Head to head

Why we do these as separate pages

A comparison is a different kind of question from a roundup. Someone reading a roundup wants to be told what to buy. Someone typing X versus Y has already narrowed it to two things and wants the difference explained so they can decide for themselves. Those need different pages, and collapsing them into a paragraph inside a roundup serves neither.

Every comparison here carries the same three things: a spec table drawn from what the makers publish, the running cost of both options worked out at the same cited rate, and a stated verdict including the case where the other option wins.

The six, in one paragraph each

Whether to buy one at all

The question upstream of the other four, and the only one where the answer is sometimes no. A blanket that publishes 100 W costs about 15 cents for an eight-hour night and roughly $18 across a winter, against $2.20 a night for the space heater it can displace. That makes it worth it in a cold bedroom and a waste in an already-warm one, and we name the four situations where we would tell you to keep your money. Full answer.

Blanket or mattress pad

The most-searched of the four. A blanket goes over you and warms the air around your body; a pad goes under the fitted sheet and warms the mattress. The pad is better at making a cold bed pleasant to get into and disappears when the bed is made. The blanket is better at warming someone already in bed and can be moved to a sofa. On published wattage they are closer than people expect. Full comparison.

Throw or blanket

A sizing question more than a technology one. A throw is 50 by 60 inches and covers one seated adult; a bed blanket runs from 62 by 84 up to 90 by 100. Both Bedsure throws publish 100 W, the same as a Westinghouse queen, so per hour the throw is not meaningfully cheaper. What it is, is smaller and easier to move. Full comparison.

Blanket or heating pad

These are not substitutes and treating them as such is how people end up with the wrong one. A heating pad is a small, hot, targeted device for a sore back or a cramp, used for twenty minutes at a time. A blanket is a large, gentle, whole-body device used for hours. Using a blanket as a heating pad does not work; using a heating pad as a blanket is worse. Full comparison.

Blanket or space heater

The comparison with real money in it. A 1,500 W space heater over eight hours is 12 kWh. A 100 W blanket over the same eight hours is 0.8 kWh. At the current US average rate that is $2.20 against 15 cents, roughly fifteen to one, every night of the winter. There are cases where the heater is the right answer anyway, and we say which. Full comparison.

The one thing they all have in common

Blanket or hot water bottle

The cheapest rival in the house, and the arithmetic is closer than people expect in one direction and further in the other. Boiling a liter costs about 1.8 cents, so a full bottle is roughly three cents against fifteen for a night under a 100 W blanket. What the bottle cannot do is last: it holds useful heat for two to four hours and warms one spot. Full comparison.

Every one of these comparisons is decided, in part, by a number that most manufacturers do not publish. That is not a complaint about the makers so much as a description of the category: it is possible to buy heated bedding from five well-known brands without any of them telling you what the product draws.

Where we have a published wattage for both sides, we put both numbers in the table and show the arithmetic. Where we only have one, we say so in the table and do not fill the gap with an estimate. The full record of who publishes what is on the watts, by model.