I've owned one of these for about a year. The big selling point is of course the cooling feature, since warming a bed with an electric blanket would be far cheaper. If it lasts for a couple of years, it will probably pay for itself since air conditioning is far less effective than having cool water circulating below you. For that reason, this may be considered a "green" product, since it takes more energy to cool a houseful of air than to cool the two cups of water running through this.
Pros: Energy savings, two sides of the bed can be different temperatures, built-in timer can turn it off before you freeze at 3 am, more comfortable than an electric fan, remote control.
So-so: It's about as loud as a box fan at medium speed. I actually like falling asleep to such a sound, others may not. Maybe keeping it under the bed would muffle it some.
Cons: Pretty darned expensive.
I actually found out about this product from one of the social news sites, it might have been digg. I was a bit scared to buy it since there were few reviews, but I took the plunge and it has been a great purchase. A cool bed in the summer is something I've missed since giving up my old waterbed 20 years ago.
What I don't understand is why this isn't a top-seller... it's such a simple concept.
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Pros: Warms quickly and well, fits on the bed nicely, easy to clean
Cons: Clicks all night long, display is really bright in the room, does not cool adequately, remotes drain batteries quickly, does not easily fit under bed, poor customer service
My husband purchased the Chilipad for me 6 months ago. For medical reasons, my husband needs a humidifier in the bedroom which makes me very warm. We thought a cooling mat would be perfect and allow us to sleep comfortably in the same room. Upon unpacking it, we noticed that the display on one of the units had a black spot on it that made the display difficult to read. We went ahead and set up the unit to see how effective the pad is. We could easily feel it quickly warm up, but the cooling was less noticable. I thought that maybe once I was under covers and sleeping it would be more noticable. It wasn't. I had the temp set to 68 all night and was still warm. It was the same night after night. On top of that, my remote would go through a set of batteries every week even though I rarely changed the temperature. I used it mainly to turn the unit on and off. Add that to the fact that the unit does not slide easily out from under the bed, and I couldn't see what temp the unit was set to anyway because of the big, black spot on the display, and it became worthless.
At the time, the website for Chili Technology said that there was a 90 satisfaction guarantee, but did not say that you had to purchase from their website for it to be applicable. Since the Brookstone price was slightly cheaper, we purchased from them. After we decided the product did not satify our needs, we were told that the guarantee only applied if we purchased from the Chili Technology website something that is NOW advertised on there.
We were then promised that the company would call us back in 3 months and offer an exchange for the newer units which cool down to 46 degrees. It's been 6 months, the unit is advertised on their website and still no call.
The pad had been on our bed unused all summer, but now that it's cooling down outside, my husband wanted to use the warming feature. His remote drained the batteries in a week as well. So once again it will sit unused. Only because my heart can't take the idea of throwing away a $1000 piece of junk.
If you want heat, buy an electric mattress pad. It's cheaper, doesn't click all night long, doesn't need to be refilled with water, and doesn't need new batteries in the remote every week.
UPDATE: Still no call a year after purchase from customer service. I was using this with the sleep timer to warm my bed over the winter. I went to turn it on last night and my unit will not work. The power light is on, but pressing buttons on the unit or using a remote with fresh batteries does nothing. If I could move this to a one star review I would. It is now a completely worthless device.
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While, I have LOVED the product, I must also warn you that their customer service seems really nice and helpful and like they are going to cover your problems, until you actually go to make a claim, then it is a different story. $90 per unit to take a look at it. I reported that the screen light was flickering and I was assured that the note was made and they would "take care of it" NOW, I am told that the person that made those promises has left the company and they have NEW POLICIES. I am very angry that they are not honoring a promise that I have in writing, just because their employee is no longer there. That seems like poor business to me. I have 2 of their chilipads.
6 months later, I still have gotten NO customer service with the problem. That is really silly since they have such a great product. I am disappointed in what otherwise would be a stellar experience.
