The most flexible heated blanket

Verdict

A really intelligent little bit of engineering, the Stoov Massive Hug makes use of infrared heating to heat you in a managed and environment friendly manner. It’s a good way to maintain heat on chilly days, whether or not you’re inside on a chair and even out tenting. First rate battery and working prices that put a scorching water bottle to disgrace make this a superb selection for anybody.

Introduction

Regardless of the way you do it, heating your whole house makes use of lots of energy, and you may nonetheless really feel chilly. With the Stoov Massive Hug heated pad, you possibly can heat your self with this battery-powered infrared heater.

Easy to make use of, nice worth and with respectable battery life, it is a good addition to any house, however significantly for people who really feel the chilly.

Design and controls

• Selection of two batteries
• Three energy ranges
• Mechanically cleanable cowl

The Stoov Massive Hug seems very like every other blanket, even rolling up for straightforward storage and carrying round. There’s a large selection of covers, and the Massive Hug is out there in commonplace (40 x 110cm) and XL (45 x 135cm) editions. There’s no distinction in efficiency, simply that every is designed to suit a distinct chair measurement.

Unroll the blanket, and it has two distinct sections; one is a seat, and the longer bit runs up the again of a chair and flips excessive.

Within the flip-over part you’ll discover the battery compartment, which might take one in all two batteries. By default, you get the Commonplace Battery (2600mAh for as much as 4 hours of utilization), however there’s additionally a bigger battery (4500mAh battery, for as much as six hours of warmth). If you happen to’re going to go for the larger battery, it is smart to purchase it on the level of buy, as you solely pay £20 further; in any other case, you should buy the usual battery for £34.99 and the larger one for £54.99.

I believe the bigger battery is value it, though it’s value mentioning that you could plug the charger into the Massive Hug and use it whereas it’s charging. If you happen to’ve acquired a mains socket close by, then the usual model could effectively do you.

Management of the Stoov Massive Hug is simple. Simply press the management button on the aspect to show the heater on to most energy (indicated by three crimson icons, and outputting warmth at 42°C), after which hit the button once more to cycle via medium (39°C, two dots exhibiting) and minimal (37°C, one dot exhibiting) warmth settings. After only a brief wait, the heat begins to return via.

Press and maintain the facility button, and the standing LEDs gentle as much as present you the tough cost degree: three lights means it’s at the very least 70% charged; one gentle implies that there’s 30% or much less cost.

The exterior cowl has a zipper, and is machine cleanable at 30°C; the inner electronics and heating factor can’t be washed.

Efficiency and battery life

• Glorious warmth manufacturing
• Good battery life
• Low cost to run

Utilizing infrared warmth, the Stoov Massive Hug heats you equally to how the solar warms us. Slightly than convection warmth, which warms the air first, infrared instantly warms you. That makes the Massive Hug quick and environment friendly to heat up.

As you possibly can see from the thermal photos under, the Stoov Massive Hug has two heating components: one the place your again goes and one on the bottom, so that you get warmed from each instructions.

It’s a pleasing feeling that warmed my whole physique. I attempted the Stoov Massive Hug inside, in a cold workplace on a chilly day, and outdoors round a campfire, and it saved me noticeably hotter and extra snug than counting on heating alone.

The truth is, whereas the highest heating degree was good for getting me warmed up, I discovered that always acquired too heat on this setting, so dropped the extent right down to the mid or low setting as a substitute. Because the Massive Hug is so good, I discovered that I may stay with the room set to a cooler temperature than in any other case.

Battery life is about, as Stoove states. On the best setting, I acquired round 90 minutes of use, growing by an hour on the center setting and simply over 4 hours on the bottom setting. With the bigger battery, you possibly can count on the excessive setting to provide you over two and a half hours, and over six hours on the bottom setting.

With the usual battery, I discovered that it took 30Wh of energy. On the present capped fee of 27p per kWh, which means a cost prices round 0.81p. Compared, boiling a 1.5-litre kettle to fill a scorching water bottle prices round 4.05p.

A scorching water bottle additionally offers you no temperature management: it begins very popular after which cools down; the Stoov Massive Hug outputs fixed warmth till its battery has run out. Because the Stoov Massive Hug is so low-cost to run, it means that you could cost it 5 instances for the price of one scorching water bottle. That’s greater than seven hours of use on the excessive setting.

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