Review: A Cool Cooling Blanket for Hot Summer Nights Arc-chill Extreme Q Max 0.5

We want to share an honest review with you to let you know Elegear Arc-chill Cooling Blanket in an objective and true view.

She is Nicole Mölders, here is what she feels.

Thermal Comfort and Sleep Are a Basic Human Needs

Thermal comfort and good sleep are basic human needs. We feel in thermal comfort means when ambient temperatures are between 48.2 and 71.6F (9-22°C), and we don’t sweat. Obviously, thermal discomfort due to muggy weather affect our sleep with consequences for our work performance, and being active during the day. Unfortunately, nearly everywhere, including the sub-arctic, there are those muggy summer days when the air seems not to cool down; the air feels humid like in the in the first five second after an infusion in the sauna, but all night.

 Alaskan houses are build to keep the heat. Add that you have to keep your windows closed due to smoke from wildfires, and having no AC, you see why I accepted MarchPower’s offer to try the cooling blanket.

 

My Experience with the Arc Chill Cooling Blanket

When I took the photos of the blanket, my husband asked “Is that for the cooling blanket review?” When I put my camera back into its bag, he touched the blanket and said “Wow, that feels cool.” Next he went off with the cooling blanket heading straight to the bedroom. He fell asleep within minutes and slept for more than four hours in the middle of the day. When he woke up his comment was “That was great. I hadn’t slept so well for days.”

Coming into the bedroom later that day, I caught our cat laying on the cool side of the blanket that was folded over. Unfortunately, I was too slow with my phone to document it. Besides the experience that one for every family member is better, my experience has been that my frequent rolling around in bed refreshes the cool feeling of the cooling blanket.

Based on my experience from my recent trip, where I had AC, I can recommend recommend it also to all of you who are fortunate enough to have AC.

When rolled up the blanket requires only little space. Therefore, you can easily pack it for comfort on when on business travel or going summer vacation. 

 

Why Does the Arc Chill Feel Cool?

As I explained in my recent book, when you touch a fabric of a different temperature than your skin, your skin and the fabric exchange heat. Scientists refer to this heat exchange process as thermal absorptivity. In simple words, the degree of thermal absorptivity quantifies the warm or cool feeling of a fabric on the skin upon first contact. Because the cooling blanket has a high thermal absorptivity it feels cool at first sensation. Heat namely flows from warm (your skin) to cool (the blanket). You put the cool side towards your skin.

This cool feeling only depends mainly on the surface structure/texture. Smooth fabrics like satin, tightly knitted single-jersey or woven fabrics, for instance, provide a large surface area on the skin for heat exchange. In addition, the large surface area also means a large area where evaporation of sweat may occur. Recall our body reacts with sweating to cool itself, and to maintain a stable body temperature.

 

Why Does Sweating Fail to Cool Us During Muggy Days/Nights

Unfortunately, sweating leads only to thermal comfort at apparent temperatures below 77.5F (25.3°C). At higher temperatures, an increase in humidity by 10 hPa has the same effect as an increase in temperature by 3.4F. Therefore, evaporation of sweat strongly decreases when the ambient relative humidity increases. As a result, at high relative humidity under hot conditions, sweat can accumulate on the skin and drip off. The latter further reduces the cooling from sweating, while the latter increases the discomfort.

 

Material and Construction Are Keys for Thermal Comfort

To create a cooling blanket scientists made use to the fact that hygroscopic fabrics can absorb water vapor from the humid air close to your sweating skin and release it in comparatively drier ambient air. Cotton, for instance, has this property. Therefore, the smooth cooler side of the blanket is 100% cotton. Therefore, the blanket decreases moisture built-up. Because the thinner a fabric, the greater is its absorbency of sweat, both single-jersey fabrics are super thin.

 

Schematic view of sweating, evaporation of sweat and transport of body heat for cooling. See the text for an explanation of the performance of the Arc Chil cooling blanket c/o MarchPower. 

The outer side consists of an 80% nylon 20% polyethylene blend. Nylon is light-weight, and increases air permeability as compared to 100% cotton. Nano-porous polyethylene-blended fabrics provide excellent cooling because the body radiation can transfer thru the fabric. Furthermore, they are water-wicking, and have a similar softness as cotton. Scientific studies revealed that these fabrics can decrease skin temperature by 4.9F (2.7°C), and keep the skin temperature up to 4.1F (2.3oC) lower than cotton fabrics of same thickness. Unfortunately, this control of the body temperature only works indoor.

The high air and water vapor permeability “sucks” the water vapor thru the cotton fabric. As a results, sweat evaporates faster than it would otherwise.

Price-Performance Ratio

Good sleep at night is worth a lot and priceless. However, the cooling blankets are very affordable and worth every cent.

When gray isn’t your thing, these Arc Chill cooling blankets come in many colors. Consequently, you will easily find a shade that matches your bedding or bedroom color theme. You can also order the Arc Chill cooling blankets in various sizes:

• 51 in x 67 in (130 cm x 170 cm)
• 59 in x 79 in (150 cm x 200 cm)
• 90 in x 108 in (229 cm x 274 cm)

This photo shows both sides of the piece. The two fabrics are sewn together on the edges (see the diagonal line from left to right in the center of the photo). 

 

Arc Chill Cooling Blanket in a Nutshell

The super-thin blanket has a smooth single-jersey structure with high absorbency on the cool inner 100% cotton side, and high air and water vapor permeability on the outer nylon-polyethylene side. Combined these properties have a cooling effect. At a regular price of $69.99 for Queen size, the cooling blanket is already very affordable. However, you can buy the Arc Chil cooling blanket using the ELEGEAR20 to enjoy discount. Browse their cooling blankets now for a cooling like no other.

You can also SUBSCRIBE us so that you will receive all the promotions from us in a timely manner.