Dreamland Hygge Days heated throw review: can it keep the heating off until November?

I sleep hot and I sit cold. Nobody warns you that both can be true at the same time, but after twenty years of night shifts and five years of days at a GP surgery, that's where my body has landed. In bed I kick the duvet off. On the settee at eight o'clock, I'm in two jumpers and a pair of Steve's walking socks.

Steve, meanwhile, has a rule. The central heating doesn't go on until the clocks go back. This year that's Sunday 25 October. He's held that line for 31 years of marriage, through one very cold October in 2012 that we still don't discuss.

So I made him a deal. If a heated throw could keep me warm on the settee for pennies, I'd stop asking for the heating before the clocks change. The throw I picked is the one you see everywhere in Britain once the nights draw in: the Dreamland Hygge Days Luxury Faux Fur Warming Throw, in the grey and brown Alaskan Husky print.

What you're buying

It's a big, furry blanket with fine heating wires running through it, and a little white controller that clips on at one corner. The top is long faux fur in mottled grey, brown and cream. The back is a soft beige micromink, which is what you'll feel against you if you tuck it round your legs fur side up.

Dreamland has been keeping British households warm for more than 50 years, and the Hygge Days is its best-known throw. Besides the Husky there are a handful of other prints: Fallow Deer, Arctic Fox, Dark Brown, Zebra and Leopard. Underneath the fur, they're the same throw. That matters when we get to price.

How I tested it

I used it on 38 evenings. 24 of them were in a cold March and April, when Steve's rule was on its spring outing and the front room sat between 14°C and 16°C. The other 14 were this September, as the nights started to bite. Always the same spot: my end of the settee, the heating off, a room thermometer on the mantelpiece.

Each evening I wrote down the setting, how long it took before I stopped feeling cold, whether I took a jumper off, and a score out of five for how comfortable I was at bedtime. For numbers, an infrared gun read the underside of the throw, and a meter between plug and socket counted every watt. Every sleep and bedding product we try goes through the same routine, and our how we test page spells it out.

Mog, our cat, never read the protocol. She joined in anyway, and she gets her own section further down.

How warm, and how fast

Switch it on and the controller runs a little light check, then sets itself to 6 with a one-hour timer. On 6 I could feel warmth through to my legs in about four minutes. After ten minutes, the micromink side under the throw read 38°C on my thermometer. By then I'd usually taken one jumper off.

Setting 6 is meant for warming up, not for staying on. The instructions say to use 1 to 3 for continuous use, and after two evenings I understood why. It gets properly hot. My routine settled at 6 for fifteen minutes, then down to 3 for the rest of the evening, which kept the surface around 31°C to 33°C. On the coldest March nights I went to 4 for a while. I never needed 5.

The average from my diary: with the room at 15°C and no heating, I stopped feeling cold after six minutes and scored my evening 4.4 out of 5 for comfort. On the evenings in March before the throw arrived, same room, same jumpers, I'd scored myself 2.1.

What it costs to run

This is the reason most people buy one, so I measured it properly. My energy monitor showed about 146 W on setting 6 while it warmed up. Once it was warm, on the lower settings the throw switches itself on and off to hold the heat, so the average drops a lot.

Pence below are worked out on this winter's cap from Ofgem, which from October averages 26.32p a unit for electricity and 7.97p for gas if you pay by Direct Debit. The government has taken VAT off electricity from October to March, and the 26.32p already includes that cut.

The heating figure comes from our smart meter on two April evenings when Steve's rule briefly broke. It heats the whole house, so it isn't quite a fair fight. But the point stands: for one person on one settee, the throw costs about a fifteenth of what the heating does, and a thirtieth of a fan heater. Over a month of cold evenings, that's the price of a sandwich.

A nurse's note: warm you, not the room

I have to say this, because I've seen what cold homes do to people. A heated throw keeps your body warm. It does nothing for the air you breathe, the walls, or the rest of the house. For most of us in September and October, that's fine. For older people, anyone with heart or lung problems, or babies, a cold room is a health risk in itself. The UK Health Security Agency's advice is to heat the rooms you use to at least 18°C if you're vulnerable, and a throw doesn't change that.

Two more things from the instructions that I'd underline in red. Heated throws aren't for children under three, and children from three to eight should only use one on setting 1 with an adult around. And they aren't for anyone who can't feel heat properly, which includes some people with diabetes who have lost feeling in their legs. If that's your mum or dad, talk to them before you buy one as a present.

"It's a brilliant way to put the heating on later. It's a terrible reason never to put it on." Denise, evening 31

Size, feel and living with it

At 160 x 120 cm, it covers one adult sitting on a settee from shoulders to toes, with some to tuck under. It won't do two people properly. Steve tried to share on a Saturday with the football on, and we ended up with it across both our laps and both our shoulders cold. After that, he got the old fleece and I got the Husky.

