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Find the right one the temperature in the bed can be difficult. Feeling too hot or cold makes it difficult to wake up and can wake you up prematurely. Since our mental and physical health depends on sleep, this is a problem. Eight Sleep has the answer. The Eight Sleep Pod 4 is a temperature-regulating mattress that tracks your body while you sleep, with a hub that pumps cooled or heated water into the cover to help you stay in nod land for longer.
When I tested its predecessor, the Eight Sleep Pod 3 (7/10, WIRED Recommends), I was wary of the billionaire biohacking buzz, but it won me over. Apart from the increased comfort, the the best sleep trackers everyone told the same story: My wife and I slept longer and had more deep and REM sleep with the Eight Sleep Pod than without. The Eight Sleep Pod 4 brings some welcome improvements, including greater comfort, quieter operation and convenient tap controls, so you don’t have to reach for your phone at night.
Photography: Simon Hill
Unfortunately, better sleep doesn’t come cheap. A Pod 4 Cover and Hub for a queen-size bed costs $2,599, but you also have to pick up an annual subscription to Autopilot for an extra $199. If you already have a subscription, you can transfer to a new Pod, but you can no longer buy an Eight Sleep Pod without taking out the Autopilot subscription. The UK Super King I tested costs £2,699, with a year of Autopilot at £199. It’s a real investment, but sleeping well can be transformative.
Attach the hay
The Eight Sleep Pod 4 Cover and Hub come in two large boxes. The mattress cover has a rubber tube inside and a soft, plush, dark material on top. It is elasticated for an approach to your mattress, and the tube must be routed from the top to connect in the hub. The hub is about the size of a desktop PC, with a canvas front and a large logo 8. The hub is the brain of the operation, and it cools or heats the water and the pump around the cover.
The setup with the Pod 4 was similar, but much faster than the Pod 3. Pull the cylinder from the top of the hub and pour water up to the fill line. The initial process has dropped to about 10 minutes from a couple of hours for the previous version. Connect the hub to your Wi-Fi using the mobile app. The Pod 4 cover is much more comfortable than the Pod 3, and the hub is much quieter. It never broke 30 decibels when measured. It makes a subtle hum, like a white noise sleep sound.
