expired
Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug (Factory Reconditioned): 10-Oz Mug 2
$49
$130
62% off
& More + Free S&H w/ Primeat Woot!
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& More + Free S&H w/ Primeat Woot!Deal Details
Woot! has select Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug (Factory Reconditioned) on sale as listed below. Shipping is free for Amazon Prime Members (must login with your Amazon account and select a shipping address in order for Woot to apply free shipping) or is otherwise $6 per order.
Thanks to Deal Hunter Navy-Wife for finding this deal.
Available:
Thanks to Deal Hunter Navy-Wife for finding this deal.
Available:
- 10-Oz Smart Mug 2 (White) $48.99
- 12-Oz Travel Mug (Black or White) $64.99
- 12-Oz Travel Mug 2 (Black) $87.99
- 6-Oz Smart Espresso Cup $43.99
- 10-Oz Mug (White) $32.99
- 14-Oz Mug (Black) $35.99
- 10-Oz Smart Mug 2 (Black, Red, Gold or Copper) $48.99
- 14-Oz Smart Mug 2 (Black, White or Grey) $56.99
- 16-Oz Smart Tumbler Mug $71.99
Editor's Notes
Written by johnny_miller | Staff- Offer valid through 9/21 while supplies last.
- Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
- Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more.
- If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available.
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Woot! has select Ember Temperature Control Smart Mug (Factory Reconditioned) on sale as listed below. Shipping is free for Amazon Prime Members (must login with your Amazon account and select a shipping address in order for Woot to apply free shipping) or is otherwise $6 per order.
Thanks to Deal Hunter Navy-Wife for finding this deal.
Available:
Thanks to Deal Hunter Navy-Wife for finding this deal.
Available:
- 10-Oz Smart Mug 2 (White) $48.99
- 12-Oz Travel Mug (Black or White) $64.99
- 12-Oz Travel Mug 2 (Black) $87.99
- 6-Oz Smart Espresso Cup $43.99
- 10-Oz Mug (White) $32.99
- 14-Oz Mug (Black) $35.99
- 10-Oz Smart Mug 2 (Black, Red, Gold or Copper) $48.99
- 14-Oz Smart Mug 2 (Black, White or Grey) $56.99
- 16-Oz Smart Tumbler Mug $71.99
Editor's Notes
Written by johnny_miller | Staff- Offer valid through 9/21 while supplies last.
- Please see the original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
- Don't have Amazon Prime? Students can get a free 6-Month Amazon Prime trial with free 2-day shipping, unlimited video streaming & more.
- If you're not a student, there's also a free 1-Month Amazon Prime trial available.
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Top Comments
My main tip, though: do not waste your time/money/coffee on anything less than the 14 ounce, the 10 ounce is just TOO little.
Pro tip for my ember fam, buy a small pack of rubber coated baby spoons to stir your coffee.
Never use a regular spoon as it will chip the coating.
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265 Comments
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1. Electronic-free mug (no need to re-charge, have it tethered constantly to a hot plate to keep it hot/warm and battery is non-replaceable)
2. Larger (16oz vs 14oz)
3. New (vs woot reconditioned (YIKES!! Stay away!!))
4. Cheaper (at least 1/2 the cost even vs a reconditioned item)
5. More portable (compatible with cup holders and is leak-proof)
6. More ergonomic
7. More durable (made of stainless steel)
8. More utility (works to maintain hot and cold beverages)
9. Keeps beverages hotter longer (rated 6 hours @ 157F vs. 80 minute battery)
10. Better warranty (5 years vs. no warranty (or 30 days if you get it new)
I'm honestly interested to read why you consider a Woot reconditioned, battery powered Ember mug a better alternative to a brand new Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug?
With the Ember mug I make tea at 212°F, the Ember app sends a notification on my phone when it reaches 122°F, and holds it at that temperature.
I don't need to fiddle with lid on/lid off to try to cool it to the right temperature, I just wait for my phone to vibrate then start sipping.
And when it's at the perfect temperature and I take a sip, if I realize that I didn't add enough cream, I can pour extra in, and the Ember will quickly warm my tea up to my perfect temperature.
You can't do any of those things with an insulated mug.
You can always work your way up to be safe. If you set it to 125°F, then find that's too cool for your taste, just increase the temperature setting in the app. It'll warm up to the new setting quickly. Adjust until it's perfect for you, then save it as the default in the app.
