Our Best Smart Bed award goes to a tech-laden bed system that offers great functionality and a truly luxury, personalized sleep experience.
Sleep tracking, individual climate control and a vibration alarm, the Eight Sleep Pod 4 smart mattress cover does it all. And while this premium buy isn’t technically a bed itself, it can be used with the best mattresses, and will instantly level up your at-home sleep experience.
Sleep smarter with our Best Smart Bed winner: Eight Sleep
Our Best Smart Bed pick does exactly what the award-winner in this category should do: it uses state-of-the-art tech to improve your sleep quality.
But we should clarify one point to begin with; the Eight Sleep Pod 4 is a smart mattress cover, that connects to a bedside control hub, rather than a complete mattress itself. It is a cushioning black fabric cover that fits over your existing mattress like a fitted sheet (note it fits mattresses between 10″ and 16″ tall).
Thin water tubes run through the mattress cover and are connected to an accompanying Hub to heat and cool as required. You may think that means it feels like a water bed, but that’s not the case. The Eight Sleep Pod 4 doesn’t majorly alter the feel of the mattress beneath it, it just adds a contouring layer.
You can adjust the temperature of each side of the bed surface between 13 and 43°C / 55 and 110 F. The Autopilot feature (for which you must pay a subscription fee starting at $17/month) in the Eight Sleep app then tracks your body temperature, room temperature and local climate through the night and makes real-time adjustments accordingly to keep you at an optimal sleep temperature.
This feature is especially useful for those who share a bed and sleep at different temperatures, and it works. Our lead tester was “blown away by how well the pod regulated their temperature each night,” and because the Eight Sleep Pod 4 “truly excels” at this, we awarded it 5/5 stars in temperature regulation.
The smart mattress cover incorporates AI sleep tracking sensors that also keep tabs on your sleep duration, sleep stages, heart rate and heart rate variability, any snoring and other health data without the need for a wearable device (meaning you can keep that sweaty smart watch out of bed).
But the smart features don’t end there. Doing away with jolting stress-inducing alarm sounds, the Eight Sleep Pod 4 works with natural wake up cues (a body temperature rise) to stir you from slumber come morning. This means your bed will gently vibrate and gradually heat up leading up to your desired wake-up time so you feel more alert and ready to take on the day.
That said, as a smart mattress cover, you can’t adjust the firmness level or position of the Eight Sleep Pod 4 as you can with other smart beds, and of course, you’ll need to factor in that prices start at $2,449 for a full size, while a queen will set you back $2,649 (and that’s without the additional subscription for Autopilot).
You can upgrade to the Eight Sleep Pod 5 Ultra if you want an adjustable bed base that slides between your mattress and bedframe. Otherwise, if you want a bed you can fine tune the feel of to suit your sleep position and body type, check out the adjustable firmness Sleep Number mattresses.
But if you’re looking to track your sleep, regulate your temperature at night and learn more about the quality of your rest, the Eight Sleep Pod 4 is the best smart bed you can buy. So keep your eyes peeled on the Black Friday mattress deals for a rare sale.