About 7 years ago I decided to get more serious about my sleep health. I ended up investing in the Ooler Sleep System by Sleep.Me, and I used it every night for 3 years. Overall, I had a good experience with it. Sure it never quite got as cold as I wanted it to, there were some reliability issues, and it was a little louder than I’d prefer – but it did a pretty good job of helping aid my sleep.
About four years ago, I started hearing more and more about the Eight Sleep System. I’d been considering upgrading my Ooler for a while to their Dock Pro system, but the more I heard about Eight Sleep the more curious I became.
I decided to pick up an Eight Sleep Pod 3 Cover, and I’ve used it consistently at home ever since.
After four years of nightly use, I can tell you without hesitation: this product is SO good.
SO SO good.
It legitimately blows away my Sleep.Me product in nearly every category, and after all this time, both my wife and I love it even more than we did when we first received it.
BUT, it’s not perfect.
If you’ve been in the market for a temperature-regulated sleep system, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know in this Eight Sleep Pod review. I’m going to tell you what I love about it, what I don’t, and I’ll make some direct comparisons to the Sleep.Me Dock Pro and BedJet systems which are among the biggest competitors to Eight Sleep.
Ready to get going? Me too, I’m excited for this one.
What is the Eight Sleep Pod Cover?
The Eight Sleep Pod Cover is essentially a super high-tech mattress pad with two main functions.
The first is it regulates temperature using water. The pad has tiny tubes built into it that will send water throughout the entire pad. This can be set to as hot as 110 degrees, as cold as 55, and anywhere in between.
There’s a single dock that controls this, and each Eight Sleep has dual side controls. Meaning, you and your significant other can each have totally different temperatures on your own sides of the bed.
The second major feature of the Eight Sleep is non-wearable sleep tracking.
I currently wear my Garmin Venu X1 to bed because I want all my sleep data consolidated in Garmin Connect alongside my fitness and health metrics. The Eight Sleep has sensors built in throughout the entire pad to garner all of the same information as my watch, without having to wear anything.
Data like wakeup times, sleep cycles, HRV, breathing rate, and more, are all calculated while you sleep.
If you’re trying to optimize your recovery, get deeper sleep, or simply be more comfortable in bed? There’s a very good chance the Eight Sleep Pod was made for you.
More on that in a bit.
Choosing the Right Eight Sleep Product for You
Similar to the ChiliPad I had before, you have a few options when purchasing an Eight Sleep product.
First off, there’s the Eight Sleep Mattress. This essentially has all of the same functions and features as the cover we’re talking about today, but is an entire mattress. I’m perfectly happy with my mattress, so I didn’t feel the need to go through the extra hassle or expense of buying this.
There are currently multiple cover options:
Pod 3 Cover – The generation I’ve personally been using for 4 years. While it’s no longer for sale new, it still works phenomenally well and has received app updates over the years that have added features like snoring detection, sleep debt tracking, and more.
Pod 4 Cover – Features 2x more cooling power over the 3, is quieter, is more comfortable, and has a tap-to-control feature on the side of the cover for quick manual adjustments without needing your phone. This is the current “budget” (ha!) model that’s still for sale.
Pod 5 Core – The latest generation with even faster heating and cooling, improved AI for smarter temperature adjustments, and enhanced comfort foam to reduce the feeling of tubes.
Pod 5 Ultra – Everything in the Pod 5 Core, plus an adjustable base for snoring mitigation, reading positions, improved snore detection with automatic head elevation, and it has built-in speakers for soundscapes and meditation.
This review is primarily based on four years of using the Pod 3 cover, but I have a very good sense of what the newer models bring to the table and will be able to help you figure out if they’re right for you.
Depending on your bed size, you can potentially find the Pod 3 at a discount if they’re still clearing inventory, though availability is limited. The Pod 4 starts at $2,449 for a Full. The Pod 5 Core typically starts around $2,849 (often on sale under $2,800), and the Pod 5 Ultra ranges from $4,899 to $5,099 depending on size.
Personally, I look at this system as an investment in my long-term sleep health. So while saving money is nice, and I’m perfectly happy with my Pod 3 after four years, I’d opt for the Pod 5 Core if I were buying it now. The enhanced cooling power and tap-to-control features alone would be worth the upgrade.
