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- Impressive heat
- Soothing gentle heat
- Heating wires can’t be felt through the duvet
- Cables are an eyesore and a potential trip hazard
- Expensive
I might have dropped some not so subtle hints to my editor about testing the Dreamland Love Mornings All Season Pure Cotton Heated Duvet, so keen was I on the idea. I’ve reviewed plenty of heated underblankets and throws, but this is the first time I’ve seen a duvet and electric blanket combined into one product. And, as a natural cold sleeper, this product immediately appealed to me.
It’s quite expensive: does its combined design justify this expense, or is it just a marketing gimmick? Read on to find out my thoughts…
Love Mornings All Season Pure Cotton Heated Duvet: What do you get for the money?
The Dreamland heated duvet is available in three sizes, with a single starting at £120. A double is £170 and a king size costs £200. These prices are considerably higher than those for traditional electric blankets that go underneath your fitted sheet, with options such as the Beurer Indulgence Heated Underblanket and Dreamland’s own Hunker Down Scandi Sherpa Underblanket both coming in at £100 for a double. It’s also more expensive than many heated throws, with even Dreamland’s most luxurious option, the Hygge Days Faux Fur Luxury Heated Throw, coming in at £90.
The ‘Pure Cotton’ moniker is a bit of a misnomer: it’s only the cover that’s 100% cotton, with the duvet filling being made from polyester. It’s a little bit stiffer than a traditional duvet, which can be chalked down to the inclusion of the heating element wires. However, you can’t really feel these in the duvet.
The duvet comes with dual controllers on the double and king size versions, which I’d say is an absolute necessity for couples with differing temperature preferences. These attach at the bottom of the duvet and then run underneath the bed to your plug socket, with the controller comfortably within reach at your bedside.
There are six heat settings to choose from, and you can choose to have the duvet on for one, three or nine hours before it shuts off automatically. There’s an overheat safety feature and the duvet has been tested by KEMA-KEUR standards: an independent quality and safety certification for electrical products. Dreamland says that the duvet heats up in five minutes, but I’d suggest giving it at least 10-15 minutes to get to maximum temperatures (more on my heat tests below). There’s no tog rating for the duvet, but Dreamland says that the various settings provide levels of warmth similar to tog ratings of 6 to 15.
The duvet is machine washable at 30°C on a delicate cycle, and you can even tumble dry it on a low heat. You’ll have to take it out of the tumble dryer while it’s still slightly damp to make sure it’s been reshaped and that the wires are straight, but this is still useful considering a lot of electric blankets can only be hung to dry.
Comfort, performance and test results
I’ve been testing a lot of duvets recently and, whilst the Dreamland compares favourably with other synthetic duvets such as the Soak & Sleep Soft As Down All Seasons duvet, it’s never going to feel as luxurious as wool or down options.
As the resident hot sleeper of the household, my long suffering husband never turned his side of the duvet on, but he also never felt clammy under the duvet either. Despite the polyester filling, the cotton cover keeps the duvet breathable.
The controllers are easy to use, with a big button to turn the duvet on and smaller buttons to cycle through the temperature and timer settings. The generously long 3m cable also means you shouldn’t have much issue reaching a power socket.
I ran the same tests on the Dreamland Love Mornings Heated Duvet that I run on electric blankets and heated throws. Attaching a temperature probe to the underside of the duvet, I recorded a temperature of 35.7°C after 10 minutes at full power. Repeating this test at half power, it heated up almost as quickly, reaching 35°C after 10 minutes. However, I should add that this was the maximum temperature that the duvet reached on half power, while on full power temperatures continued to rise after 10 minutes. I took some temperature readings with an infrared thermometer gun after an hour, recording 40°C in the centre and a maximum of 41C° at the top.
I also ran power consumption tests to see how energy efficient the duvet is. Compared to other electric blankets and throws I’ve tested, the duvet used quite a lot of energy heating up: 84W at full power, and 44W on half power. However, the accumulated kWh after 30 minutes was only 0.012kWh on full power and 0.009kWh on half power.
But what did the heated duvet feel like in real world testing? I’m used to electric blankets, where the heat is underneath you in bed, although I do use a heated throw on the sofa and at my desk. This was quite a different sensation. The duvet feels much lighter than a throw but it’s definitely not as warm as a traditional electric blanket. Despite the fairly impressive temperature readings, these were taken near the duvet’s heating element: in real world use, this heat has to travel through the entire duvet and a duvet cover.
This isn’t a complaint though; I loved the gentle heat of the Dreamland Love Mornings heated duvet and found it incredibly soothing. It’s like being cocooned in a consistently warm bed. With the heat on top of the body rather than underneath it (as with a traditional electric blanket), I’d argue that this duvet could be a godsend for women with period pains.
What could be improved?
At £170 for a double size, this duvet is almost double the price of many other electric blankets and throws. If budget is your concern, look elsewhere. On top of this, some people might not find the gentler heat of the duvet warm enough.
However, my main gripe was with the duvet’s cables. These look pretty unsightly trailing just underneath the bed and, if you have a solid divan base, they’ll be completely on show. I did also fear that the cables could be a bit of a trip hazard when you’re getting out of bed half asleep.
Should you buy the Dreamland Love Mornings All Season Pure Cotton Heated Duvet?
I loved the Dreamland heated duvet, and I think it will be very useful during periods when it’s a little too warm for the fierier heat of a traditional electric blanket, but not warm enough to be without any heat. I found the slightly gentler heat particularly soothing and enjoyable.
However, I found cable placement quite inconvenient, and it’s a pretty expensive option as far as heated bedding goes. Ultimately, I’d recommend weighing up what style of blanket will be the most beneficial for you before you invest, as you might find that a more affordable throw or underblanket is a better option.
