I've only been using the blanket for about a week now.  I primarily use it to preheat the bed.  The blanket is soft, but is very thin, and you can definitely feel the wires.  My only frustration is that the controller with the power cord is on the right side the blanket and my outlet is on the left side of my bed. In order to reach the outlet,  I had to flip the blanket upside down (which reverses the placement of the controllers) so that the controller with the plug can reach my outlet on the left.  My previous electric blanket had a long power cord so that one could plug it in on either side of the bed without changing the placement of the blanket and consequently having the "wrong" side of the blanket facing up.