Eight Sleep Pod 3 cooling mattress cover review: It really works, but we’re not quite sold

Desk of Contents

I used to be prepared to like Eight Sleep’s Pod 3. 

Actually, I used to be offered immediately. I’d heard about utilizing a cooling system to manage your mattress’s temperature from my bodily therapist — who continues to be on crew Eight Sleep after my “meh” expertise — and I used to be enthusiastic about attempting the Pod 3 sleep cowl on my beloved Casper mattress.

Sadly, I discovered myself getting off the hype prepare on the first accessible station, however I’m prepared to concede that simply because the Pod 3 wasn’t proper for me, it would be just right for you.

What’s the Eight Sleep Pod 3 cowl?

Touted because the “final sleep health machine,” the Pod 3 is the most recent era of Eight Sleep’s Pod that brings dynamic cooling know-how into the bed room to offer your final sleep expertise and biometric monitoring. 

The way in which it really works is ridiculously cool. The Pod 3 cowl is, basically, the fanciest mattress cowl you’ll ever see — and it’s loaded with know-how to make thermoregulation a breeze. With temperatures starting from 55 levels Fahrenheit to 110 levels, the Pod 3 makes use of Temperature Autopilot to set the right temperature for you all through the evening as a way to assist optimum sleep. 

Sounds epic, proper? That’s as a result of it’s. Whereas the Eight Sleep companion app affords suggestions on the optimum temperatures for every section of sleep — together with bedtime, deep sleep, REM, and wakeup — you’re in full management. Meaning you may create a very custom-made temperature schedule that matches your private preferences, and, with dual-zone heating and cooling, each you and your companion can set your individual temperature preferences on your aspect of the mattress. 

Past that, the Pod 3 additionally supplies you with a hefty quantity of biometric monitoring. The Pod 3 cowl has discreet sensors that will help you monitor a complete host of metrics together with sleep phases, disturbances, coronary heart fee, coronary heart fee variability, and even respiratory fee…all with no wearable. 

So why didn’t I prefer it? Nicely, I really did prefer it, but it surely was extra of a love-hate relationship than anything.

Establishing the Pod 3 cowl was an absolute nightmare

I’m not afraid to confess once I’ve made a mistake, and I undoubtedly made one when it got here to establishing the Pod 3 cowl as a result of I used to be woefully unprepared for such a herculean feat. The Pod 3 cowl got here in three separate bins which made the journey from the mailroom to my condo a exercise by itself. From there, it solely went downhill.

Your entire technique of establishing the Pod 3 cowl was one frustration after one other. The packaging wasn’t intuitively designed — I couldn’t even get the bulkiest merchandise out of its field — and it rapidly changed any pleasure I had about tackling this challenge with annoyance. And that was solely the bins. 

Putting in the Pod 3 cowl was exhausting. Eight Sleep’s web site marketed the quilt as nearly easy, permitting you to “remodel your sleep in 5 simple steps.” These 5 steps, nonetheless, glossed over the problem of the setup, which — in keeping with the directions — would take round two to 3 hours. First, I slipped the encasement over my mattress. That is basically an ultra-thick fitted sheet, in all probability designed to guard your mattress, however — regardless of being 5-foot-10-inches with a love of weightlifting — I couldn’t get it over the corners of my mattress unassisted. 

Eight Sleep’s web site additionally didn’t point out the three adjustable straps as a part of their Good Match bundle, which concerned sliding the mattress off the body (I undoubtedly cheated and didn’t do this half), hooking two straps to the aspect of the mattress — slipping them beneath the mattress and hooking them on the opposite aspect — and hooking one other strap from the top to the foot of the mattress. From there, it took each my companion and me to zip on the Pod 3 Lively Grid — which was answerable for the thermoregulation and biometric monitoring — and pull the three adjustable straps tight across the mattress.

The subsequent step concerned unboxing and connecting the Pod 3 hub, the mind of the operation, boasting a quad-core CPU in addition to 5Ghz WiFi assist. The hub was somewhat larger than I anticipated however extremely top quality. It solely took a couple of minutes to get every little thing linked utilizing the Eight Sleep companion app, which seems to solely be accessible on iOS, however then I needed to “prime” the Pod 3 cowl twice by filling the water tank within the Hub with a combination of water (Eight Sleep recommends utilizing distilled water) and hydrogen peroxide.

