Cove Review: Stress-Reducing Vibrations at a Stress-Inducing Price

If you struggle to clear time in your schedule for yoga or meditation, then the Cove wearable device could be ideal. But at just under $500? Maybe not

If you've ever left an assignment to the day before the deadline, you'll know that stress can be a great motivator. But when it becomes a long-term problem and starts to affect your sleep, mental, and physical health, then it's more than a motivational cue.

Stress reduction activities like meditation and yoga are a great way to bring calm into your day, but it can be hard to get time into your schedule for a session if you're busy. What'd be ideal, then, is a way to improve the situation while you go about your day.

That's the promise of Cove, a vibrating smart wearable. The company says that using Cove for just 20 minutes a day can reduce stress and anxiety and help you sleep better for longer. But at $490, is it worth the investment?

Cove Design

The Cove unit comes housed in a pleasing-looking carrying case. Although many devices come with some degree of protection, once you open the lid, you can see why you can't simply chuck the device into your bag.

The unit is designed to loop around the lower part of your skull, with the two vibrating pads behind your ears and two soft hooks to keep Cove in place. You might be imagining something close to a set of wired headphones, but the supporting structure is more solid and, significantly, adjustable.

As the pads need to sit directly on your skull, you may need to expand the unit, depending on your head size. The middle part of the connecting section is expandable, so you can pull the two sides apart until you find the right size.

Some other headband-style products can be fiddly to put on, but you only need to gently pull the two sides of Cove apart to increase the size, then slide it down the back of your head until the hooks sit on top of your ears.

There are two physical buttons on the unit as well. On the right-hand side, just behind your ear, there's a power button with an LED to indicate its status. A button that looks like a volume adjuster on the left side allows you to change the vibration intensity mid-session.

Once you've found the right size, the wearable is reasonably comfortable to have on. It only weighs 0.7 ounces (20g), so it's pretty light. However, to ensure the pads always stay in contact with your head, the unit is slightly angled inwards.

Each session is 20 minutes, and you start to feel a sense of compression and discomfort during use. For a $490 device, it also feels flimsy and easy to damage. Accidentally over-stretch the band, and you worry it could easily snap.

Using Cove

To start the device up, you need to press and hold the power button for several seconds. The green LED will illuminate to tell you it's now on. You then have two options; start a session manually or use the app to get going.

Presumably, the logic here is that while the smartphone app for Android and iPhone is where you'll track progress, the session can be done without a screen, allowing you to settle into a more mindful or meditative state.

That said, you don't have to. You can sit down for a bit or go about your regular business. If you've been struggling to find time for yourself, this is ideal. Those working at a desk might also appreciate being able to get involved without dropping productivity.

Each session lasts 20 minutes, and while you can't adjust the time, you have options for the vibration intensity. Either using the app or physical on-device buttons, you can modify the strength of the pulses.

You want to feel the vibrations, but only just. You can adjust throughout the session, too, so you don't need to worry about getting it spot-on initially. Notably, the Cove can also track heart rate with an optical heart rate sensor built-in.

The company's documentation said this tracking should be live in the app by May 2021. But as of October 2021, the session display still says heart rate tracking is 'coming soon.' Despite this, you can open historical session data and see your average heart rate.

The app is well-designed and easy to use, but it doesn't offer too much. The Today screen displays a big green button to start a session when Cove is connected via Bluetooth when you first open it.

It also lists your run streak, total sessions, and has a week-long calendar showing which days you've completed a session. The Trends tab expands that data so you can browse your historical sessions too.

On a similar theme, navigating to History displays sessions in list format. Tapping a given activity overlays the duration, heart rate, and how active you were during the session.

Does Cove Work?

Interestingly, the company has tested its devices, although currently in a somewhat limited way. Cove has performed two studies, with one looking at self-reported stress levels and the other based on brain activity.

To start, the team spent two years trialing the vibration levels and measuring brain activity. The Cove ECG study found that a specific vibration pattern led to increased alpha waves in the brain after a session.

These effects are similar to those experienced by meditators, suggesting that the Cove headband may be able to reduce your stress in a similar way. The study group was relatively small at just 245 volunteers, and 62% saw the increased alpha waves.

The Cove stress study featured 17 participants between the age of 21 and 55. Over one month, they used the headband twice a day, more if they felt particularly stressed.

The group completed a survey that assessed their overall stress levels. At the start of the month-long study, they had an average score of 7 out of 10, which decreased to 4 out of 10 by the end.

It's an interesting result, though there are some caveats. For instance, the study had less than 20 participants, so it's not a substantial test of Cove's effectiveness. Similarly, self-reported stress can be quite complex to untangle.

If someone gives you a device and says it'll reduce your stress, you may end up feeling less tense. This is a consequence of the placebo effect, which doesn't mean you've imagined the changes, but they may not be down to the device alone.

As for my experience with Cove, it's hard to say. After becoming unwell with a chronic medical condition in 2013, I had to make some substantial lifestyle changes that removed many long-term stressors from my life.

Similarly, I've meditated every day for the better part of a decade and exercised several times a week. So, while testing Cove, I didn't have a sudden reduction in stress, but that doesn't necessarily mean the device isn't effective.

Cove Battery Life

As a slimline headband, the Cove unit comes with a battery to match, offering a capacity of 85mAh. Although small, Cove's primary function is to generate vibrations and connect to your phone via Bluetooth during sessions.

As a result, the company states that you should get four sessions out of the battery, but this varies depending on your chosen vibration intensity. I found that it'd typically last for three sessions before a recharge.

True wireless headphones come with charging cases, so you just pop them back into the housing for a quick top-up. With Cove, you need to plug in the unit directly via the comparatively dated micro-USB port.

These seem like minor complaints, but the premise of Cove is convenience. If you need to charge it multiple times per week, more than many of your other gadgets, with a separate charging cable, it can quickly go from an everyday activity to an infrequent one.

Should You Buy Cove?

Stress and anxiety can be debilitating, but it can be challenging to carve out time for interventions like meditation and yoga. Cove fits in around your schedule, making it a convenient way to bring some calm to your day.

For a comparatively simple device, the price is hard to justify. At almost $500, it is more expensive than many smartwatches and around the same price as many mid-range smartphones. Similarly, you could buy a seven-year subscription to Headspace, a popular meditation app, for the same cost.

You might be able to overlook this if the device works, though. But the evidence of its effectiveness is still limited, whereas yoga has decades of peer-reviewed research behind its stress-busting capabilities. In other words, you're taking a punt on Cove.

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