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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 control your mattress’s temperature from my bodily therapist — who remains to be on workforce 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 obtainable station, however I’m keen to concede that simply because the Pod 3 wasn’t proper for me, it’d give you the results you want.
What’s the Eight Sleep Pod 3 cowl?
Touted because the “ultimate sleep fitness machine,” the Pod 3 is the newest 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 help optimum sleep.
Sounds epic, proper? That’s as a result of it’s. Whereas the Eight Sleep companion app provides suggestions on the optimum temperatures for every part of sleep — together with bedtime, deep sleep, REM, and wakeup — you’re in full management. Meaning you’ll be able to create a totally custom-made temperature schedule that matches your private preferences, and, with dual-zone heating and cooling, each you and your accomplice can set your personal temperature preferences on your aspect of the mattress.
Past that, the Pod 3 additionally offers you with a hefty quantity of biometric monitoring. The Pod 3 cowl has discreet sensors that can assist you monitor an entire host of metrics together with sleep levels, disturbances, coronary heart charge, coronary heart charge variability, and even respiratory charge…all with no wearable.
So why didn’t I prefer it? Effectively, I really did prefer it, but it surely was extra of a love-hate relationship than the rest.
Organising the Pod 3 cowl was an absolute nightmare
I’m not afraid to confess once I’ve made a mistake, and I positively 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 packing containers which made the journey from the mailroom to my residence a exercise by itself. From there, it solely went downhill.
All the means 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 packing containers.
Putting in the Pod 3 cowl was exhausting. Eight Sleep’s web site marketed the duvet as virtually easy, permitting you to “transform your sleep in five easy steps.” These 5 steps, nevertheless, glossed over the problem of the setup, which — based on the directions — would take round two to a few 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 Excellent Match package deal, which concerned sliding the mattress off the body (I positively cheated and didn’t do this half), hooking two straps to the aspect of the mattress — slipping them underneath the mattress and hooking them on the opposite aspect — and hooking one other strap from the pinnacle to the foot of the mattress. From there, it took each my accomplice and me to zip on the Pod 3 Lively Grid — which was accountable for the thermoregulation and biometric monitoring — and pull the three adjustable straps tight across the mattress.
The separate hub is what powers the Pod 3 cowl.
Credit score: RJ Andersen / Mashable
The following step concerned unboxing and connecting the Pod 3 hub, the mind of the operation, boasting a quad-core CPU in addition to 5Ghz WiFi help. The hub was a bit of greater than I anticipated however extremely top quality. It solely took a couple of minutes to get every thing related utilizing the Eight Sleep companion app, which seems to solely be obtainable on iOS, however then I needed to “prime” the Pod 3 cowl twice by filling the water tank within the Hub with a mix 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 a bit of 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 have 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 saved occurring.
Each evening, I modified the temperature schedule to one thing new, however I nonetheless discovered myself waking most nights freezing — or sometimes sweating — and I couldn’t appear to seek out my “happy medium” in between. I used to be exhausted and pissed off, and it solely obtained marginally higher the longer I used it. The Eight Sleep app does tout an Autopilot characteristic designed to mechanically regulate your physique temperature to scale back wake-ups, but it surely was solely obtainable with the 8+ Professional membership. Plus, contemplating the Pod 3 cowl already clocks in at a whopping $2,445, including a $19 per thirty days cost to get a greater consumer expertise kinda sucked.
What I favored concerning the Pod 3
Whereas this looks like a harsh evaluate, there have been issues I actually favored 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 cherished the GentleRise Alarm characteristic which progressively will increase the temperature in your aspect of the mattress whereas vibrating softly to wake you up.
I additionally cherished with the ability to activate my Pod 3 cowl throughout 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 accomplice — the power to alter my temperature schedule to go well with my preferences was ridiculously cool.
The core performance of the Pod 3 was additionally wonderful. 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 stage of issue that I did. That being stated, the opposite options of the Pod 3 fell flat for my part. The temperature controls have been too finicky — even as soon as I landed on a temperature schedule that labored for me, I nonetheless felt like my general sleep high quality had tanked. Finally, 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 100% — which positively didn’t math out contemplating the variety of instances I awoke and the way groggy I felt — and I couldn’t determine the right way to get the app to precisely measure my “time to get up.”
Plus, the sleep studies didn’t really feel as sturdy or useful as I’d hoped they’d be, and — whereas they have been definitely data-rich — I didn’t like that you just 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 have 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 in case you have extra persistence than I do — then completely. The Pod 3 can be an excellent buy for somebody fascinated with delving deep into sleep health and bettering their general sleep high quality. It’s clearly obtained some unbelievable performance and loads of intuitive options to select from.
For most individuals, nevertheless, I simply don’t see the way it may very well be price it. The training curve of the Pod 3 was far too excessive — very similar to the value tag — and the efficiency, whereas positively cool, simply wasn’t transformative sufficient for me.
