Eight Sleep Pod 4 Review: ‘Life saving’ AI-powered bed gadget
It can deliver perfect sleep and counts Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg among its fans - there’s just one catch.
These products are hand-picked by our team to help make shopping easier. We may receive payments from third parties for sharing this content and when you purchase through links in this article. Product prices and offer details are not assured, and should be confirmed independently with the retailer. Learn more
Are you one of the four in ten Australians struggling with poor sleep?
Me too. In fact, I’d say before I came across the Eight Sleep Pod 4, getting a good night’s sleep was an elusive mystery to me.
I’ve tried it all – meditation, cutting caffeine after 11am and altogether, no screen time after 7pm, waking up at the same time every day, acupuncture, yoga nidra, melatonin – the lot. But still, a solid seven to nine hours was something I could never achieve.
Now it’s just business as usual for me. I sleep well every single night. All thanks to an AI-powered bed gadget.
It’s been life changing. But actually.
ONE-MINUTE REVIEW OF EIGHT SLEEP POD 4
HOW I TESTED THE EIGHT SLEEP POD 4
I slept on Eight Sleep Pod 4 for six months straight before publishing this review. I still sleep on it every night and will continue to.
IN THIS REVIEW
What’s special about the Eight Sleep Pod 4?
Setting up the Eight Sleep Pod 4
One month into testing the Eight Sleep Pod 4
Six months into testing the Eight Sleep Pod 4
My honest verdict – is the Eight Sleep Pod 4 worth it?
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE EIGHT SLEEP POD 4?
The latest iteration of Eight Sleep’s Pod, the Pod 4, boasts state-of-the-art sensors that can regulate your bed’s temperature, detect and prevent snoring, assess sleep quality without a wearable, and wake you up with subtle temperature changes and vibrations.
Each side of this bed can be also tailored to individual sleep preferences via tap-to-control sensors, ideal if you’re in a hot sleeper/cool sleeper relationship.
That alone reads like a wish list compiled by the sleep-deprived. But its highlight is its SleepOS – a personalised sleep optimisation – and its AI-powered AutoPilot feature.
When activated (I did), AutoPilot creates a personalised profile based on your sleep history, temperature preferences and real-time environmental conditions. It learns your needs, automatically adjusting the Pod’s temperature to keep you comfortable throughout the night. For example, if the room gets colder, AutoPilot warms the bed to maintain your ideal temperature.
It costs from $25 a month for AutoPilot.
Co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep, ex-professional skier Matteo Franceschetti, compares it to “sleeping on a stethoscope” due to its health advantages.
“We have self-driving cars and rovers on Mars, yet most humans spend one-third of their lives sleeping on foam mattresses that do nothing to improve their sleep,” he said.
“With the launch of Pod 4 Ultra, we continue to prove that technology can be used to understand what each person needs for optimal sleep and then deliver solutions.
“We are once again raising the bar for what sleep should feel like by eliminating worries about temperature, comfort, and elevation while providing the most seamless sleep experience adapted to each individual every night.”
The Eight Sleep Pod 4 has proven stats to add to its brags, too.
It’s clinically proven to improve sleep quality by up to 32 per cent, detects and reduces snoring by up to 45 per cent and provides up to one extra hour of sleep per night.
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Lewis Hamilton are early adopters, while actor Kevin Hart is such a big fan that he invested in the company.
More recently, Taylor Fritz, a favourite on and off the grand slam tennis circuit, swears by his Pod which he shares with his internet-fave girlfriend, Morgan Riddle - so much so that he became an investor in the company.
While Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski even showcased his own Eight Sleep Pod during an Architectural Digest home tour.
SETTING UP THE EIGHT SLEEP POD 4
The Eight Sleep Pod 4 arrived in a massive box. Inside which were two smaller boxes (very Inception), one containing the Pod 4 cover and one the ‘Hub’.
I stripped my bed and fitted the Pod 4 cover over the mattress and connected it to the Hub – its nerve-centre.
The Hub and cover are connected via tubing, which is thin and flexible enough to suit most headboards, though some cord management might be necessary.
The Hub, roughly the size of a computer tower, holds around two litres of water that it quietly heats and cools. This water circulates through the Active Grid – an integrated layer in the mattress cover that regulates temperature independently for each user.
The mattress cover is soft, fleecy, and comfortable; there are no lumps and bumps from the water tubes or sensors
To start, I filled the tank halfway and let the system prime for about ten minutes to expel air bubbles. The app then prompted me to add more water and prime it again. After that, my partner and I set up our AutoPilot accounts, allowing us to control our individual sides of the bed and track our sleep separately.
