A reviewer's honest verdict on Orion's $2,195 AI mattress pad

When Orion offered a TechCrunch reviewer its $2,195 AI-enabled mattress pad to test, they agreed mostly expecting the product to be a punchline — a mattress pad that costs more than a month’s rent in a major city, “AI-enabled.” After a few months of use, the reviewer reports sleeping better than before. Orion is essentially a cooling mattress pad controlled from a phone app that adjusts temperature through the night to reduce how often the sleeper wakes up. By default, it starts cooling around bedtime, gets colder as the sleeper falls asleep, and gradually returns to room temperature near wake-up time to make getting up easier. Orion says it also uses AI to learn from a user’s sleep data and adjust temperatures to maximize sleep quality, though the reviewer is skeptical of how much those AI features actually matter, or how much they add to the price.

Orion’s founder, Harry Gestetner, is 26 years old but already an experienced entrepreneur: he sold his previous company, creator-monetization platform Fanfix, for an estimated $65 million when he was 21. He told TechCrunch that overwork at Fanfix — working seven days a week and neglecting his health — led to an inner-ear condition that temporarily left him unable to work, which pushed him toward the longevity movement and, eventually, toward building Orion. Gestetner said he thinks we’re five years away from “longevity escape velocity,” where AI science could add more than a year of life for every year lived.

Setup, per the reviewer, was easy despite arriving in two large boxes: the system connects to a control tower that holds water for the cooling loop, hasn’t needed a refill after months of use, and can split into two independently controlled zones for couples. The app also shows sleep data like time in light, deep, and REM sleep, and how often the sleeper wakes or tosses. The reviewer notes that such detailed health data is typically processed over the cloud, so it could be exposed if a third party involved in that connection is hacked — Gestetner says Orion invests heavily in security, but calls it an inherent risk of connected health products.

The reviewer says they wouldn’t personally spend $2,195 on the product, though it’s cheaper than competitor Eight Sleep’s $3,000 model, and that limiting phone use before bed with the $59 Brick device has done about as much for their sleep. Gestetner, who says he’s aware the price puts Orion out of reach for most people, told TechCrunch he’s working on a roughly $500 model.

Why it matters

Orion’s reception shows AI-enabled hardware can win over skeptical buyers on tangible results rather than the AI framing itself — but at $2,195, it remains a premium product until pricing comes down toward the mass market.