Sunbeam Ultra Champagne Heated Throw

I scoured reviews of blanket after blanket and they were all the same including this one. Glowing reviews telling how they were the greatest thing on God’s green earth and negative reviews saying how they came apart, stopped heating, shriveled up or otherwise suffered some sort of untimely death. I decided to just pick the blanket with the simplest controller and this is the one I chose.There is a slight chemical odor when opening the package which I would have preferred to smell like strawberry ice cream, but it quickly dissipates.The blanket is thin and I’m fine with that. It means it will be a good summer blanket too. If you feel the blanket, you can feel the wires, but isn’t that the case with all electric blankets? It’s been the case with all electric blankets I have owned. I've had blankets where it felt like I was sleeping under a chain link fence. Somehow, I don’t notice the wires in this blanket when I go to bed, but of course I have a sheet between me and the blanket.There is no preheat feature, but I didn’t want one. Why would you need that. Just turn your blanket on and it heats up. This blanket gets very warm very fast. Admittedly, I didn’t go through and patiently try the different settings to see how much difference each setting would have, but I’m not looking for precision heat. I just crank it up to ten before going to bed and lower it to four or five when I go to bed and this system works for me. If you want to lose weight just leave it on ten all night. You'll wake up in a sweat and ten pounds lighter.If I had and issue it would be the controllers - two because I bought a queen. They are not exactly what I expected to get. One picture shows a little window in the dial with a number showing in the window. The controllers I got look the same minus the window. Instead the dial has an arrow painted on it which points to the numbers one through ten painted on the controller. A new picture, which I believe was added since I made my purchase, only shows up if you select the queen blanket in the mushroom color, (I really like the color), shows the controllers I got. All the other colors and sizes only show the controller with the window. Do the different size and color blankets actually have different controllers? Did I get old style controllers or a newer design? Are they eliminating the window to save three cents? Again, only the queen mushroom blanket shows the controller minus the window, but also shows the controller with the window. It in no way affects the operation of the blanket. I just don’t like ordering one thing and getting something that looks different. I like getting exactly what I ordered. If there had been completely different controllers I likely would have returned the blanket since the controller design is the reason I chose this blanket, but I can live without the little window.I really like that the controllers are so simple even though they are a little clunky sitting on the nightstand. I’ll likely end up fastening them down with Velcro or double stick tape or maybe hang them on hooks so the weight of the power cord isn’t able to pull them down to the floor. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of controllers out there made to properly sit and remain on your nightstand. Are you listening design engineers? With these controllers you just press a button to turn it on and twist the dial to the setting you want and your done. Very quickly the blanket is nice and toasty. I like being able to quickly twist that dial to the setting I want rather than having to press a button to cycle through the settings. The blanket will shut off automatically after ten hours or you can hit the button to turn it off.So far I’m pleased with the blanket. It’s simple to operate, provides good evenly distributed heat and there is only one electrical connection at the foot of the blanket. That electrical connection is at most only six inches from the foot of the blanket which means it’s out of the way and your feet aren’t feeling it. No doubt if it falls apart, stops heating or shrivels up it will be on the coldest night in the coming winter, but that’s what girlfriends are for. So far I’m warm and happy – in more ways than one.