Sunbeam Heated Mattress Pad Review

includes their Therapedic, Slumber Rest & Imperial Brands

The non-profit Electric Blanket Institute™ presents a professional, scientific and unbiased review of Sunbeam® heated electric mattress pads. We tell you the advantages and disadvantages as we see them so that you can decide if these products are right for you or not.

Sunbeam Today

Sunbeam is still the largest producer of electric blankets, electric throws and heated mattress pads in the USA. Until the year 2000, Sunbeam had enjoyed almost all the American market in warming mattress covers for over a decade but their market share has been eroding over the past several years as other companies introduced both cheaper and more fully featured products. Sunbeam produces many models of electric mattress pads with different top fabrics, different amounts of padding, different controls with different features and of course different price points. Some of their mattress pads are the cheapest and some are the most expensive on the market. So you must look carefully at the model descriptions in order to purchase the one that's right for you. All of their models do use the same heating wire and the same basic heating technology.

Review of the Sunbeam Heated Mattress Pad - Pros and Cons

The Pros:

• Sunbeam Heated Mattress Pads can lower your home heating costs dramatically.
• All their pads are machine washable and partly dryable in your home dryer.
• These pads are generally reliable since all their mattress pads use the same basic technology which has remained virtually unchanged for almost two decades.
• They produce the warmest electric mattress pads sold in America.
• All their Queen, King and Cal King sized pads have dual controls so that each person can control the warmth on their side of the bed.
• The dual controls are wired such that only wall outlet plug is required.
• Sunbeam's Heated Mattress Pad Controllers
  • Sunbeam manufactures about 8 different styles of controllers. Some are rotary dial and some are digital push button models.
  • Some of their controllers include a pre-heat setting for warming up the bed more quickly.
  • All have lighted heat settings and some dim themselves after a short time.
  • All feature an auto-off. Most shut down at 10 hours but one new one for 2011 is adjustable to 2, 6 or 10 hours.
  • Their ultra-high end controllers are completely wireless like a TV remote. These controllers are paired with their ultra-high end three zone warming mattress pads which feature 3 separate zones of controllable heat (6 zones i.e. 3 for each person on Queen, King and CalKing models).
• All of their mattress pads (except one) carry a 5 year warranty against design and manufacturing defects.
• All their pads are certified by the safety agency ETL as conforming to UL Standard 964, the only electric bedding standard for safety in the United States.

The Cons:

• Due to Sunbeam’s older wiring technology, called PTC, the heater wires are quite large and stiff which can be uncomfortable especially on their lower priced models which tend to have little or even no padding.
• Also due to this unique technology, these warming mattress pads lose a portion of their heat each year. Note that, since they start off so warm, it will be many years until they are not warm enough for most people.
• Because it contains some electronics, the size of their controller wire connector at the foot of the mattress protector is quite large. Since it is made of hard plastic and located on the top sleeping surface means it can be uncomfortable to the user's feet. 
• The one connector in the middle of the mattress pad can lead to controller mix-ups on dual control models.
• Their ultra-high end wireless controllers are somewhat complicated to use and have been prone to failures in past years.

Who Are These Mattress Pads For?

Sunbeam’s electric mattress pads span a variety of designs and price points and can therefore appeal to many differing consumers especially those who want a "name-brand" while they protect their mattress, save heating costs and get the health benefits of heated mattress pads.