Sealy Posturepedic Carver Review

In This Review
Performance Tests | Firmness | Support & Sleeping Positions | Design | Materials | Comparisons | FAQs

At NapLab, we put each mattress to the test.

We test 10 different factors that impact the performance, comfort, and value of the mattress. We then take the results of that test and compare to every mattress we’ve tested to date.

Check out the full performance table below to see how this mattress ranks:

Factor	Sealy Posturepedic Carver	Average
Overall	8.81	9.49
Price	$699	$1,326 (Coil only)
Cooling	8.5	9.4
Max Sinkage	1.30″	2.16″
Total Motion Transfer	13.15 m/s²	8.55 m/s²
Response Time	0.3 sec.	0.4 sec.
Total Bounce	12.90″	9.59″
Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage	2.75″	4.09″
Mattress Thickness	11.0″ or 13.5″	12.0″
Sex Overall	9.7	9.6
Comfort Material	3.0″	4.2″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Strong	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	11 days	5 days
Trial	365 nights	162 nights
Warranty	10 years	25% have lifetime warranties, average of other 75% of mattresses is 14 years

How is Sealy Posturepedic Carver Different?

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has lower overall performance than average, but also a price point that is below average—48% less than the average coil mattress.

Advantages

Beyond the price, other advantages of this mattress include a fast material response time and better-than-average edge support. It also has the benefit of two optional thicknesses, 11″ (firm version) or 13.5″ (plush version). This can be nice if you’re looking for a higher profile mattress.

Neutral Factors

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has less sinkage than average and also 34% more bounce than average. Both sinkage and bounce are within a reasonable level, but you’ll want to make sure you are specifically looking for high bounce for this to be a good option.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages are numerous on the Sealy Carver, including worse cooling performance, 53% more motion transfer than the average mattress, and strong / long off-gassing period.

This mattress has less comfort material than average (only 3.0″). During our tests, we found overall pressure relief to be very poor. The Carver earned the spot as the worst pressure relief of any mattress we have tested to date.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has fair cooling performance. During our tests, I felt a moderate level of warming on my body.

• Baseline Temperature – the temperature of the mattress before anyone lies on it
• Maximum Temperature (0 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after lying on it for 15 minutes
• Ending Temperature (5 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after being lied upon and having no one on it for 5 minutes

While the mattress does utilize an innerspring layer, which helps in that there is simply less material in which heat could be retained, it also has 3.0” of foam within the comfort layer.

In my view, the foams are low quality and retain a notable level of heat retention, keeping the mattress surface warmer.

Heat Dissipation Over Time

During our objective temperature tests, we measured a max surface level temperature of 90.0°F, which is 0.46° warmer than average.

The Sealy Posturepedic contains no significant cooling materials, features, or design elements that would help to reduce the temperature. As a result, the overall cooling performance of the Carver leaves much to be desired.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has an extremely minimal level of sinkage. During our tests, we measured a pressure point sinkage depth of 1.30”.

This is 0.86” less sinkage than the average of 2.16”.

The level of sinkage is documented in the image below.

This is the 2nd least sinkage we’ve measured out of the 197 mattresses we’ve tested to date. The extremely minimal sinkage creates a significant floating feel on the mattress.

There is virtually no body hug and no body contour. The Carver has an extra firm feel that is not significantly different from lying on a carpeted floor with only a thick blanket between you and the floor.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has a high level of motion transfer. In our tests, we measured a total acceleration range of 13.15 m/s². This is 53.8% more motion transfer than the average of 8.55 m/s².

The level of motion transfer is also documented in the video below.

The extra firm feel, innerspring coil unit, lower quality foam, and a relatively minimal level of foam (only 3.0”) are all contributing factors that are increasing the motion transfer.

In our motion transfer chart, which visualizes our accelerometer data, we see the highest motion from 0 to 0.14 seconds. However, we see a secondary motion spike from 0.50 to 0.71 seconds and a tertiary spike from 0.93 to 1.16 seconds.

It’s not until 1.23 seconds that we return to near-zero levels of energy. The motion peaks, multiple motion spikes, and lengthy duration of motion all tell the same story, the Posturepedic Carver has a high level of motion transfer.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has a very fast material response time. In our tests, we measured a mostly recovered response time of 0.3 seconds and a fully recovered response time of 0.5 seconds.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

Both of these are notably faster than average, being 0.11 and 0.37 seconds faster, respectively.

