Back Support System. This area of the mattress was made to distribute and stabilize body weight and maintain proper spinal alignment, and it starts with a 5 ½ inch individually-wrapped coil unit to supply good contour and deep compression support.

Sealy’s exclusive coil design does a good job at balancing comfort and support for a good night’s rest.

The final one inch layer is composed of Sealy’s Support Foam. The mattress is a total of 12 inches thick and is firm and supportive to create a solid feel.

 

Mattress Performance

A firm mattress isn’t for everyone. If you don’t carry much weight, for example, you won’t be able to exert enough pressure to effectively engage with the comfort layers. That being said, firm mattresses are ideal for people who carry more weight or suffer with back problems since the bones absorb most of the force, thus putting less strain on your muscles. It can also prove to be a good option for stomach sleepers.

When you lie on it, you get the feeling you’re floating on your sleep surface. You can feel the comfort foams at work offering a slight degree of hug while maintaining a firm sleep surface. The Sealy Posturepedic Response Performance does a great job at offering full-body support with ease of movement. You really do get a sleep-on-top feeling.

It’s good to know that, if you’re switching over from a plusher mattress, you may find the Santa Paula firm mattress to be a little uncomfortable at first, but many people find they get used to it and end up developing a preference for this firmness level. If you meet the criteria for someone who would fare well with a firm mattress, definitely give it a chance to get used to. Sealy does allow you 120 nights to try it out.

Firmness and Sinkage Expectations

We’ve pretty well established that this is a firm mattress, but just how firm? On a scale of 1-10 with one being very firm and 10 be very soft, this product is rated a four. If you enjoy a firm overall feel with some cushioning for softer initial impact, then you’ll feel most satisfied on a mattress with a rating of three or four.

On a standard medium mattress, I sink in right about 6 ½ inches when I stand upright. You can see on this mattress, I sink in 6 inches in the middle and 5 inches on the top and bottom. The firmest mattress I’ve tried out only sunk in 4 ½ inches, so you can see this product is pretty firm.

The reason for the deeper sinkage in the middle is the Exclusive Posturepedic Technology. It works to allow for more give in the heavier areas of the body, and this is typically in the hips. 

It’s interesting to note that the firmness is found primarily in the foams and not the innerspring unit.

Coil gauge typically ranges between 12-15 with a higher number being more plush. The coil gauge on this product is 14. This shows how the coil unit works well to provide the bounce that’s often missing with very firm foams.

Motion Transfer Reduction

If you’ll be sharing your mattress with a sleep partner, you’ll want to get an idea of how well it does with motion transfer reduction. We saw how well this mattress does with bounce, and this is encouraging in terms of aid in mobility. However, it can be discouraging when considering motion isolation.

The good news is that the coil unit is composed of individual coils. This means impact made in one area won’t have a direct impact on other areas. Furthermore, the use of the firm foams helps absorb motion before it has a chance to reach your sleep partner.

If you watch our video review above, you can see the minimal disruption a 20 pound medicine ball has on another of the same size when dropped next to it.

It can be tricky to come up with a layer combination that offers bounce while reducing motion transfer, and I think Sealy did a great job getting it right. If you have a sleep partner, I think you’ll be satisfied with the Santa Paula firm mattresses ability to keep motion isolated to the point of impact.

Fantastic Results in Heat Transfer Testing

Sleeping cool is important. Your body temperature needs to be capable of dropping slightly in order to enter REM sleep. If you sleep hot, you’re going to be very pleased with our thermal testing results.

For every mattress I test out, I lie on it for 30 minutes and then watch with my thermal camera as it cools back down to a room temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit. On average, this process takes about 10 minutes. In the case of the Sealy Santa Paula firm mattress, it only took five minutes, which is half the time an average mattress takes.

There are three main reasons the product does so well in heat transfer:

• Coil unit breathes well by design
• Convoluted foam breathes well by design
• Gel foam is specifically designed with heat transfer in mind

If you’ve had trouble in the past with hot sleeping, you’ll definitely want to put the Sealy Santa Paula firm mattress on your list of top contenders.

Edge Support

Edge support is an important aspect to consider if you sit on the edge of your mattress often. It also comes in handy for those who have trouble getting in and out of bed.

You’re typically pretty well covered in this area when you count on an innerspring unit, and you can see how well the Sealy Santa Paula firm mattress does at keeping me supported both sitting and lying on the edge. I’m even well supported sitting on the corner, an area where all-foam mattresses usually lack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from the innerspring unit, the solid support is also attributed to the SolidEdge HD Foam Encasement. This is a foam-encased edge system that works to reinforce good edge support and provide a better seating edge and expanded sleep surface. I think this can be a great option for people who have trouble with mobility.

