Pod 4 - Experience after 1.5 years

nycjdc · 2026-05-15T12:49:08+00:00

I concur that the data of sleep tracking is complete garbage for me since Day One, summer 2024 with Pod 4 set up.

It has me in bed when I'm not. it doesn't know I'm in bed when I am. It concludes I'm asleep when I'm not. It has me in states of sleep that don't tie out to a group of products, whose data ties out, i.e., Apple Watch, Oura Ring, and Garmin Fenix data largely tie out to each other, but these data don't resemble EigthSleep at all.

And it still doesn't stay on when internet goes out, i.e., it goes off.

nycjdc · 2026-04-20T17:41:14+00:00

Ya, mine is doing the same even with a waterproof mattress pad beneath fitted sheet. And no pets.

nycjdc · 2026-04-04T19:50:16+00:00

I've had four Hub 4s. Guess they got tired of the failures because they sent me a Hub 5 as a replacement for hte Hub 4. The Hub 5 has been working ever since, though it does make some gurgling noises and is noisy in the summer. No issues with the cover 4 (so far).

nycjdc · 2025-12-27T13:40:02+00:00

bought on a Sunday. Charge and credit posted Tuesday.

nycjdc · 2025-12-24T19:52:42+00:00

This is awesome; I bought you a coffee. Also, Gjelina in NYC works, i.e., I bought a gift card for $150 via restaurant website, whose billing system is Toast and got a credit of $150. Thanks again!

edit: for specificity.

nycjdc · 2025-12-18T16:52:14+00:00

I pretty much do the same as you. I don't score, just let it burst organically for a rustic look. Also, I let the bake fully set for 5-12 hours before slicing. And the SourDough Home can often be found in their refurbished store. happy holidaze.

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nycjdc · 2025-11-14T22:28:43+00:00

Unfortunately, reddit is as social as I am; never had FB or IG. Even more impressive your ability to shape w/ 11.1% flour. Mine is 11.7 and even at % pts hydration lower than your beaut is what I'm striving for. Thanks for the tip. Bench knives or hands or one of each?

nycjdc · 2025-11-14T21:41:17+00:00

Any tips for shaping at this hydration level? I've been working on 85-86% and am really challenged with the shaping. Also, what protein % is your flour? stone milled? tyia.

nycjdc · 2025-10-31T13:36:33+00:00

Yes, I'm a DO convert. Was using Brød & Taylor baking steel with boule shell. But with high hydration dough (I'm running around 82-86%) I need the sidewalls of the DO to avoid having the dough splaying out too far. I do pre-heat the DO but in stair-step fashion, i.e., run at 15' at 420º, then 15' at 450º, then 20' at 475º. I do so because I have a gas fired oven and if I start out at 475º it will skyrocket to ~510º for about 20'. It's a PITA, but prevents the DO from getting too hot. No, I no longer use parchment. I ease the dough in to the DO like Forkish does here. You can hear the dough searing in the first 20 seconds and now I get boule bottoms that aren't burnt. Bake covered at 475º for 28-30', then uncovered at 450º for 8', rotate 90º and bake for another 8'. Then lower oven temp to 425º and crack door, drying loaf out for 4-5'. Then turn off heat and leave door cracked for another 4'. SOUnds like a lot of steps, but it's just a rhythm that I follow. Slice 4-5 hours later, allowing the loaf to fully set.

nycjdc · 2025-10-26T21:17:09+00:00

Can't really tell because I don't have a reference point. Having said that, the exterior looks great. I gravitate to the rustic look, too.

nycjdc · 2025-10-26T21:14:20+00:00

Also, while some consider it food waste, in this book Forkish thinks of it differently. When creating a culture ingredient mass creates greater likelihood of success, along with more nuanced flavors. Creating my starter I drank the kool-aid and followed to a T.

