Eight Sleep Pod 3 Review

Eight Sleep Pod 3 is my favourite product of 2023 and here’s a detailed review of the Pod 3 Cover, warts and all.

The Holy Grail of improved sleep is a temperature-controlled smart bed that separately adjusts to your and your partner’s unique sleep stages throughout the night. Add to that accurate heart rate sleep stats without needing to wear a gadget and you have Eight Sleep.

It’s an excellent yet expensive product, although don’t forget it’s for two people which kinda halves the cost. Plus you can more cheaply add an Eightsleep ‘topper’ to your existing mattress rather than going the whole hog with a replacement EightSleep mattress – the end benefits are effectively the same either way.

More: Eight Sleep

Eightsleep Discount Code: THE5KRUNNER

What Is Eight Sleep Pod 3?

The Eight Sleep Pod 3 mattress is designed to be used either as a cover for your existing mattress or as a replacement mattress. Regardless of the option you choose, it incorporates the same sleep technology that effectively transforms your bed into a comfortable water bed with intelligent temperature regulation for both you and your partner. The Eight Sleep Pod 3 features a highly sensitive built-in motion sensor that detects subtle movements caused by each heartbeat, as well as more significant movements such as restlessness or getting out of bed. It analyzes and presents all your sleep statistics in a user-friendly, consumer-grade app. Moreover, it leverages its understanding of your current sleep stage to continuously adjust and optimize the ideal bed temperature for both you and your partner throughout the night. This ensures that you both experience the optimal temperature for every sleep stage, leading to improved sleep quality, better recovery, and waking up feeling refreshed… or so the theory goes!

The convenient part is that you don’t need to wear any gadgets whatsoever, and it’s also highly accurate.

How Does Eight Sleep Work – In A Nutshell

Eight Sleep fully automates the correct bed temperatures for you and your partner.

Eight Sleep determines the sleep stage each of you is in throughout the night and adjusts the temperature accordingly. For example, it might warm the bed before you get in, cool the bed as you enter deep sleep, and warm you up before you wake. Both you and your partner can make adjustments to how Eight Sleep’s autopilot manages your individual bed temperatures, and it will know, for example, if you are in deep sleep while your partner is in REM sleep and act accordingly on each side of the bed.

In the morning, you can review your sleep stats for the night, observe trends over time, or simply see what changes autopilot deemed necessary for the night.

But it’s all really hands-free and non-intrusive. Once the initial novelty has worn off, all you have to do is lie back and enjoy a better night’s sleep. Finally, you might have to refill The Hub with water once every six months. That’s it.

My Experience

I found that the Pod Cover seemed to make my existing mattress slightly firmer, which I liked. However, my partner didn’t feel the same way.

In general, I noticed that I probably slept less than I normally do, but most of the time, I woke up feeling noticeably more refreshed. I’m not exactly sure why (haha), but a win’s a win! I would speculate that the smart temperature regulation made the difference. For example, previously, I would often wake up around 4 am feeling hot or sweaty, but that didn’t happen at all with Eight Sleep.

Once Eight Sleep’s AUTOPILOT feature kicked in after a week or so, I didn’t need to make any further changes. AUTOPILOT learned from my interactions with the app during the first week and analyzed my biometrics to determine the best temperature protocol for me and my partner for the night. It can be adjusted differently on weekends, and in fact, almost all the settings can be customized to match your preferences.

I’ll show you some parts of the app in the next sections. Generally, I appreciated the straightforwardness and clarity of the app, the important sleep statistics and the overall trends were easier to understand compared to those from Whoop, Oura, and some other sleep platforms. It was easy to navigate and quickly find the data I needed. I must mention that in my experience with managing the various settings of the app, although not usually necessary, was NOT always intuitive.

If you’re interested in delving into complex HRV analyses, Eight Sleep might not provide that level of detailed information; you might want to consider purchasing the QS Emfit instead.

