What is the best bed and mattress cooling system in 2023?
Our round-up of the best bed cooler technology to keep your bed at the optimum temperature for a great night’s sleep.
There’s no doubt, around the world in many place, temperatures seem to be increase. And whilst we will all need to learn to adapt to a warmer climate, there are some aspects of our life where we may need extra help. One such area is our sleep.
Over hundreds of millennia our bodies have evolved to naturally cool down during the night as we slumber. If the temperature is too hot in bed, this can disturb the delicate balance of our slumber, resulting in an inability to fall asleep, restlessness or night-time awakenings.
Luckily, in 2023, there are ways to lower your bed temperature, using the latest technology and mattress cooling systems. Here’s our deep dive into the subject.
Over the years, there’s been increase interest and competition in the bed cooling market. Whereas back in the day there was only one contender – the original ChiliPad, there are now several competing systems available, all offering slightly different features and performance specs.
So, to tackle the summer heatwaves, here’s our updated roundup of the best ways in 2023 to stay cool in bed. We’ve not placed them in any particular order, we think these are all great products, so we’ll let you make up your mind in that respect:
1) BedJet V3
From $399/€399 Worldwide Shipping
>> Read our in-depth BedJet 3 review here
Designed by ex-NASA engineer, Mark Aramli, BedJet is a smartphone-controlled, ultra-fast cooling and heating device for your bed. Bedjet V3 regulates the temperature of your bed using a controlled air ventilation system.
Following the amazing success of the original 2014 product and the subsequent 2nd gen version, BedJet V3 is the company’s most advanced product yet. Here’s a rundown of some of the main improvements:
- Amazon Alexa and Smart Home connectivity – control your sleep comfort by voice and integrate with all sorts of cool platforms enabled by the new wifi chip in BedJet 3.
- Smaller, sleeker new look – more features, more technology, same cooling/warming performance in a slimmer (30% smaller) low-profile design.
- Advanced remote control – worlds most advanced color screen remote control for a bedding/sleep tech product. For folks who don’t like bringing their phones (ie using the BedJet app) now everything (including the biorhythm sleep cycles) can be programmed via the new remote.
How does BedJet work?
BedJet is designed to provide near instant temperature control of your bed. It consists of a floor unit which goes under the bed and attaches to any standard mattress via a small hose.
When you’re ready to gsleep, just switch on the unit and air starts circulating in between your sheets and mattress, lowering the temperature in matter of a few minutes. In winter time you can switch from cooling mode to heating for those chilly nights.
BedJet uses an ultra-quiet DC motor with acoustic damping technology making it much quieter than your standard AC unit. You can operate it with by the included color remote control or via the smartphone app.
The air flow system is specifically designed to deal with the common problem of warm air that gets trapped beneath the bed covers.
BedJet wicks away moisture and heat from both your body and the bed surfaces, dealing with night sweating, hot flashes and providing an optimal climate controlled environment during the whole night.
The base model starts at $399 but if both you and your partner want the BedJet experience, you can upgrade to a Dual Zone system to create independent cooling and heating zones for each half of the bed.
Other features include ‘biorhythm technology’ which takes into account your body’s circadian clock to create a temperature profile that changes to adapt to your sleep cycles. There’s also a smart alarm system which does away with the need for an alarm clock.
Although not related to cooling, BedJet can also do bed heating during the winter months. This included a special ‘Turbo Mode’ which warms your sheets from freezing to toasty in less than 5 minutes.
SAVE $50 ON BEDJET 3Chili Technology (SleepMe)
The next 3 systems are all from the same company, Chili Technology now rebranded as ‘SleepMe’. SleepMe are the original inventors of the mattress cooling system. Their first product the Chilipad was invented way back in 2007 by Todd and Tara Youngblood.
It proved immensely popular, selling thousands of unit and kickstarting a whole mini-industry of innovation in smart products to help you sleep cool at night. Since that time the company has continued to innovate, launching two separate bed cooling products, Ooler, and SleepMe’s latest offering, Dock Pro.
