- 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
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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.