Will stick with empty soda bottle
I grew up sleeping with hot water bottle, so when we made decision not to turn the heat on at winter time here in Arizona, i figured this would be a good alternative to warm up those cold sheets before bed.<br /><br />The good point of this hot water bottle was it's price and what you get for the money. Growing up in Europe, we never had covers  for them, so i thought these covers are a nice touch, and they were the reason why i decided to purchase this model over some others.<br /><br />Sadly, as cute  these covers are, once put on, they diminish the heat factor to the point of uselessness. They simply don't work.<br /><br />In Europe we used to boil water on the stove, pour it in, and put the bottle in bed, so they would heat through the night.  This hot water bottle instructions suggest hot tap water, but due to thickness of the rubber, this just doesn't warm up nowhere enough to do any good. And if on top, you slip one of the covers on, you will get no use from it.<br /><br />So i used it  for couple of nights without covers, with hot tap water. After going to bed and getting greeted by cold sheets, i went back to our traditional, proven method: an empty soda bottle.<br /><br />Soda bottle, filled with hot tap water, heats up tremendously, and holds heat quite long, so we just continued doing that. not to mention that this method is completely free.I am not sure what my daughter ended up doing with this hot water bottle, but i haven't seen it in months.<br /><br />The smell didn't bother me, these are prone to strong rubber smells, and i am quite used it.
Rating: 3 stars