My wife Lee Anne and I prefer drastically different temperatures in our house, and I finally found something to end the never ending thermostat battle!
One of the biggest battles is over the temperature when we go to bed. If it’s at the temperate Lee Anne likes, I have to sleep with our overheard fan on and the covers half off. If it’s the temperature I like, she has to sleep under a mountain of covers, and it’s too cold for our 2 year old daughter.
So I went searching for a solution and found a water-cooled and heated bed topper that lets you set the individual temperature on each side of the bed.
Chili Technology offers 2 models and have a 90 day return policy, so I bought both to see which we liked best, or even if we liked them at all – after testing them both for at least a week each, we’re DEFINITELY keeping one!
Ok, where do I start.
They work by heating or cooling water to whatever temperature you want (55-115 F) and then sending it through tiny rubber tubing. It all connects up at the head of the bed, so you don’t see anything once the sheets are back on.
When we first started testing them, Lee was concerned she’d be able to feel the tubing when she laid on it. She wasn’t really onboard with my little test, and wanted me to send them both back to get one that only fit my side of the best. Once she started using it though, she really liked it.
I prefer a chilly 60 degrees (15C) and Lee keeps hers at 73 degrees (23C). I no longer wake up hot and she now sleeps under huge weighted blanket.
There’s no arguing over the thermostat, because we can change the temperature to whatever we like, and it supposedly saves money on the heating/cooling bill, because you don’t have to heat or cool the whole house to your ideal sleeping temperature.
In short, I’m super happy I found these.
So what’s the difference between the two?
The first is price, and neither are necessarily cheap. For a King size bed with the chiliPAD, it’s $1199, vs $1499 for the OOLER system. The chiliPAD is also on sale for 20% off right now ($959 instead of $1199), which makes the price difference even larger. There offer a range of difference sizes and prices, and the ability to only buy it for one side of the bed for cheaper.
They have the differences listed on the website, which I’ve listed below, but I had to try both to see what the real difference was and if the OOLER version was worth the $540 premium. Again, they have a 90 day return policy, so I figured what did I have to lose.
chiliPAD
This is the more basic version, but it does the basics really well. It can cool and heat to the same temperatures as the more expensive OOLER (55 F – 115 F), and used a remote to control the temperature. You turn in on and off when you want, and it gets to the temperature you want pretty quickly. I haven’t completely tested this, but I felt like it actually cooled the bed quicker than the OOLER.
Prices:
Use code “SCARYGOOD20” for 20% off
King (both sides individually adjustable):
$1199 ($959 after 20% off)
Queen (both sides individually adjustable):
$999 ($ after 20% off)
King (one side adjustable):
$599 ($479 after 20% off)
Queen (one side adjustable):
$499 ($399 after 20% off)
OOLER
With the OOLER, I felt like company tried to think of every way that they could improve on the chiliPAD, but do the improvements justify the cost? In the end, the both give you the exact same benefit.
With the OOLER you now have an app on your phone to control the temperature instead of a separate remote control. The app only uses Bluetooth to connect to the OOLER, so you have to be in the same room. I’m not sure why they chose to use Bluetooth over Wifi, because you could then control it from anywhere.
I like slipping into nice cold sheets when I get into bed, so with the chiliPad, I’d have to stop by my bedroom 10 minutes or so before bed to turn it on with the remote. If I decided to manually turn on the OOLER, I have to still go to the bedroom to get my app within range…. but you don’t only have to do it manually.
The OOLER lets you create a schedule to turn the bed on and to your preferred temperate at different times – even different times based on the day of the week. It also lets you set a “warm wakeup” that heats the bed to help you wake up in the morning.
They mention being able to adjust the white noise on the OOLER, but the only control I found was one that let you turn the heating/cooling controls to Silent, Regular, or Boost. When it’s running it does have a pleasant white noise to it, and the different modes do change how loud the white noise of the machine is, but it doesn’t have a separate, dedicated white noise generator.
The last difference is the actual topper material you lay on. The OOLER version looks cooler and it hooks to the bed a little better than the chiliPAD, but I couldn’t really tell the difference when I was sleeping on it.
Price:
King (both sides individually adjustable):
$1499
Queen (both sides individually adjustable):
$1399
King (one side adjustable):
$799
Queen (one side adjustable):
$699
Conclusion
They both work really well, but is the more expensive OOLER worth it? It does have some new features, but if it didn’t exist, I think I’d be pretty happy with the lower priced chiliPAD.
My advice? If you’re interested in it, buy the chiliPAD and if later you still think you’ll REALLY use the scheduling function or “warm wakeup” feature a lot, you have 90 days to return it free of charge and order the OOLER instead.
I’m sort of hooked on the scheduling feature now, and it’s already on my bed, so I’m going to keep the OOLER version. But if I had never tried it… I’d be super happy with the chiliPAD at a 30% cheaper price.