Sleeping on the Pod 3 made me really feel like Goldilocks, however not in a great way

Right here’s the factor. The Pod 3 seems, feels, and works nice, but it surely additionally works somewhat too nice for my style. I used to be thrilled to slide into mattress that first evening, particularly feeling how crisp and funky my sheets had been, however — after following the advice of setting the mattress to a cooler temperature to help in deep sleep — I discovered myself waking up in the course of the evening completely freezing. I rapidly adjusted the temperature and fell asleep once more, but it surely stored occurring.

Each evening, I modified the temperature schedule to one thing new, however I nonetheless discovered myself waking most nights freezing — or often sweating — and I couldn’t appear to search out my “pleased medium” in between. I used to be exhausted and pissed off, and it solely acquired marginally higher the longer I used it. The Eight Sleep app does tout an Autopilot characteristic designed to mechanically modify your physique temperature to cut back wake-ups, but it surely was solely accessible with the 8+ Professional membership. Plus, contemplating the Pod 3 cowl already clocks in at a whopping $2,445, including a $19 monthly cost to get a greater person expertise kinda sucked. 

What I preferred concerning the Pod 3

Whereas this looks as if a harsh evaluation, there have been issues I actually preferred concerning the Pod 3 cowl. The standard of the product itself was stellar, surprisingly so, and it really felt well worth the hefty price ticket. I additionally beloved the GentleRise Alarm characteristic which regularly will increase the temperature in your aspect of the mattress whereas vibrating softly to wake you up. 

I additionally beloved with the ability to activate my Pod 3 cowl in the course of the day if I wanted to heat up or calm down, particularly after a very powerful exercise. Plus — as somebody who tends to sleep hotter than my companion — the flexibility to vary my temperature schedule to go well with my preferences was ridiculously cool.

The core performance of the Pod 3 was additionally superb. It does warmth and funky your mattress to a stellar diploma, however the further bells and whistles weren’t price it to me.

What I didn’t like concerning the Pod 3

Clearly, I wrestled with the Pod 3 set up, however different on-line reviewers didn’t appear to have the identical degree of issue that I did. That being stated, the opposite options of the Pod 3 fell flat for my part. The temperature controls had been too finicky — even as soon as I landed on a temperature schedule that labored for me, I nonetheless felt like my total sleep high quality had tanked. Ultimately, I needed to return to my regular mattress out of necessity as a result of I used to be just too exhausted to maintain attempting, and I instantly slept higher.

I additionally felt just like the sleep health components weren’t nice. My first evening on the Pod 3 advised me my sleep health was one hundred pc — which undoubtedly didn’t math out contemplating the variety of occasions I wakened and the way groggy I felt — and I couldn’t determine the best way to get the app to precisely measure my “time to rise up.” 

Plus, the sleep studies didn’t really feel as strong or useful as I’d hoped they’d be, and — whereas they had been definitely data-rich — I didn’t like that you simply couldn’t get traits or insights with out paying for the 8+ Professional membership. The Eight Sleep companion app additionally hosts a library of sleep instruments together with meditation, guided respiratory practices, nature sounds, and even wake-up/wind-down motion practices. Nevertheless, as soon as once more, these options had been all a part of the 8+ Professional membership.

Is the Eight Sleep Pod 3 cowl price it? 

In case you’re somebody who loves optimization, cutting-edge know-how, and all issues biohacking — and if in case you have extra endurance than I do — then completely. The Pod 3 could be an awesome buy for somebody enthusiastic about delving deep into sleep health and bettering their total sleep high quality. It’s clearly acquired some incredible performance and loads of intuitive options to select from.

For most individuals, nonetheless, I simply don’t see the way it might be price it. The educational curve of the Pod 3 was far too excessive — very similar to the worth tag — and the efficiency, whereas undoubtedly cool, simply wasn’t transformative sufficient for me.