Tech Tools Heated Car Travel Mug - Keeps Your Bevrege Hot - Retro Style - Stainless Steel 12 Volts (Red)

Long Review But Must Read Before You Buy Extremely Nice Mug, here are the facts. Bought this product because thought my old mug was broke only to find out the cord was broke. Now I have an extra one, but that’s a good thing. I travel/Drive a lot so I use heated coffee mugs all the time, I have 4 or 5 of them all different models, and I use them all. I gave it 5 stars because the only Cons probably won't be Cons to most others, and the mug does everything they advertise it to do and that I expect in a heated mug. Introduction: As for this product, works great. People who are new to these types of mug just don’t realize the idiosyncrasies of these types of mugs. Doesn’t mean they don’t work or are not good, just that ALL heated coffee mugs have their quirks. And not to be rude, some people just don’t know what they are talking about. Here are the categories I’ll be addressing. Does the lid fit snug or leak and how does the slide piece on the top of the lid work, the fuse, Does it warm/heat the coffee & how long does it take, how many years can you expect to get out of a mug, the width of the bottom (how it fits in the cup holder), how many ounces do they hold. Pros & Facts: The lid on this product fits securely, no leaks, O-ring is good quality, you can actually pick the mug up (Empty) by the lid and the lid does not come off. I don’t know of any heated mug that’s spill proof if you tip it over. I have a few other mugs where the lids just sit on top. So this Lid passes the test. As for the opening slide on this lid, these can sometimes slid back shut when you go to take a drink or if the vent hole is part of the slide, can gum up with dried coffee residue and won’t be able to drink properly. Now, I haven’t owned this long enough for this slide to wear out yet, but for now works fine, and the vent hole is located separately on the lid. So this passes my test too. I have even switched the lid to another mug because it works so well. As far as warming coffee, it works great too. The 160 degrees is extremely hot so I can’t even put it on that setting if I want to drink the coffee. It can take up to 30 minutes to heat a cool cup of liquid. Most of the time I brew my coffee at home then put in small mason jars for travel, then when ready I pour into mug, plug it in and in about 30 minutes I have a piping hot cup of coffee (I pack a cooler bag for my cream). So if you drink it black you only have to stop once to fill it the first time. The reason it doesn’t work well or at all for think soups and sauces is because it works off the heat exchange principle. Just like a block heater on a motor, as the area where the heater is gets warm automatically circulates with the colder liquid. It’s just science. So if the sludge/liquid can’t mix/circulate it won’t work. This will work for all liquids, Tea, Coffee, Hot Cocoa, etc. Don’t expect it to do more than it’s designed for or else of course you’ll get frustrated. And know this, it takes all of my coffee mugs about 25-35 minutes to warm/heat up the liquid, this is just how they work. If it’s already hot, it will more than keep it warm/hot with it plugged in. All of my other mugs, when the coffee is hot I have to unplug it or I continues to heat it making it too hot to drink. Then you have to plug them back in to warm it up, this is just how they work. I like this Mug because it has settings that actually work to keep it at the temperature I like. However, I still like to unplug it from time to time as I feel this adds life to the heating element. Think of it this way, all heating elements have a lifespan of “X” number of minutes/hours. So eventually it will break. So once the coffee is hot, why keep it plugged in for any longer than necessary. By since the cig lighter plug is so easy to access while driving what’s the big deal about plugging and unplugging. Next is the size in ounces. I don’t recall how many but this is plenty, and larger than 2 of my mugs and the same as the others. So ok there, as I like a large cup of coffee so I don’t have to keep refilling (because I have to pull over alongside the road for that). Folks – YOU CAN NOT PUT THESE IN THE DISHWASHER!!!! Really people? You have to be told this. Cons: Yes it is more cumbersome to wash because this mug does not have a rubber cap where the plug connects. I keep my finger over it when washing, but the key is you should not use till at least the next morning to make sure thoroughly dry. 3 of my other mugs come with rubber caps for this purpose. This mug is a bit narrow for my cup holder, probably for most economy cars and newer small cars will fit just fine. I driver a pickup and suburban and I have to jerry rig the cup holder to fit so it doesn’t tip over. I am creative so I made it work. I find that none of the mugs I have actually fit snug in MY cup holders, so I live with it. Other Tips/Topics: As far as the fuses, while I have not had any problems with this plug thus far, I have over the years with all of my other mugs, so I simply put in a higher rated fuse. I am not saying to do this, just that I’ve never had a problem with the higher fuse and it works for me. I use a 5A 250V fuse slow/delayed trip type fuse. If you are using the factory fuse and they keep breaking, just know that this is NORMAL, as there is not a mug on the market that won’t from time to time blow a fuse, if you don’t upgrade to a higher amp/volt. It’s normal. And just remember they shut off once you turn your car off as juice to the cig lighter is off when the key is off, if you have that type of car. My truck is live all the time, so I can fill up the mug before I go into a meeting, then when I come out, it is all hot and just need to add cream before I start driving. You should always heat with the lid on so it doesn’t evaporate or spill. Conclusion: Very nice coffee mug. One of the best on the market. Heats well and Hot. Doesn’t leak, lid is comfortable, and all of my mugs last 3 to 5 years or longer just depending on level of use. Just know they won’t last forever, but so far this one is a keeper. I totally recommend this product, and I don’t usually do reviews, but as you can see I put a lot of time into this review, because I have started to rely on reviews when buying and feel it’s the right thing to do.

