Indiegogo staffers are putting crowdfunded products to the test in our new series of honest reviews. In this edition, our very own email marketing and lifecycle strategist Karisa Hunt tried out NaviPet, the new pet accessory that our crowdfunding community is talking about. Does it live up to the hype? Read on as we put it to the test!

Even though it’s still hot where I live, I know that a bitterly cold winter is around the corner. My cats are like heat-seeking bodies when it gets cold, and I want to provide them with a nice warm spot to spend time this winter (other than my lap!).

Enter the NaviPet, a pet bed pad that heats up using water. I was intrigued when I saw it; since it uses heated water instead of running electricity through the pad itself, it seemed like a good way to keep the temperature consistent for my ever-finicky cats. I decided to test it out to see.

Unboxing

The box is lightweight, so it wasn’t difficult to carry inside. There’s a lot of extra room in the box; my guess is that the company uses one box size to ship both their human-sized Navien Mate mattress warmers as well as the NaviPet, so it would be very full if I’d ordered a king-sized topper.

Setup

The pad itself goes inside a zippered cover, which is easy to get on and off and can be cleaned in the washing machine. Once that’s in place, the hose that runs from the end of the pad runs to the pump. It clicks into place pretty easily, so there’s no trouble getting it hooked together.

From there, it’s time to fill the pump. The reservoir holds about 24 ounces at a time, and I had to add another 16 or so ounces as the pump filled the pad.

Use

The pump is fairly easy to use, though the buttons and markings are all on the small side. It was easy to power the pump on and set it to heat to 99 degrees. It ran very quietly, which I appreciated–I had expected the pump to be a little on the loud side, so barely hearing it at all was a huge plus.

The problem I had was that it didn’t seem to heat up very quickly.

I checked at the five-, ten-, and fifteen-minute marks, and the pad still felt cool to the touch. By that point, the pump display said that the water was at the set 99 degrees, so I decided to turn it up more and see what happened. The pump’s maximum setting is 113 degrees, so I turned it all the way up, set a timer for half an hour, covered it up with the blankets on the bed, and left the room.

When I returned, it was slightly warm to the touch. I laid down on it for five minutes, but it didn’t get much warmer with the addition of body heat. It was a little warm, but it wasn’t anywhere near what I was expecting.

On the other hand… I couldn’t keep the cats off of it!

It wasn’t the kind of warmth that I was looking for, but Bacon Bits absolutely loved it. He curled up on it a few times as I was trying to test it myself, and he got very disgruntled when I put him on the floor during my review. As soon as I turned my back, he’d jump onto it again and make himself right at home.

Pros

• Easy to set up
• Doesn’t take a lot of water
• Runs very quietly
• Doesn’t leak from any connection
• Removable washable cover

Cons

• Doesn’t get very warm to the touch
• Difficult to empty

Conclusion

While this wouldn’t cut it for me as a mattress warmer, my opinion isn’t the one that matters. My cats loved it! The fact that it’s lightweight and easy to move means I can put it in a few different places for them to see where they like it best. I’m excited to give them some more winter options, and can’t wait to see if I can snap a photo of the three of them curled up together on the nice warm spot!

To learn more, check out the campaign for NaviPet!