Despite this, the legacy products prove to be popular so the whole range is still available to buy, offering differing price points to suit your needs. Hence we’ve included all three products for your consideration below.
2) ChiliPad Cube by Chili Technology
From $499
GET 25% OFF CHILIPADUSE COUPON CODE:
ChiliPad Cube is another active system for cooling and heating your bed, but instead of circulating air like the BedJet, ChiliPad uses a water-based system to control your bed temperature. Chili Technology, (now rebranded as Sleep.Me ) the company behind Chilipad has been an innovator in bed cooling since 2007.
The ChiliPad Cube is the latest iteration of their bed cooling/warming system and enables you to accurately control your bed temperature from 55-100 degrees Fahrenheit, making it one of the most versatile bed cooling systems that you can buy. 
The ChiliPad Cube consists of the control unit (the Cube) and the specially designed cooling mattress pad. A built in connection tube (96 inches in length) connects the cube to the pad, maintaining a steady, temperature regulated flow of water in and around the mattress pad.
The mattress pad itself is made of poly cotton with a 150 thread count. Woven into the material are a network of soft medical grade silicone microtubes which circulate water through the pad. The tubes themselves are designed with a low profile so that you won’t feel them while you’re in-bed.
Depending on the size of your bed, the ChiliPad comes in various sizes from single up to king size. In addition, Chili Technology also make a Dual-Zone ChiliPad which consists of two cubes and a mattress pad that can be set with two completely independent temperature zones – one for you and one for your partner.
The ChiliPad comes with a supplied remote control and can be set on a timer if you don’t want it running all night whilst you sleep. The ChiliPad Cube has also been designed with cost efficiency in mind, operating at an average of 80 watts, which is about the same as an incandescent light.
Like the BedJet, ChiliPad is a sophisticated product, hence it’s not a cheap option. But the ChiliPad technology offers a genuine alternative to costly AC and whole room heating. So if you need a bed cooling system that works effectively and throughout the night, the ChiliPad Cube is one of the best options available.
BedJet Vs Chilipad
Many people have compared the pros and cons between, the Bedjet air ventilation system, and the Chilipad water cooled system so we’ve provided a description of both products below
3) Ooler Sleep System with Chili Cool Mesh Pad
OOLER IS CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK – check out Chilipad Cube and Dock Pro for alternative cooling solutions
If you think Ooler looks familiar, then you’d be right. The Ooler Sleep System started life as the Kryo Sleep Performance System, the Indiegogo-funded advanced bed cooling system from Chili Technology, makers of the popular Chilipad.
Having finally made it to production in June 2019, the Ooler system is the result of 10 years of development which builds on the engineering and innovation expertise of the Chili Technology team, making Ooler the most advanced hydro-powered bed cooling system on the market today.
>> READ OUR FULL IN-DEPTH OOLER REVIEW HERE
Like the Chilipad, Ooler consists of a control unit, and the cooling ‘hydronic’ pad which you place on top of your mattress. Apart from a redesigned chassis and new materials, what sets Ooler apart are the all-new app controlled functions.
This allows for a range of advanced customizations such as automatic scheduling for turning the device on and off, programmable sleep schedules for minute by minute, degree by degree adjustability, a ‘warm-awake’ function to gently rouse you in the morning with a gradual temperature increase.
You can even connect your Fitbit with Ooler to use your wearable device’s sleep data to adjust your sleep temperature throughout the night.
Ooler allows you to control the temperature of your bed from 55°-115°F (12.8°-41.6°C). There are two product options, the ME version is for single sleepers, whilst WE gives you the power to independently control two sides of the bed.
Ooler is designed for to optimize your sleep for a number of different goals; athletic performance, insomnia, night sweats, productivity and symptom recovery.
4)Dock Pro™ Sleep System
From $999
Next we have SleepMe’s Dock Pro which builds on the company’s long experience, resulting in one of the most advanced bed cooling systems you can buy. The improvements may seem incremental, but the specs are truly impressive. Dock Pro follows a similar product design to Ooler and ChiliCube – a water-cooling floor unit attached by a hose to the cooling mattress pad – but offers a ton of improvements which in theory justify the higher starting price of $999.
