SereneLife Portable Full Size Home Spa| One Person Sauna | with Heating Foot Pad and Portable Chair (Steam Gray)

Please note, this review is for the steam version, not the infrared. I have been a sauna/steam room aficionado most of my adult life--certainly over the last 40 years or so. In fact, I love saunas so much I had one installed on my back deck in my previous house. But then I retired and moved across the country and my new place lacks a sauna, unfortunately. So, I decided to give this product a try--if only to see how well it works and whether it can tide me over until I can have a real sauna built on my new back deck next year. Despite my concerns, I was pleasantly surprised by this product. Yeah, it only holds one person. But I live alone, so that's fine. Sure, it seems a bit flimsy. But I only intend to use it temporarily. So again, not an issue. All in all, it suits the purpose--it works; it produces adequate steam and heat, it doesn't take up a lot of space, and it doesn't cost a fortune. Now, bear in mind, I only just got it today, so I can't attest to its durability. But from what I've seen so far, it's worth the money.Happily, it arrived much sooner than expected, less than a week after ordering. It arrived in a good-sized box with everything intact. I'm an old guy (68) and it took me only about 20 minutes to put it all together. The instructions weren't great, but clear enough. And I'm not that clever, so if I can do it, you can do it. The metal pipe frame went together easily and the mylar envelope (or tent) was fairly simple to install, just be sure to unzip the ENTIRE thing before attempting to slip it over the metal frame. I didn't and it took me a couple of minutes of fruitless struggle before I realized my mistake. Unzip the whole mylar envelope and slide it under and over the frame as instructed. Then it zips back together quite easily. The zippers are good-sized and sturdy enough for this application. There is also a clear plastic window in the door that fits in place with velcro--easy.The included chair is a standard folding camp chair. My only complaint is that it sits too low--the seat bottom is only about 13" from the ground. It's not a problem for me to get in and out of (I'm 5'9" and 160 lb), but once everything heats up, the chair is simply too low to get to the higher temperature steam that rises to the top of the box.The instructions for the "boiler" or "heater" are simple enough, if a bit incomplete. But I figured it out without too much trouble. The plastic lid is upside down on top of the boiler for packing (that took me a couple of confused minutes to figure out). And it simply turns a half inch or so to the right to lock in place. The boiler holds just over a gallon--I used filtered water, since my neighborhood's water is quite hard. I filled it almost to the brim--a full gallon.After plugging it in and inserting the plastic hose from the lid to the tube near the lower right-hand side of the envelop, I turned it on and turned it all the way up to 16, the highest setting. It took about 20 minutes to get a full head of steam inside the box. At which point, I sat inside for a full 30 minutes. And as I mentioned, the seat is simply too low. I got a much more satisfying level of heat by standing up. So, I've ordered a director's style chair that sits about 26" from the ground. That should put my head another 13" higher and more fully into the hotter steam higher up. Still, I worked up a good sweat after about 10 minutes. But it wasn't so uncomfortable that I had to leave. My thermometer registered just about 109.6˚F after 20 minutes. With 99% humidity, that's a good amount of heat. (Mind you, I'm used to 200˚F+ in a traditional dry Finnish-style sauna.) But steam rooms (which this more closely resembles) are much cooler owing to the extremely high humidity. So, 109˚F, with all that steam, was pretty warm and certainly good enough for a solid sweat to develop. It's not really a sauna, of course, as the label claims. It's really a one-person, portable steam box.I set it up in my garage, where the ambient temperature this evening was about 58˚F--a nice contrast between the cool garage and the warm steam box. As mentioned, my only fix at this point is a taller chair (bar height, perhaps) so I can sit up in the hotter steam. By the way, after 20 minutes of warm-up and 30 minutes of use (for a total of 50 minutes) I used less than half a gallon of water. That's fine. At least I didn't run out of water. I'd also advise running it for a bit your first time, maybe half an hour or more before use--there's an unpleasant plastic smell initially. It disappeared by the time I finished.Overall, I give this a 5-star review for ease of set-up and use, and fulfillment of expectations. Is it a substitute for a real sauna or steam room? Nope. But it'll work just fine until I get one. I'll come back later with an update once I've had a chance to use it few more times to let you know if I still like it and to see how it's holding up.

This is about the steam version. I read a bunch of reviews before buying and used several tips to make this thing really great, and something I used at least weekly going on about 3 months now. I doubt that pace will slow.The tips are mostly about comfort and ease of use, but they make big differences.1) Use distilled water; I read a lot about build-up in tubes and moldy smells over time. As said I use this weekly, but for me the cost of the water is offset by allowing increased usage without the need for intense cleaning.2) After use wipe-down; again just maintenance to avoid any buildup or odors, chances for mold, etc. I do it after I take the post-steam shower, takes two minutes tops, and between this step and the distilled water the thing still works and smells like new.3) Tiki bench; You will be sweaty, so the chair they include is no good. Get a comfy, waterproof (mine is just a simple tiki bench) chair that won’t suck up the water and hold the smells.4) Entertainment; I started first just using the water-resistant ear buds I have and listening to music with bluetooth. Easy. But… now I have a waterproof case for my tablet, and velcro that I attached just under the window. Now I watch in there, or sometimes just music - but now can skip songs without sticking my arm out of the tent.5) Just so I mention it, the steam unit itself has given me no issues. I read some comments that it isn’t the best but have had no issues. Might be the distilled water choice, or that I read the instructions for how to use it before trying to use it, but works fine. Warms up in about 5-7 minutes when half full, and was easy to set.6) The remote has never worked for me when inside the tent, which I found odd. It works when I am right next to the device, but at that point why bother. I think the range is maybe 5 ft, tops.Overall happy that I bought this, and am surprised by the durability to date. For the price it is 100% worth it, especially with the tips above (which were mostly borrowed from other reviews!)