Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I also bought the Aura immediately when I was informed it was ready for purchase. I, like all the others leaving reviews, was extremely excited about the prospects of this device. First, let's get to customer support. I emailed them once about compatibility with my bed (i.e. I don't have a box spring). No response. I emailed them about the size of the sleep sensor. They responded. I emailed them requesting a return/refund. No response. The instructions. I always read instructions. I have a degree in computer science. I've written software for over 15 years. I'd consider myself pretty tech savvy. There's three USB ports on the back of the lamp. The quick start says to plug the sleep sensor into any of the three ports. Guess what? That's completely incorrect. When you search the deep dark realms of the withings website, and finally stumble across the most terribly written setup guide known to mankind (which is 41 pages long), you find out that one port is ONLY for charging your iPhone. The other two are for the sleep sensors. What are the repercussions of plugging the sleep sensor into the wrong port? The repercussions are... not stated anywhere. So speculate away! Next, we have the calibration of the sleep sensor. The quick start says to plug in the sleep sensor and that there will be a ten-minute calibration and one-minute activation period, but no indication of whether you can or can't use your bed while the sensor is calibrating. The Health Mate app says that you can use your bed while the sleep sensor is calibrating. The 41 page setup guide says to not use your bed while the sleep sensor is calibrating. Yep, three different directions, all saying three different things. See all the pictures of everyone sleeping peacefully with the beautiful lamp at what appears to be 'some' distance from the bed? Well, you actually have to have the lamp 1 meter (about 39 inches) from your head on a bedside stand that's level with your head. That's probably the only clear part of the instruction guide. With a clearly impractical positioning of the lamp. Now we just tuck the sleep sensor under your mattress or mattress pad, and you're good to go, right? Actually, you have to place the sensor so that it's beneath your heart. So find out, on average, where your heart is on your bed when you're sleeping. That isn't so bad since most sleep sensors are like this. What's bad is that the sleep sensor is so short, that you have to basically sleep on the edge of your bed. I have a Queen size bed. Guess what? I tend to sleep closer to the center of the bed. And the sensor doesn't reach the center of the bed. You also have to hang part of the sensor from the side of your bed. So the part that actually goes on or under your bed is about six inches shorter than stated. Awesome. Let's move on to connecting your iPhone. For some strange and bizarre reason, the lamp connects to your Wifi for software updates BUT your iPhone connects to the lamp via bluetooth. Why can't your iPhone connect via Wifi since the lamp is already connected to your Wifi? Who knows. Do you think Android's lack of BLE support is one reason why there's no Android app yet? Yep, that's probably why. Smart. Oh, let's not forget the cables. The cable from the sleep sensor is about 13 feet long. Pretty good. The power cable is about six feet long. Okay, so the lamp HAS to be about 1 meter (39 inches) from my head. But you gave me a 13 foot long cable. Why? Why torture us like this? I can't place the lamp 13 feet away from my bed. Do I have an outlet six feet from my bed? Nope. Had to buy an extension cord. Would a 13 foot power cable, and a six foot sleep sensor cable make more sense? Yes. But this whole product doesn't make sense, so it's not surprising at this point. There's a nice warning page that says if you drop the lamp, don't look directly at the LED. Okay, got it. From the pictures on the withings website, it appeared as if there was some frosted glass covering the lamp so that one would not be able to look directly at the apparently dangerous LED. Well, there's not. So when you're reaching over to control the lamp, it's _extremely_ easy to accidentally look at the eye destroying LED. Brilliant. Alright, so now everything's setup, we're not blind (yet) and it's time to enjoy all those sensors. Ambient room temperature. Changes in ambient lighting. Any noises during the night. Can't wait to test these out. Oh, there's that tiny * next to every other sentence on the withings site. Room temperature. Nope. Ambient lighting. Nope. Noise detection. Nope. But they're coming soon! And free of charge. Thank you so much for not charging us for something you've already promised, and didn't deliver. You're too kind. At least I can use the napping function or the meditation function. Kidding! Those currently don't work either. Well, we still have body movement, heart rate and breathing. Psyche! Only body movement currently works. Well, at the very least I have this great movement sensor. Go to sleep, wake up to a nice blue-ish light. Cool, let's see how I did. Apparently I was in bed for 3hrs and 8min. I slept for 2hrs and 30min. I was asleep in 16min. All three of these are completely and totally wrong. Not even close. Apparently, to the surprise of no one, I occasionally move around in my bed while sleeping. And in doing so, moved far enough away from the sleep sensor that it stopped tracking me. I really need to learn how to sleep as close to the edge of my bed as possible. Maybe if I just wrapped the sensor around me, that would work. The one and only time withings responded to my zendesk tickets, was when I asked about the length of the sleep sensor. Apparently you can position the sensor length-wise, so that it's pointing North/South instead of East/West. So I moved the sensor closer to the center of my bed, and positioned the top roughly where my heart is and the rest extending down the length of my body. This appeared to work, but now the sensor is tracking my movement even when the sensor isn't in sleep mode. According to the iPhone App, I'm experiencing deep sleep, as I write this. If you're contemplating the meaning of life, not sure where things are going, please do not buy the Aura. It will end you. If you have the patience of a skilled surgeon, extremely low expectations, perfectly placed outlets, a bedside table that's 39 inches from your bed at head level, a bed that's only as wide as you are and aren't afraid of blinding LEDs, then this, this is the perfect product for you.