Avantopool Ice Baths

We are very pleased with our Orca Leisure Heartboro 6-person Hot Tub, which we bought for the decking of our Holiday Lodge, which we sublet when we aren't there. It is fun, spacious and easy to use with 4 clearly labelled buttons for temperature, jets, lights and auxiliary (the AUX button turns on a 3rd pump which activates some of the jets). There are 5 spaces for people to sit and one space for someone to lie down and the jets effectively give you a full massage. There are lights and blue-tooth speakers to create a mood. Our 4 grandsons christened it for us and said it was much better than the previous one it had replaced. Moreover the cost was very competitive and the company (Heracles Wellness) a pleasure to deal with and really helpful before, during and after the installation. We would certainly recommend.

We spent 2 years researching and thinking about buying this sauna, most of that time we were talking to a different supplier who had UK exclusivity. The problem being that they would not take responsibility for delivery and offload. Thankfully they lost their exclusivity contract and we were able to purchase from Heracles. What a breath of fresh air. They were helpful to a point of actually setting up the sauna for us, and we still talk regularly if we have questions on this beautiful product. I am going to leave some reviews elsewhere with more detail, but so far this sauna has exceeded our expectations. We don’t have 3 phase, so was worried it would not be hot enough but we have learnt to actually set it to cooler than a normal sauna as it’s so efficient. Thanks Heracles . It’s a restively expensive price of kit but we have no regrets at all. The manufacturer Hellas have also spoken to us which is really nice. There was a small glitch with the HUUM heater app but they too have been responsive.

This sauna is actually better than I thought it would be. Which is rare to say these days.
Lots of functionality and super good quality. And I came out of it feeling amazing. The infrared heat is definitely the way to go.
Thank you.
Dr Edward

- Size

The Nano is advertised as a two man sauna. It is, but it's a squeeze to have two blokes in there at the same time. There'll always be one person receiving too much heat from the heater. That's not to say they are unsafe; it's safe, just uncomfortable for more than 5 mins at a time.

My adult sons and I use it, and it's really comfortably a one-man gig. That doesn't bother us a jot though, but if you ALWAYS need two seated at the same time, then you should probably go for the next size up.

Also, the most comfortable position is sitting with your legs stretched out on the bench, that's naturally a one-person situation.

- Quality

It is absolutely top end. I deliberately went for everything in one package. Heater, controller, thermostat all pre-wired and the sauna fully built in the factory in Estonia. All I had to do was arrange for a professional electrician to connect it to my home supply. That was trivial from him (cost £650 approx).

The construction mechanism using cross-laminated wood was best in class too. That holds the heat in in the best possible way. I did a lot of research in this area.

You can build your own for less, mix and match heaters and controllers, cross laminate the wood yourself, but why would you and take the time ? Pay the extra, and get it up and running in a few hours.

- Looks

Fabulous. You can see from the photo that it's already one of the family and raises the tone of our patio.

The exterior is not a wood finish. That suprises people, and was exactly what I wanted. It's a rubber-like finish chosen to survive our coastal location.

The mirrored front is absolutely great, because it looks sleek, but also reflects views of the garden. And the mirrors are truly one-way.

Timings
-------
15 min on, 15 min off, 15 min on, 15 min off is enough per session once a day.

1 hour and 15 mins from Cornwall winter (5 degrees) to 85 degrees.

There's no need to go beyond 85 degrees. At that temperature it's intense (because it's so small). Add in steam from the stones, and you really do need to be careful how much water you put on the stones.

In UK winter (ambient 5 degrees), it loses heat about 1 degree every minute, when the heater is off. I was expecting better, but it's not helped by the wind we experience locally, so acceptable.

- Controls & Setup

Wear gloves to place the stone aroud the heater or you'll have ton of tiny cuts from the heater surround fins.

Stone placement is awkward, and really quite arbitary because you don't have 360 degree access to the heater to tweak placement and cram more in. I found I only used 4 of 5 of the boxes of stones provided.

Huum controller, app setup, and home wifi network refinement was straightforward for somebody with IT skills. You'll probably need an additional wifi extender as close as possible to the sauna because the wifi signal into the sauna doesn't penetrate too deeply.

I found that the Huum wifi controller had internet connectivity from day one - so you could start/stop it from anywhere in the world ! So don't fork out the extra for the 4G version.

The controller is very straightforward to use locally. One click heater on/off and likewise for the lighting too.

- Delivery

This was a poor experience. I was told many times that it would be a curb-side drop. That means the courier offloads the sauna for you, not necessarily into position, but just off their vehicle. Importantly the duty of care sits with the courier until that completes. That's an important boundary to understand because this is 600KG fragile item. A bump or drop will shatter the glass frontage, and they have to pay.

What actually happened was the courier turned up under the expectation that I had a forklift to offload the sauna. I didn't. I should have returned it to the depot on the spot. Instead I managed to get the local farmer to offload it with barely suitable equipment - it was precarious and stressful and nearly resulted in it being dropped and damaged at my expense.

