Eight Sleep Review: Sleep Pod & Mattress

Eight Sleep is well-known for manufacturing one of the most high-tech mattresses and covers on the market. Since its founding in 2014, it has specialized in selling sleep accessories that not only function as comfortable sleep surfaces but also double as sleep trackers and temperature regulators, and their Pod covers are no exceptions. 

In this Eight Sleep Pod review, we'll discuss everything we learned about Eight Sleep Pod covers in our 2-stage review process. This guide will help you decide whether they're the perfect smart mattress add-on for your bed.

Eight Sleep's Best-Selling Product - The Pod Cover

Eight Sleep Pod 2 Cover

The Eight Sleep Pod 2 cover gives budget shoppers a reason to smile as they can now enjoy Eight Sleep's Active Grid technology without having to purchase the Pod Pro Mattress. Overall, I was exceedingly impressed with how this smart mattress topper synced with an app to monitor my sleep data and suggest a custom mattress temperature schedule adjusted at night based on its collected health and sleep metrics. And to make it even better, this cover enabled my partner and I to comfortably share our mattress and set separate schedules for the right and left sides of the bed.

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Eight Sleep Pod 3 Cover

There's no denying that the Eight Sleep Pod 3 is an expensive piece of sleep tech and its monthly subscription seems pretty steep. However, it's totally worth buying, as it comes packed with new internal hardware and a quad-core CPU, making it faster, quieter, and smarter than the previous Eight Sleep covers. And based on our tests, it's clear the Eight Sleep Pod 3 Cover sleeps much more comfortably, offering a more even surface than Pod 2 covers. 

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Eight Sleep Pod 3 Cover with PerfectFit

Commonly known as the ultimate sleep fitness machine, this cover is Eight Sleep's latest generation of pod covers. I was blown away by its unique dynamic cooling technology that gave us the ultimate sleep experience and biometric tracking we crave. Unlike the Pod 2 and the Pod 3 covers, we found that this Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover can comfortably fit all bed sizes and is loaded with smart technology to make temperature regulation a breeze.

Check out our table below for a summary of what each Eight Sleep Pod Cover model offers.

Getting the Pod Membership

According to the manufacturers, the Pod Cover improves every single day by continuously learning from users, expanding its intelligence, and adding extra features on a regular basis.

To deliver this intelligence, new features, analytics, and software updates, the membership model allows users to continue investing in an excellent customer experience and work with a professional team of experts focused on customer support and product improvement. While membership is needed for the first year, you can cancel at any time.  

This membership includes Temperature Autopilot, a unique feature that learns the user's sleep pattern and automatically adjusts the bed temperature. What's more, it gives users full access to Eight Sleep's library of Sleep Tools, including relaxing sounds, guided meditations, and breathing classes. With a 1 year subscription ($19 per month), the app provides data insights that highlight unusual health metrics. 

Other benefits of Eight Sleep's membership plan include:

• Vibration and thermal alarm feature
• Sleep and health insights
• Sleep tracking metrics
• Discounts of up to $500 off Pod upgrades
• 5-year extended warranty

However, non-members can still use the Pod Cover and enjoy its best features. For instance, during our second stage review, we found that the cover can still support thermal alarms, haptic alarms, both single and dual-zone cooling, and heating, sleep tracking, and health tracking. When I slept with my partner, we could independently control all the Pod Cover features on their side of the mattress, not to mention review sleep data from their phone through the Eight Sleep app. What's more, the company offers non-members audio or video content each week to help them improve their sleep quality.

How to Setup the Eight Sleep Pod Cover

The Eight Sleep Pod Cover can be a pain to put on as the process takes about 2 hours and needs a fair amount of effort. Fortunately, Eight Sleep walks buyers through each step with photo, written, and video instructions. 

The process basically involved putting the encasement and Active Grid on our mattress, setting up the Hub, and connecting it to our smartphone via Wi-Fi. We then performed two priming cycles to get rid of air bubbles that might cause noise and affect performance. Before you get started, ensure you have a half-gallon of distilled water and about 5 tablespoons of 3% hydrogen peroxide at your disposal, as you'll need them to set up the Hub. 

To start, we first placed Eight Sleep's encasement over the bed like a fitted sheet, while pulling down on each corner of the bed. We then used our hands to smooth over any wrinkles on the surface before tucking the extra fabric under our mattress. 

The box came with 3 tension straps that go under the bed (2 horizontally and 1 vertically) and a hook. For the next step, I took the straps into position without hooking them. I then unboxed the Active Grid Cover and carefully placed it on my mattress before zipping it to the encasement. Once this was done, I confirmed the water tube was near my bed’s head, hanging down my bed’s floor unkinked, and finally hooked the straps to the encasement and securely tightened them.

To set up the Hub, I took the end of the water tube connected to the Active Grid and connected it to the Hub, ensuring it clicked into place. I also checked for kinks in the tube, as they can interfere with water flow from the Hub to the Active Grid. Next, I grabbed the USB connector on the water tube's side and linked it to the corresponding port in the Hub. Lastly, I connected the main power cord to the Hub and plugged the other end into a nearby outlet. 

