I was exhausted. I had just returned from a road trip, and had ridden more in three days than I normally did in two weeks. This included multiple trips to escort a friend to a nearby hospital, where I had stayed until well after midnight. I was finally back home in my own bed, and I was desperate for a good night’s sleep.
That’s why I picked up a device from the pile of gadgets I’ve yet to review: the Aura Smart Sleep Mask. It’s not exactly one of the best sleep trackers: unlike the Oura Ring, one of our best smart rings that monitors the quality of your sleep, the ‘Aura with an A’ sleep mask is more focused on improving it. It does so with some interesting features, although it does come with a by-now all-too-common subscription app.
I charged the mask with the included USB-C cable and synced it to the Aura app (after signing up for the free trial, which lasts for a week – after that it’s a very pricey $59.99 per year to get access to all the personalized meditation, sleep and guided movement content on offer, so about £45 / AU$90). I put it on and was surprised at how lightweight and comfortable it was, the eye pillow and covers soothing the pressure of the hard plastic casing against your face. While the feeling was unfamiliar, I quickly got used to sleeping with it on my side.
The contoured design is said to block 100% of light, and I’d say that aside from a very slim sliver of light under the seam, it’s more or less completely accurate. Full-fabric masks may be more comfortable for side sleepers, but this hardshell mask blocks out ambient light more effectively than a thin piece of fabric. It also allows you to have some fun and gently annoy your significant other by pretending to be Cyclops from X-Men.
The Aura mask is Bluetooth-enabled, allowing you to stream audio content from your phone through the mask using a variety of ultra-thin speakers. The mask itself records some ambient sounds, such as rainfall and forest sounds in Zen Mode, and is designed to stream content from the Aura app.
I experimented with Spotify and found that it could stream from there too, so if you wanted to use your own audiobooks from Audible, for example, there’s no reason you couldn’t. I opted for the basic Zen mode, pressed the ‘on’ button under the fabric in the middle of the mask, and went to sleep. It’s an odd feeling pressing the mask to your face to start it, and I spent a while fiddling with it.
Other than waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and momentarily forgetting I had it on, I slept very well. The mask has a wake-up light bar called the Glow bar, which works like the best wake-up lights to simulate sunrise. It’s a similar experience to using a separate wake-up light, and a very effective, very gentle way to wake up – much better than your phone’s alarm clock.
Really, it’s an excellent bit of kit, and I can’t fault the comfortable design, innovative features like the Glow bar, or performance as a set of sleep headphones. I really enjoyed wearing them, although that may have been partly novelty.
The biggest problem, however, as mentioned in our full Aura Smart Sleep Mask review, is the price tag. At $229 (around £170 / AU$335) and with an additional $59.99 per year to access almost all of the content on the Aura app, which you have to download in order to use the mask, it’s really only for those with serious cash to spend on better sleep.
I cancelled my Calm subscription when the price went up to $69.99 a year. After years of a cheaper subscription, I now had the tools to meditate without the accompanying guided content. Plus, there are soundscapes available on other streaming services like Spotify and YouTube.
There are cheaper alternatives to the Aura Smart Sleep Mask, like Snoozeband and Musicozy, that you might want to try first. I haven’t tried the Snoozeband yet so can’t comment on its quality, but the Deluxe model costs $79.99 / £59.99 / around AU$120, and that’s without the ongoing subscription to the Aura app.
I found the Aura Smart Sleep Mask to be a great experience, but I wouldn’t necessarily purchase it as an essential product without trying some cheaper alternatives first, especially those with the included subscription plan.