Love my cup. Over all it does it's job. But like everyone else the physical size if the cup causes problems in daily use. I use it to keep my coffee hot on my desk or in the car to refill another cup that fits in the car cup holder or won't fall over when you walk by it. I fixed the tip over problem by putting using a coke can coozie with a notch cut out for the cord attachment receptacle. I doesn't fall over nearly a easy now. Manf. needs to supply or make available a attachable base that clips to bottom of the cup to provide some stability for desk use. I also made a cup holder for the car by taking 2 of the standard plastic window mounting cup holders and joining them together to make it deep enough to hold the cup . I used some 3/16 sheet aluminum to reinforce the arm so it would support the extra weight of the cup while hanging on the passengers door . Manf. needs to make one of these available to allow his product to be used. This is for Katie who requested I type in more info on my experience with the Smart Mug. 1. Has been a reliable heated mug for two years on my desk. I've try others with no success, they don't have the good thermal control of the Smart Mug and burn up the heating element. I use it as a means to keep my coffee warm from my oversized Contigo coffee mug and thermos. 2. Just this week I added one to my motorcycle. I made a holder that is attached to the handle bar and powered by the 12Vdc socket that is on the Suzuki 650 V Strom dash. I would like to speak with the manufacture to make a suggestion to make one for a motorcycle accessory. The ADV and Touring market is hot right now and we look for equipment to make our life easier on the road. I took mine out on the bike in 40 degree weather at 70 mph set at temperature to 130 degrees and the mug maintain the coffee at 129 to 130 degrees, even with the added wind chill factor. Well what else can I say, after the trip on the bike yesterday, I change my review from a 4 stars to a 5. Power connection needs to change to a much smaller component something resembling something used in this century. Display needs to be waterproof so damage won't occur doing hand washing.

Purchased another one of these, as they only last a few month's. Never reached hot temperature, 1400 max and normally would not get above 1300. Returning this one, will try another and another and another. Getting tired of buying these Heated mugs, but love hot coffee. So far this has worked as advertised. Just don't ever spill liquid on the temp sensor. Been through a half dozen of these and other's in the last few years. This brand of stainless seems to last the longest, which is usually a year before you have problems with setting the temp. I guess $ 20 or so dollars is worth the price for a warm cup of coffee during the day. I like my coffee hot and the 1600 Degree setting works great. I did notice a slight problem when left in the car in below 0 weather, took a while to set the temp to stay at 1600. This stainless coffee cup seems to work better and last longer than the red or blue, why I do not know. I use it daily and would recommend.