Dock Pro control unit
The brand new design builds on the success of previous models in a number of ways. First off, it’s cooler – offering nearly double the cooling power of previous systems -and sports a temperature range of 55°-115°F (13° -46°C) . It’s also a lot quieter than earlier generation products, ranging from 41 decibels (about the same noise level as your refrigerator) up to 46 decibels at higher settings. Another new feature is the removable water reservoir, making it easier to fill up and maintain.
Other improvements include an airplane mode to cancel those pesky EMF frequencies should you need to, more on-device controls, plus the updated app, Sleepme. This allows you to set automated temperature adjustments through the night, control your device away from home, as well as offering a ‘Warm Awake’ alarm.
Chilipad Pro mattress pad
Next we have the new ChiliPad Pro™ Mattress Pad. The new design differs in that there are no tubes, instead a ‘HydroLayer’ membrane is employed which covers more surface area and is claimed to facilitate 5 times more cooling ability than previous pads with tubing. Like the Ooler system, the new mattress pad is available in two configurations, ‘WE’ a dual zone pad with two independent cooling systems for both you and your bed partner, and ‘ME’ which is designed for half the bed or single sleepers.
Sleepme+ and Sleep Tracker
An optional upgrade is the all new singing and dancing Sleepme+ functionality. Essentially this consists of a software subscription that’s tied to a proprietary in-bed sleep tracker which communicates directly with your Dock Pro system. The new technology dubbed ‘Hiber-AI’ uses your real-time sleep data to adjust the bed temperature.
SAVE NOW ON DOCK PROGet Your Discount Here5) Moona – smart pillow temperature device
From $399
Breaking July 2023: According to this post on Reddit, Moona as a company is shutting down. The app is not unsupported but product will continue to work standalone. The Moona website is offline and unaccessible.
Debuting on KickStarter in 2017, Moona is a smart device that understands your sleeping patterns and regulates your temperature to help you fall asleep faster, increase deep sleep, reduce night awakenings and wake up more naturally.
Whilst BedJet and Chilipad use mattress cooling technology, Moona is designed to work with your pillow. Because the head and shoulders area is a major heat exchanger, by focusing on that part of the body, Moona can effectively regulate your core body temperature.
>> Read our super in-depth 6000-word Moona Review here
Moona is a three part system, consisting of a bedside device, a pillow pad, and the mobile application.
To use Moona, simply insert the pad into your pillowcase and set your desired wakeup time. The pillow pad contains a network of tubes full of water, connected by a hose to the bedside cooling unit.
As you fall asleep the temperature of the pad is regulated by a water circulation system which starts to cool down as you lay in bed. During the night, Moona regulates your head temperature to ensure deeper sleep and reduce night awakenings.
A major benefit of Moona’s water cooled pillow is its ability to adapt and learn about your own individual sleeping preferences. It does this because of the machine learning algorithm built into the Moona app and software.
Because Moona also contains environmental and movement sensors, it’s able to track your sleep at night and determine which temperatures, at which times, bring about the best sleep for you.
So the more you use Moona, the better the machine-learning gets, ensuring you’re never too hot or cold at night and bring about a more peaceful night’s rest.
6) Eight Sleep Pod 3
From $2145
Exclusive $150 discount on The PodUSE COUPON: SLEEP150
Finally we have the Eight Sleep Pod 3, a third-generation system comprising a bedside control unit, the Hub, which connects via tubing to an ‘Active Grid‘ – a sensor-packed mattress cooling/heating cover. There’s also the option to buy the Pod 3 Mattress, which is Eight’s proprietary memory foam mattress complete with cooling system.
Regardless whether you opt for the mattress with a built-in cooling and heating system or just the cover/hub, you get the same feature-packed functionality, aka dual-zone dynamic temperature control, biometric sleep tracking, personalized sleep reports and a host of integrations for the connected smart home.
