i also struggled with the idea of paying for this but tbh after using it for over a year now, i don't have a problem.
we live in a place with micro climates where there temps can swing widely at night from day to day & the auto pilot does small fine tuning based on a number of things. this for me at least is worth $10 a month.
compare & contrast with the oura ring which requires a $5/mo sub to get any useful insight out of it - without the subscription you only get how long you slept witha proprietary sleep score that has no insight behind it. after spending a few hundred dollars for the ring this really started to piss me off.
at least with the 8 sleep bed the device is actually performing / working for me vs just giving me data.
the 8 bed also gives you much of the same data oura does so the subscription just hits differently for me.
finally if you're thinking about this - definitely consider the cover vs the full mattress. same tech and they way they've designed it makes it fit beautifully on your existing setup at ~ $1k less than the mattress combo 😊