Thermophore MaxHeat Pad 14" x 14"

7/04/2012 UPDATE -- Well, after my 2nd purchased replacement broke in 6 mos (they are the best on the market and I need and use them regularly)-- I decided to call Battle Creek to let them know how bad the problems. The customer rep answering the phone said she was new and was in the process of getting things underway. When I told her of my purchases and my experience -- gave her the dates of purchase on Amazon -- she said that this was just awful and she immediately shipped out two new replacements.In the interim, I had already ordered the larger (longer) one as my current problems need heat spread over a large range. Very recently, I spilled some chocolate on the cover and had my assistant who does my laundry wash it (as I always have) in cold water. However, she did not understand that when you need to wash something in cold water, you don't put it in the dryer afterwards. :-\ She did, it shrunk and didn't cover about 1/5 of the heating pad. I tried to use it that way but it didn't work as I needed it.I emailed this same new rep and asked if I could purchase a new cover -- explaining the fault on my end for the problems. She emailed back that she was sending me. gratis, a replacement cover for the longer pad.I think there is a new commitment to honor the warranty, the rep seems convinced that there is a real problem here -- she postulated a variety of causes and I proposed some different ways of honoring the warranty that would be an improvement. She said that she would be discussing these with management.***So right now*** -- because the product is sooo excellent that I was willing to buy a new one every six months despite the failures -- I would say it is worth the gamble to buy the product you like. I've raised my rating from 1 star to 3 stars.I cannot comment yet on whether there are any changes in how long the item will work because I;ve only had the latest one a couple of months. But given the new attitude towards honoring the warranty -- I am not concerned.But if things improve, I will be coming back to change the rating again.************I leave below the original history of my reports on the product.**************************UPDATE: Amazon reimbursed me when manufacturer wouldn't honor warranty -- so I bought a replacement with the old style manual switch -- figuring the new auto-switch might have caused the item to stop working after 6 months. Well, I am lying here in bed with the replacement unit which just abruptly stopped working -- again just about precisely 6 months after purchase -- just like the previous one.As indicate in my initial review below -- my first Thermaphore lasted 7 years. Now I have purchased two in a row -- each of which lasted 6 months with the manufacturer not honoring the warranty.Read what happened on the first go around. And I see that others recently have had the same experience. Clearly Thermaphore has gone to seed and able to dupe its customers who believe it is the same quality from years gone by.Please! Please! -- do not buy this product! Send a message to Thermaphore -- they cannot capitalize on their good name at the expense of consumers while they turn that name into mud.Put Thermaphore out of business! Don't buy their products!No wonder there is so much overt outrage being expressed at big business and its greed. It's been a long time coming. I can't believe that I am on that band-wagon now._______I purchased the 14x14 autoswitch Thermophore on November 8, 2010. It was my second one.The first one was not the auto-switch but the older style regular switch purchase 7 years earlier. I replaced it because the switch lever (that turned on and off the heating pad) had popped out of its "socket" and when pushed back in would not stay there. The pad itself worked just fine. It was almost certainly my fault that the switch lever popped out as I use it while in bed and I could have easily rolled on it when asleep. (The switch lever is designed to only keep the pad only when you hold the switch lever down. So if you fall asleep -- as I often do -- the switch lever pops up automatically and turns on the heating pad.The first pad was absolutely wonderful. It created moist heat -- something I need for my back which occasionally gets bulging discs. (Once one disc actually herniated.) I am a woman and for many years lifted weights (not the cause of the disc problems) and occasionally would strain something and when I needed to alternate hot and cold, this was the item I would used for moist heat.In the last couple of years, I have not been able to workout and have begun to develop arthritis in various parts of my body. I use the heating pad almost nightly.So when the switch on the first one broke, I was happy to order a new one. I saw that now Thermophore had an autoswitch version -- so I ordered that -- and loved that feature.SO WHAT HAPPENED!?As I said, I ordered the new one with auto-switch on November 8, 2010. I use it almost nightly. Last night I was using it and right in the middle of heating the heating mechanism stopped working. The autoswitch still said ON but the heating element inside the pad was not heating.This was slightly over 5 months and therefore 6 weeks past the return window for defective merchandise. Amazon said to call the manufacturer as the item had a year warranty and was covered. Amazon gave me the phone #.I called and this is what the manufacturer said:a.I needed to return the item ***at my own expense and effort*** -- find packaging to put it in and so forth.b. Upon receipt, they would look at it and decide whether its failure was due to a defect. (It obviously was as it stopped working right in the middle of a heating cycle.)c. Then if they so deemed it was a defect, they would send out a replacement by the cheapest and slowest method possible.d. Even if they found it defective, they would NOT reimburse me for my shipping expense.Since the shipping expense for me (UPS) would be over 25% of the original purchase price, that was a little preposterous. As I need to use it nightly, I could not go without a heating pad for the 4-6 weeks process that this could take. Which meant I would have to order another one immediately and perhaps I would end up with 2 because Thermophore would deem the first one defective.I explained this to the Thermophore representative and she said, basically, "tough", *that was the manufacturer's warranty.I told them I would file a complaint with Amazon-- and again, she didn't care and basically said again "tough."I am a long time Amazon customer (over 10 years) and I buy everything I can through them. Amazon offered to take care of the matter for me and arranged for me to get a replacement at minimal extra cost (as the price had gone up since I purchased it.)I decided not to go with the autoswitch this time -- hoping that that was the cause of the defect -- but it is not clear.If this was not such a great pad -- and all the positive reviews are correct -- the complaints, though valid, are from individuals who had a different idea as to what the heating pad could do -- not that the heating pad did not work superbly.Manufacturers are increasingly producing cheaper and lower quality versions of their products that break down rapidly and the manufacturer imposes conditions on their warranty that do everything to deter the customer from actually exercising their warranty right.Though my time is worth much more than the time to post these explanations (I am an attorney) and certainly more than what I have to do to get my warranty honored, I have decided to make it a campaign to publicize the behavior of manufacturers who exploit the online market in the way they that they do.My hope is that others will follow suit and will force manufacturers to clean up their act or go out of business. I consider these actions an important public service.So Thermophore -- take a look at this incident and see what you ought to do to change this kind of customer experience. Your reputation is on the line -- and thus -- so is your business' viability.