Eight Sleep – Some Interesting Tidbits & What It Can Do

Further below are some aspects of Eight Sleep you may have already read about (if not, keep going). However, I’ll start with some of the more unusual things it can do to give you the flavour that this is a rich, well-developed product

• Wakey Wakey! – Eight Sleep can vibrate your side of the bed as an alarm. I didn’t like that feature and turned it off after a week but I really liked how instead the temperature can be raised as an alarm to get me out of bed
• Night-time loo visits? – The bedside hub has a dimmable light which indicates if Eight Sleep is heating or cooling. This can be entirely disabled but I fully dimmed it down and it’s then great as a 4 am wayfinder back from the loo.
• It’s IFTTT compatible – Meaning you can set up many automations to control it in weird and wonderful ways. For example to be controlled by Alexa or to work in sync with your bedroom air temperature.
• Eight Sleep is suitable for menopause temperature regulation. Even if you experience more sweat/heat on one night compared to another, it makes no difference to Eight Sleep as it will adjust to the conditions of the night instead of being based on a pre-defined level that might be perfect for you one night but too cold the next. This “smart” nature is why Eight Sleep is superior to other products like BedJet, which only adapt to an idealized situation rather than the actual one.
• App Notifications – I find many app notifications to be intrusive but I like Eight Sleep’ notifications telling me that it’s warming up the bed and expecting me in there in 15 minutes.
• Health & Sleep Insights – Just when you’ve got to grips with the product it starts to drip feed sleep insights in a not-too-intrusive way.

• According to BedJet, 55% of couples disagree on sleep temperature. Eight Sleep solves that problem.
• The POD 3 Cover is the sensible product option to go for. The full medium firm, mattress is 50% more expensive and only offers different materials compared to your existing mattress notably being the MaxChill cooling layer and another pressure-relieving layer.

Eight Sleep App

These are the two main parts of the app that you might regularly look at. The first is simply a manual on/off button and thermostat control. Once AUTOPILOT is running you won’t even need this screen.

Secondly is the main dashboard. There’s quite a bit of data hiding beneath this if you ever want to drill down.

So here’s one example of all the nightly stats, perhaps most interesting is the sleep stage representation which looks similar to that on Oura and other apps. The other individual stats are nicely presented with each in the context of its normal range. The science points us towards interpretations along these lines where it’s best to compare to our normal self to detect trends or exceptions rather than to some mythical ‘perfect human’ that we will never become – you can see, for example, my schedule consistency has me going to bed and getting up at similar times. Routine is a key part of good sleep hygiene and a good night’s sleep.

 

 

There’s even more! if you care to delve deeper and look at trends over longer time periods such as the last month. Despite some variation in the time I slept each night, Eight Sleep showed that my general routine and sleep quality were consistently good. Handily that perfectly backs up my earlier assertion that I felt like I slept less but better!

 

 

Eight Sleep Accuracy & Effectiveness

I want to spend a bit of time convincing you that this kind of technology can be accurate and then share some of my experiences of accuracy compared to some of the many other sleep devices I have.

Gross Movements & Micro Movements

The Ballistocardiograph (BCG) is easily shown to correctly identify gross movements like getting into bed and out of bed. The bedside Hub turns off within a few seconds when you get out of bed….every time.

You might require more convincing that BCG can detect micromovements such as your quick, individual heartbeats and distinguish them from your much slower breaths as your chest expands and presses on the mattress. However, as I mentioned above, this technology is surprisingly old and proven. As the following charts show, the respiration rate measured by BCG aligns excellently with a gold-standard plethysmography belt, demonstrating a near-perfect correlation both statistically and visually.

 

These charts also demonstrate a near-perfect correlation (r² = 0.99) between HR measured by BCG and an ECG. Likewise, the HRV measured by rMSSD shows a correlation of 0.9 with an ECG at a 95% confidence level.

 

IMPORTANT: IMO It’s likely that the raw data from Eight Sleep is more accurate than any other wearable, such as Oura, Garmin, Fitbit, and Whoop. These wearables have to deal with more significant motion artefacts caused by asymmetrical wrist and hand movements.

I’d also like to bring your attention to Rob, The Quantified Scientist on Youtube. He is a highly competent tester and finds Eight Sleep to be accurate.

However, it’s important to note that accuracy in measuring sleep metrics doesn’t necessarily mean that the derived sleep metrics from Eight Sleep are correct. Many wearable companies have a history of conducting incorrect calculations and misinterpreting the data. Nonetheless, Nicole Moyen (PhD), Eight Sleep’s Director of Research and ex-Whoop employee, is knowledgeable about the right methods for calculations, such as using appropriate averages and baseline comparisons. However, even with this expertise, it doesn’t guarantee that Eight Sleep’s sleep stage algorithm will be entirely accurate.

It’s worth mentioning that wearables generally cannot achieve more than 80% accuracy when assessing sleep stages compared to polysomnography. A comparison to one of the most accurate sleep wearables, the Oura Ring, reveals visual similarities in the nightly sleep stage plot, but there are noticeable differences when examining the breakdown of the number of minutes spent in each stage. This overall pattern is consistent across many other nights, and I specifically chose this particular night as it appeared to be a closer match.