The minimal level of foam, use of poly foam, as opposed to memory foam, innerspring coil unit, and extra firm feel are all factors that contribute to the fast material responsiveness. While there are many performance areas that the Carver is lacking, material response speed is one of the few bright spots.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has a very high level of bounce. In our tests, we measured a total bounce height of 12.90”. This is 3.31” more bounce than the average of 9.59”.

As with response time, the extra firm feel, minimal foam, and innerspring unit are the major contributing factors that deliver a very high level of bounce. Materials with a soft feel and more foam will serve to absorb and disperse energy, creating less bounce.

The level of bounce is also documented in the video below.

The Carver instead has a high level of material spring back and very little compression, which results in the high bounce we measured.

At 12.90” of bounce the Carver has more bounce than I generally consider to be ideal. The higher bounces will help to improve sex and ease of movement, but it has a tremendously negative impact on the motion transfer.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has outstanding edge support for sitting and excellent edge support for lying. In our sitting edge support tests, we measured a sitting sinkage compression of 2.75”.

The level of edge support while seated is documented in the images below.

This is 1.34” less sitting sinkage than the average of 4.09”. When sitting directly on the edge of the mattress the Carver creates ample support and there is no sensation of material collapse.

Lying edge support is nearly as good. In our lying edge support tests, I felt well-supported in all sleeping positions.

The level of edge support while lying is documented in the images below.

The extra firm feel is likely the most significant factor contributing to the strong sitting edge support. In addition, the mattress is equipped with reinforced edge support coils, which are also likely having a positive impact.

When it comes to sex the Sealy Posturepedic does far more right than it does wrong. The very high level of bounce at 12.90” and exceptionally good edge support carry the score. These two factors account for 80% of our sex performance score.

That said, pressure relief and cooling leave much to be desired. While the mattress creates plenty of bounce back to help keep sex partners in rhythm, it also just isn’t tremendously comfortable. As a result, some may find the level of firmness is simply too severe to be a comfortable location for the dance without pants.

How Do We Determine Sex Score?

The best mattresses for sex have high bounce, good edge support, quiet materials, and good pressure relief and cooling.

These 5 factors make up the NapLab sex performance score.

Sex Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Rating
Bounce	65%	10	Extremely High
Edge Support	20%	10	Outstanding
Noise	5%	8.0	Moderate
Pressure Relief	5%	4.0	Terrible
Cooling	5%	7.0	Fair

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has a terrible level of pressure relief. In our tests, I felt significant pressure points build up along my body.

This is among the most uncomfortable mattresses I have tested in my 10-year mattress testing career.

Often, firm mattresses struggle to deliver a balanced combination of firmer feel and sufficient pressure relief. The Carver goes well beyond just “struggling” and completely fails to deliver any notable level of pressure relief or comfort to the body.

The mattress has an extra firm feel with a very thin 0.5” quilted cover atop a 2.5” poly foam comfort layer. While 3.0” of comfort material may be acceptable in cases where the foams are of higher quality, we don’t see that here. Quite the opposite.

The Posturepedic Carver uses seemingly the same white poly foam that we saw in our tests of the Sealy Posturepedic Plus Ridgecrest II and Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid, both of which also struggled with pressure relief.

This foam feels incredibly low quality and if I may be blunt, cheap. It has a noticeable “crunchiness” to it.

We sometimes see this type of foam performance with mattresses that are old and at the end of their serviceable life. To see a foam exhibiting these qualities on day 1 is frankly alarming.

Overall, I am extremely disappointed with the pressure relief dynamic provided by the Sealy Posturepedic Carver. 

Off-gassing on the Sealy Posturepedic Carver is strong. It took 11 days to fully off-gas. For comparison, the average off-gassing period is 5 days so this is over 2X the length of time.

This mattress ships uncompressed so the strong off-gassing odor is a bit of a surprise. That being said, compression isn’t the only reason mattresses smell when unboxed.

Mattresses that use lower-quality foams tend to have stronger off-gassing that lasts longer as well.

Sealy mattresses typically come with a 90-night trial period and a 10-year warranty. Shipping is free, but if the mattress ends up not working out, returns cost $175.

But the Sealy Posturepedic Carver is sold and distributed by Costco warehouses. At Costco, the terms are more favorable, offering essentially a lifetime trial period. At any point you can return the mattress for a full refund, assuming the mattress is in good condition without any rips or tears.

