The queen mattress technically has the dimensions of a queen mattress, but in practice it feels much smaller. When the head is raised even slightly, my 5’1″ ankles stick out the end. I would recommend going bigger, but that means shelling out even more money. And two different firmness also creates this awkward no-one-in-the-middle zone. Any Have you ever tried to curl up with half of you resting on a very firm surface and the other half sinking into a very soft surface?It’s uncomfortable and painful.
Also, the edges of the mattress are smooth and sloped. It feels like you might fall in your sleep. After many close calls, my partner and I have developed a routine where I extend my hand and he grabs it to provide an anchor when I need to search for a dropped remote. Otherwise, he might somersault into the abyss.
But more importantly, clunky software (and app and presence) is my biggest problem. The Sleep IQ companion app is the default method of controlling your smart bed and it is flawed. Many times when I tried to adjust the temperature of my bed, the app would not pass those requests. The same thing happened the first time I tried to switch from Zero G to Flat. The app completely froze and did not reopen after forcibly closing it. I had to restart my phone and wait for it to reconnect; it took almost half an hour at a time when i just wanted to go to sleep.
There is a button on each side of the mattress base that can be set to a “favorite” setting. I ended up making mine Flat so I would have a way to physically kill the app when it started to crash. Halfway through my test, Sleep Number sent me the optional $49 remote for the bed. I highly recommend that you purchase the remote. It solved my control problems and it should be included automatically.
I also had some issues with Sleep IQ app analytics. The information program is supposed to track your sleep data and share tips on how to sleep better. But the ideas are… kind of… bad, especially if you work from home. The bed can’t tell the difference between, say, half an hour working on your phone or having an afternoon appointment or trying to sleep through the night. You have to manually edit all auto-recorded erroneous sleep sessions, and the process for doing so is clunky. I don’t want to open an app every time I sit on my bed for half an hour! Even if the default app asks “Hey, did you only sleep for half an hour?” that would be better. Right now, SleepIQ thinks my circadian rhythm is non-existent. According to my Apple Health data, my sleep schedule is going well.
And the app is invasive; collects biometric data such as heart rate variability and respiratory rate. It has a privacy mode if you want to disable data recording. But you can’t apply privacy mode to only half of the bed and furthermore, the app openly recommends that you keep privacy mode off. Rough. Do you know what is an easier and more accurate way to track your sleep data? Any fitness tracker either Smart watch. It probably won’t cost $10,000 either.
That leads to my final point. All the evidence suggests that for the better sleep hygienewe need to leave our phones and leave behind stress, blue light and constant distractions. Struggling with a malfunctioning blue light app is the exact opposite. Also, the smart base is very loud during sex, so that’s about it.
No hate This bed; I’m disappointed. They promised me a revolutionary sleep experience, and it was so-so. Sleep Number says there will be an update to the app later this month. But I really wonder if any of the so-called smarts on this smart bed were really smart, or even necessary, at all. It’s 2023, and if you wanted to spend $10,000, you would have rested much better on a beach vacation. In this point, I could buy a foot warmer.