My husband isn't a traditional gift giver. He doesn't plan, he doesn't wait, and he never wraps. But when he finds something he thinks is a really good gift for someone, he's usually right. He buys it, you get it, and you don't care that it's three weeks early or still in the shopping bag or shipping box because it's just such a good gift. No surprise, I already received my Christmas gift from him and it's the Embr Wave.
The Embr Wave is a really unique product and since I received it as a gift from my husband and he doesn't read my blog I can provide a completely honest Embr Wave review for you! Spoiler alert, I love it.
What is the Embr Wave?
Have you heard of the Embr Wave? I hadn't until he gave me one. It is a personal temperature controlling device. Looking an awful lot like a smartwatch or fitness tracker, this is a bracelet that will help you cool or warm your body to be more comfortable.
Hot flashes? Always cold? Struggle to fall asleep? Get overheated when you're stressed or have migraines? Health issues that affect your internal temperature? The Embr Wave is made for such situations.
How does the Embr Wave Work?
The Embr Wave cools or warms your skin, triggering your nerves to send a signal to your brain. Your brain naturally processes the thermal sensation. In a matter of seconds, your body balances itself and you feel a difference.
The Embr Wave is worn to be against the inside of your wrist (sort of looks like you're wearing your smartwatch facing in). Since the inside of your wrist has a very high density of thermoreceptors, you only need the small area that the Embr Wave covers to make an impact on how you feel overall.
The Wave's thermal sensations, which Embr refers to as Waveforms, are engineered to maximize the feeling you get from each pulse, while also balancing power consumption to allow you to cool or warm longer on a single charge.
Please note the Embr Wave does not change your body temperature. You want your body to be around 98.7 degrees Fahrenheit to be healthy. What the Embr Wave does is change your perception of temperature.
My Honest Embr Wave Review
Okay, so now my honest Embr Wave review after using this device for a couple of weeks. Because all of this is on the Embr website but why you're reading this is for my honest thoughts on this product and if it actually works.
My husband got me the Embr Wave bracelet in rose gold. It is also available in silver. I am not your typical rose gold kind of person, but I like this color because it's lower contrast with my skintone and looks a little less technical than the silver.
The packaging is nice, a heavyweight box that slides open with the Embr Wave sitting on a molded foam piece in the center. Think the sort of packaging for an iPhone or pair of fancy Bluetooth ear buds. It's very easy to wrap it if you plan to give it as a gift.
The box includes an instruction manual, charging cord (the kind you plug into a USB port or block for the wall outlet), and a storage bag for the bracelet when not being worn. The charging cord is a traditional microUSB and you likely already have some in your home to charge your Bluetooth speaker or Kindle. I found the cord too short for where I planned on charging the watch but already had one in my home that was long enough.
The Embr Wave is a rectangle about the size and thickness of a smartwatch. There is a metal mesh strap connected to one side of the Wave, and the other side is a slot that you slip the strap through. The strap keeps itself closed with a magnet.
It's very easy to put on and adjust the Embr Wave with one hand, even if it's your non-dominant hand. The strap is also a nice length; my tween daughter can wear it on her slender wrist and my husband can fit it on his with still plenty of length. Whether you have a small or larger wrist, the Embr Wave should fit.
You want to charge the Embr Wave once you receive it, but it charges quickly. When it is fully charged the button on the face of the device will be solid green. The charge lasts a long time, two to three days with 15-50 of their cycles. I've found it worked for a few cycles during the entire day, all night long, and well into the morning after breakfast before it notified me that it needed a charge.
The Embr Wave App
The Embr Wave has a button on it that when you press it, it turns half blue, half red. Tap the red side to have it warm up, the blue side to cool off. However, the true way to appreciate the Embr Wave is to download the app and use that to manage the device.
The app offers a variety of modes that last certain times and have certain waves and you can fine-tune the temperature. You can also create your own custom mode. Another perk to using the app to control your Embr Wave is then the light on the button isn't lit.
