I’m
only
half
joking
when
I
say
that
Eight
Sleep’s
temperature-controlling
mattress
cover
improved
my
marriage.
A
good
night’s
sleep
is
elusive
in
my
house.
I’m
always
cold,
my
spouse
runs
hot.
We
battle
nightly
over
the
thermostat.
So
when
I
first
reviewed
an
Eight
Sleep
cover,
it
was
a
revelation.
I
could
curl
up
and
drift
off
into
a
toasty
slumber.
My
spouse
could
make
like
a
penguin
and
sleep
on
a
slab
of
ice.
The
only
thing
I
didn’t
like
was
the
nearly
$1,900
price
and
the
$19
monthly
subscription.
Fast-forward
two
years,
and
alas,
I’m
in
the
same
pickle
with
Eight
Sleep’s
latest
ludicrously
expensive
mattress
cover:
the
Pod
4
Ultra,
which
starts
at
just
under
$4,700
for
a
Queen.
Not
including
the
mandatory
annual
membership,
which
starts
at
$199.
The
new
$4,700
Pod
4
Ultra
also
does
not
come
with
colorful
socks,
but
it
is
thinner.
I
can
hear
my
mom’s
ghost
screeching.
$4,700!?
Are
you
insane?!
Sleep
is
free!
It’s
a
fair
criticism,
but
good
sleep
is
hard
to
come
by.
Eight
Sleep’s
whole
pitch
is
that
it
helps
create
the
perfect
sleep
conditions.
The
cover
contains
tubing
that
runs
water
from
a
control
hub
to
separately
warm
or
cool
each
side
of
the
bed.
It’s
embedded
with
sleep-tracking
sensors,
plus
haptic
motors
for
a
silent
alarm,
letting
the
bed
vibrate
at
a
gradually
increasing
intensity
to
gently
wake
you
up.
Lastly,
there’s
an
AI-powered
Autopilot
feature
that
adjusts
the
temperature
as
you
sleep
so
you
theoretically
get
a
better
night’s
rest.
Since
it’s
a
cover,
you
can
zip
it
onto
your
existing
mattress
instead
of
having
to
shell
out
for
an
entire
smart
bed.
(Those
can
cost
up
to
a
whopping
$10,000.)
The
latest
Pod
4
Ultra
does
all
of
that,
too
—
and
it’s
quite
good
at
it.
So
why
is
it
so
much
more
expensive?
Some
of
that
is
good
ole
price
inflation,
but
the
Ultra
bundle
also
adds
a
base.
It
slots
into
your
existing
bed
frame
and
lets
you
adjust
the
bed’s
elevation
and
position.
The
cover
itself
has
also
been
refined
so
it’s
quieter,
20
percent
thinner,
and
has
twice
the
cooling
power.
Sleep
tracking
now
includes
snoring
detection
—
and
if
you
shell
out
for
the
base,
the
bed
automatically
lifts
the
head
area
to
reduce
said
snoring.
Eight
Sleep
also
added
touch
controls
via
two
“tap
zones”
on
either
side
of
the
bed
that
let
you
adjust
temperature,
dismiss
alarms,
and
adjust
bed
position
without
needing
your
phone.
It
pains
my
penny-pinching
soul
that
I
love
these
updates.
The
base
fits
within
your
existing
bed
frame
and
there
are
three
elevation
presets
that
you
can
customize.
Hear
me
out.
I
know
no
one
needs
a
fancy
$2,000
base
to
tweak
their
bed’s
elevation.
In
my
36
years
on
Earth,
stacking
a
bunch
of
pillows
against
the
headboard
has
generally
been
good
enough.
But
the
bed
elevating
for
you
is
regretfully
delightful.
On
lazy
Sundays,
I
hit
the
reading
elevation
preset
and
morph
into
a
happy
little
shrimp
while
watching
the
latest
brain-rotting
season
of
Love
is
Blind.
Cozying
up
with
a
book,
feet
and
upper
back
elevated
with
my
bed
already
warmed
up
for
me
is
now
my
nightly
routine.
(It’s
also
the
comfiest
way
to
doomscroll.)
There
are
two
other
presets
for
relaxing
and
sleeping,
and
you
can
set
your
own
custom
elevation,
too.
Having
the
base
also
gets
you
a
nifty
snoring
mitigation
feature.
When
enabled,
the
bed
will
automatically
lift
when
it
detects
snoring.
It’s
not
perfect.
I’ve
woken
up
a
few
times
to
a
moving
bed.
Even
so,
I’d
rather
be
slightly
disoriented
by
a
moving
bed
than
have
to
grumpily
wake
up
my
snoring
spouse
to
get
them
to
quiet
down.