8+ Pro
If you want to experience the most from your Pod 3, you can subscribe to 8+ Pro, a software suite that includes Temperature Autopilot which automatically adjusts your temperature environment based on your personalised sleep data, digital sleep coaching – actionable feedback to optimise your sleep, and data insights to dig deeper into your sleep metrics and identify potential problems in your sleep habits.
>> Read our hands-on, in-depth Eight Sleep Pod Review here
Exclusive $150 discount on The PodUSE COUPON: SLEEP150
Bed Fans
What is a bed fan?
A less hi-tech solution (and cheaper) alternative solution than the Bedjet or a fancy mattress cooling system is a bed fan. There are a few different models available, but the basic functionality is the same. Bed fans sit at the foot or the side of the bed and circulate air under your sheets to reduce the build up of heat and moisture in your bed. Rather than supply cold air, they rely merely on air circulation to provide a cooling effect.
7) bFan Bed Cooling System
Created by US inventor Kurt Tompkins. bFan® is manufactured in Texas and features a patented adjustable floorstanding design that provides a neat and simple solution for hot sleepers, and those who want to save money on their air conditioning bills.
The bFan is positioned above the top of the mattress with a ‘Breeze Bar’ which stops the air stream getting blocked by your bed covers. bFan® features a wired remote control to adjust the speed of the fan from light cooling to a strong breeze.
8) Brookstone Bed Fan
Extremely similar in concept to the original Bedfan®, the Brookstone model only comes in one size but can be adjusted to fit even ultra-thick mattresses. One advantage the Brookstone Bed Fan has is the inclusion of a wireless remote.
The remote gives you full adjustment of fan speed and being wire-free it can site on your night stand. To stop you fumbling round at night, the remote lights up in a blue glow on touch. The Brookstone Bed Fan is designed and manufactured in China.
9) Night Bliss Bed Fan Cooling System
Designed to help with hot flashes at night
Marketed as an ‘in-bed body cooling system’, Night Bliss is a different type of bed fan design, and it’s the only available system that’s been designed with features to specifically help women who experience hot flashes at night.
A different design concept from the original upright bed fan, NIght Bliss works by fixing to the bottom end of your bed, and in effect creating a wind tunnel over your body with an extremely powerful set of fans.
Night Bliss is tailored to help women who experience frequent bouts of intense, short duration hot flashing, a symptom that affects the majority of women around the time of menopause.
Hot flashes, (also known as hot flushes ) is a sudden feeling of heat, and causes skin reddening (blushing) and sweating. Whilst more common in women, men can also experience hot flashes, usually if they are dealing with certain hormone problems, notably testosterone deficiency. Because hot flashes can happen at any time, they can be extremely disruptive to sleep.
The Night Bliss bed fan is designed to help with the symptoms by producing an on-demand, controllable blast of air over your body in bed. The Night Bliss bed fan system works in conjunction with a small remote control ‘pendant’ that’s worn around your neck.
When you start to feel the effects of hot flashing starting, simply press the button on the remote to activate a pre-timed cooling cycle that starts in seconds and can last for a time interval of your choosing.
Why is a cool bed is better for your sleep?
Most experts agree that getting the temperature right in bed at night is one of the biggest factors to getting a sound night’s sleep.
And despite notions of warm cozy sheets and bed covers, our biology means that to fall asleep and maintain a good night’s rest, our bodies need to cool down.
Although scientists can’t explain exactly why it happens, during the course of a night’s sleep, our internal body clock causes body temperature to naturally decrease by 1 to 2 degrees (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
Studies have shown that facilitating a rapid decline in core body temperature increases the likelihood of falling asleep and can also help to promote deeper sleep throughout the night.
So when you’re too hot in bed, whether it’s a heatwave, a hot summer night, illness, infection, night sweats, or menopausal hot flashes, the result can be the same – drenched sheets, discomfort and restless, ruined nights.
When this happens, you may need to look into finding a cooling system for your bed. Fortunately there are many options available today. Here’s our guide and run-down of the best bed cooling systems in 2022.
What’s the alternative to sleeping with an air conditioners or fan at night?
