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Details
- Price $199 at zonlihome.com
- Material teflon
- Weight 3.5 lbs / 1.59 kg (without battery)
Overview
As I look back at past few years as a digital nomad, I contemplate how I see travel. As a young, eager-eyed designer in the harsh world of advertising, I yearned for a life of freedom. “Once I become a digital nomad, I would be able to go wherever I want!”, I thought.
I had been almost fully remote for the past 4 years, but it came with many caveats, such as peer pressure to show my face at the company to foster teamwork.
It wasn’t only after a decade of searching that I landed a truly remote work. And the first year had me traveling at every opportunity I could, just like I dreamt of.
I think it comes with age, but you start feeling tired, yearning for stability instead. You get worn down by challenges that would not exist at home.
Coming full cycle, I find myself looking forward to just lay back in on the couch after a day’s work, with a warm blanket and a good show on my iPad.
Perhaps that was an irrelevant intro to a review of a heated blanket, or that I am just melodramatic, but that was what I was thinking about as I started this review of the hooded version of the Zonlihome Z-Walk Pro Battery Operated Hooded Blanket.
Style
When Zonlihome reached out for a review, I was immediately apprehensive after viewing their products. They were a little too colorful and homely for my taste… until I spotted the cold black version of their blanket, which was a silver lining. I would rather be naked in the Antarctic that be caught with the Escape Rainbow version.
But it seems like Zonlihome expected there to be an overgrown edgelord like me that only want it in all black. The blanket exterior is all black while the interior is gray.
It comes with a detachable hood. I love hoods on jackets, but a hood on a blanket is just dorky. I won’t judge (much) since it does look damn comfortable on a camping trip, but I took mine off the moment it arrived.
If you don’t mind the look, it comes with buttons and drawstrings for you to wrap yourself snugly into it.
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This is a heated blanket so you can attach a mobile battery to it. There is a pocket that lets you keep the battery and cables so you won’t actually have to see any of it dangle out as you use.
Tech
There are two heaters along the back of the blanket. Plug the 20,000 mAh battery into the cable within the zippered pocket, and press the button to start heating. It comes with a battery, but you can use any mobile battery you already own.
You can choose between three temperature modes
- High – 149℉ / 65°C
- Med – 131℉ / 55°C
- Low – 113℉ / 45°C
It also comes with an AC adapter that charges the battery within two hours. However, you can’t heat the blanket directly from the adapter.
The blanket itself is polyester that is stain proof and waterproof, similar to the ones that you might see on down jackets.
Usage
Operation of the blanket can be guessed but it is not entirely straightforward. After plugging the battery in, you can turn it on by long-pressing the button for about three seconds.
The first setting is when you turn it on is high, which turns the power indicator red.
It is usual for the first setting to be the lowest, so I thought this was pretty counter intuitive. Press it again to cycle to medium, which is an orange light, and then low, which emits a white light. Long press to turn it off.
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The heating pads are across the middle of the blanket and that heat doesn’t really spread too evenly to the ends of the blanket, so you need to place it strategically if you want to get the entirety of the warmth.
Even without heat, the blanket itself is pretty warm. I find myself not turning on the heat most of the time. And when I did, the low setting was sufficient. Indoors, the high setting would make me sweat.
If you put the battery in the zippered pocket, it gets heavy. This means that you need to put the weight on you, since it would pull the blanket off if it falls off, say, the couch. Even when adjusting the position of the blanket for optimal heat, you won’t be able to ignore the weight of the battery.
Luckily, an extension cable is included, so you can rest the battery on the floor to circumvent this.
The battery drains pretty quickly, and seems to be susceptible to vampire draw, where the power of the battery would drain even if you don’t turn the blanket on. Even without plugging the blanket in, the battery would lose power if you don't manually turn it off, to the tune of 5% over the course of a day.
Another thing that bugged me about the battery display looks like a button and makes me press it unconsciously.
The roll top bag the blanket comes with is spacious to fit the blanket and accessories, however, the mouth of the bag is small enough that you have to squeeze the rolled-up blanket in.
It is a good size to take along for car camping, but the size and weight with the battery, isn’t ideal for backpacking.
Conclusion
The heated blanket is really what it says it is. It is a blanket that heats up with an external battery. While there is nothing spectacular or unique about the product, it has gotten the basics right and does its job. There are some small usability refinements that can be done to bring it to the next level.
The price is a little steep considering they are not as established as other electronic brands, but the quality seems good so far. I will update this article as I use it more so do check back.
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