These are my first impressions and initial review after only 2 days of use. Overall, I really like this thing and will probably order another for exclusive use in my car. It has a few design problems.. It is around 9 inches tall and only 2 1/2 inches wide at the bottom and tips over easily. I use mine at my desk, and it needs to be in some sort of a cup-holder. Tall, skinny tumblers are not the ideal shape for sipping hot drinks. Coffee mugs are low and wide for a reason... While the lower part of a travel mug must be skinny to fit standard automobile cup holders, the remainder should be as short and wide as is practical .. The small air-hole in the cap is sometimes inadequate to allow a smooth flow, and I've experienced a sudden slosh of hot coffee. Removing the plastic thumb-slide lid piece opens the spout area and allows a controlled flow. But, of course, coffee could then spill if the mug is tipped and/or sloshes around when used in a car. At home at a desk the large opening is no problem. Handle and plug should be on the same side. The plug cannot be jammed up against a dashboard. This mug requires a cup holder with space all around it. The temp-control box is directly under the spout, and therefore under your lips (for right-handed people) and it is not water proof. At the very bottom (also not water proofed) is a 10A relay, piezo buzzer and associated wiring. I'd be careful not to set this mug into a puddle of coffee in the bottom of a cup holder. The manufacturer really should waterproof this thing... no-brainer. The cap has one narrow silicone O-ring sealing gasket. The fit is very tight and I suspect the O-ring will not survive long if the cap is often removed and replaced. -------- Good stuff: Set temperature is steady and accurate to within 3 or 4 degrees F of your desired set temperature. Rubberized handle grip is strong and comfortable. Stainless inside and out. Well built overall. ------- Heating capacity test: Target temperature 145 F (63C). Began with a full mug of cool 90 F (32C) coffee. After 20 minutes, 120F (49C). 30 minutes, 135F (57C) 39 minutes, 145F I thought that was very fast for a warming mug, and wondered how much power it uses. So, I measured the current. This thing draws a lot of electricity. Using a large 120-to-12 Volt transformer (5 amps) from my travel-cooler, the mug draws 2.65 amps. 12 x 2.65 = 32 Watts. 32 watts is a lot... The mug will NOT run from those lightweight 120V - 12V cig lighter wall plug adapters. [EDIT: It MAY not run. Some reviewers are using the low-power wall adapters. My adapters can't hack it. For full power and fast heating use a suitable DC power supply.] Read an adapter's label and it will likely say "Output 12V @ DC 300ma (or perhaps 500 ma). 500 ma (milliamps) is only half of 1 Amp (one amp = 1,000 ma). This mug needs 2.65 Amps (2,650 ma). Using a cheap 12V wall adapter caused my mug's controller to shut off and turn on repeatedly. My guess is the adapter's tiny transformer overloads and its circuit-breaker switches on and off. =========== Update: I was totally frustrated about the plug position not allowing me to use my car's cup holder so I disassembled the mug and moved the socket over to the handle side. Here's some things I learned about my mug. (This particular one has a rubberized handle and protruding lip on the lid, unlike the product photo) The info might be useful to some "hacker" who wants to play around with it. The rubber pad on the bottom is attached with contact cement. It can be peeled off. Behind that is a plastic disk. It snaps in by way of 4 little square indentations and can be pried out. That disk has a relay and piezo buzzer mounted to it. There's enough slack in the wire to pull the bottom off about an inch and then unsolder the piezo disc. The relay just snaps in and can be pried out. The manufacturer slopped contact cement all around the area but the bottom is NOT remotely water proof. Don't get it wet. The electronic controller is held on with 4 screws. Carefully peel the label (says V HOT, HOT etc.) from the top down, just until they are revealed. These 4 screws screw into a LOOSE plastic piece positioned inside the mug's shell. (On re-assembly I super-glued it into position.) The main IC is under a blob of epoxy but the circuit board has lots of exposed resistors, capacitors, etc. There's a rubber gasket behind the box but this control box is definitely NOT waterproof. And the SET button is a wide, open hole. Don't get it wet anywhere around the box.. The handle is attached with 3 screws, from the inside out. You'd probably need a small angled driver to get in there and remove them. There's no need to remove the handle. The handle is a good fit but if it were submerged long enough, liquid might seep into those screw holes and into the mug. So the handle is NOT waterproof. Don't get it wet. The inner SS shell seems to be a very tight press-fit to the outer. I first used heat (pencil torch) to soften whatever adhesive might have been used around the rim, but once I pried them apart there was no evidence of cement. I think the heat alone expanded it enough for me to separate them. YMMV. (... and I doubt this metal-to-metal seam is waterproof) The heating element, thermocouple, fuse etc are all secured and taped to the bottom of the inner shell. No need to mess with that stuff. The Motorola socket is attached by way of a nut and lock washer on the inside. The positive wire is soldered to the center of the Motorola plug. The negative is a ring terminal and is held on by the nut.... there's also plastic bushing. The hole is near 0.31" (8mm)diameter. This socket area is NOT waterproof. Don't get it wet. ----------- I moved the socket to the other side, near the handle, and plugged the original hole with silicone. Also put silicone around the control box and all around the bottom. This mug is far more water resistant, but still not completely waterproof.. I am very happy with this modification. My cord is where it belongs.. makes a huge difference imo. A whole lot of details were withheld, but that should be enough info to get someone started on opening it up and killing their warranty, and/or bricking this mug... Seriously, dis-assembly was tricky and reassembly even more so. On a hardware-hack scale of 1-10, I'd rate it around a 8. The provided info might lower it to a 7. If you're not real good at this sort of thing then forget about it.

