Hatch Sleep Clock
3.5
Pros & Cons
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Reliable sleep tracking. -
Offers advice to improve your sleep routine and habits. -
Wide selection of content.
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Costs as much as a wearable, but tracks less. -
Must have proper position on nightstand to work. -
Membership fee.
Sleep data from wearables is getting very good — to the point that you can track breathing disturbances, heart rate, even blood oxygen saturation while you’re sleeping. But what if there were a device that could track your sleep stages without you having to actually wear it on your body to bed?
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Hatch set out to do that, and did it fairly well in the Hatch Sleep Clock. I’ve been sleeping next to the device on my nightstand for about a month now, and I can confidently say it’s done a good job at tracking my sleep.
The Hatch Sleep Clock uses a motion-detection sensor and ultra-low-power radio signals to track when you get into bed, your respiration rate, sleep stages, and any movement throughout the night. Similar to other sleep trackers like the Oura Ring, it measures five sleep metrics: time slept, time awake, REM, light sleep (which Hatch calls Core), and deep sleep.
For reference, I’ve been an Oura Ring user since 2022 and currently have the Oura Ring Gen 4. And, according to a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine, the Oura Ring is one of the most accurate sleep trackers on the market today, so I compared the data from my ring and the clock.
The difference between the various sleep metrics of the Oura Ring and the Hatch Sleep Clock was a maximum average of 40 minutes on any given night. Metrics with the largest differences tended to be REM, and metrics with the least differences between the two were Light/Core sleep. I was surprised by these results because I sleep with my husband, a cat, and a very thick duvet, and the Hatch Sleep Clock was still able to get readings every night.
But one thing the Hatch Sleep Clock does better than the Oura Ring is accurately telling you when you actually got into bed. When I spoke with Hatch’s chief product officer, Fiona Biles, she said one of the most important metrics that Hatch was interested in was what time you get into bed for the night, since the Hatch Sleep Clock is meant to help in your overall sleep routine and keep you on track.
On the nights that I tossed and turned a little more than usual, Hatch would suggest a new or different audio to add to your “bedtime playlist” to try out that night, such as a meditation, a podcast, an audiobook, or a sound bath. This allowed me to switch up my sleep routine a little more or try different features of Hatch that I didn’t even know existed.
What I appreciate about the Hatch Sleep Clock is that even on a night I didn’t get as good a sleep as I’d hoped, it doesn’t give me a score. Oura Ring’s scores can be anxiety inducing since it makes me feel like the day is a wash before it’s even started if I have a low sleep or readiness score.
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Some caveats to keep in mind: You must have the sleep clock facing your chest area while lying down and cannot have anything blocking it, like a glass of water or a book (though I did notice my phone in front of it didn’t seem to affect the metrics).
It also costs $250 plus a $6/month or $60/year membership fee to the Hatch app, which costs more or the same as wearables like a Fitbit or the Apple Watch SE (and those provide far more metrics than just sleep).
ZDNET’s buying advice
If you are solely interested in sleep metrics and want to improve your overall sleep routine, the Hatch Sleep Clock is, in my opinion, a reliable and solid alternative to a wearable for sleep tracking.
However, if the price deters you, I still recommend the Hatch Restore 3 (which I have also tested), which doesn’t offer the sleep-tracking capabilities but can help with your nighttime and morning routines for $170 instead of $250.