In fairness to Heracles, they are following up that problem with the shipper.

If you plan to crane it in with straps, use the forklift fixing points for the straps not the vendor recommended strap fixing points - they were not integral to the sauna structure. It still worked out ok though.

- Customer Service

Keith uses WhatsApp for all customer comms., pre and post sale. He's so reactive, any time of day or night, that I wonder if he ever turns his phone off. Absolutely A1 service.

Bear in mind that with a purchase of this nature and price, there are lots of questions and queries. There are naturally many parties involed in the chain. For me, that was the retailer, the shipper, the crane company, the courier and the electrician.

You need A1 customer service to thread all those things together. Keith meets those obligations very well indeed.

I wouldn't hesitate in dealing with Heracles Wellness again.

Best purchase of 2024 for me. Built my own little oasis and then get all the benefits of it daily.

Buying another soon for work!

I purchased the hybrid 2 person sauna and absolutely love it!
I have used it every day since it has been set up and feel so much better for it.
We had a friend help to set it up and it was all pretty straight forward. Customer service is fantastic and always there to help with any questions or problems.
If you are thinking to purchase just do it-you wont regret it!!

Highly recommend Keith & team, customer service throughout was spot on , we had our sauna built on site by Keith’s team who were polite and hardworking , the sauna is modern , very good quality , easy to use and gives great heat we are really happy with our purchase , Heracles’s Wellness are the guys to go to !!

From the delivery service & building work to the finished product in action - a truly faultless process.
Sauna looks amazing, heats up quickly & is super easy to use.

So worth it and couldn’t recommend Heracles any more!!

Fantastic garden sauna.
We boutht the sauna end of August and arrived early September as scheduled with us. It was easy to built and took us one day to built the sauna and couple more days to install the door, roof, paint inside/outside and install the benches. We then had the electrician to connect the heater, and Camilla Sauna was ready to use.
As mentioned by other customers, it heats up quickly, smells wanderful, and fits 4-5 people easily.

It is a great experience, we all enjoy it very much, even our kids.
I truly recommend to anyone.

Really enjoying our Camilla sauna. Being smaller than a barrel sauna it heats up quickly, but inside there is still plenty of space for 4 people.
Very easy to use and gives a great sauna experience!

I bought this a couple of months ago, and my only regret is that I didn’t get one years ago.

I honestly cannot recommend this enough. It heats up quickly and is incredibly relaxing and peaceful once you’re inside.

It has two different levels and you can configure the internal seating a number of ways. Either way, it’s easily enough to fit two adults long down (if one person has their knees bent). Or you could happily fit four people sitting (five at a push).

The sauna smells wonderful and is incredibly well insulated, meaning it is HOT in about 20 minutes - and you can turn the heater off once you’re about half way through and it will still stay super hot for another 20-30 minutes (saving on energy costs).

I have a smart meter, and testing it - the sauna costs less for an hour on a hot setting than it costs to dry a load of washing in the tumble dryer.

The sauna took two builders two days to construct, plus a day for the electrician. In the end we put the lights on a separate circuit from the heater but you can run both off the same one if you wanted to.

The only downside were the instructions which were frustratingly vague, and the fact that you have to oil the sauna inside and out before using it. It would have been useful to know this before we had put the seats in. From speaking to Keith - the instructions are in the process of being redrafted which would help.

One more thing to mention - every single part is individually labelled which really helped with the build, so even though the instructions were a bit convoluted we got there in the end :)

Throughout the process Keith was incredibly helpful, patient and remained charming even when I was firing off questions three times a day (thank you Keith!!)

All in all I cannot recommend this enough. It is also amazing for my mental wellbeing, for helping with lots of deep restful sleep and just overall wellness.

Top tip - I also installed a dip tank next to the sauna for the full hot / cold experience, I’d also recommend this if you can run water to wherever the sauna is, it really does add to the experience.

If you have read this far, the only thing left to say is BUY ONE. You won’t regret it.

Cathy x

I wasn't totally sold on the hot tub idea, but I really enjoy spending time in it. Keith and team did a great job in sorting out the one that best suited our needs and aftercare has been great as well. Would definitely use them again for my next one :).

We recently purchased the hot tub and weren't 100% sure who to buy from. Keith reassured me on what they offer as a company and we decided to buy. What a great hot tub, great value, great service and the installation is a must in my eyes. The delivery team we perfect gents and nothing was too much for them. All round we're very, very happy and highly recommend this company. Thank you. Lee

Delighted with this hot tub, mainly for the two of us but very popular when the family visit. Got some nice features. Perfect for us.

Incredibly happy with my sauna. I’ve owned home saunas before and the quality of this product is far superior to others and at a very competitive price point. The team and Heracles Welness were incredibly helpful, supportive and easy to reach from point of order onwards. Always available on the phone to assist with the build. Very professional and easy to deal with. Five start service.