Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have never owned a heated mattress pad before, so I don't really have much first-hand experience for comparison. However, as always I try and do my research, and I did so with this purchase. After having the pad for a couple of days, here's my impressions. The most common issue I saw complained about with other brands/models was that the wires were noticeable under the sheets when the bed is made up. This pad is quite thick, more so than most normal mattress pads, and I cannot feel any wires through it at all, at least on the normal surfaces. Another issue I saw mentioned with other brands was that the plugs for the control and power wires were on top of the pad towards the feet area, meaning you will hit them with your feet at night while moving around and where they may be the furthest away from a power outlet. This model has the plug(s) at the head of the bed on the vertical portion of the mattress (the side against the headboard), making it easy to run the wires down and under the head of the bed and into a plug on the wall. Some pads like these apparently can emit a whistling sound from the transformers in the power bricks when heating. I have very sensitive hearing (I easily hear fluorescent light bulbs and old tube TVs from a hundred feet away), but I was unable to hear anything from my units. This may not be true of all units, as sometimes a good bump or jarring can result in the whistling noise in the transformers, in my experience. No promises on this point. The elastic skirt that wraps around the mattress is quite deep, able to easily handle my pillow-top mattress that is well above average in thickness. The installation instructions, if you need them, are very well done, but the only thing you really need to know is that the plugs go to the head of the bed. Pretty easy. And yes, you can use a power strip to plug both plugs into as long as it is UL listed. As for actual performance, the pad provides warm, even heating to the entire area that is not at all hot to the touch. It simply feels very much like the bed has already been warmed up with body heat, except that there are no cold spots. Head to foot of the mattress is evenly and comfortably warmed. No more cold feet. The control unit has 11 heat settings ranging from Low, through 1-9, and up to High with a smooth turning knob. The setting you choose will be highly dependent on how thick your covers are as well as how hot you like your bed. I will say that with a thick comforter on top, the 5 setting was actually hot and 3 was just comfortable. I can't imagine how hot High would be. I'm betting covers would be optional. On Queen size and larger units, there are actually two control units and two plugs. The heating elements can be set for two different temperatures left side and right side. However, if there is one shortcoming of this design it is that those of us who do not share a queen or larger bed end up with having to set two control units, and the control cord to the unit is not quite long enough to comfortably reach to a nightstand on the opposite side of the bed. Thus you have to wrangle two controls, not one, when you're going to bed. A better solution would have been to have the option of having only one control unit optionally control both heating zones, even if it still required two plugs. A minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless. Lastly, the on/off switch on both control units is the push-button electronic type, not a manual switch. Therefore it would not be possible to plug a power cord into a timer and have the pad start heating up automatically at a preset time. Obviously, there is no built-in feature for this either, though it will turn itself off after 10 hours, automatically. This is probably intended as a safety feature. However, the instructions indicate it will heat up to max heat in about 30 minutes, and lower heat settings will be reached much sooner, depending on other factors such as how thick the covers are. All in all this seems to be a high quality unit worth the premium over other, lesser models. I'm happy with the purchase so far and have gifted two to other family members. UPDATE: I ordered three of these, one for myself and two as Christmas gifts. I have been using mine without any problems at all for about 2 months, now. One of the others seems to be working just fine. However, the third one worked only one night and then stopped. I was informed by the gift recipient that it made a very strange electrical noise that second night and then completely stopped working. Since it was a Queen size model, she tried swapping over the control unit from the other side and it still did not work, suggesting the problem was in the pad itself, not the control, though the noise came from the control unit, apparently. Though it had been some time since I had ordered it, it was still within the return window for Amazon, and as always, Amazon handled it exceptionally well. I received a replacement on the same day I returned the defective one (i.e., they sort of "crossed in the mail"). Shipping both ways was free, though I supplied the return box. I share this to point out two things. First, check that the units are functioning before you wait too long. Amazon has a limit to the return window, and though I was within it, it wasn't by much. If this is a gift, I'd urge you to encourage the recipient to test it out soon after receipt in case it has to be returned. I would think that running it up to high heat for a while would be sufficient to detect any flaws in the wiring or controls. Second, though mine has been flawless, and one of the other two seems to have been as well, it appears that build quality on these is not up to snuff. I noted on some other reviews that the control units on at least one made a strange noise. This may be an indication of imminent failure. Both of my controls on my unit have been completely silent. I'm guessing that if they are making a noise, it's a reflection of a fault either in the control or, possibly, in the wiring of the pad itself. Note that there was no smoke, fire, or smoldering on any part of the pad or control units on the one that failed. It simply stopped working.