Before I got the Chilipad Dock Pro, I was an uncomfortably hot sleeper—a touch too warm in the room and I’d wake up drenched in sweat. And even though I could sleep through a car alarm or a thunderstorm, heat is the one thing that ruined me. Running too hot has kept me up through many restless nights, so I fine-tuned my bedding setup for maximum cool: breathable sheets, a cooling blanket instead of a comforter, even cooling pillows. But nothing has made a bigger difference than the Chilipad Dock Pro, a cooling mattress cover.
What sets the Chilipad apart is that this high-tech mattress pad pumps temperature-controlled water through a thin membrane, instead of the hard tubes you’ll find on many other mattress covers. It sits under your fitted sheet and adds a slight padded feel to the mattress. The dock itself—a sleek-ish, rectangular unit you can stash under your bed—connects to the pad via hoses and lets you adjust the temperature anywhere from 55 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. You can control it manually using buttons on the dock or through the Sleepme app, which offers even more customization.
The dock runs surprisingly quiet—similar to white noise—and the pad cools down in about 20 minutes, though if your room is 85 degrees and humid (like mine on some days), don’t expect miracles. It works best in moderate temps, and I’ve found the lowest I can get it to drop on a hot night is around 68 degrees (which is still cool enough to help me sleep comfortably.)
Each queen or king-size “We” cover includes two docks (one for each side), which you can control independently. If you share a bed, you and your partner can each find the perfect sleeping temperature without having to compromise. When you set up the docks, just be sure to leave some space around them under the bed for airflow. When I shoved both units too close together, they overheated and didn’t cool the bed as effectively. Sleepme recommends leaving at least 18 inches of clearance on each side.
Without pairing to your phone, the docks are perfectly functional—but using the app really unlocks the benefits (although you’ll need WiFi for the setup). You can establish your sleep schedule so the dock turns on and off automatically, too: My Chilipad starts cooling at 11 PM, so by the time I finish binging the latest reality show and brush my teeth, the sheets feel like they’ve been refrigerated (in the best way.) I programmed my pad to stay as cool as possible through the night and shut off automatically at 9 AM, because I need all the help I can get to crawl out of bed in the morning. But you can customize the temperature curve based on certain times—for example, the app recommends you start warm, cool down throughout the night for deep sleep, then gradually warm up again in the morning to ease you out of bed.