Quite simply, this is the single best investment you could make for your sleep - it's that good. It's expensive, but worth it.
First Impressions of the Eight Sleep Cover
My Eight Sleep Pod 3 arrived very quickly, just a few days after ordering it. It showed up in two separate boxes, one for the dock, and one for the cover itself.
I never really thought my Ooler felt cheap, but I think this was partly because I’d never used any other similar product.
As soon as I took out both the dock and the mattress pad, I was legitimately surprised by how high-quality it is.
Especially the cover itself. It is night and day better than the Sleep.Me system I had previously.
The Sleep.Me pad goes over the top of your existing mattress pad and uses elastic straps to attach around the corners of the bed. One of those broke immediately upon installing it.
Note: It’s worth noting I recently did get Sleep.Me’s flagship Dock Pro in for review. I haven’t set it up yet, but I will be doing a dedicated review and will update this Eight Sleep review with comparisons once I have them.
The Pod 3 cover with PerfectFit is a full cover that fits over the entirety of your mattress. It’s softer and the dark grey color feels much classier than with my Ooler.
The hoses that attach to the dock are way more robust than I expected them to be as well.
Four years later, everything still looks and functions exactly as it did on day one. The cover shows no signs of wear, the hoses are still perfectly intact, and the dock continues to operate flawlessly. That build quality I noticed on day one has proven itself over hundreds of nights of use.
If you’re on a budget, then check out our BedJet 3 review for a more affordable alternative.
Setting Up the Eight Sleep: Easier than Expected
I’d read a few other reviews of the Eight Sleep before I received mine, and a number of them talked about having a pretty nightmarish setup process. So I was prepared for the worst, and made sure I gave myself ample time to do it.
Honestly? The hardest part was getting the boxes open! They packaged those things really well…
The first thing you’ll do is download the Eight Sleep app and sign up for your account.
The app walks you through every single step of the process, and doing it is very intuitive and easy to follow.
Getting the cover on my bed was super easy. You put the hoses behind your headboard, and then place it on the bed just as you would any other mattress pad. It fits very snug and was easy to get all the wrinkles out and get it totally flat. This is necessary both for comfort and to ensure proper sleep and biometric tracking.
From there, everything was pretty obvious: Plug in the power to the dock, attach the hoses, connect to WiFi, and fill the tank up with water.
From the time I entered my room to the time it was set up probably took about half an hour.
It does take a few hours to properly prime the system with water to be ready for sleep, so for optimal results, do it earlier in the day.
When you set up your account, you can add the email of your significant other, and it will allow them to set up an account so they can control their side of the Eight Sleep and get tracking data.
Using the Eight Sleep Pod Cover
Overall, I’ve been really impressed with the app experience of the Eight Sleep system – and they’ve continued to make updates which have enhanced the usability and added features over the years.
For instance, I now have snoring detection with my Pod 3, a feature I thought was only going to be reserved for the newer models. They’ve also added sleep debt tracking, which shows you if you currently need more or less sleep depending on recent sleep patterns.
As with any app, it can take a little bit of time to understand where everything is and how it works, but the learning curve is minimal.
One thing I love about the Pod vs. the Ooler is the fact that it’s WiFi rather than just Bluetooth.
There were so many times I wanted to turn on my Ooler to get it ready to go, but I was out of Bluetooth range and couldn’t.
With the Eight Sleep, I can turn it on and set the temperature from anywhere I want.
Eight Sleep’s Autopilot is One Area it Really Shines
To get the most out of the system, you can set it up with timers and alarms.
This will set your bed to your perfect temperature an hour before your regular bedtime.
The scheduling works very well, and is easy to use. You can even set the Pod to switch temperatures throughout the night to encourage the best sleep possible.
For instance, I like getting in a cool bed during the Summer. But I know sleeping in a cold bed will promote deep sleep. So I can set my schedule to go from say 62 degrees at bedtime, down to 55 degrees an hour later.
Then as I get closer to my desired wakeup time, I can have it warm up the bed to gently wake me up.
There’s also a subtle alarm vibration function built into the mattress, which is far less jarring than waking up to an alarm clock.
