Morphy Richards EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw Review

Design and features

• As comfortable as a regular blanket
• Available in three sizes
• Flexible controls

At 200 x 180cm, the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw is large enough to cover a King-sized bed, big enough to wrap around yourself or large enough to easily cover two people sat on a sofa.

If you prefer, there’s a small version available (160 x 130cm), which is better for one person. Both versions are available in green, blue or the mocha that I have on review.

Made of a soft material, the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw feels much more like a traditional throw than the thicker Dreamland Hygge Days Luxury Faux Fur Warming Throw.

The EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw is thick enough to use as a regular blanket, but folds up neatly when not in use. Just be careful not to put anything heavy on top, as this can damage the heating wires.

Criss-crossing between the inner and outer layers are the heating wires that heat up the blanket. These wires are quite thin and it takes a bit of hunting to find one with a hand. That’s good in terms of comfort, as the thin wires make the throw more flexible than some rivals, and this throw is comfortable to use as a throw, heated or not.

Heating controls are provided by the plug-in remote. Ideally, on a throw this size, I’d want dual controls for two people, but there’s a single control that manages the entire throw. The plug is quite chunky, but given the size of the throw, it’s easy to move the connector where you won’t feel it. And, as the connector is on the outside, the inner part of the throw has just a small plastic disc.

There are nine heating levels and a timer that operates in hourly increments up to nine hours. I like the flexibility on offer, but would prefer the remote’s screen to turn off once set, as it’s quite bright. That’s more of an issue if you want to use this throw at night, as I found the remote lit up my bedroom a little too much.

Overheat protection is built-in, and the throw will shut off if it gets too hot. As with other heated throws, the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw isn’t designed to be sat on.

You can wash the throw at 40°C, once the remote has been detached, but you can’t tumble dry this model.

Performance

• Cheap to run
• Heats evenly
• Can be a bit slow to warm up

I found the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw relatively slow to heat up, even when set to setting nine. A gentle heat starts to come through, and then it takes a good ten minutes or so to hit the maximum temperature. In comparison, the Dreamland Hygge Days Luxury Faux Fur Warming Throw warms much faster, I’m guessing because its thicker heating wires can pump out more heat.

The flip side is that the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw can be used on any of its heating settings for extended periods, whereas the Dreamland throw’s higher settings are for heat-up, with the lower settings designed for longer use.

Using a thermal camera, you can see how the heating wires are arranged in loops, with a small gap at the top.

While the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw might be slow(ish) to warm, the wide range of heating options make it very flexible. Sat in a cold, draughty Victorian living room that was a chilly 13.5°C, the EverCosy Large Luxury Striped Fleece Electric Heated Throw kept me warm on setting nine, taking around 15 minutes of time to get to its maximum temperature.

I would say that the higher heat settings (say, seven to nine) can feel too hot after prolonged use of an hour or more, so on a cold night, I tend to turn the power setting down to five after 15 to 20 minutes.

On its maximum power setting, the blanket peaked at just below 160W, although the blanket then modulates power to maintain its temperature. After 15 minutes, the blanket had used 0.03kWh of power, which is just over 1p at the current price cap of 28p per kWh.

Turning the blanket down to five, I found that it used 0.04kWh in an hour, which is just over 1p at the current price cap. That’s decent for a way to heat yourself, and cheaper than whole-room heating alternatives.

On slightly warmer days and evenings, a setting of three, four or five only does the trick to the take the chill off.

Having such a large throw is also a boon. With just one person, I found it easy to wrap the throw around me for overall warmth; with two people, there’s still enough excess fabric that each person can position the throw how they want, without pulling fabric off their partner.

Should you buy it?