This product does the job of keeping beverages at about 145 degrees. That’s the good part. Drinking from it leaves a lot to be desired. The sliding cover over the sipping slot makes it difficult to get a tight seal with your lips over the slot so hot liquid generally leaks out and down your chin. The sliding cover does not stay open so you have to keep pushing it open each time you take a drink. It’s difficult to control the amount of liquid while taking a sip so generally you get too much hot liquid and burn your lips and mouth. The cover does not screw on and mounts with a loose friction fit only. Definitely comes off if the mug tips over or gets banged. The design of this mug is terrible. The base it too small making it top-heavy, the handle is clumsy, the temperature gauge sticks out and looks awkward, then there’s the plug, the switch, and the light stuck on there that makes this thing look like some kind of mechanical lab invention from the 50’s. It does however keep beverages very hot!

bought this for my wife as she was always drinking hot beverages in the car and complained that they got cold too fast (especially in the winter). This unit fixed that. This unit keeps her drinks anywhere from warm to hot (depending on the setting of the temperature). Works great in the winter when we are driving around at night looking at Christmas lights in the neighborhoods. the wife brings a thermos of her favorite beverage for the night and this unit keeps it hot to her liking all evening long. It also works great to a drive up to the mountains to do some cross county skiing. Her beverages were hot on the drive up and on the drive back. this is a great little unit. We have had no issues with this product as indicated by some peoples complaints.

This is the best 12 volt coffee mug I have seen. It isn't perfect but nonetheless worthy of 5 stars. What I like: -When it powers up, it defaults to 120 degrees. This keeps the coffee warm without scorching it -The handle and outlet are just barely high enough that I can use it in my cupholders in my car and it reaches the bottom of the cupholder so it isn't resting on the plug or handle -I had a cup with the same design before and it lasted several years of regular use What I don't like -control panel is NOT waterproof. I taped off the panel (as a painter would) and spread silicone sealer around the mating surface between the cup and panel, and it helps with water intrusion but the button is still a leakage point -Capacity isn't as much as it would appear - the walls could be a little thinner so it holds more -unit is top heavy and tippy. I use it at home with the power supply I use for my travel cooler and it works GREAT all day long; however, I recommend putting a regular old can cooler (koozie) on the bottom of the mug. This will make it much less tippy. All in all, a good cup and the best of its type that I have seen.