When I first got the Embr Wave I just used the button and that light is SO BRIGHT. I was like, how does one sleep wearing this thing? But then when I used the app, I realized how well I can customize this experience and no light showing.
The app is really easy to use, even if you aren't tech savvy. It has a virtual dial to adjust the temperature, just like a thermostat in your house. The modes are simple to understand and choose, though the font may be a bit small or light colored for older eyes.
The app has a demo to guide you through your Embr Wave; how to use it, how to use the modes, and it's short but truly helpful. The app has a lot of other features like Embrace (the ability to send a virtual hug to another Embr Wave user) and the ability to boost the heat or set your Embr Wave to only do cooling or only do warming. Essentially, this can be as simple or specific as you desire.
The button on the face of the Embr Wave is great for a quick shot of cool or warm. It's good for when you suddenly face an unexpected stressful situation, a migraine, a hot flash, some situation when it's not convenient to open the app and tinker with it and you just need quick relief. However, the app is what truly makes the Embr Wave worth the pricetag.
How Does the Embr Wave Feel?
While you can get the temperature cool or hot enough to be uncomfortable, in general the feeling is equal to holding an ice-cold glass of water or a steaming mug of tea. It goes through waves so it's not a consistent blast of warmth or cold, and those waves are purposeful so you get the all-over temperature change feeling with less time and energy.
This will not make you feel cozy in a bikini in the snow or comfortable in a turtleneck sweater at the beach. The Embr Wave only changes the way you feel by a couple of degrees. Just that bit that makes things more comfortable.
Take for example, decorating the Christmas tree, which we did this past weekend. It was a warm day, so warm we had the windows open. My kid wanted us to wear our matching plaid flannel pajamas and Santa hats during it. Mariah Carey is singing over and over that all she wants for Christmas is me as my husband and I cart down the 6' prelit tree and two heavy Rubbermaid totes of decorations from the attic.
I wiggled all the tree parts together to find the prelit feature decided to stop working. Went back in the attic to look for lights, lots of crawling under the tree to test these lights in the extension cord all while wearing a full face of makeup, flannel from neck to toe, and a faux fur hat matting my curls to my brow.
I was darn glad to have my Embr Wave. I turned it on before the whole process, and not knowing how long it would be I chose the longest setting. And then when I was under that tree and ready to blow a gasket, I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dropped the temperature a bit more. It really helped calm me and cool me off enough to get up from the ground with the lights that also didn't work and calmly ask my husband to check the tool shed before I headed to Target in my pajamas.
I think many can relate to such situations when you're just so annoyed and the annoyance snowball keeps growing and you're already warm and maybe you're also going through perimenopause and the holidays are stressful and you feel a bit like a tea kettle ready to whistle. I appreciated the Embr Wave for keeping me from getting to boiling.
And in case you were wondering, there were lights in the tool shed and they worked. Hooray!
Does the Embr Wave Help with Sleep?
I also am liking the Embr Wave for sleeping. I am so cold when I first get in bed, but often around 1 in the morning I wake up in a pool of sweat. What I've been doing is using the Warming Fall Asleep Preset Mode which is 35 minutes of gentle, long waves of warm waves that I do find help lull me to sleep. This mode ensures the button on the device isn't illuminated.
Since the has an auto-shutoff I don't experience that heat all night. If I am still awake when the mode shuts off, I turn on the all-night cooling mode. If I don't and wake up hot, I'll use the button on the face of the Embr Wave for a quick shot of cool and then use the app to set a mode for the rest of the evening.
I know that when spring arrives I will be using the cooling feature for sleep far more often.
Does the Embr Wave Help with Menopause?
During a hot flash, your brain acts upon a false signal that it needs to expel excess heat from your body. Research shows that immediate stimulation with cool sensations before or during a hot flash can reduce its overall intensity and/or duration.