Especially
since
I
haven’t
woken
up
every
time.
Sometimes
I
only
know
an
adjustment
happens
because
it
pops
up
in
Eight
Sleep’s
morning
sleep
report.
Either
way,
I
now
have
definitive
proof
that
I
snore
much,
much
less
than
my
spouse.
The
main
downside
—
besides
the
cost
—
is
the
base
isn’t
ideal
if
you
have
small
wily
pets.
My
cat
Petey
never
viewed
the
bed
as
a
foe
before,
but
now
that
it
moves,
it’s
become
public
enemy
number
one.
It
moves,
he
pounces,
claws
unsheathed.
I’m
afraid
one
of
these
days,
he’s
going
to
poke
a
hole
in
the
Pod
4
Ultra
—
a
device
full
of
water
at
any
given
moment.
Cats
also
love
exploring
under
the
bed,
which
led
to
an
incident
where
he
almost
got
pancaked
by
the
bed
lowering.
It’s
now
a
family
rule
that
all
cats
must
be
accounted
for
before
changing
bed
elevation.
I
asked
Eight
Sleep
about
the
seeming
lack
of
safety
features.
“We
have
no
reported
cases
of
people
or
small
pets
being
harmed
by
the
Pod
4
Ultra
Base,”
says
Sam
Kang,
Eight
Sleep’s
VP
of
hardware.
“We
also
move
the
base
very
slowly
to
allow
time
for
anything
that
may
be
underneath
the
lowering
portion
to
get
out
of
the
way.”
I
still
say
you
ought
to
be
overly
cautious,
especially
as
there
are
no
warnings
within
the
app.
The
new
touch
controls
are
my
favorite
update.
They’re
textured
and
easily
felt
through
sheets.
Bed
elevation
is
cool,
but
the
upgrade
I
love
most
is
the
touch
controls.
The
tap
zones,
located
on
either
side
of
the
bed,
are
textured
so
you
can
easily
feel
them
through
the
sheets.
Double
tapping
raises
the
bed
temperature,
while
triple
tapping
lowers
it.
A
quadruple
tap
will
let
you
cycle
through
bed
elevation
presets
(e.g.,
reading,
relaxation,
sleeping,
etc.).
But
it’s
most
helpful
in
snoozing
or
dismissing
the
silent
alarm.
Mine
vibrates
my
side
of
the
bed
at
5:45AM
so
I
can
get
ready
for
my
cursed
morning
workout.
All
I
have
to
do
is
roll
over,
pat
the
bed
twice,
and
I
don’t
disturb
my
spouse.
Previously,
I’d
have
to
blindly
search
for
my
phone,
launch
the
Eight
Sleep
app,
and
dismiss
the
alarm
that
way.
I
was
never
quick
enough,
and
the
“silent”
alarm
is
actually
quite
loud
the
longer
you
let
it
go.
(The
vibrations
are
quite
powerful.)
Adding
the
touch
controls
lets
me
use
the
silent
alarm
more
confidently
—
and
lets
my
spouse
get
some
extra
Zzzs.
The
other
updates
are
less
flashy
but
improve
the
overall
experience.
The
hub,
for
instance,
is
definitely
quieter.
With
the
Pod
2
Pro,
it
would
occasionally
whirr
while
filling
the
bed
with
water.
It
wasn’t
too
noisy,
but
it
was
loud
enough
that
my
spouse
would
comment.
We
don’t
really
notice
the
Pod
4’s
hub,
except
when
it’s
time
to
refill
the
tank.
It’s
still
kind
of
big
—
about
the
size
of
a
slim
gaming
PC,
but
after
a
while
you
forget
it’s
there.
The
cover
itself
looks
the
same,
but
it’s
now
thinner
and
has
redesigned
tubing
for
better
comfort
and
efficient
cooling.
I
think
I
noticed
when
we
first
used
the
Pod
4
Ultra,
but
it’s
not
something
that
made
a
huge
overall
impact.
It’s
hard
to
say
whether
the
cooling
is
also
two
times
more
powerful,
though
I
do
feel
like
it’s
ever
so
slightly
faster
at
reaching
the
desired
temperature.
The
hub
is
still
big,
but
it’s
quieter
than
before.
But
for
the
most
part,
the
hub
blends
in
next
to
your
nightstand.
Expensive
bed
tech
is
inherently
ridiculous.
A
mattress
has
one
job:
to
be
a
comfy
place
for
you
to
sleep.
Adding
tech
to
it
overcomplicates
one
of
the
most
natural
things
a
human
can
do.
But
this
is
the
age
of
optimization,
and
wellness
influencers
would
have
you
believe
that
none
of
us
sleep
as
well
as
we
should.