But where the magic really lies is in the ‘AutoPilot” system.
After 7 days, the system begins to understand your body and sleep routines.
When you turn on AutoPilot, it will automatically adjust the temperature throughout the night to help you sleep deeper, and stay asleep.
After four years of use, I can tell you: the AutoPilot features work surprisingly well. On any given night, it will make numerous micro adjustments to help me stay in deeper sleep. The app now provides increased visibility to the changes AutoPilot makes and the results of those changes, which helps you understand just how much work it’s doing behind the scenes.
For instance, in the time I’ve used AutoPilot, it has made 14,297 adjustments while I’ve been sleeping.
You could do schedules with the Ooler, but I found the system cumbersome to use, and mostly just did everything manually.
The Eight Sleep scheduling and AutoPilot systems work extremely well, make the system truly enjoyable to use, and have made a noticeable difference for both me and my wife when it comes to sleep quality.
Quite simply, this is the single best investment you could make for your sleep - it's that good. It's expensive, but worth it.
How Well Does the Eight Sleep Pod Cover Work?
Ok now to answer the biggest question: how well does the Eight Sleep Pod work?
This is the part that caused me to wake up the first morning after using it and say, “OMG, this thing is so good.”
The Eight Sleep Pod Cover works remarkably well when it comes to heating and cooling your bed.
For some context, I started testing this in July in Portland. We’ve had some days consistently get up above 90 and stay there for extended periods. I don’t have AC in my house.
With the Ooler on really hot days, it would struggle. It would certainly keep you cooler, but even at its coldest setting, it never felt cold when the ambient temperature was hot.
Even when it isn’t hot, it’ll get very cool, but not extremely cold.
With the Eight Sleep System? It gets cold.
With the Eight Sleep you can have it use actual temperatures, but by default it’s a scale from -10, which is 55 degrees, to +10, which is 110 degrees.
Setting it at -9 for the night, I’d wake up in the morning, and the entire side of my body that I’d slept on would be legitimately cold.
It heats and cools LIGHTYEARS better than my Ooler ever did.
Four years later, both the cooling and heating performance remain excellent and as good as they’ve always been. We still don’t have air conditioning, and as long as the temperature doesn’t climb into the high 90s or above, the Eight still keeps the bed icy cold.
I know the newer Pod 4 and Pod 5 models say they get both warmer and colder with their enhanced cooling systems. That’s great! But I certainly have never felt the need for a warmer or colder bed than what my Pod 3 provides.
And it’s the first sleep system that has made me ok with not having air conditioning.
My wife is notorious for not caring or noticing whenever I get a new toy or gadget at home.
Sonos surround system? “Why’d you spend so much money on that? It’s gonna wake up the baby.”
New TV? “Does it really need to be that big?”
But with the Eight Sleep, at least 3 times she has said “I love this thing, it’s so much better than the Ooler!”
Worth noting, the first product she has had this reaction to since the Eight is the new Chirp Contour Massage Table, which has been the biggest surprise of the year so far.
So for all of the cool features, sleep tracking, ease of setup etc. if there’s one thing you take from this, it’s that the heating and cooling of the Eight Sleep Pod is truly best in class and has exceeded all of my (our) expectations.
Sleep Tracking with the Eight Sleep Pod
But the heating and cooling is just one of the features of the Pod cover.
The other side of it is the sleep tracking.
The idea of getting accurate sleep tracking without a wearable device seems, well, not possible.
So I didn’t exactly have super high expectations for it.
But after years of sleeping on the Eight Sleep Pod Cover, I’ve been consistently impressed with how well the sleep tracking works.
Without any wearable, the Eight Sleep can track:
- Which sleep stages you’re in and for what duration
- When you fell asleep and when you woke up
- Heart rate
- Heart rate variability
- Breathing rate
It then takes all of that data and gives you easy-to-understand scores for all of this, as well as your overall night of sleep.
The data has been very close to the same as what I get with my Garmin Venu X1. The company will tell you some of these differences come down to a wearable being on one extremity vs. the sensors in the Pod, which span the entirety of your bed.
Regardless, they’ve been close enough that I trust it all.