A pilot study with Johnson & Johnson Innovation showed that wearing the Embr Wave bracelet resulted in a 16% reduction in Hot Flash Related Daily Interference for daytime hot flashes. A second study showed that wearing the Embr Wave resulted in a 28% reduction in sleep onset latency as well as an increase in nighttime sleep.
I am perimenopausal and have experienced my first few hot flashes. The other day I had one and was glad I was wearing my Embr Wave bracelet. I didn't take the time to grab my phone; I just clicked the middle of the button on the face and then the left side a couple of times (left is cool, right is warm) and immediately got a wave of cold on my wrist. Within a few seconds, my body began regulating.
What was cool is no one in my household was the wiser. My Embr Wave was on under my sweater, no one saw me click the button, it was as though everything was normal while I was stopping a hot flash in its tracks.
Is the Embr Wave Comfortable?
Wearing the Embr Wave is as comfortable as wearing a larger-face watch or a standard fitness tracker. Some say the metal mesh band snags armhair; I haven't experienced that.
However, I do find it... not irritating but noticeable on my wrist. If you get sweaty you will feel it under the device just as you would with any bracelet or watch. I do find myself loosening and then re-tightening it throughout the day so it's not pressed against my skin the whole time.
I read reviews that some had their skin get red from the heat or cool but I have not experienced that.
Do know I don't wear any watch or wrist device because I easily get annoyed by items on my wrists. My experience may not be the same as yours.
I read also reviews where individuals found the Embr Wave to get in the way when typing on a laptop and having it accidentally press the touchpad. I am wearing the Embr Wave while writing this and don't experience that, but I think that has more to do with your arm/hand position when typing. It would be easy to loosen the band, flip it around when typing, and flip back to the inside of the wrist when you're finished.
Speaking of which, it's easy to loosen the band with one hand and not have it slip off. I often loosen my Embr Wave band so it fits more like a bracelet and then just secure it to use the cooling or heating feature.
Is the Embr Wave Customizable?
The Embr Wave at the time of writing this review is available in two colors - rose gold and silver. However, Embr carries additional straps so you can switch out the one you received for a different color metal mesh strap or even a vegan leather alternative.
What to Know When Ordering an Embr Wave
- The Embr Wave is NOT available on Amazon. If you see it there, it is not authorized. A few other retailers like Brookstone and Urban Outfitters carry the Embr Wave, but I recommend shopping from the Embr Wave site directly for the best price, best selection, and to ensure it is an authorized product.
- The Embr Wave is an approved purchase for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) but not Health Spending Accounts (HSA). To use your FSA, either pay with your FSA credit or debit card or submit your receipt for reimbursement.
- Embr offers Affirm for installment payments and has Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and PayPal options for checkout.
- The Embr Wave has a 30-day money back guarantee. Visit this link and submit your order info, and you'll receive an email with instructions on how to return along with a prepaid USPS mailing label.
- The Embr Wave also has a one-year limited warranty. If your device stops working or has a defect that Embr isn't able to troubleshoot, you may be eligible for a free replacement. Embr also offers Extend for an extended warranty.
- Speaking of which, if you scroll through the customer reviews on the Embr website, you'll not only see that they keep them all there (the good, and the occasional bad which I appreciate as many companies sanitize their reviews), but there are many raving over the stellar customer service that Embr provides if you have a question or the off chance you have an issue with your Wave.
- If you want to know how to use your Embr Wave, the company has made it easy with a small instructional booklet that comes with the Wave, the app tutorial, but also an online manual and many videos showing you how to set up and use your new device and the app.
My Embr Wave Review Summary
I think the Embr Wave is a great product, and I am glad I received it as a gift. I hope you enjoyed this Embr Wave review. I was not paid by Embr Wave to write this and the company does not know I am writing this review. However, I do have affiliate links in the post (click here to learn more about how affiliate links work). All thoughts and words are my own. If you have any questions regarding the Embr Wave feel free to ask them in the comments and I will answer to the best of my ability!
Have you tried the Embr Wave? Do share your thoughts on this Embr Wave review to help potential purchasers of this personal temperature controlling device!
