All the positive attention on saunas has led to a sauna craze, where everyone and their mother has developed their own line of saunas to sell to consumers. The worst of these companies often took unethical approaches to make bogus health claims, just to make a quick buck off of people who honestly just want the health benefits of an effective sauna. Other saunas are poorly built and break down easily, even though some of them have the price tag of a small car. So, before we go any further, we will detail exactly what a good sauna can do for you.
There a many reasons to get a sauna, but you can see just a few in the chart below.
With hundreds of no-name saunas and fly-by-night companies out there, it can get very hard to choose the right sauna for Black Friday. Additionally, since there are so many companies trying to sell their saunas, there is a lot of bad information available to consumers on the web. This is because many of the writers these companies hire are simply that--they don't have to be sauna users or manufacturers to write about sauna "facts". Because our health is very important to us, we spent the last year investigating various saunas, testing them to see how their claims held up.
1. Most saunas claim the benefit of "detoxification," which simply means removing impurities and toxic substances from the body. However, many of these same companies don't even list what substances are actually removed from your body. If you are researching a sauna and they claim to detoxify your body, but never say what substances are removed, run away! You can find sauna companies out there that are based on established research and are upfront about what their saunas can do.
2. Not all saunas are made out of the material they say. Despite what you may think, the material of a sauna is important--which is why some companies lie about it. For example, cedar is known for its antimicrobial properties, and hemlock is known for its astringent properties.
3. Have you ever seen fancy language like "Ultra Zero EMF Ratings" or "Absolute Zero EMF" on a sauna? This is misleading marketing because true Zero EMF saunas don't exist. EMF stands for electromagnetic field. There is an exhaustive body of research showing that low-power, low-frequency electromagnetic fields from common household appliances have no long term effects on your health, and all infrared saunas have been tested for long term safety. Most saunas have extremely low EMF emissions, but this doesn't stop many from saying they've created the first 0 EMF sauna.
We spent an enormous amount of money purchasing different saunas everywhere; from online sites, brick and mortar stores, and small specialty dealers. If it was a popular sauna then we purchased it. We wanted to help you save money and a lot of hassle so you don't have to spend a fortune buying them, and we wanted to find out which ones worked and which ones didn't. We asked our board of doctors to thoroughly review each sauna carefully, and check their claims for the medical truth and evidence to support what they were advertising was true. We also navigated the internet to search for what was thought by consumers to be the best of the best, and we gathered every single review we could find on various doctors, pain specialists, and consumers who had personally purchased saunas in the past.
1. Why some companies don’t recommend Traditional Saunas. There are 2 types of saunas out there, wet saunas and dry saunas. Dry saunas are infrared, and wet (steam) saunas are traditional. The reason some companies don't recommend traditional saunas is because they don't have them. Most sauna companies are very small. They say they’re manufacturers, but when you ask them to build you a custom sauna they cannot. When you ask for a traditional sauna they don't have it. Some people like dry saunas and others like steam saunas. Depending on who you ask, you will see the benefits of both. If a company only recommends infrared saunas, most likely that is all they carry. Since they don't have the traditional saunas, they don't recommend them. This is very bias.
If you go to most gyms, you will see both steam and dry saunas. Some people prefer the dry, some prefer the wet. Large sauna manufacturer like Medical Saunas™ can make almost anything you want. They even have hybrid technology available where you don't have to choose between wet or dry. You can use wet whenever you want or dry whenever you want.
2. True Risk Free Money Back Guarantee. We only recommend companies that offer a true risk free money back guarantee. This means that when we ask for a refund, the money is quickly refunded to us in full without much hassle. If it is hard to get your money back, you shouldn't buy the sauna in the first place.
3. Sauna Construction - The truth is most cheap saunas are poorly constructed that's why it's important to get saunas by a large maufacturer. They suffer because they have bad wiring and are made with inferior materials. Second-rate saunas generally have shoddy wiring configurations. Inside, thin gauge wires are improperly insulated and inadequately shielded for EMF. This type of wiring doesn’t hold up because excessive heat dries and cracks the insulation. This leads to exposed wires and that’s obviously a safety issue. In first class saunas, like Medical Saunas, Proper EMF Wire Shielding protects the customer.
