Purchased and received. This is absolutely not a $55 tool and seems that a large premium is being placed on the item because of it’s claimed PE application. I’m guessing that the actual cost is probably less than $10 per unit and its being marked up by 400%+. Here’s my impressions:
1. Stitching and finish are good and materials are middle of the road. Not high-end and not low end.
2. Doesn’t come with instructions so make sure to take note of those on the webpage; hold to turn on, red is hottest, blue is medium, green is low.
3. USB only with no block. At $55, this should come with a block to plug it in to a wall.
4. I believe the temperatures to be significantly overstated while the conductive wiring is within the cushion. It never felt more than lukewarm when advertised to reach 160F+. When the heating elements are exposed without insulation, I believe the advertised temperatures are reached.
5. Not quite sure how to use it for hanging. Maybe use it as the first layer of your wrap? It’s too big to wrap around the unwrapped area of the shaft that’s not also obstructed by your hanger (bibhanger in my case).
All-in-all, I think the shop latched on to the word spreading around the application of heat during hanging and went out and found a small heating pad that they could sell, without really considering how it’s used, for an incredible markup. Instead of paying too much for this, I would go a different direction, which is detailed below.
I took the $55 heating pad and cut it apart. Within the pouch is a 2-layer white mesh that sandwiches the heating element. I trimmed the mesh to within 1/4” of the wires closest to the edge. I then folded over this mesh 1 time to create a ~1.5” wide heating strip. I wrapped with cotton first (I use strips of the swiffer sweeper dry sweeping pads - they’re very soft). I then wrapped with the heating mesh. Last is the theraband. On the RED setting, it’s too hot. On the BLUE setting it felt just right. Keep in mind that you no longer have the felt/neoprene insulation that it came in so in this state it will reach the necessary temperatures. It’s obviously not recommended to operate the unit like this because of the potential for burns, so don’t do this if you lack common sense.
Hindsight being 20/20, I would do one of the following. Buy a better heating pad that plugs into the wall for half the cost on Amazon and tear it apart just like I did this one. With a little fabric, needle, and thread, you could make a great heated wrap using the guts of a heating pad from Amazon. I would get the smallest you can possibly find as a start.
OR
Make your own heating pad if you have the skill set. Don’t cook your wiener. I may toy around with a very small heating unit and circulate heated water in a circuit using surgical tubing.