Carmen Heated Wearable Blanket Review
DISCLOSURE -THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by Claire Giles
With all the recent cold weather and ever increasing energy bills we are all looking for that product that keeps us warm for less. Heated blankets seem like an ideal solution. The Carmen Heated Wearable Blanket costs 2p per 3 hours to run so is super energy efficient. Ideal for when you need to heat the person rather than the whole home.
As a family we already own a heated blanket, which the kids love and often fight over so the idea for a wearable heated blanket really appealed to me. The first thing I noticed on opening the box was how super soft it felt, made from 260gsm flannel fleece. The blanket has arms and covers you right from your neck down to your feet. I’m 5ft7 and there was plenty of overhang on the blanket at the bottom so that when I sat or laid down I could wrap it under my feet. In this way it was super warm. Overall blanket size is 183cm height and 155cm width. The heated blanket though wasn’t heated throughout as I would have expected from a heated blanket. The only part of the blanket that was actually heated was the pocket on the front. This part did heat up quickly and was lovely and warm but only really heated you in the middle or if you put your hands into the pocket. The corded wire that has the controller attaches to the connector on the front pocket. The connector was on the right hand side of the pocket which was great if your plug socket was on that side of the room. It was a lot fiddlier if the plug socket was on the left hand side and you literally had to run the wire all the way across your body to plug it in. The controller is simple to use with an on/off button that you press to activate the heating function and a temperature select button that you use to select your choice of three heat settings (green for low, yellow for medium and red for high). It has a 90 minute automatic timer and safeguard overheat protection system.
On the box it states that the blanket is machine washable which is a real plus to me as the heated blanket I own already can only be wiped clean. I was therefore disappointed when reading the enclosed safety and instruction manual to discover that the cleaning and care advice states “to spot clean the electric blanket with a damp cloth and a little mild detergent”. It stated to “do not machine wash the electric blanket unless absolutely necessary” and “do not exceed 3 machine washes over the life span of the electric blanket”. This advice seems to contradict what’s stated on the box.
There are some real pluses to this blanket. It’s super warm and long. The fact that it has sleeves so you can wear it means that your hands are free at all times even with the blanket on. It’s super cheap to run and folds up neatly for storage. I found though that calling it a heated wearable blanket was misleading when only the pocket heated up, not the whole blanket. On this basis I thought that the price of £49.99 was expensive for a slightly heated wearable blanket when I could have bought a fully heated blanket cheaper or an unheated wearable blanket for less than half the price.
Rating: 3.5/5
RRP: £49.99
This product can be purchased from www.carmen-products.co.uk