A Tale of Two Sleep Trackers

Zeo Sleep Manager and LARK are two sleep-tracking gadgets with the same goal in mind: to help people enhance and understand their sleep quality. Each device tackles this goal in a different way.
Zeo takes a more scientific route. It’s a module attached to a lightweight headband that tracks brainwaves and notes when and how long a person is in REM and deep sleep -- the most restorative types. It works in conjunction with an app (iOS and Android) that, after receiving the sleep information uploads it to Zeo’s website. There, users can see a color-coded graph showing how long it took the person to fall asleep and how long each stage of sleep lasted. Using this data, a Zeo Quotent, or ZQ score, will be determined and used to compare the wearer’s score, by age and gender, to other users.



LARK is a wrist-worn sleep tracker that's slightly less technical than Zeo, but has a feature that’s ideal for those who share their bed. LARK comes with a charging dock to support the device that has its app (iOS only so far). Once LARK is charged, it's worn on the wrist and tracks sleep with an actigraphy micro-sensor, the same kind of non-invasive monitors used in sleep studies. After a seven day period, it will give you a sleep assessment.

The assessment isn’t as technical as Zeo, but it provides a more general idea of how your sleep is patterned, including how many times the user wakes up during the night. It then sets up a sleep coach that helps you set and track sleep goals, including reminders and tips that can be sent to your phone.