The Lowdown
The Perfectly Snug Smart Topper allows you and your partner to each customize the temperature on your side of the bed. The result is a much more comfortable sleep. After using it for a couple of months, I’m now in a place where I can’t imagine not having one on my bed.
Overall
Pros
- Foot warmer is a dream
- Three separate heating or cooling stages each night let me fall asleep, stay asleep, and then wake up comfortably
- Controlling each side independently is ideal for couples with different sleep needs
- Manual override lets you get a burst of heat or cold in the middle of the night
Cons
- It’s expensive
- The app has one of the ugliest and least intuitive interfaces I have ever seen
A few months ago, I had no idea what a bed topper was. Sure, I’d heard of feather beds, but a smart topper? “If you have a good bed why would you need one?” I thought. Then I got the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper; it automatically adjusts temperature while you sleep, and I couldn’t imagine sleeping without it now.
Raina and I have different sleeping styles. For example, she can sleep anywhere, anytime, and she’s really good at it! On the other hand, I often have trouble getting to sleep and wake up at least once, often more frequently, every night. Raina often overheats when under the covers; I prefer heavy covers and being toasty warm.
The Perfectly Snug Smart Topper is a perfect sleeping solution for Raina, and it is also the ideal sleeping solution for me. That’s a pretty neat trick; here’s how it does it: From Perfectly Snug:
Your body temperature changes while you sleep. Why shouldn’t your bed? The Smart Topper is a specialized 2-inch layer that sits on top of your mattress. It has built-in sensors that automatically adjust its temperature to keep you sleeping comfortably all night long.
The Perfectly Snug Smart Topper arrived in a long, heavy box. I got it into the bedroom, opened the box, and then carefully cut the plastic that was compressing it for shipment.
When the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper expanded, I was presented with the topper itself, a cable coming from each side of the bed. (I received a two-zone, king-size Smart Topper that adjusts each side independently); finally, there’s an AC power adapter.
Easy Set-Up: Simply place the Smart Topper on top of your mattress and plug it into a standard wall outlet. Nothing on your floor hooked up to your bed. Simple. Clutter-free.
Bedding Compatible: Place your fitted sheet directly over the Smart Topper and continue making your bed as you normally do. For the best cooling performance, use breathable sheets.
We stripped the bed, placed the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper on it (the Smart Topper was surprisingly heavy!), connected the cable, plugged in the AC adapter, and remade the bed. The Smart Topper is two inches thick but still works with our sheet set.
The top of the Smart Topper is a layer with perforated holes to allow airflow across the entire surface. The layer initially made a little noise when lying down or moving, but the noise either disappeared within a few days or we both became used to it. The perforated holes can also be felt through the top sheet. Raina was initially not happy with the sound or its feel, but she hasn’t complained about either since the first few days of testing.
There is, of course, a bit of adjustment many may encounter when first using the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper. As the company explains:
The Smart Topper is thin and flexible to substantially maintain the qualities of your underlying mattress. If you have a very soft mattress it may give it a bit more firmness and if you have a very firm mattress it may provide a softer top feeling.
Perfectly Snug makes some pretty huge claims when speaking about their product. Among them are:
- Greatly improve your sleep quality. No more tossing and turning, looking for a cold spot, and controlled airflow will keep you cool and at the right temperature.
- Couples both sleep well. Use the same blankets, in every season, without fighting over the thermostat. Each person controls the temperature of their side of the bed.
- Eliminate or reduce nighttime hot flashes. Preventing overheating while you sleep makes hot flashes less likely.
- Eliminate or reduce nighttime sweats. Controlled airflow keeps you cool and dry.
- Climb into a cozy warm bed with extra warm feet. Preheating the bed and the foot heater is pure luxury.
- Optimize your sleep by contouring your bed temperature through the night. The temperature of your bed can change through the night according to your preference, so you can fall asleep quickly, sleep soundly and wake up naturally.