The built-in sensors are especially useful if you don’t travel a ton. My issue is I’m pretty diligent about wanting all of my sleep data every night. The fact that the Eight can track without a wearable still feels like magic, but if you travel frequently, you obviously aren’t getting tracking while you’re gone. This is one reason I still wear my Garmin to bed – it provides more holistic data with activity, fitness, and health metrics all in one place.
You can add tags to the app each day for things like “watching TV late,” “exercise,” “alcohol” and a few dozen more.
For me personally, I’ve found that on evenings where I take a bath or sauna before bed – my sleep improves dramatically. So I’ve added tags to track those. It’s that and alcohol I’ve found has the greatest impact on my sleep quality. But you don’t always understand just how much of an impact it has until you see the numbers.
It’s been eye-opening to both see (and feel) how much better my sleep is on nights where I don’t drink.
One thing worth mentioning: our now 4.5-year-old crawls into our bed at least 70% of nights, and many of those nights I’ll just get up and go sleep in another room. Obviously, this will skew the data. All that to say, it’s important to think about your lifestyle if one of the reasons for buying this is the sleep tracking itself.
For me, it’s a nice bonus, but not the primary reason I use the Eight.
One thing I do wish I could do is tell it if I’m in bed reading. So if I go to bed an hour early and read, it has me as being “awake” which can throw off all of the data for “routine” because it’s thinking it takes me over an hour to fall asleep.
But aside from that one minor issue, the Pod sleep tracking is a game-changer. It truly takes the system from nice to have, to something I can’t sleep without.
Other Eight Sleep App Features
Aside from temperature regulation and sleep-tracking features, the app goes a step further.
You’ll also find an entire section for Sleep Tools that feature:
- Breathwork exercises
- Meditations
- Sounds and music to aid sleep
- Stretching and workout exercises for before bed and after waking up
The Ooler felt mostly just like a fancy way to heat and cool your bed.
The Eight Sleep Pod system feels like a sleep health ecosystem that provides you with all of the tools you need to truly improve the quality of your sleep and routines.
Downsides of the Eight Sleep Pod
By now, you can tell I am a huge fan of this system.
But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. There are a few drawbacks that I’d be remiss not to talk about.
Let’s go in order from minor to major.
Occasional Water Sounds Coming from Dock
One of the things I’ve appreciated about the Eight Sleep vs the Sleep.Me Ooler is just how quiet it is. Even on the “silent” setting, the Ooler made a fair amount of noise. On top of that, the fans were constantly going, which caused the room to heat up even more.
The Pod is generally very quiet.
BUT, occasionally I’ll hear what sounds like dripping noises as I’m trying to fall asleep.
It doesn’t happen all the time, and honestly, after four years of use I’ve gotten so used to it that I barely notice it anymore. But it kind of sounds like water dripping into a puddle. I think it happens more when the Pod is actively heating or cooling, but every time I hear it, it makes me think there’s been a leak or something (there never is.)
While the Ooler fans were basically just white noise, this is a little more acute, so when it happens, you tend to notice it more.
This is one area I know they’ve really improved with the newer Pod 4 and Pod 5. So, considering the Pod 3 is already very quiet, I believe them when they tout the “Silent Performance” of the newer models.
The Eight Sleep is Expensive. Like, Really Expensive.
The Pod 4 Cover with PerfectFit in size Full currently starts at $2,449. The Pod 5 Core starts at $2,849 (often on sale), and the Pod 5 Ultra ranges from $4,899 to $5,099 depending on size.
I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of money for something that no one really needs.
The build quality, performance, and features all make that price much more justifiable than I expected it to be.
But, being so expensive will definitely push it out of the realm of affordability for a lot of people.
I do suppose it’s about perspective though. The bid to get AC at our home years ago was $23,500. That’s not happening. So, for a fraction of that price to have something that makes the Summer heat much more bearable makes it seem like a downright bargain.
That said if you’re really interested in a temperature-controlled sleep system and can’t justify this price, you might take a look at the Sleep.Me Dock Pro. It won’t have any of the fancy features or sleep tracking of the Eight, and won’t get quite as cold, but it’s significantly less expensive.
The BedJet 3 is another option at a more budget price point, using air-based cooling instead of water.
