Everything You Want to Know About the ZEEQ Smart Pillow in One Review

I'm always looking for things that will help me get a good night's sleep, so I knew that I had to try the ZEEQ Smart Pillow as soon as I heard about it. According to the description on Amazon, ZEEQ isn't just comfortable — it's also capable of tracking the duration of your sleep, detecting and reducing snoring, streaming music and waking you up like an alarm clock in the morning. They had me with those features, but the "Swiss Army Knife of the bedroom" line really sealed the deal.

Two days later, I moved my weighted blanket and sunrise alarm clock out of my bedroom and made way for my new ZEEQ Smart Pillow. Because it has 135 divided reviews and a 3.3-star rating to show for it, I was eager to test the pillow for myself and hopefully make a permanent improvement to my nightly routine.

I really wanted to like this thing and had high hopes when I pulled it out of the box. It felt sturdy yet soft-to-the-touch and came with a slender, three-button remote that was concealed via slots in the fabric along the back. Even the ZEEQ app, which several reviewers claimed wasn't user-friendly, seemed easy to navigate. After downloading it to my phone and watching a quick tutorial, I created a profile with basic information about my physique, left the pillow to charge for an hour and then came back to link my device to the app.

The home screen looks virtually identical to the image above on the far left. It features the date and a "Start Sleep" button that you can push whenever you're ready for bed. If you tap that page, you also have the option to set an alarm and enable the snore and motion monitors or swipe and view your "SleepScore" for the week.

My favorite thing about the pillow and app was, far and away, the ability to stream music. My husband likes to read gearhead articles on his phone before bed while I prefer to listen to ambient sound, and he often complains that the noise is distracting. Thanks to ZEEQ's eight built-in speakers and Bluetooth compatibility, though, I could select one of ZEEQ's pre-recorded tracks or link to Spotify and finally listen to my nature sounds without bothering him. Seriously! For being right next to each other, he couldn't hear a thing.

However, that's where the positives end. Although the Tencel Botanic Fabric cover, memory foam and comfort fill were all advertised as being soft and enjoyable, I found after just one night that ZEEQ was pretty uncomfortable — and for me, that's saying something. I can fall asleep on airplanes, in the car and even on the floor with no problem. I have never met a pillow that I didn't like. But after one night of tossing and turning, even though the pillow's motion sensors declared that "Your Sleep Was Great Last Night," I'd had enough. The next night, I made my husband use the pillow instead, and he said the same thing. We traded back the following evening, and again, I found that the Smart Pillow was a little too firm, like it started out soft but compressed to the point of no support.

To add insult to injury, the app seemed faulty. On a few occasions, I would press the "Start Sleep" button as instructed, but upon waking up, would discover that the connection had been lost — so for all my tossing and turning, I had no data to show for it. And despite setting an alarm each night with the volume on high, the pillow never made a peep. (Or woke me up with one. It's hard to say, really.)

Worth the $47? Maybe for the quiet and convenient streaming feature, but not for sleep-tracking purposes. Stick with your current pillow and invest in a weighted blanket instead. You'll thank me later.