Air conditioning (AC) units are very effective at cooling down your bedroom, but many people don’t like to sleep with the AC on because it creates a dry, uncomfortable environment to breathe in.
Room fans can be useful for circulating air, but they’re noisy and often end up just circulating warm air round the room.
Fortunately, however there are many different ways that you can tackle the problem of hot nights in bed.
Broadly speaking you have two main options when it comes to bed cooling.
1) Passive bed cooling (mattress toppers, bed cooling pads and pillows)
Passive cooling technologies – mattress toppers, pillows and sheets which use special fabrics, foams and moisture-wicking materials to draw heat away from the body. These products don’t actually lower the temperate of your bed, but they can help to stop heat from building in your bed for a certain period of time.
Cooling mattress pads and bed cooling mattress toppers help regulate your body temperature by using specially formulated material (such as gel infused memory foam) which allow more air ventilation than a standard mattress.
This creates a cool sleeping surface by absorbing heat energy within the air spaces and allowing heat to disperse to the edges of the mattress topper or cooling pad.
Unfortunately passive cooling mattress pads cannot fully cool down your bed to a specific temperature. The reason is because when the cooling pad has absorbed warmth from your body, it then needs to release the heat back out somewhere.
If your room is already quite warm, the amount of heat dissipation is limited. So if it’s an especially sweltering night, or if you are experiencing particularly severe night sweating or hot flashes, you may need to look for a bed cooling system that has active cooling functions.
2) Active bed cooling (air and water cooling systems)
Then you have active temperature regulation systems which use either air or water cooling technologies to physical reduce the actual temperature of your bed. Some of the best solutions in 2022 include:
Each of these systems uses either air ventilation or water cooling to actively reduce the temperature under the bedsheets or your mattress surface.
Most of these systems are recent innovations and incorporate advanced technological features including smartphone apps, sleep tracking, and smart home connectivity.
These devices tend to be more expensive than passive bed cooling products – prices range from $300-$2000 – depending on the options you choose, but the good news is, compared to running and AC unit all night, these products will save you a lot of money in the long term as the day to day running costs are much lower.
Cooling bed sheets, mattress pads, toppers and pillows
Finally we take a look at cooling pads and mattress toppers that use special materials and fabrics which help regulate the temperature in your bed, allowing you to sleep cooler at night. If you live in a warm climate, or you’re just a hot sleeper, and your mattress doesn’t provide much airflow, then a cooling mattress topper can be a simple and effective solution to overheating in bed.
How do cooling mattress pads work?
Instead of actively introducing a cooling element, such as air, or water-cooling, mattress toppers and cooling pads work by either improving the amount of ventilation and airflow in your bed surface, and/or absorbing heat from your body to allow you to sleep cooler.
The benefits of using a cooling pad for your mattress, instead of an active system is that you won’t have to deal with any wires, power connections or complicated setup procedures. You simply place the pad on top of your existing mattress and leave it there. The downside of course is that you have do dynamic control of temperature, and you rely of the heat-conducting properties of the mattress pad to work its magic.
Materials
There are various types of approaches and materials used to achieve this effect. Some cooling mattress toppers are made of gel-infused memory foam which is designed to provide more breathability and airflow than a normal mattress.
Other toppers like the Outlast Iso Cool Mattress Pad use a special NASA-designed internal cooling material called ‘Thermolecules’ to wick away heat from your body. Finally, if you’re looking for a portable bed cooling solution, you can also buy removable mattress pads made of cooling gel which helps to dissipate heat if you’re a hot sleeper.
For extra cooling efficiency you can also place these pads in the fridge for an hour or two before bed. This will provide additional cooling benefits, and whilst it won’t last all night, will help you if you have problems in trying to fall asleep because of the hot bedroom environment.
Summary
We hope you enjoyed our roundup of the best smart gadgets and solutions for staying cool in bed. As the technology improves and more products are released we’ll keep this page updated so you can ensure you’ll be best equipped to banish those hot, uncomfortable sleepless nights with the latest in cutting edge sleep gadget technology.