I will say this though. If our Eight were to completely fail, I would pony up the $3k-ish to get a brand new Pod 5 Core. I don’t need the Ultra, but this has had such a positivie impact I would happily purchase again.
Making it no surprise I’ve got it has one of the best golf recovery tools out there.
The Subscription Fee Feels Like a Gut Punch
Finally, the biggest downside of the Eight Sleep is that in order to truly take advantage of everything mentioned here, you have to pay for a subscription.
As with all tech products with subscriptions, it’s one of those necessary evils.
There are now 3 subscription levels:
Standard ($17/month or $199 annually): Automatically adjusts temperature, provides sleep and health reports, access to vibration and thermal alarms, snoring detection and mitigation, and a 2-year warranty.
Enhanced ($25/month or $299 annually): Everything in Standard plus an extended warranty from 2 to 5 years.
Elite ($33/month or $399 annually): Everything in Enhanced plus “health check for advanced wellbeing, cardiovascular and respiratory monitoring to surface health abnormalities.”
I get it. This is the way of the world.
Arccos, Bushnell, Rapsodo – these are just a few of the products we’ve reviewed here that have annual subscriptions.
It’s getting out of hand, and this is where these companies make the bulk of their money.
But this one really hurts. To drop well over $2k and have to pay extra each year feels a little over the top.
Is it worth it? In my experience after four years, yes, it absolutely is. And if you’re planning to buy an Eight Sleep, I’d build the subscription into your budget. Otherwise, you’re missing out on the bulk of what makes this product so great.
Unless all you care about having something that will make your bed stay really cold all night. That is truly the best feature of the Pod, and you can do that without the subscription fee.
Quite simply, this is the single best investment you could make for your sleep - it's that good. It's expensive, but worth it.
Eight Sleep Pod vs. Sleep.Me Dock Pro: Which Product is Better?
The most direct competitor to the Eight Sleep is the Sleep.Me Dock Pro (the Ooler has been discontinued).
I haven’t used the Dock Pro personally (yet!), so I can’t definitively say which is better. But I’ll comment on a few things I do know.
Instead of one dock, the Dock Pro has two – one for each side of the bed. This is how it was with our Ooler.
Generally, it’s nice just to have one main hub.
That said, the Eight Sleep Dock is much taller, so it doesn’t fit underneath the bed, which is a bit of a bummer.
The Dock Pro will slide under most beds, and it also has a manual control on the device itself – which I wish the Eight Sleep had.
Sometimes you just want to quickly change the temperature of the bed and not have to deal with getting your phone out. The fact the Dock Pro allows you to do this is nice, and it’s a feature I initially missed on the Pod 3.
Good news though, the Pod 4 and Pod 5 both have manual tap-to-control built into the side of the cover, which is a fantastic upgrade.
Honestly, this might be the single biggest complaint I have about the Pod 3 on a regular basis. At least once a week I’ll wish I could easily adjust the temperature one way or another without having to get my phone out.
The Eight Sleep app is a huge upgrade from the last Sleep.Me app I used. The Dock Pro should get colder than my Ooler did, but with the design of the PerfectFit cover which goes all the way over your mattress, it’s a nice upgrade over the topper the Ooler used.
As far as customer service, years ago I reached out twice to the team at Sleep.Me regarding my Ooler – and never received a response. I’ve heard from other readers that they’ve had a similar experience.
I know they’ve gone under some significant changes over the past few years though, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this has been improved.
Compare this to Eight Sleep which had immediate live chat support within the app while I was setting up my unit.
In four years of using my Eight Sleep, I’ve never needed to contact customer support because nothing has broken or needed maintenance. But knowing that support is readily available if I ever need it is reassuring.
One final thing that we’ve gotta touch is the price. The Dock Pro is significantly less expensive than the Eight Sleep. So despite the fact that my experience with Eight Sleep has been better in every way compared to my Sleep.Me experience – you’re paying for the privilege.
So again, if budget is a concern, then the Dock Pro is definitely worth considering. Just know that you’re giving up the advanced sleep tracking, sleek design, and some of the cooling power.
What About the Eight Sleep Blanket and Pillow?
Eight Sleep now offers additional products that sync with your Pod cover:
Eight Sleep Blanket ($1,050): A hydro-powered blanket that syncs with your cover to provide temperature regulation from above, rather than just below you.