You can even set multiple named saved temperature presets in the app, if you like your tea and coffee at different temperatures.
My main tip, though: do not waste your time/money/coffee on anything less than the 14 ounce, the 10 ounce is just TOO little.
Very disappointed in this deal.
There are a few things we didn't like, perhaps a factory new unit would perform better, so there's that. It's hard to say what real testing/eval these refurbished units get so there could be a wide variety of performance issues that get by them.
1) It's smaller than you think, the 10oz is really 8oz if you want to carry it anywhere and less if you use a tea bag. Not really Ember's fault, but unless you only want 6-8 ounces of tea/coffee get the bigger version.
2) It's not well insulated. There's a huge difference between the liquid temp at the top 1/2" of the liquid in the mug and the bottom. With a digital thermometer coffee was indeed 140 degrees at the bottom but it was only 120 deg at the top 1/2". For me this means the coffee is too cold with a full mug, and almost too hot as you reach the bottom, in the middle it's about perfect. So you still don't get consistent drink temp start to finish at the same mug setting. The mug is clearly working because it's getting to set temp at the bottom, but it's so poorly insulated the liquid cools off way too much toward the top. A lid would help that issue probably, but you have to buy them separately. In theory the thermal convection should mix the liquid but it doesn't seem to. My guess is it's just losing too much heat between the thin mug sides and not having a lid to help hold heat in. A design like this in a yeti style insulated mug with a lid that can really hold heat well would be a game changer and significantly increase the runtime and consistency of the temperature.
3) It doesn't get very hot with a full mug of liquid. I'm the kind of guy who lets his coffee sit 15min and often hot food is too hot for etc.. However even for me I had to set the mug at 140 degrees to be hot enough for me. This also meant the battery did not last long, around 50 min. This was the biggest shocker I had, I honestly worried before getting it if even on a low setting it would be too hot for me, but I ended up having to put it at almost the max.
4) While not it's "purpose" one use we liked the idea of was keeping a mug of hot chocolate warm sitting outside in the fall/winter. It does NOT work well for cocoa. The reason is most cocoa's or mix drinks end up settling out some after they sit, this layer of cocoa/chocolate etc. on the bottom "fools" the mug into thinking it's much hotter than it is, so even on 145deg. the cocoa does not get hot, because it's just overheating the chocolate on the bottom that's settled out. We noticed the same thing with tea if you put honey in it, when the honey sinks it again fools the mug into thinking it's hot, but all it really did is heat the honey right at the bottom. So you have to be very diligent about stirring it.
5) The charge time of 2-3 hours is a long time, if you use it for 45min first cup in the morning, you basically can't use it again until the afternoon with a full charge. Again this is fine if you are mostly at your desk etc. and only wander away for short time periods, or only use it once a day, but it really doesn't last long enough or charge fast enough to be a solution for say 3-4 mugs during the day.
Travel mug 2 might do a better job with it's longer battery life and lid to help keep drinks from losing their heat as quickly, but $90 is a lot for a refurbished coffee mug.
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I have one at work and one at home. I use them nearly every day throughout the day when I'm at home or at work. They're amazing for keeping tea at the perfect temp throughout the day.
However with all of that said, I picked up one on Craigslist for $30 and my first at Costco for $80. IMO, you may be better off buying lightly used at these prices.
There are a few things we didn't like, perhaps a factory new unit would perform better, so there's that. It's hard to say what real testing/eval these refurbished units get so there could be a wide variety of performance issues that get by them.
1) It's smaller than you think, the 10oz is really 8oz if you want to carry it anywhere and less if you use a tea bag. Not really Ember's fault, but unless you only want 6-8 ounces of tea/coffee get the bigger version.
2) It's not well insulated. There's a huge difference between the liquid temp at the top 1/2" of the liquid in the mug and the bottom. With a digital thermometer coffee was indeed 140 degrees at the bottom but it was only 120 deg at the top 1/2". For me this means the coffee is too cold with a full mug, and almost too hot as you reach the bottom, in the middle it's about perfect. So you still don't get consistent drink temp start to finish at the same mug setting. The mug is clearly working because it's getting to set temp at the bottom, but it's so poorly insulated the liquid cools off way too much toward the top. A lid would help that issue probably, but you have to buy them separately. In theory the thermal convection should mix the liquid but it doesn't seem to. My guess is it's just losing too much heat between the thin mug sides and not having a lid to help hold heat in. A design like this in a yeti style insulated mug with a lid that can really hold heat well would be a game changer and significantly increase the runtime and consistency of the temperature.