Pod 4 temperatures range from as low as 13˚C to as high as 43˚C, which might seem extreme, but it could be a lifesaver if the heating fails on a chilly winter night or summer brings a melty heatwave.
The grid also tracks sleep and health data, providing a comprehensive breakdown of metrics, including your “sleep fitness score,” each morning.
The setup took about half an hour. The Eight Sleep app provided clear, step-by-step instructions.
ONE MONTH INTO TESTING
Investing in an AI-driven, temperature-regulating mattress cover may seem extravagant, but anyone who battles with sleep knows that when it comes to snagging those precious eight hours, no option is too far-fetched.
At $3,849 it’s so expensive, I know, but it’s genuinely groundbreaking. Before the Pod 4, I was surviving on a maximum of four interrupted hours each night. With it, I experienced a near-immediate improvement in my sleep from night one.
It was winter when I first started using the Pod 4 and it was a treat getting into a warm bed every night.
I also loved that I could stop wearing my Apple watch to bed. I used it as an early alarm so I didn’t wake my partner but always found it so uncomfortable and disruptive to my sleep.
I’m also a huge fan of how ‘tap zones’ on each side of the pod cover. These slightly raised areas allow you to adjust cooling with a couple of taps: two to cool, three to warm. You can also snooze or stop your alarm with two taps.
Thanks to its daily reports on my sleep (98 per cent accurate according to studies) I started to learn what it was I needed to get a good night’s sleep.
For me, that means a very warm bed continuously – which goes against usual expert advice of having a cool room – and doing some extra stress management exercises (courtesy of the Eight Sleep app) right before bed to help me fall asleep quicker and increase my deep sleep.
And – one of the best bits – the insights gave my partner (a chronic snorer) and I concrete evidence of how long and loudly he was snoring every night, so he started to actively minimise the causes of his snoring.
Going from a sleep score of 45 to 75 in a week was promising and prompted me to research bed sheets. I discovered that my 1000-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets were adversely affecting my sleep.
After switching to bamboo sheets from Sheet Society, my sleep score shot up to 90+ within days.
SIX MONTHS INTO TESTING
I’m now getting 7.5 to 8 hours minimum sleep per night. And that has changed my life – no exaggeration.
My sleep score is almost always over 90 and if it dips, I know what to do to get it back up. I’ve even had a few 100s (which I credit mostly to the sheet switch).
I have never felt so motivated to push myself to achieve.
The knock-on effect of quality sleep has been remarkable. I have more energy, allowing me to juggle being a mum to a toddler with a full-on job.
I no longer find myself in couch-bound recovery on weekends; instead, I’m regularly at the gym four mornings a week, socialising with friends, and even trying out new recipes for weeknight dinners.
I even competed in a fitness event – Hyrox.
I couldn’t have done any of this without the quality sleep I’m now getting.
MY HONEST VERDICT – IS THE EIGHT SLEEP POD 4 WORTH IT?
Despite all the statistical proof of its effectiveness and my own positive experience of the Eight Sleep Pod 4, its $3,849 price tag still makes me do a double take.
But I honestly don’t know how I would live without it.
Quite literally too. According to the Sleep Health Foundation’s report, Asleep on the Job: Costs of Inadequate Sleep in Australia, inadequate sleep was estimated to contribute to approximately 3,017 deaths.
It’s also projected that more than one Australian will die each day – totalling 394 annually – due to incidents such as falling asleep at the wheel or industrial accidents linked to sleep deprivation.
Something I can believe as someone who previously would drive tired and not remember the journey.
The remaining fatalities, according to the Sleep Health Foundation, are largely associated with health conditions influenced or exacerbated by insufficient sleep, including heart disease and diabetes.
More Coverage
According to recently published research involving 172,321 adults, men who get adequate sleep live about five years longer than men who don’t. For women, it’s two years.
Considering that, plus the fact we spend so much of every day asleep and that using the Pod 4 for over six months has not increased my power bill in any meaningful way, it’s an investment I would hand on heart recommend finding the money for. And I’m a tight arse.
Eight Sleep provided the writer with an Autopilot subscription free of charge.
’Believe the hype’: Top boxed mattresses worth switching to
Shoppers are ditching the traditional bed for more affordable rolled up mattresses that some say are “10 times better”.
Foam vs spring: Which mattress is right for you?
The materials your mattresses are made from matter more than you may think.
‘Seriously comfortable’ mattresses for side sleepers
Always wake up on the right side of the bed with the mattresses side sleepers ‘highly recommend’.
‘Bliss’: Customisable mattress feature wows
Touted as being Koala's most 'advanced mattress yet', transitioning onto the Koala Plus was a breeze for me. But my partner is divided. Here's our honest review.