Eight Sleep Pillow Cover ($1,049): Keeps your pillow cool all night and has its own hub.
Both of these seem like very expensive add-ons for what is already a very expensive product. Since the Eight Sleep Pod itself works so well at regulating your body temperature from below, I’m not sure I personally see the need for either. Your head naturally stays cooler than your core body, and adding a cooling blanket on top seems redundant when the cover does such an excellent job on its own.
That said, some people may love the idea of being completely enveloped in temperature-controlled comfort. But I’d recommend starting with just the Pod cover first and seeing if you feel you need anything more.
Final Impressions: Four Years Later, Still One of the Best Investments I’ve Made
I’m not even trying to hide how much I love this product.
If you’re looking for a system to aid your fitness recovery, track your sleep, and sleep deeper and more comfortably? I’m not sure there’s a better product on the market than the Eight Sleep Pod Cover.
After four years of nightly use, this is one of the single best products for my health I own.
It heats and cools remarkably well.
It truly does help me both fall asleep faster, and stay asleep longer throughout the night.
And all of the sleep tracking and health data it provides is the cherry on top.
It’s easy to see the quick wins of being able to have a cooler or hotter mattress, but you don’t necessarily realize how much good, comfortable sleep compounds over time. The cumulative effect of better sleep night after night has had a noticeable impact on my overall health and well-being.
If it weren’t for using a Sleep.Me system for 3 years before this, I might not be quite as impressed. But since I have used one of these sleep systems for so long, the fact that the Eight Sleep is so much better – and has remained consistently excellent for four years – is remarkable.
In four years of use, I’ve had zero issues. No maintenance required, no parts needing replacement, no customer support needed. Everything continues to work exactly as it did on day one.
Yes, it’s very expensive.
Even more so when you throw the subscription on top of it.
But considering you spend 30% of your life in bed, and the quality of that time directly relates to the quality of your life outside of your bed – this is an investment that is well worth it…if you can afford it.
In over 12 years of reviewing products on Breaking Eighty, this is one of my all-time favorites. It’s very expensive, but if it’s in your budget, it does everything just as well as advertised and I can’t imagine not having it in my life.
Have any questions about the Eight Sleep, Sleep.Me Dock Pro, BedJet 3, or anything else? Drop a comment and I’ll do my very best to answer every single one!
Quite simply, this is the single best investment you could make for your sleep - it's that good. It's expensive, but worth it.
Recent Updates:
October 1st, 2025: Complete rewrite to reflect 4 years of continuous use. Updated all references to include the new Pod 4 and Pod 5 models. Updated pricing data for all products and subscription tiers. Integrated long-term experience naturally throughout the review rather than as a separate section.
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It's expensive, but this has legitimately improved my quality of life dramatically
The Eight Sleep Cover is very expensive. It's also not likely something you'd never think to need. But after sleeping on it for over 4 years now, I can't imagine not having it. It has improved my sleep quality so dramatically that I'd happily purchase it again. It's high tech, easy to use, and works even better than advertised.
The Good
- Straight forward setup process
- Heats and cools far better than competing systems
- The built in sleep tracking is nothing short of magic
- Consistent updates to the app
- Newer models are even quieter and more full featured
The Bad
- It's very expensive
- You can faintly feel the tubes in your mattress pad if you're looking for them
- The subscription fee feels like a gut punch
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Presentation
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Performance
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Features and Quality
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Price
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Personal Affinity
6 Comments
Purchased because of this review and used your link!
Thank you!
Thanks Gary!! Really appreciate it, and let me know what you think. Your sleep is about to get a whole lot better ha.
They just came out with the pod4. Address some of your issue. Question, they sent an upgrade link to me, would you still get credit?
Thanks Gary! Yeah as long as you click one of my links at some point, and then use your upgrade link, I should get credit. I appreciate you asking!
And yeah, was really excited to see the manual controls specifically.
Purchased (used your link) the new ultra 4. Your review was amazing and the pod4 looks even better.
“PODUPDATE” saved me another $200
Thank you again and love the content.
Awesome! Man, I have so many questions about the Ultra ha. Be sure to come back and let me know what you think of it. Specifically how well the elevation works!