The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover is as much of a connected fitness tech product as the Peloton Bike or Nordictrack Treadmill. Instead of trying to improve your endurance, Eight Sleep focuses on improving the most important aspect of your recovery: your sleep quality. This review will cover everything you need to know to ensure this high-tech, temperature-adjusting, biometric-tracking mattress cover is the perfect fit for you.
The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover is a mattress cover that fits onto any 10-inch to 16-inch mattress. What makes this mattress cover unique is that it connects to a smart hub. This uses hydro engines to cool down or heat up your mattress to whatever temperature you desire. It also connects to an app on your phone, so you can easily adjust your temperature settings.
The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover temperatures range from 55 degrees to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. It also comes with Perfect Fit Encasement that makes it easy to install. This also allows it to fit snugly on the mattress without shifting when you get in or out of bed.
Setting this up was super simple, and I was able to get it all done myself fairly easily. Once you put the water in, it will take a little over an hour for the Eight Sleep Pod to fully suck out any remaining air and slowly insert the water. It will also make a good amount of noise while doing this, so you do not want to set it up right before you go to bed. I actually like the sound it makes, and it is a lot quieter than any fan or cooling device I have tried in the past.
Eight Sleep temperature control
The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover is designed in a way that allows for each side of the bed to be completely different. That way, you and your partner can adjust the temperature to help you both sleep more comfortably.
Since I exercise a good amount, my body tends to give off a lot of heat. This can sometimes make sleeping difficult as I will often just feel too warm. Not to mention, my room tends to get very little cross breeze and can get very hot at night.
The first night I used the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover, it put a big smile on my face. It felt amazing to crawl into bed on a hot night and instantly feel cool and refreshed.
Now on hot nights, I actually look forward to going to bed just to cool down. No more having to share a rotating, loud, and mostly ineffective fan between my wife and me. This is a huge deal to me and really makes the investment worth it in my eyes.
I have also tested out the heat to make sure it works just as well. Now I am looking forward to crawling into a heated bed this winter when it gets super cold. Instead of trying to add a ton of blankets.
I do need to mention that the 55- to 110-degree temperature range is not always realistic. First off, you will probably want to put a thin mattress sheet over the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover. This will slightly decrease how cold or hot you will feel.
Second, I believe how cold or hot it gets depends on the current temperature in your room. On a warm night, the cover definitely does not get to 55 degrees. It also shows this on the app.
Eight sleep temperature profile
This does not really change how much I enjoy the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover. Especially since it definitely does get cold enough to make me feel refreshed on a hot night. But I do want to make sure your expectations of how cool it will feel line up to what the cover will actually deliver.
First is the Temperature Profile that allows the temperature to change throughout the night to help you sleep more comfortably. When you fall asleep, you want the temperature to make you feel super comfortable so you can fall asleep more quickly. Then, you may even want it to drop a bit lower to help optimize for deep sleep, which is aided by cooler temperatures.
Later, as you get into the second half of the night, you will want to have the temperature return to a bit more neutral to help aid REM sleep. Finally, you can have the temperature change for when you are close to waking up. This is a personal preference based on whether you like to wake up warm like me or cold like a psycho.
Eight Sleep biometric tracking
If you are not sure what temperatures to set, that is where the Eight Sleep tech starts to get very interesting. The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover does a lot more than just cool and heat. It also has a ton of biometric sensors that measure and track multiple factors such as:
- How long it takes for you to fall asleep
- How long you spend in each sleep phase
- How many times you toss and turn each night
- What your resting heart rate is throughout the night
- What your respiration rate is throughout the night
- What your HRV, or Heart Rate Variability, is throughout the night
Eight Sleep uses all of this data along with Smart Sleep to test, evaluate, and learn what temperatures help you get the best sleep at different times of the night.
You can adjust the Smart Sleep Autopilot to be ‘Automatic,’ so it will make these adjustments automatically for you. Or, you can choose to have it on ‘Manual,’ where it will send you recommendations that you can choose to approve or not. The more you use Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover, the more it learns about you and the better your sleep quality will get.
All of this sleep tracking data is available for you on the app. You can see if your sleep is improving, if you are tossing and turning less overtime, or if you are falling asleep faster.
Eight Sleep HRV tracking
The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover also allows you to see your HRV. Your HRV, or Heart Rate Variability, is the measure of how much variability you have between each heartbeat. Generally, the lower your HRV is between heartbeats, the more likely your body is less recovered. This could be from a series of difficult training that your body is recovering from. Or it could even show up if you are starting to get sick and your body is fighting something off. Higher HRV’s tend to mean you are more recovered, and everyone will have a slightly different HRV range.
Study after study has shown that using HRV data as a factor to help determine when you should back off or push harder prevents a high percentage of injuries. It also improves how much you get out of working out.
For years I would have to strap on a heart rate monitor the minute I woke up. Then stay as still as possible for several minutes to try and collect my HRV. Now, I barely have to do anything as it is all tracked automatically on the app each and every day.
Eight Sleep alarm
Also, with the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover, you can set your sleep and wake-up times for each day. It can take a bit of time for the Pod Pro Cover to reach your ideal temperature, so setting your sleep time allows it to be fully ready when you go to bed. Along with setting your wake-up time, you can set your wake-up temperate and a vibrating alarm.
The ‘Alarm’ function is alright. I do find it a bit clunky and slow to turn the vibrating off in the morning. It can also definitely be felt and heard from whoever is on the other side of the bed. I have personally experienced this many times since my wife tends to wake up around 4 am.
Finally, the app comes with some extra tools like meditations, guided breathing routines, and various white noises for those that use them to help you fall asleep.
Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover vs Mattress
The Eight Sleep version I got is just the cover, but you can also purchase the full mattress version. The mattress is supposed to work alongside the cover to provide even more cooling. But from what I have heard, it is a fairly firm mattress.
I prefer a softer mattress, so the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover was the best option for me. But I have still heard good reports about the mattress from those who like the firm feel.
Honestly, I think the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover is one of the best additions I have made to improve my fitness and health this year. Sleep is so undervalued in terms of how it affects your mood, health, fitness, and really everything.
I personally have trouble wanting to fall asleep because I just have so many things I would like to do. Now, the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover actually makes me want to go to bed because of how good the temperature feels. It really improves my sleep so I can feel and do better the next day. Which I know will benefit me both in the short and long term.
I know at first it can seem like a big investment. But considering how much improved sleep can change someone’s life, I think it is easily worth the cost. Personally, I do not think I will ever go back to sleeping without it ever again. I could not recommend the Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover any higher. It is likely my favorite new fitness tech product of the year.
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