For reference, the average trial period is 163 nights and the average warranty is 14 years (excluding 25% of mattresses that offer lifetime warranties).

How Do We Determine Company Score?

The company score takes a look at factors that may influence your experience with the mattress.

Factors include length of the trial period, warranty, shipping / return costs, and country of origin.

Company Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Data
Trial Period	15%	10	365 nights
Warranty	10%	8.0	10 years
Shipping	5%	10	$0
Returns	20%	10	$0
Trust	50%	4.0	Terrible
Country of Origin	0%		USA

Notably, these terms are more reflective of Costco than Sealy, since it’s Coscto that’s handling the trial, shipping, and returns.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver is available in two firmness levels—plush and firm. We tested the firm version and found the firmness to be a 9 out of 10 (where 10 is the most firm). This gives it what we would describe as an “extra firm” feel. It is among the most firm mattresses we’ve ever tested.

Based on the materials, construction, and quality of the firm, we estimate the plush version of this mattress to be around a 6 out of 10 with a medium-firm feel.

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has a complex support dynamic. In our tests, I found the mattress to be supportive. However, it’s so incredibly uncomfortable that it creates significant pressure point issues.

These pressure point issues prevent sleepers from lying comfortably in the same position. More simply put, your bedroom floor is supportive, but it’s also not comfortable and not something you want to sleep on.

The Posturepedic Carver’s comfort and support dynamic isn’t that far from the floor. To feel well supported on the Carver mattress you must prefer an extra firm feel with a mattress that creates a “floating” feel. If you would find lying on the floor with only a thick blanket between you and the floor then you may find the Carver to your liking.

That said, in my view, this mattress is so uncomfortable that it will be hard for most sleepers to feel well-supported.

To be fair, we only tested the firm version. The plush version of the Posturepedic Carver may have a more balanced level of support.

Firm Version

Check out the table below to see the sleeper weights and sleeping positions that would be best suited for this mattress.

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleepers	Side Sleepers	Back Sleepers
Under 150 lbs.	Maybe	No	Maybe
150-250 lbs.	Maybe	No	Maybe
250-300 lbs.	Maybe	No	Maybe

Plush Version

Normally, here we would provide a support table for the plush version based on our estimations of performance. However, given the extreme feel of the firm version we are hesitant to do so, as I just don’t have much confidence in the support dynamic for the firm version and by extension, the soft version either.

Design

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver is a coil mattress with a thickness of 11″ (firm version) or 13.5″ (plush version). It is available in two different firmness levels—Plush or Firm. The “Plush” is more of a medium-firm (6 out of 10) and the “Firm” has an extra firm feel (9 out of 10).

Materials

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver has four layers, including the cover. From top to bottom, the layers are listed below.

• 0.5” quilted cover
• 2.5” poly foam
• 7.0” innerspring unit
• 1.0” support foam

The Cover

The cover of the Sealy Posturepedic Carver is a 0.5″ quilted cover. This is a bit thinner than other quilted covers we’ve seen, but not as thin as other covers.

The Comfort Layer

The comfort layer is a 2.5″ poly foam directly below the quilted cover. It’s not exactly ideal to have only 2.5″ of comfort material above an innerspring unit, but that’s all we see on the Posturepedic Carver.

The Support Layer

The support layer on the Carver is a traditional innerspring unit, much like the one we see on the Sealy Posturepedic Hybrid.

The queen-size Carver mattress has 911 coils and the king-size Carver mattress has 1,117 coils.

Product Evolution

The Sealy Posturepedic Carver mattress is a deviation of the original Posturepedic lineup, developed directly from Sealy.

Sealy manufactures the Posturepedic Plus RidgeCrest II as well as the Posturepedic Carver. Both mattresses are available exclusively from Costco and are variants on the parent Posturepedic and Posturepdic Plus.

Overall performance on the Sealy Posturepedic Carver was 7.01 and the performance score on the Sealy Posturepedic RidgeCrest II was 7.60.

For reference, the Original Sealy Posturepedic Plus mattress was first released by Sealy in 2019 as a hybrid. There have been no major changes to the mattress since its initial launch.

Other Mattresses to Consider

Not sure if the Sealy Posturepedic Carver is the right pick for you? Check out these three other top-rated hybrid mattresses for high-performing alternatives you may want to consider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Check out some of the top FAQs on the Sealy Posturepedic Carver mattress below and get the answers you’re looking for.