(Though,
you
could
easily
fix
this
by
buying
a
supplement
or
product
using
a
code
in
their
bio.
How
else
could
mouth
taping
take
over
TikTok?)
That
sleepmaxxing
has
become
a
viral
trend
speaks
to
how
much
the
average
person
wants
to
sleep
better.
In
this
environment,
a
$5,000
smart
mattress
cover
—
not
even
a
mattress
—
that
promises
you
the
best
night
of
fully
optimized,
AI-automated
sleep
is
the
most
2024
piece
of
wellness
tech
imaginable.
It
drives
me
bonkers
that
I
can’t
even
argue
with
the
results!
Yes,
it
can
be
finicky
at
first,
and
it
took
months
to
really
notice
how
much
my
sleep
had
improved.
But
the
fact
is
my
spouse
and
I,
both
lifelong
insomniacs,
have
been
sleeping
like
babies.
The
last
time
I
thought
this
hard
about
a
bed
was
in
my
early
20s.
After
seven
years
of
sleeping
on
paper-thin,
rock-hard
futons,
I’d
accumulated
enough
bodily
pains
that
my
doctor
demanded
I
buy
a
proper
mattress.
Almost
overnight,
the
pain
that
had
been
plaguing
me
for
years
disappeared.
No
one
is
more
upset
than
I
that
switching
from
a
regular
mattress
to
an
Eight
Sleep
product
had
similar,
albeit
less
dramatic,
results.
Not
once,
but
twice.
Pablo
enjoys
making
biscuits
on
a
toasty
Eight
Sleep.
The
other
cat,
not
pictured,
enjoys
attacking
it.
Even
so,
I
still
struggle
with
this
price
tag.
Particularly
since
features
like
Autopilot,
silent
alarms,
and
sleep
insights,
are
locked
behind
a
mandatory
$199
annual
subscription
that
you
pay
for
upfront.
You
can
cancel
after
a
year,
so
long
as
you’re
okay
with
losing
every
single
feature
except
manual
temperature
control.
Eight
Sleep
says
it
does
this
to
develop,
maintain,
and
improve
its
smart
features,
but
subscribing
to
your
bed
fundamentally
feels
wrong.
Adjusting
the
temperature
is
the
most
important
feature,
but
it’s
not
worth
the
entry
price
if
that’s
all
you’re
getting.
And
yet,
I
remain
tempted.
It’s
why
I
hate
that
I
love
this
bed.
On
the
one
hand,
it’s
continually
solved
a
major
problem
my
spouse
and
I
have
with
our
sleep
preferences.
On
the
other,
we
still
managed
to
sleep
on
a
regular,
not-so-smart
bed
in
the
past
and
could
do
so
again.
Even
if
we’d
have
to
go
back
to
battling
over
the
thermostat.
It’d
be
so
much
easier
to
make
this
decision
if
the
Pod
4
Ultra
sucked.
But
it
doesn’t!
Now
my
problem
is
figuring
out
how
much
a
good
night’s
sleep
is
really
worth.
Agree
to
Continue:
Eight
Sleep
Pod
4
Ultra
Every
smart
device
now
requires
you
to
agree
to
a
series
of
terms
and
conditions
before
you
can
use
it
—
contracts
that
no
one
actually
reads.
It’s
impossible
for
us
to
read
and
analyze
every
single
one
of
these
agreements.
But
we
started
counting
exactly
how
many
times
you
have
to
hit
“agree”
to
use
devices
when
we
review
them,
since
these
are
agreements
most
people
don’t
read
and
definitely
can’t
negotiate.
To
use
the
Eight
Sleep
Pod
4
Ultra,
you
must
pair
it
with
an
iPhone
or
Android
smartphone.
That
includes
the
phone’s
terms
of
service,
privacy
policy,
and
any
other
permissions
you
grant.
You
must
also
use
the
Eight
Sleep
app,
which
involves
one
mandatory
agreement
that
includes
Eight
Sleep’s
privacy
policy.
You’ll
also
be
prompted
to
grant
permission
for
the
app
to
access
your
location
as
well
as
access
to
your
home
Wi-Fi
network.
By
setting
up
the
Eight
Sleep
Pod
4
Ultra,
you’re
agreeing
to:
Should
you
choose
to
import
data
from
Peloton,
Google,
TrainingPeaks,
Polar,
Apple,
Fitbit,
Oura,
Zwift,
or
Garmin,
you’ll
also
have
to
agree
to
each
app’s
terms
and
privacy
policies.
Final
tally:
one
mandatory
agreement
and
several
optional
agreements
and
permissions.
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