3) It doesn't get very hot with a full mug of liquid. I'm the kind of guy who lets his coffee sit 15min and often hot food is too hot for etc.. However even for me I had to set the mug at 140 degrees to be hot enough for me. This also meant the battery did not last long, around 50 min. This was the biggest shocker I had, I honestly worried before getting it if even on a low setting it would be too hot for me, but I ended up having to put it at almost the max.
4) While not it's "purpose" one use we liked the idea of was keeping a mug of hot chocolate warm sitting outside in the fall/winter. It does NOT work well for cocoa. The reason is most cocoa's or mix drinks end up settling out some after they sit, this layer of cocoa/chocolate etc. on the bottom "fools" the mug into thinking it's much hotter than it is, so even on 145deg. the cocoa does not get hot, because it's just overheating the chocolate on the bottom that's settled out. We noticed the same thing with tea if you put honey in it, when the honey sinks it again fools the mug into thinking it's hot, but all it really did is heat the honey right at the bottom. So you have to be very diligent about stirring it.
5) The charge time of 2-3 hours is a long time, if you use it for 45min first cup in the morning, you basically can't use it again until the afternoon with a full charge. Again this is fine if you are mostly at your desk etc. and only wander away for short time periods, or only use it once a day, but it really doesn't last long enough or charge fast enough to be a solution for say 3-4 mugs during the day.
1 - The sizing issues well documented. Everyone says to skip the smaller sizes and go to the largest because of this.
2 - If you insulated the cup Yeti style, it could take hours for your hot drink to cool down to the right temperature. Or you would be fooling around with a lid which this isn't designed for at all.
3 - This mug is primarily designed for people who sit in a single spot and can leave it on the coaster or temporarily walk around the office or house to return to the coaster. If you're commuting, that's the travel mug which would solve this complaint entirely anyways.
4 - My primary drink is mochas. This sounds like you're using powder and not mixing it prior to adding milk. Personally I skip the powder entirely and use syrup nowadays due to the consistent mixture. I would not say this is a problem with this specific mug as almost all powders do this. I have never experienced this with honey settling at the bottom either, I mix the honey when the liquid is hot and never had a mouthful of honey at the bottom.
5 - See point 3
1 - The sizing issues well documented. Everyone says to skip the smaller sizes and go to the largest because of this.
2 - If you insulated the cup Yeti style, it could take hours for your hot drink to cool down to the right temperature. Or you would be fooling around with a lid which this isn't designed for at all.
3 - This mug is primarily designed for people who sit in a single spot and can leave it on the coaster or temporarily walk around the office or house to return to the coaster. If you're commuting, that's the travel mug which would solve this complaint entirely anyways.
4 - My primary drink is mochas. This sounds like you're using powder and not mixing it prior to adding milk. Personally I skip the powder entirely and use syrup nowadays due to the consistent mixture. I would not say this is a problem with this specific mug as almost all powders do this. I have never experienced this with honey settling at the bottom either, I mix the honey when the liquid is hot and never had a mouthful of honey at the bottom.
5 - See point 3
In reality it probably helps to think of this product as not so much a cordless mobile coffee mug, but more of a stationary mug that maintains a particular temp setting for you. Slightly more useful than just a coffee cup warming plate, but not if you are moving around a lot. Not even so much traveling but in a setting where you are frequently moving to different rooms, meetings etc. You need to be pretty stationary so the mug can spend most of it's time on the charger and really look at the battery aspect as more of a side/minor benefit feature. If you expect too much from the battery aspect of the mug you're likely to be disappointed.
Mine were both "opened - like new" according to the package and that fits. They still had stickers and things on them, definitely not beat up or dirty like some people got.
The mug works as advertised. After 2 years I'm not getting the same battery life I used to. I suspect these refurbs just have new batteries installed.
Protip. While using your mug, buy a cheap lid or use some sort of cover. Your battery life will at least double. I literally use a small sauce dish.
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