THIS IS WHAT I WROTE 3 YEARS AGO--I just purchased the Chilipad so these are initial reactions. I read all the reviews and found them mixed. Either loved or hated and a waste of money. I called the company directly and the customer service rep assured me that they honor the 90 day money back guarantee. So I ordered. It took over three weeks to get, but I think it was worth it. The first night I found it loud, bright and did not fit under the bed. It made the room HOT. It is the first time I had ever gotten up in the night and found a HUGE difference in temp between the bedroom and the hall. I would say at least 6-8 degrees. So the pumps throw off a lot of heat. Deciding that between that and the brightness of the panel lighting up the room to much, we had to alter the application. Our bed is on a wall that has a closet to the dressing room on the other side. We drilled two holes (KING has dual pumps) through the wall and placed the pump on the other side of the wall in this closet. The tubes were long enough to comfortably reach the pumps. WALLA, the problems solved. The remotes work through the wall, no more heating up the bedroom, no bright lights, and no noise. I found that my side cools so well that I can't set it on the lowest number 46 degrees. We had adjusted the thermostat in the house to 76 degrees (our daytime temperature) when we usually had to lower it at night to 70-72 to be comfortable. I was SHOCKED when I woke up too cold, when I had full covers on. I HAVE BEEN SO HOT THE LAST FEW YEARS I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW HAPPY I AM TO HAVE A COOL BED. I LOVE A COOL BED. Previously, I was waking up trying to find a cool spot. Not an easy task when you have a partner in the bed. I am happy we were creative enough to solve the problems and now have the perfect solution to being cool in the night. Also, warm without an electric blanket in the winter will be a plus for my husband. (I'm not cold in the winter) I don't like the idea of the electric fields in an electric blanket around me either. THANK YOU CHILIPAD FOR THE BEST SOLUTION TO A HOT BED. I am your biggest fan so far. The three year warranty gives me peace of mind. We spent $600, so $200 a year to be cool at night is a real bargain. If it lasts longer, even better. Give it a try, confirm the 90 day warranty and buy directly from the company. I think they will honor their return policy if you don't like it.
UP DATE
Nothing but cool nights and great sleep for me baby.....since I made the modifications, I can't tell you how much i love it. It works beautifully. I had to turn it up to about 62 because I was actually too cold in a room that is 76 degrees. UNHEARD OF!!! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Now, if it gives me 5 wonderful years, I will be extraordinarily satisfied with my purchase.
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I bought this to put on top of my tempurpedic mattress. The foam mattress gets very hot even during the winter! Instead of turning on the AC, this pad helps cool the mattress enough to get a great night sleep. The remote is very basic but works well.
Pros Keeps you cool (or warm if you turn temp up)/ Not much maintenance required / Low energy use (compared to AC)
Cons Noise (sounds like small fan but does not bother me) / Bright light under bed (can probably cover with electrical tape but I have not done so)
I am rating this product as 4 stars because it really has helped me enjoy my tempurpedic bed to the max. I love the bed but was going to return it due to the heat it generated. With the chilipad, the combo is perfect, allowing me to enjoy the comfortable foam mattress without the heat issue. I would have rated it 5 stars but I did have some trouble with defective units. I went through 2 or 3 replacement units (not the pad but the motor that runs the water). The Company's rep was extremely nice and accommodating and paid for all costs related to the replacements. While it was a hassle to replace units, the service was great from the Company and thus overall I rate this 4 stars. The unit itself I would rate 5 stars!
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I've had this product since Nov. '09 and like to share some thoughts about it. I am an owner of the Single zone Queen version of the chilipad. The technology that I think the chilipad uses for cooling is thermoelectric cooling. It is useful in that it doesn't require refrigerants and is quiet but the downside is that it doesn't cool as fast as a system that uses refrigerants. The cooling is also limited by the surrounding ambient temperature because the cooling temperature can only drop so much based on the surrounding temperature.
The following is based on my observation. My home setup for the chilipad is that the room temperature is at a constant 78F degrees and the floor is hardwood. The chilipad's cooling pad sits between my mattress and the bed sheet with my lite (summer) down comforter on top. The position of the chilipad machine is next to my bed about a foot away from the bed with good clearance from all sides. Based on that setup, once I turned on the chilipad, the temperature displayed on the chilipad starts off at 87F and rapidly drops down to about 71 degrees in about 15 mins. The temperature reading displayed I believe is based the water temperature inside the chilipad device and NOT the bed temperature underneath the comforter. Once the temperature drop to about 68F, the speed of the drop in temperature reduces. At 1 hour, the display shows 61F and has hold steady at 60F after 1.5 hours. From room temperature, it's safe to say that the chilipad would cool down to about 18F from room temperature. The claim that it can cool down to 48F probably would be possible if the room temperature was 66F or colder. Personally, I am comfortable setting the temperature at 65F so it works for me.
The display back lighting is bright when it is on but it would be nice if they gave an option of turn it off or for the display light to turn off after 30 seconds. Since the system is expelling the warm air into to the room, it would increase the room temperature but not to uncomfortable level. I would leave the bedroom door open to help ventilate if it was a problem.
The chilipad did break once so I emailed the company and had a new replacement sent to me and returned the broken one to the company with no problems. Response time was fast. My opinion of their customer service so far is great.
