Review on 🔥 Stay Warm On-the-Go: Heated Smart Travel Mug with Temperature Control – 16oz – 12V – Stainless Steel by Michael Hellewell

These are my first impressions and first review after only 2 days of use. Overall I really like this thing and will probably order another one for exclusive use in my car. She has several design issues. It's about 9 inches tall and only 2 1/2 inches wide at the bottom and tips over easily. I use mine at my desk and it needs to be in some sort of cup holder. Tall, narrow glasses are not the ideal shape for sipping hot drinks. It is no coincidence that coffee mugs are low and wide. While the bottom of the travel mug should be thin to fit in standard car cup holders, the rest should be as short and wide as possible. The small air hole in the lid is sometimes not enough to ensure a smooth flow and I experienced a sudden splash of hot coffee. Removing the plastic roll-top cap opens the spout area and allows for flow control. But of course coffee can be spilled if the mug is knocked over and/or spilled during use in the machine. At home on the desk, a large hole is no problem. The handle and fork should be on the same side. The connector cannot be pressed against the dashboard. This mug requires a mug holder with space around it. The temperature control device sits directly under the spout and thus under the lips (for right-handers) and is not waterproof. At the very bottom (also not protected from water) is a 10A relay, piezo emitter and associated wiring. I would be careful not to drop this mug in the coffee puddle at the bottom of the cup holder. The manufacturer should really make this thing waterproof. easy. The lid has a narrow silicone ring seal. The fit is very snug and I suspect the o-ring will not last long if the cap is removed and replaced frequently. desired target temperature. The rubberized grip is durable and comfortable. Stainless steel inside and outside. Overall well built. -------- Heat capacity test: target temperature 63 °C (145 °F). Started with a full cup of cool 90F (32C) coffee. After 20 minutes 120F (49C). 30 minutes, 135F (57C), 39 minutes, 145FI thought it was very fast for a warming cup and wondered how much energy it uses. So I measured the current. That thing uses a lot of electricity. Using a large 120-12 volt (5 amp) transformer from my travel cooler, the mug draws 2.65 amps. 12 x 2.65 = 32 watts. 32 watts is a lot. The mug will NOT work with these lightweight 120-12V cigarette lighter socket adapters. [EDIT: MAY NOT work. Some browsers use low power wall adapters. My adapters can't hack it. Use a suitable DC power source for full power and quick heat-up.] Read the adapter label and it will most likely say "Output 12V at 300mA DC (or maybe 500mA). = 1000mA). This cup draws 2.65A (2650mA). Using a cheap 12v wall adapter caused my mug controller to turn on and off constantly. I assume that the adapter transformer is slightly overloaded and its circuit breaker is being cycled on and off. =========== Update: I was completely frustrated that the plug location didn't allow me to use the cup holder in my car, so I disassembled the cup and relocated the outlet to the side of the handle. Here are some things I found out about my mug (this one has a rubberized grip and a protruding lip on the lid, unlike the product photo). the bottom there is attached with contact adhesive it can be pulled off behind it there is a plastic disc it snaps into place in the form of 4 small squares and can be torn out. A relay and a piezo emitter are installed on this disc. There is enough slack in the wire to rip off the ground about an inch and then unsolder the piezo disc. The relay simply snaps into place and can be pulled off. The manufacturer has potted the entire surface with contact putty, but the underside is NOT waterproof. don't get it wet The electronic control is held by 4 screws. Carefully remove the label (marked V HOT, HOT, etc.) from top to bottom until they open. These 4 screws screw into a FREE piece of plastic located inside the cup body. (I glued it when assembling.) The main IC is under a bead of epoxy, but there are a lot of exposed resistors, capacitors, etc. on the board. There is a rubber gasket behind the box, but this control box is already definitely NOT waterproof. And the SET button is a wide open hole. Avoid getting moisture around the box. The handle is attached with 3 screws from the inside to the outside. You'll probably need a small corner driver to get in there and remove them. You don't have to remove the handle. The pin fits snugly, but if submerged long enough, liquid can seep into those screw holes and into the cup. So the pen is NOT waterproof. don't get it wet The stainless steel inner shell seems very close to the outer shell. At first I used heat (a pencil lamp) to loosen any glue that might have been used around the rim, but when I pulled them apart there was no sign of cement. I think heat alone is enough to separate them. YMMV. (.and I doubt that metal-to-metal seam is waterproof) Heating element, thermocouple, fuse, etc. are attached and glued to the underside of the inner shell. You don't have to mess with this stuff. The Motorola socket is secured internally with a nut and spring washer. The positive wire is soldered to the center of the Motorola connector. The minus is a ring terminal and is held by a nut. There is also a plastic bushing. The hole is approximately 0.31 inch (8mm) in diameter. This socket area is NOT waterproof. Don't get them wet. ----------- I moved the socket to the other side, next to the handle, I plugged the original hole with silicone. I also covered the control box and the whole bottom with silicone. This mug is much more water resistant, but still not fully waterproof. I am very happy with this modification. My cable is where it belongs. big difference imo. Lots of details have been hidden, but it should be enough for someone to start opening it and voiding their warranty and/or walling this mug in. Seriously, disassembly was difficult and reassembly even more so. So, on a hardware hack, scale it from 1 to 10. I would rate it around an 8. The information provided could bring it down to 7. If you're not very good at such things, forget it.