The comparison is mostly meaningless as there is also a great potential inaccuracy in Oura (at least 20%). So here I would not be comparing it to a gold standard.

 

Effectiveness of Eight Sleep’s Smart Temperature Adjustment

Subjectively my sleep quality has improved with Eight Sleep. I’m pretty sure that I feel more refreshed almost every morning.

The benefits lie deeper than that and Eight Sleep tested 310 subjects to see if its product improved sleep according to an Oura Ring worn for 30 days prior to using Eight Sleep and then a further 30 days with Eight Sleep.

The findings were convincing and are that

1. Deep sleep increased by 10% on average
2. Sleeping heart rate variability increased by 6% on average
3. Sleeping heart rate decreased by 1% on average

However one of the things that attracted me to Eight Sleep in the first place was where I read that HRV could be boosted with better sleep from Eight Sleep.

Better Sleep should boost HRV but as the next chart show, it’s hard to prove this from your own data (n=1)

Here we see my waking HRV (Polar H10) for the first 30 days of Eight Sleep Usage compared to an identically taken HRV reading for the prior 30 days. After the point where I started using Eight Sleep, my HRV did increase (good!) but fell towards the end of the 60-day test period. The second chart shows my training load increased in the mid part of the test period and that WILL have a significant effect on HRV, thus I can’t say that there is causation between Eight Sleep and improved HRV from my data.

 

 

Accuracy & Effectiveness Takout: Considering the overall assessment, including third-party data and vendor information, Eight Sleep appears to be a highly accurate device for capturing nightly sleep data. However, its accuracy may not be fully proven in the area of Sleep Stages. As for its effects on me personally, I can only report subjective improvements and cannot quantitatively measure any specific improvements, although it is certainly possible that improvements occurred.

 

What Technology Is Used by Eightsleep?

The technology used in Eightsleep is Ballistocardiography (BCG), but it’s not well-known or understood. It’s a real thing though, invented over 100 years ago (!) and I’ve used it in another product called EMFIT for 10 years. It’s like an ECG for your heart but based on tiny movement detection rather than tiny electrical signal detection.

BCG can be validated as a highly accurate way to determine heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV).

When you combine heart rate, HRV, movement and other factors you have all the basics that every wearable uses to determine sleep stages and bed ‘events’ like waking up, leaving the bed, going to sleep and getting in bed. Whether or not any of that is accurate depends both on the accuracy of the source data and the quality of the proprietary algorithms.

 

Eight Sleep Pod 3 History & Alternatives

Eight Sleep was formed 8 years ago as a simple sleep tracker based on a mattress rather than incorporated into a wearable. Subsequent versions improved the technology and introduced smart temperature control. The latest iteration is a cover for your existing mattress which gives the same features but at a lower entry price, this has significantly increased the popularity of the product as buyers no longer need to wait until they want to replace their mattress.

1. Gen 1:
   1. The Eight Smart Mattress (2015): Eight Sleep’s first product was the Eight Smart Mattress, which featured built-in sensors to track sleep patterns, including sleep duration, stages of sleep, and movements. It is connected to a smartphone app to provide users with personalized sleep data and insights.
   2. The Eight Sleep Tracker (2016): Eight Sleep expanded their product line with the release of the Eight Sleep Tracker. This device was designed to work with any mattress and was placed under the sheets to track sleep metrics. It connected wirelessly to the Eight Sleep mobile app and provided similar sleep-tracking capabilities as the Smart Mattress.
2. Gen 2: The Eight Sleep Pod (2018): The Eight Sleep Pod was a significant advancement for the company. It combined a high-quality foam mattress with advanced sleep-tracking capabilities and dual-zone temperature control. The Pod allowed users to adjust the temperature of their bed to their preference on each side of the mattress, promoting optimal sleep conditions for couples.
3. Gen 3:
   1. The Eight Sleep Pod Pro (2020): Building on the success of the Pod, Eight Sleep introduced the Pod Pro, an upgraded version with enhanced features. It included improved sleep tracking accuracy, faster temperature response, and an integrated technology called “Thermo Alarm” that gradually wakes users up by adjusting the bed’s temperature.
   2. The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover (2021): Eight Sleep introduced the Pod Pro Cover, which was designed to work with an existing mattress. It featured a thin, breathable cover that could be placed on top of the mattress to provide sleep tracking and temperature control capabilities similar to the Pod Pro.

 

Turning now to the alternatives to Eight Sleep.