We’ll address these claims at the end of this review.
There is a small control area on either side of the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper with an on/off switch and control to increase or decrease the temperature. Once the Smart Topper is turned on, if you press the upper button once, you hear the small, tinny speaker say, “Heat 1.”
The topper then begins to heat that side a bit. Repeated pressing of the button raises the temperature even more. The same goes for pressing the bottom button; the first press decreases the temperature by one level and repeated pressing makes it even cooler.
Smart Technology: The Smart Topper cools by gently blowing cool air under and around you. It can also heat you, and provide independent foot warming.
I should note that when the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper is set to heat or cool at higher levels, the fan at the foot of the bed can get loud. For me, the sound is soothing and conducive to sleep, but that’s not the case for Raina.
What I’ve just described is the way you adjust the topper manually. It works quite well. For example, last night was rather cold; I turned the Smart Topper on half an hour before I went to bed. When it was time to sleep, I got into a nice warm bed. I was freezing in the middle of the night, so I manually raised the temperature even more.
However, there is another way to use the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper; it is what puts the “smart” in this topper.
The free Perfectly Snug app lets you:
- Set your preferred overnight temperature plan
- Schedule preheating and sleep/wake times
- Choose optional foot heating
The foot heater option is one of my favorite features of this bed topper. My feet are also cold, so I cranked the temperature as high as it goes; Raina opted to set the temperature to medium and is comfortable at that level.
The app has two main pages.
This screen lets you set a schedule for each side of the bed. You can select which days the schedule applies and then set the time you want the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper to turn on at night and when you want it to turn off in the morning.
The next step is to select the sleep and awake duration, which will become relevant when you look at the other app page.
Selecting “Quiet Mode” turns off the indicator speaker connected to the manual controls.
Finally, there is a slider to control the foot heater and another to control the speaker volume.
You can adjust the settings for each side of the bed by choosing either the left or the right “person laying in bed” icon at the top of the screen.
The other page of the app offers a three-stage setting selection. You can choose the amount of heating or cooling you want when you get into bed, a setting that takes over after the startup period and maintains a set temperature overnight, and a third setting for the amount of heating or cooling you want when you wake up.
The amount of time the starting settings and the waking setting are active depends on the amount of time you set on the first screen on the app. Getting the proper settings will be trial and error when you first set up your Perfectly Snug Smart Topper. I’ve had to experiment with different lengths of time for the “starting” period, and I’ve yet to find the “forever” setting.
Perfectly Snug claims that the Smart Topper senses your body temperature and adjusts automatically and accordingly to keep you comfortably asleep. I haven’t noticed this happening or not — obviously, since I would be asleep when it happens — but I’ll take their word for it.
Sadly, while the app does its job, it is one of the worst app interfaces I have seen in years. The icons to select which side of the bed you are controlling are tiny and at the upper corner of the screen.
The lag in the app when you change a setting is frustrating. It offers a host of different settings that you can adjust, but it is as unintuitive as anything I have seen. And, to put it as kindly as I can, the app is ugly, which is a shame because this is an otherwise excellent product.
All that noted, I love the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper. I like getting into bed and having it just a bit warm. I appreciated the cooling feature when the temperature went up in September, and now that it is cooling down again, I absolutely love having a bed that keeps me warm all night.
The added softness of the Smart Topper is also very comfortable, although I never had a complaint with how our mattress felt on its own.
As Perfectly Snug puts it:
Whether you struggle with night sweats or chills or just want consistent deeper sleep, the Smart Topper will keep you at your ideal temperature all night, and your partner at theirs! Gentle cooling airflow helps curb night sweats by keeping you cool and dry, while soft warming will keep your partner cozy.
Features:
- Active Airflow: Air is actively delivered under your body to keep you cool and dry.
- Dual Zone Controls: Separate controls for each side of the bed
- Smart Sensors: Sensors monitor your body temperature to adjust cooling and heating throughout the night automatically.