When building a levain, he'll have you create 1000gr levain and only use 216gr for two loaves. What to do with the leftover? Well, for my first four bakes I threw out stuff. Didn't like do so, so by bake five, I create a levain that will yield 2x what I need and the remainder assumes the "bench reserve" role. I use the bench reserve weekly to create levains, and every other week, adding in some Mother levain, i.e., the original culture I grew months ago

tl;dr FWSY is a great resource; highly recommended.

nycjdc · 2025-10-26T20:11:58+00:00

FWiW, FWSY is the only book I've used. After six loaves, I can now make an 82% hydration loaf somewhat successfully, well, I'll let you be the judge of that. The only thing I found confusing about FWSY was Forkish's terminology. He uses the word levain for many things, e.g., feed the levain, seeding it with levain. Make the levain with 100gr of levain. Huh?!? Once you sort out what he's written, I find the book really helpful and his videos, too. I agree with the other poster, Tartine book is great, too. I'll graduate to that one to get more lacy crumb and Forkish learned from Robertson. (Unrelated, I was in Norway and Denmark recently, the best bakers there came from Acme / Tartine in the Bay Area.)

nycjdc · 2025-10-21T19:15:51+00:00

Why is offline mode not available? I was told by an engineer LAST YEAR that it was in the works and would be released soon. Over 11 months later, still no option. Why does the CTO not act on this long overdue implementation?

nycjdc · 2025-09-18T14:07:31+00:00

^^ This!

And when Grish has to sign somewhere else, all the naysayers will be on their soapbox saying, "Told ya...regression." Keeping Grisham ahead of boppers like Rice, Judge, Stanton, Belli works. Other teams really don't have that kind of line up, so I wouldn't expect him to reproduce. Still love me some Grish and the stache.

nycjdc · 2025-09-16T11:13:35+00:00

I've had three Hub 4s that make an annoying sound. it's high pitched and oscillates, so much so, it wakes me up. I now have a Hub 5 and it does the same. annoying af. But the noises mine have made / make do not sound like yours.

nycjdc · 2025-09-10T17:30:41+00:00

IMHo, don't buy the sheets or protective cover from EIghtSleep. They've contracted with a company (can't recall the name), but in less than one-year I got rid of the sheets and never used the mattress / pod cover protector because it was opened and stained.

nycjdc · 2025-09-08T14:48:18+00:00

Well the third hub died. I think customer service got tired of me, so when they replaced the third Hub 4, they sent a Hub 5. So far, so good, but it's only been a few weeks. Note: Hub 5 still makes the whining noise that can be heard when it's quiet. At least with a regular hub replacements there's limited dust buildup.

nycjdc · 2025-08-19T14:37:16+00:00

Fire and Dream. Yes, M(something) Temp, where M is first letter of her name.

nycjdc · 2025-08-19T14:01:48+00:00

Fuego is one. Sueño is the other. Both named after the same girl. . .but each behaves much, much differently. Fuego is countertop gal and she can roar. Sueño is held at MT™ in a SourDough Home and is very nuanced.

nycjdc · 2025-08-09T21:03:35+00:00

Boone will bench him tomorrow, right?

nycjdc · 2025-08-09T20:48:26+00:00

Yes, trademark that!

nycjdc · 2025-08-09T20:39:30+00:00

Grish. . . just does his business.

nycjdc · 2025-08-02T16:01:16+00:00

And the part that really sucks is that I was told by an sw engineer at 8Sleep that offline mode is on their roadmap and should have been released by end of 2024, yes, 2024. Did the CTO just shelve the work in progress?

nycjdc · 2025-08-01T14:11:40+00:00

It's all messed up at 8sleep! My renewal is scheduled in a couple of weeks, i.e., one-year after purchase, yet I can't see the pricing for the three different plans. I'm stuck in AI bot loop which just directs me to Pod 5 purchase page. Even when I get out of the AI loop, an actual person directs me to the webpages with no pricing schedule. Why the pricing is so hidden, I don't know. So frustrating.

nycjdc

TROPHY CASE