Durability Expectations

Let’s take a moment to talk about durability. Unfortunately, the densities of the foams are proprietary, so we aren’t able to break this product down layer-by-layer to get this type of overview.

However, we do know the coil count. In a queen innerspring mattress, good durability can be expected with a count of 800 or more. In the Sealy Santa Paula Firm, we find 638. While this is less than ideal, you don’t run into significant issues until you get below four hundred. There are a couple other durability concerns that I discovered during my review process that I felt were worth sharing:

• I ran across several reports of the development of indentations sooner than expected.
• I reached out to Sealy to see if they’d be willing to share their densities with us as well as inquire how the Posturepedic technology helps aid in durability. I had also noticed on their site that they say “firmer supportive foam used in all layers creates a solid feel and enhances durability.” I inquired what this means since firmness doesn’t impact durability. This was two months ago, and I even followed up during this waiting period. All they said is that my questions had been forwarded to their legal department.

Overall, I think the price reflects the quality you get. It’s hard to find a queen mattress under $500. Furthermore, the foam-encased edge system adds to durability, especially in the comfort layers where most wear and tear takes place. For the cost, I think durability expectations are pretty well aligned.

Maintenance, Protection, Care and Warranty

Many of the newer mattress companies are focused on providing a sleep product that works for the majority of customers, and understandably so. It takes years of development to create a new mattress, and companies want to gain as much of the market as possible before they start working on new designs to appeal to more specific demographics.

However, when you’re dealing with a company that’s been in the business since 1881 one like Sealy, you can rest assured they’ve had more than enough time to try out a variety of options to cater toward specific needs. If you think this will work for you, here’s some information that’s good to know:

Cost

I think this could be a great option if you’re looking for a firm queen product under $500. The Sealy Santa Paula line is designed to provide great value while still featuring qualities like CertiPUR-US certified foams, a solid support system, and Posturepedic technology. If you need to keep costs low, this could be a great solution

• Twin XL- $449
• Twin- $489
• Full- $489
• Queen- $499
• King- $749
• California King- $749

You may want to read: Why Are Hotel Beds So Comfortable?

Sealy Santa Paula IV Cushion Firm Reviews and Feedback

Sealy attempts to cater toward a more specific demographic with their Santa Paula line. We recently tried out the plush version, and I like that they also offer firm. Unlike companies that focus on the creation of medium products, Sealy appeals to people with needs like:

• Heavy weight
• Low weight
• Back sleeping
• Stomach sleeping

I really enjoyed the ability of this product to sleep cool, and I think you’ll appreciate the ease in mobility this mattress offers. To ensure you get a well-rounded understanding of what this product brings to the table, here’s what other people have had to say about their experience:

PROS

• Excellent for people who prefer back sleeping
• Company has experience you can rely on
• White glove delivery and mattress removal adds convenience
• Sleeps very cool
• Good motion transfer without compromising on bounce

CONS

• May struggle with pressure points if you carry a lot of weight and sleep on your side
• Some complaints of early sagging
• Complaints of the development of impressions that fall just shy of the 1 ½ inches covered in the warranty
• Some complaints of the degradation of support in middle of the mattress over time
• Some complaints the mattress isn’t as firm as expected

You may want to read: Sealy Double Sided Pillowtop

Who We Recommend the Santa Paula IV Cushion Firm For

I think you’ll be pleased with the combination of bounce and motion isolation Sealy was able to achieve, and this product did phenomenally when it came to our heat transfer testing. It is compatible with an adjustable base, and I think you’ll find it very easy to move around considering the excellent edge support and response.

If you’re looking for a supportive, firm sleeping solution on a budget, then you’ll want to add the Santa Paula firm mattress to your list. It can also be a good fit if:

• You have a sleep partner with different preferences than you and you are willing to compromise with a slight lean toward firm
• You like to sleep on your stomach
• You’re on a budget of less than $1,000
• Offgassing bothers you
• You find value in white glove delivery and have an old mattress to dispose of
• You like it firm, but not too firm

Our Final Verdict

Overall, I think the Sealy Posturepedic Response Performance Santa Paula Cushion Firm mattress is a great option for stomach sleepers, people who carry a lot of weight, those who sleep hot, and those looking for a good queen mattress under $500.

If you prefer a firm mattress but don’t want to feel like you’re sleeping on the floor, I think you’ll really like what you get. Each foam in the comfort zone is CertiPUR-US certified and made using some of the highest quality standards in the industry. You also receive a non-prorated 10 year warranty against manufacturer’s defects, and the 120 night sleep trial allows you plenty of time to decide if the mattress will meet your needs.

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