There are no directly equivalent products that give as complete a solution as Eight Sleep at the same price level, however, Ghost SmartBed is a similar product to Eight Sleep but it’s more than twice the price with an inferior app; it’s worth considering though. I already own QS EMFIT which is a superior albeit overly technical, sleep analyzer providing too much information for all but a committed biohacker plus it has zero temperature control. Then there is a whole raft of temperature-controlled mattresses which can be extremely expensive and still lack smart sleep temperature control, products in this space include The Cube and OOLER by ChiliSleep – I wouldn’t recommend those products.

An Argument For Eight Sleep

Eight Sleep Pod 3 – How it’s made and setup

I’ll keep this brief to provide an overview of the product instead of duplicating the installation manual.

In simple terms, the Eight Sleep Pod 3 Cover is a smart cover that completely envelops your current mattress. It holds approximately one litre of water, which can be heated or cooled separately on each side of the bed. The Hub, a bedside unit similar to a PC, houses the intelligent technology and a temperature controller for the water. The heated or cooled water is then circulated through pipes to an “Active Grid” layer within the Eight Sleep system.

 

 

The installation process is relatively straightforward and can be done alone, although having the assistance of a partner can be helpful. For the cover, you simply zip it over your existing mattress, adjust the straps to ensure a snug fit, connect a few pipes, and fill The Hub’s reservoir with either a hydrogen peroxide solution or tap water. The hydrogen peroxide acts as a bleach and helps prevent bacterial growth. It’s worth noting that the hydrogen peroxide can be added at a later stage if desired, and I personally did not perform this step during my installation.

 

Eight Sleep Review – More Features

Eight Sleep also adds some relatively standard sleep aids that you may have access to elsewhere. If not then great! Now you have them with Eight Sleep and they include guided breathing, sleep sounds and pre-sleep stretching routines.

 

 

 

Eight Sleep Review – Size Guide

The Eight Sleep cover and mattress are both sold in standard sizes for each region. Measure your existing bed before buying!

Eight Sleep Reviews Across The Net

Eight Sleep features numerous seemingly independent reviews from Twitter on its own website. Naturally, only the positive ones are displayed, but even @elonmusk shares his positive reflection on the product.

There are several Eight Sleep reviews on Reddit, which are either extremely positive or … less so! The negative reviews often express disappointment with the company’s previous generation of products and customer service experiences during the Covid pandemic.

Setting those concerns aside, Eight Sleep boasts an incredibly impressive client list, which includes a substantial and impressive number of A-list sports stars and teams.

 

 

 

Eight Sleep Review – Takeout

This is one of my all-time favourite products that I have tested and used. It’s my favourite of 2023 so far. I have experienced better sleep and improved comfort, and as a result, I can confidently recommend it.

The product is well-conceived overall and based on fundamentally accurate sleep data. I am eagerly awaiting Eight Sleep’s upcoming validation against a gold-standard PSG Sleep Stage machine and will provide an update here when it becomes available.

However, like most good tech, it is quite expensive and effectively requires a subscription membership for access to its unique features.

It has several drawbacks. Firstly, there is a slight hum from The Hub, which was too low to bother me but might annoy others. Secondly, much of the smartness relies on accurate Sleep Stage Detection, which is challenging for any technology in 2023. This challenge applies even more to leading wearables from Garmin, Apple, Oura, and Whoop.

I found the app a bit tricky to navigate intuitively for device settings, but the more important sleep statistics were easily accessible, well-presented, and easy to understand. While I loved AUTOPILOT’s temperature regulation feature, which is excellent, there were times when I would have preferred to override the temperature setting using a rudimentary smartwatch app instead of having to find my smartphone and open the app.

Lastly, although Eight Sleep has links to Apple Health and Google Fit, the flow of data in both directions needs improvement. For example, HRV/readiness information should be integrated into Apple Health, and a “wake event” such as an iOS alarm should stop Eight Sleep’s Hub and end the sleep session.

However, these are relatively minor criticisms that do not significantly impact the overall enjoyment and usefulness of Eight Sleep.

It’s a fantastic product concept, almost unique in scope, and very well executed

 

Eight Sleep Discounts & Price

Get a double discount. This link gives the current official discount from Eight Sleep, then add the code THE5KRUNNER at checkout for an additional discount.
Prices vary slightly depending on the size of the mattress and the level of membership you chose.

Prices from…

• Pod 3 Cover – USA $2295, EU €2595, UK £2145 add the code THE5KRUNNER at checkout for an additional discount.
• Pod 3 Mattress (USA Only) – USA $3,395 add the code THE5KRUNNER at checkout for an additional discount.