Poor wall construction is another sign that a sauna is inferior. Thin walls are a common among cheap saunas. Over time, thin walls will breakdown with the hot and cold temperature swings (70 – 140 degrees F) of a sauna. Customers should also avoid sauna walls made with Aspen, Basswood, Fir, Western Pine, and Sitka Spruce. Upscale saunas generally have thick walls (7-9 mm thick), and are made with Hemlock.
4. How to tell if a company is an actual manufacturer or if they sell everyone else's saunas. Some companies will tell you they are manufacturers, but they are in fact just sell everyone else's saunas. Manufacturers like Medical Saunas™ can build anything you want. They will have a custom sauna division that can build whever you want from scratch. Whether you want a single door or a 2-door entry, an actual sauna manufacturer can build it for you. Whatever type of sauna you want, they can do because they are the actual manufacturer.
If they say they can't build you a custom sauna, most likely they are just a reseller. They only have one type of sauna, and that's the sauna they will recommend.
5. Saunas with Actual Medical Benefits. There’s no point in spending any money on a sauna if it doesn’t provide you with any medical benefits. Every sauna we recommend must have lots of medical benefits that are verified and signed off by a licensed medical doctor. Any Joe Shmoe can recommend a sauna, and, these days, everyone seems to be a sauna expert. Most companies will recommend only the saunas they carry so they can get rid of their inventory. There is a major difference between a medical-grade sauna and one made by a person that never went to medical school. Cheap saunas made by Joe-Shmoe is not the same as a sauna that's made by 26 doctors, chiropractors, pain specialists, physical therapists and surgeons.
Saunas can really help heal the entire body. There isn't a lot of technology out there that can heat up and heal the entire body. Saunas are one of the rare technology that can be extremely beneficial when made correctly. That's why so many doctors are behind the Medical Saunas™.
To make sure our readers get the very best product; we make it very hard to get to be #1 on our chart in the Black Friday edition. We do not want to waste our readers time, and only want to recommend the highest quality saunas. Our reputation is very important to us. To be # 1 on our chart, the sauna must meet all of the requirements below:
1. The company must be trustworthy and have integrity. Although some companies say their saunas are made in Japan or South Korea, when we investigate whether they have a factory in Japan, there isn't any. This actually happens very often. What's worse is that some companies lie about having doctor endorsements. Because consumer health is involved, trustworthiness and integrity are extremely important to us. Just be honest with us.
2. The company must have a good reputation. This is extremely important. Some companies haven't learned all their lessons yet and they argue with customers after they get their money. This is a major red flag. We understand problems do occur and once in a long while, a quality sauna will break down. As long as they follow their warranty and handle all customer issues in a timely manner, while keeping customers happy, we are happy. To get on our list, the company must have a superior reputation and do everything they can to keep all of their customers happy.
3. It must pass our endurance test! We test and retest each sauna constantly to make sure they meet our endurance standards. This is for your peace of mind – and it is part of our commitment to helping you find the finest quality sauna available. This helps ensure product safety and quality. Our testing facilities meet stringent standards – you can use your sauna with complete peace of mind, knowing that it will do wonders for your health.
4. The sauna must be 100% safe to use. The sauna must be safe for everyone to use, from a child to a 90-year-old lady. We do not want the sauna to harm anyone.
5. It must be used by doctors and shown to provide medical benefits in documented studies, which is extremely important. Never buy cheap saunas that do nothing for your body and may actually harm your body. The only way we know the sauna works as marketed is because we had our panel of doctors and industry experts evaluate documented studies and see if the sauna had any real medical benefits. There is no point in spending any money if a sauna does not provide you with medical benefits. To get on our list, the sauna must dramatically improve your health.
My goodness, what we found when we began this project! Companies stating they had saunas endorsed by doctors that don’t even exist! Companies that said their saunas were made in Japan or South Korea but there were no actual factories in those places making them. It was a frightening discovery. Too many businesses are only after your money. Our investigation found that you should avoid most saunas on the market. Some were so bad that they did not meet most of what we were looking for. They failed 70% of our requirements and only passed one or two of the items on our checklist. Many sold cheap saunas that broke down after a year and provide no medical benefits for your body. However, out of hundreds of bad saunas, we found a few that were truly outstanding. They were so good they met every single item on our checklist and much more. These were the true all stars and their performance was unbelievable. Because of their high quality, they surpassed most of our expectations. Although, there were only a few that got on our chart, they were quite amazing.