With the challenging part of the installation procedure out of the way, I could now fill the tank of the Hub with hydrogen peroxide and distilled water. All that was left now was to follow the simple steps to link the Hub to the app via Wi-Fi and prime my system. 

While this procedure can take about 90 minutes, you don't have to babysit the system the entire time. Plus, you can still use the cover while the process is taking place.

What the Pod Cover Has to Offer

Imagine waking up on a toasty warm sleep surface in the dead of winter or an icy cold one on a hot summer morning. The Eight Sleep Pod Cover makes all that possible. 

Starting at $2,445 for a king-size model, the Pod Cover zipped comfortably onto our existing bed. It came with a companion app that allowed us to customize the temperature of our sleep surface to our liking. We really liked how it quickly heated and cooled on command, featured scheduling to make us comfortable all night long, and had effective Smart Alarms that woke us up with a gentle vibration or drastic temperature change. 

However, I’ll have to admit that, at first, it felt weird whenever the mattress would switch temperatures. When we first slept on the Eight Sleep Pod, we set it to start cooling the mattress about an hour before we went to bed, and it felt like sleeping on a melting ice pack encased in a thin sheet. I remember waking up a few times during the night as my side of the mattress felt too cold. But the good news is, these disturbances stopped when we found the settings that worked best for us.

While its operating noise is somehow inconsistent, we found the Eight Sleep Pod to be quieter than many competing models. We also loved the key sleep metrics it tracked. However, it's worth noting that you can only use some insights when you sign up for a subscription. Nonetheless, this cover's ability to alleviate temperature problems that may prevent users from getting a good night's sleep makes it an award-winning alternative worth every penny. 

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The Tech - Sleep Tracking and Smart Home Integration 

Just like Eight Sleep's standard Smart Mattress, the Pod Cover tracked our sleep pattern, among other things. By default, its system gave us key details about our prior sleep, including our respiratory rate, an overall sleep quality score, and other more targeted metrics, such as sleep time, sleep stages(from light sleep to deep sleep, to REM sleep), and awake time. 

And thanks to the graphs and charts available in the app, it was easy to monitor how different factors impacted my sleep. I was even able to add tags for things like caffeine intake and exercising to better correlate my activities during the day with the amount of sleep I get. Overall, the Eight Sleep Pod app has a user-friendly interface and easy-to-understand instructions. When I first used the app, everything felt pretty intuitive, and I was never lost while navigating its numerous features. 

Another feature of the Pod Cover that really amazed us was its sophisticated heating and cooling technology. Since it supports dual-zone controls, we were able to set the temperature for each half of the mattress independently. 

On top of that, this top-class cover took its sleep tracking and temperature control tech a notch higher with its Sleep Insight and Autopilot features. 

According to the manufacturers, Sleep Insights works like a robot coach, sorting through your data to offer sleep tips based on how well or badly you slept. On the other hand, Autopilot uses information gathered by its sensors to make the mattress colder or hotter as needed. 

Aside from our sleep data, we also received a Health Report every morning that helped us understand our overall recovery status. 

Such kind of information will help you know when you're anxious or stressed when you had restless sleep, and even when your body is more susceptible to injury or illness.

The Eight Sleep Pod Mattress

If you're looking to purchase a new mattress as well, you can consider Eight Sleep's Pod Mattress.

In my opinion, the Eight Sleep Pod Mattress is one of the best smart mattresses on the market. It incorporates Active Grid technology paired with a user-friendly app to help regulate body temperature. It can also track your sleep, allowing you to know how you sleep in different stages and how to improve your sleep quality. I think lightweight stomach sleepers and average-weight back sleepers will like the medium-firm feel of this Eight Sleep smart mattress. It should offer these individuals a nice balance of support and pressure relief. 

However, the Eight Sleep Pod Mattress might not be ideal for budget shoppers and individuals looking for an extremely durable mattress. Since it's an all-foam bed, you may need to replace it sooner than a latex or hybrid mattress. Side sleepers might also want to look for the best mattress for this position as they might find the Eight Sleep Mattress too firm for their comfort. An ideal alternative would be the Puffy Royal Mattress, as it boasts a medium-firm feel that's suitable for a wide range of sleepers. Plus, its foam comfort layers and ultra-plush feel offer excellent pressure relief while keeping sleepers from sinking deep into the mattress.

Closing Thoughts

If temperature issues like excess heat and sweat or cold feet keep you awake all night long, the Eight Sleep Pod Cover is a life-changing smart solution. Loaded with smart technology, this cover outshines the competition with built-in sensors to monitor your sleep pattern, intuitive controls, automatic temperature adjustments, and convenient support for single- and dual-zone setups. Overall, the Eight Sleep Pod Cover is a top-class product that can improve your sleep, comfort, and overall well-being.