This is the only heating I will buy. Provides moist relaxing heat. Gave two as gifts to family.

This works really well. A little expensive but worth the money.

Did my research, tried & returned several other pads—this the only pad that gets really hot! Well constructed, safety turn off, comfortable & large, long cord

This electric heating pad with cover is nice and flat and is very comfortable to use. It has 3 heat settings (low, medium, and high) as well as the "off" setting. It does NOT require you to hold down a switch to keep it turned on. It stays on continuously for about 25 minutes then turns off automatically. When it turns off, you can slide the control to the "OFF" position and then turn it back on again immediately to use for another 25 minutes. The cover feels great against the skin! The only reason that I did not give it 5 stars is because it is supposed to be a moist heating pad but I don't seem to get any moisture from it. However, that may be due to the fact that I live in Hawaii where the weather is dry most of the time so the pad can't pull enough moisture out of the air.

Warmer than any other heating pad that I have tried (that was made after 1990).

i’ve bought this particular heating pad multiple times over the years, it is an excellent product. HOWEVER. it will only last two years. Every single pad that I have purchased, a total of eight, every single one has failed exactly at the two-year mark. On this when I got lucky, it failed two days before the two-year warranty expired. So I called the company to get instructions on how to get a replacement. They will not replace it until I spend my own money to ship it back to them, at which point they will inspect it. If it fails the inspection, I will not get a replacement. This is important, because of how a heating pad is used. Our use it on my back… I drape the heating pad over a pillow and lean against it. According to the company, this is “abusing” the product. It is not meant to be laid on Orleans against. The only way supposedly that you are supposed to use this product is by dripping it over your back while laying on your side or on your stomach. Personally, I have significant back problems and I cannot lay on my stomach or side. And I am not going to pay shipping on the chan I drape the heating pad over a pillow and lean against it. According to the company, this is “abusing“ the product. It is not meant to be laid on Orleans against. The only way supposedly that you are supposed to use this product is by draping it over your back while laying on your side or on your stomach - which is not going to create enough contact with the pad to receive the heat. I have significant back problems and cannot lay on my stomach or side. And I am not going to pay shipping For a chance at a replacement, when clearly the company is not geared toward customer service. The woman I spoke to on the phone was incredibly rude, impolite, and even when I try to complement her on the product, she was cold and unresponsive. I just ordered a replacement heating pad from Amazon and it arrived yesterday. But after speaking with the company today, I am going to return it untouched. I will never, ever buy another product from this company again.

Maybe the only really hot pad available, at its highest setting. The pad is made of canvas, about the thickness of that used on my wood/canvas canoe, so I think that it will certainly be more durable than the plastic, vinyl, that's used to cover the wiring of many other heating pads. It's flexible and has enough weight to conform to whatever area one wants to heat. The cover for the pad is comfortable as well. The electric chord is long enough for my use. Only "complaint", the controls ought to be closer to the pad to make them easier to reach and "stay put", so to speak; they tend to fall on the floor when I sit on a recliner to use the pad on my legs.