The fur is soft and fairly short, about a centimetre and a half. In the first week it shed fine fluff onto my navy jumper, the way new faux fur does. After the first wash, that stopped. You can feel the wires faintly if you press on the micromink side, like thin cords under the fabric, but not through the fur and not once it's draped over you.

The timer turned out to be the feature I valued most. I fall asleep on the settee more often than I'd like to admit. On the 3-hour timer, I knew it would switch itself off whatever happened. The controller lights dim after 15 seconds, so it doesn't glow at you during a film.

Mog, and the claws question

Gillian, who tests health and beauty for us in Bristol, owns a cat, Pickle, who has claimed every heated throw this team has ever owned. Mog has now joined that club. By evening four she'd worked out that the warm patch arrived when the controller beeped, and she'd be on my lap before I'd pressed it down to 3.

The worry with a cat is claws. Mog kneads when she's happy, and the throw has wires in it. The instructions say never to push pins or needles through it, and to check it often for wear. So I did: every week I held it up to the window and ran my hands over it. After 38 evenings, no pulls, no bare patches. The long fur seems to catch her claws before they get anywhere near the wires. If your cat is a serious kneader, I'd put a folded towel on top for them.

Washing it

On evening 22, Mog came in from the garden and walked straight across it with muddy paws. So it got washed. Unplug, press the two grips on the connector to take the controller off, and in it goes at 30°C on a delicate cycle, no extra spin. I tumble dried it on low for 40 minutes, then laid it flat on the airer, pulling the corners gently back into shape like the instructions say. It took until the next evening to dry fully.

It came out as soft as it went in, maybe a touch less fluffy until I gave it a good shake. The size didn't change. I held it against the light to check the wires weren't bunched, which the instructions also ask you to do, and all was well.

Is now the time to buy, or Black Friday?

Here's where you can save proper money without waiting.

• The Husky print is £99.99 at Dreamland at the time of writing, down from £129.99.
• The Zebra and Leopard prints of the same Hygge Days throw are £69.99 at Dreamland right now. Same size, same controller, same heat.
• Black Friday falls on 27 November this year. I found no trustworthy figure for how low the Husky print went last November, so I'm not going to guess what it'll do this time.

My rule: under £80 for the Husky or Fallow Deer print is a good price, and around £70 for any print is the one I'd jump at. If you feel the cold now, don't wait until the end of November for £20. September and October evenings are exactly when a throw earns its money, before the heating goes on.

Wrapping one up for someone?

It's one of the best "useful but feels like a treat" presents I can think of. It looks generous, it's soft to unwrap, and people use it the same night. Good for someone who works from home in a cold spare room, a student in a draughty rented flat, a friend who always has a cardigan on, or a parent who feels the cold, as long as they don't fall into the groups I mentioned above.

What to add: nothing is essential. A big mesh laundry bag is handy for washes. And if it's for someone on their own, write "turn it down to 3" on the gift tag. I'm only half joking.

Keep the paperwork. Dreamland's two-year guarantee won't work without proof of purchase, so a gift receipt belongs in the box. Bought on the internet? You can still cancel for two weeks after the parcel turns up, a right the Consumer Contracts Regulations give everyone. Seasonal return windows vary a lot between shops, so look at yours before Boxing Day. Electrical Safety First suggests replacing electric blankets after about ten years, so if someone's using one from the last century, this is a good excuse.

Should it be on your settee?

Alternatives worth a look

The same throw in another print, £69.99 at Dreamland. The Zebra and Leopard Hygge Days throws are the same product for £30 less right now. If the pattern isn't a deal breaker, it's the smartest buy on this page.

Dreamland Snuggle Up Electric Warming Throw, £49.99 at Dreamland. A plainer, flatter throw without the long fur. Warm, washable, and half the price. Less of a treat to sit under.

Dreamland Cosy Up Silky Soft Faux Fur Warming Throw, £59.99 at Dreamland. A silky, shorter-pile faux fur in plain colours. A good middle ground if the long fur feels too much.

If your problem is the opposite, being too hot in bed, I spent 88 nights on the subject in my Eight Sleep Pod 5 review. Everything else we've tested for sleep and home is in our reviews.

After 38 evenings

The deal held. I didn't ask for the heating once this September, and Steve's rule will make it to 25 October for the 32nd year running. He's very pleased with himself about that, as if it were his idea.

The throw isn't perfect. It's a one-person size, it forgets its setting every time you switch it on, and the print I chose costs £30 more than the same throw in zebra. But on a 15°C evening it turned a two-jumper night into a one-jumper night for about 5p, and I haven't worn Steve's walking socks since March. Mog, for the record, gives it five out of five.

Your Dreamland heated throw questions, answered