SpeedHeat Rugbuddy 470 Under Rug Space Heater, 5.5' X 8'

Works great as promised to keep floor warm. Couldn't use suggested purchase "timer" because it is too large to allow use of other opening in outlet. Also power cord unsightly and hard to hide. I cover it with another rug though they suggest not doing this I believe.

I live in a temperate climate and wanted radiant heating but it does not make sense for me to spend that money when I don't need it for most of the year. This rug buddy met all my needs. It's warm, only one heat setting, whatever it is it's perfect because I can sit on it for hours without getting too hot. I don't feel it under my thin rug. I think it may not be as warm with a thicker rug. I will admit that no one in my family sits on the sofa anymore, we have throw blankets and just lazr around on the floor. Great for a tired back. Because I sit on the rug more often, I vacuum and steam it at least once a week to keep the rug fresh. I wish it had a button to turn in and off instead of plugging and unplugging or buying another attachment.

Not pleased at all with this purchase. Why doesn't it produce more heat?! I was super excited by the prospect of adding some heat to the living room, especially with a unit that is unseen and completely out of the way. The product; however, doesn't really live up to the idea. Yes, I followed the instructions, yes I have a rug pad underneath, etc. The RugBuddy gets "warm," but in my opinion not warm enough. Sure with bare feet on the rug, it feels nice, but to get any more benefit that you'd have to be laying on the floor, and who wants to do that? Even then, it's just barely warm. Certainly never gets anywhere approaching hot and you definitely could't heat the room with it. I expected a noticeable difference in the living room, as the heat from the rug radiated upward. Even running for long periods of time, it doesn't even the chill out of the air, and I keep my thermostat at around 70 degrees as it is. I bought the largest one, which is $300, and for that I could have bought several heaters and a good pair of socks. Maybe for $100, it'd be worth it but as it stands right now, this was just a pain to install, for little to no added actual warmth and now I'll have to tear apart the living room again to get it out from under the rug. More than anything I'm irritated by the prospect of having to remove it. Another super annoying feature is that the top of the unit is slippery, almost tarp-like material. You have a rug pad to keep the rug from slipping, which you then lay a slippery material on top of, that doesn't offer any non-slip assistance. So the rug now bunches and moves around, but just in the middle where the ineffective rug heater is located. The sides of the rug, which are still in contact with the rug pad are fine. The material of the heater also makes a crinkling sound when you walk on it. AAAHHH - I'm not running this company but I could think of several ways to improve this product. If you're looking for a super expensive way to mildly "warm" your feel, any time you just happen to be standing on a specific rug, then go for it. Otherwise, don't waste your time or money.

After a horrible experience with customer service (see original review and the responses that follow below), our second experience was quite different. Ingrid has resolved the situation. While we originally gave this product (and company) one star, Ingrid deserves 5 stars. The Rugbuddy product itself (assuming our new one works longer than one year) would probably get 4 stars from our perspective - our first one died quickly, but we can see that the new "500" model is an improvement over the "470" model - so buy the new model. :) The Rugbuddy doesn't heat our porch as much as we had hoped - but that said, it at least takes the chill off of the floor and helps the room feel a bit more comfortable. We no longer regret making this purchase. So, with Ingrid's great customer service and an improved product somewhat redeeming our original short-lived product and our awful customer service experience, we feel comfortable balancing out our review to 3 stars, and hope nobody else has a similar experience as our first one.Thanks, Ingrid, for righting a bad experience - we appreciate it!Here's our original one-star review, which we want to leave up since it was our original experience...Unfortunately I'm having the same horrible experience as others - used one winter with OK results but this fall when it started getting cool outside the Rugbuddy simply wouldn't heat at all. And worse, there's no help from the manufacturer. The 5 year warranty is a hoax and product does not last even when well taken care of in a room that's rarely used. Amazon is usually great but they need to drop this product line and stop distributing junk that costs people hundreds of dollars from a company that won't honor their warranty! By the way, I'm not sure if it'll say "verified buyer" next to my name or not when I submit my review, but I suspect it won't because the size of the Rugbuddy we bought is no longer available so we can't post a review of the product we actually purchased (same thing, just bigger at approx. 8' x 10'). But believe me, my experience is very real - we lost hundreds of dollars on the Rugbuddy purchase and the warranty they state at the time of purchase is apparently a total lie. Spend your money on products from other manufacturers, or you'll be paying hundreds for a thin, useless layer of wires underneath your rug! I hope this warning can save others from having the same awful experience we're having!

Still working a year later. Not that I use it a lot. Room right above garage, not insulated very well. It worked to cut the cold from the floor. This is not a heater to warm a room if that's what you are looking for.

This worked better than I thought it would. My downstairs is slate on slab, the room has a gas fireplace and cathedral ceiling leaves the first few feet even the rug cold. The difference between the floor an five feet is 6 degrees on a relatively cold day.The rug buddy installed over the carpet pad was a since, I'll be honest I didn't expect much, but for the first time in two years since I moved in the room is toasty, only 1 degree difference in temp, my feet toasty. Love it. Fire place doesn't run as much.