Snug as a bug in a rug (Electric Blankets)

Member Name: thehonesttruth

Product:	Electric Blankets
Date:	18/01/09 (837 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lovely toasty warmth and better sleep

Disadvantages: A pain to fit a double blanket as a single person

I've always been pretty wary of the idea of Electric Blankets - I seem to remember as a child hearing about fires caused by them, and I think that stayed in my mind. However, when my parents purchased one last year, they went on and on about how good it was, and a couple of months ago, my dad decided to buy me one as I was suffering from a particularly nasty bout of flu that had me feeling permanantly freezing.

The brand my dad got me was By Dreamland Imetec.
I was pretty excited to try it - it came packaged in a plastic zip up bag, neatly folded inside a purple card insert that extolled the various virtues of the product, and came with instructions .

The kind my dad purchased was an underblanket - designed to go under your sheet and provide the warmth from beneath. Unfolding it, I was surprised to see that it was actually significantly smaller than my double mattress,( I soon realised that the shorted length of the blanket was because, really, you don't need the area under your pillows heating.) and that, rather than being fitted as I expected, it was designed to be secured to the mattress using ties and eyelets .

This proved a little tricky - although I have a double bed, its generally only me sleeping in it, as my boyfriend lives some distance away. This meant I had to lift the mattress up on my own, crawl under it and rummage for the strings to pull through to the other side, before securing them through the eyelets and tying in a secure knot.

Being a double blanket, it had two seperate controls, one for each side of the blanket, which is a nice touch, as my fella generally likes things colder than I do. The controls are easy to attach and detach with the blanket, and each control has enough wire to hang at the side of the bed to be reached easily whenever you need to adjust the setting . Each control comes with its own mains plug too, which was a little awkward, mainly due to the positioning of powerpoints in my room, and required some creativity with extension leads.

The blanket heats quickly, taking ten minutes to heat up, which is great - just the right amount of time to make your bed toasty and warm while you go off and brush your teeth, find a book, make a final cup of tea etc . You can set it to continue heating for either 75 minutes or 12 hours, and can of course turn the heat off at any time . However, they do recommend that, if you're leaving it on overnight, you have it set no higher than 3 to prevent it overheating.

There are 9 heat settings, from gentles warmth to sauna roastiness, and my preference is to set it on the highest setting for the first 10 minutes of heating, and then to turn it down once I'm in bed and leave it on for 75 minutes s. Its warm, and the heat distribution is really very good . Its also had a couple of positive side effects for me. I have a niggling pain in my back from an old injury which is easily soother by setting the blanket on high and lying on my back, and also, I'm sleeping a lot better and deeper now that I'm at a comfortable temperature. The blanket has extra warmth in the foot area, which is also nice.

Its so nice on a cold winters night to slip into a bed that already snuggly and warm, and the warmth seems to help me and my muscles relax so I get to sleep in comfort .

The blanket is not only machine washable, but its also dryable in a tumbledryer, which makes keepign it clean and fresh a doddle, and adds another yummy little effect - if you tumble dry it with fragranced dryer sheets, it releases lovely wafts of scent as it warms!

The controls detach, and it folds quite small for easy storage - I can store it in my airing cupboard with no problems at all, and the handy zip up bag it comes in mean it will stay fresh and clean.

It is also BEAB tested, whichy means its safe and good quality, and it comes with an overheat protector too .

I'd definately recommend this for anyone who needs a little extra warmth this winter . It's kept me toasty warm without adding huge amounts to my electricity bills, and I get much better sleep that I used to .

My dad purchased mine, and I have no idea how much he paid for it, however, a look on google reveals that Argos sells a double at £53.79 . I'm sure other places will sell it far cheaper if you shop around, but even at that price, it's still a product I'd heartily recommend, although I will take one point off for it not being fitted and for finding the ties under a double mattress being tricky when done alone.

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