- Flexible controls: Easily set the temperature with our app or with the buttons on each side of the topper.
- Foot Warming: Say goodbye to icy cold feet with three levels of foot heating.
- Burst Mode: A burst of cooling or warming is perfect for rapid relief.
- Scheduled Settings: Set it and forget it with auto start and stop at bedtime and when you wake up.
- Sensing: The Smart Topper senses your body temperature and auto-adjusts the amount of cooling or warming to ensure you stay comfortable all night.
Whether you struggle with night sweats or chills or just want consistent deeper sleep, the Smart Topper will keep you at your ideal temperature all night, and your partner at theirs! Gentle cooling airflow helps curb night sweats by keeping you cool and dry, while soft warming will keep your partner cozy.
The Perfectly Snug Smart Topper is a fascinating bedding product. The fans hidden in the foot area of the topper are silent unless you turn the heating or cooling to one extreme or the other.
The fans will produce sound when set to either extreme, but the sound they make is similar to that of an ambient sound sleep machine. For me, it actually aids in my falling asleep; I was surprised by how subtle the effect is.
Whether heating or cooling, you won’t feel a sudden rush of air. While you will get a bit of airflow at times, I mainly notice the heating or cooling impact when the sheet beneath me feels a bit warmer or cooler than expected. It’s worth noting that the heat provided is not the type of overwhelming, sweat-producing heat you get from an electric blanket, which is a good thing.
So let’s return to the company claims that I listed at the beginning of this review and tick them off:
- “Greatly improve your sleep quality.” I think it is doing its job, although I am in a period when I’m sleeping worse than ever. I’ll be able to address this claim better after I do a sleep study in a few weeks and, I suspect, have to get a CPAP machine. I give this claim a “Wait and see.”
- “Couples both sleep well.” Riana and I definitely have different preferences, and this bed topper lets us have the best bed for each of us. I give this claim a solid “Yes!”
- “Eliminate or reduce nighttime hot flashes.” I don’t get hot flashes, so I can’t address this claim.
- “Eliminate or reduce nighttime sweats.” Since we got the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper, Raina hasn’t complained once about waking up drenched in sweat. I give this claim a “Yes!”
- “Climb into a cozy warm bed with extra warm feet.” I’m just going to give this claim a big “Oh, yes!”
- “Optimize your sleep by contouring your bed temperature through the night. The temperature of your bed can change through the night according to your preference, so you can fall asleep quickly, sleep soundly and wake up naturally.” I love the ability to set three different temperatures, so I fall asleep with the bed toasty warm, sleep with it slightly warming or cooling me, and then wake up to a nice warm bed. I give this claim a “Yes!”
So the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper does what it says, which is a good thing considering my King sample has a retail price of $1649.
If you’re concerned about the price, I get it. In all honesty, I would probably have never spent $1650 on the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper without first having the chance to try one out for myself in my own home, and I suspect that a lot of people would feel the same.
To address that concern, Perfectly Snug offers a 30-day risk-free trial. Try a Smart Topper out in your home — just remember to keep the original protective packaging. If you don’t love the Smart Topper, you can simply return it. As an added incentive, from November 15-29, you’ll be able to get up to $300 off, and you won’t even need a code to get the discount.
After using the Smart Topper for a couple of months, I can’t imagine not having one on my bed. If this review sample eventually dies, I’ll become a retail customer—that’s how much I love using the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper.
Retail prices for the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper start at $859; it is available directly from the manufacturer and other retailers, including Amazon.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample of the Perfectly Snug Smart Topper
What I Like: Foot warmer is a dream; Three separate heating or cooling stages each night let me fall asleep, stay asleep, and then wake up comfortably; Controlling each side independently is ideal for couples with different sleep needs; Manual override lets you get a burst of heat or cold in the middle of the night
What Needs Improvement: It’s expensive; The app has one of the ugliest and least intuitive interfaces I have ever seen