I have used this cup for a couple of months now, several times a week. It does what it says it will do: reheat my coffee in a reasonable amount of time. This display tells you the temperature of the liquid and also lets you set the max temp. I wish it didn't go as high as it does since it can heat to dangerous burn levels. I set it to about 125F and that works pretty well for me. A barely warm 12 ounce cup of coffee only takes about 2 minutes to heat up. It doesn't sit well in the cup holder of either of our cars but I don't see how one could change the design to fix that- the electrical connection is going to stick out anyway you look at it and give you problems. I put a neoprene sleeve in the cup holder to help hold it more securely and also put some folded up paper towels in the bottom to give it a boost so the plug will clear the edge of the cup holder. Works fine like that. People have complained that the device stopped working in the weeks after they got it but I wonder how many of those were blown fuses. The power cord has a fuse in it (they even give you a replacement fuse) and it blew in my unit after about 3 weeks. Looking at the design I think I know why. I kept the power cord plugged in all the time while driving, even if I wasn't heating anything up. This means that the "hot" part of the power cord, the part that plugs into the socket on the mug, is always exposed and could short out against any bit of metal it comes in contact with. Now I unplug it as soon as the coffee is hot. The fuse hasn't blown in the month since I starting doing that. That is a bad design decision- they should have the plug on the mug and the socket on the cord and that would solve that problem. Time will tell if I am correct in that assessment. The only other complaint I have is with the design of the cap around the drink opening. It is raised a bit and thus when you take a sip some coffee always remains on the lid, it doesn't drain back into the mug. A small thing but annoying nonetheless. Overall, I would recommend this product if you use it carefully and work out your own solution to keeping it secure in your cup holder. UPDATE: I have to take away a couple of stars because of what has happened the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago the LCD stopped working. I can do without it because I know that it defaults to 120 and five clicks will set it to 125F but it is disturbing that it failed so soon. This week the power socket came loose. Can't see any way to tighten it. I have been very careful with this thing, never dropped it, try hard not to get the outer parts wet, yet it is falling apart after a few months use. Too bad, I really wanted to like this thing, but will not buy another without assurances from the manufacturer that the design has been improved. It is too expensive to only last a few months.

Es de mal calidad. Calienta, pero no mantiene el calor cuando está desconectado. La tapa tiene derrames, al agitar o inclinar un poco el vaso. Las partes electrónicas no son herméticas. A pesar de lavarlo con cuidado, en alguna ocasión le entró agua y se descompuso. Solo duró tres semanas!!!

It is useless

This is perfect for me in my profession I can make the drink set the temp and always have a hot drink to hand.

The product is good (fyi, I have bought one and currently using it) but both the merchants or amazon lack expertise on engineering practices because the product specification does not include the current (or amps) rating for the device. This could lead may to buy the wrong adaptor or converter for use as the power supply for the mug (when they are using it outside their cars). Out of the goodness of my heart and for solidarity with the numerous customers out there, the missing amps rating is 5A. This means that you can buy a power supply adaptor with a current rating of between 4A-7A to safely power it. Because of the absence of this amperage information, I wasted money buying a 12V power adaptor rated at 0.5A (that is, 500mA) which could not operate it. After laising with technicians out here where I live, we found that the rating for the device is 5A. I have told amazon to include this info but they have refused to do so till today.

As a lorry driver, this mug is an absolute godsend. It maintains temperature very well, and will even reheat drinks that you've left to go cold (or at least, too cold to enjoy). The only warning that I would post is to be very VERY careful when cleaning it. The seal between the buttons on the front and the cup itself aren't the best. The one that I have now is my second as moisture got in through the seal and basically fried the electronics as soon as I plugged it in. And at £25+ a time, that can get a bit expensive fairly quickly. It would be better if it had a removable 'inner cup' that could be washed properly without having to worry about getting any water anywhere near the electronics. But it's fine as long as you only rinse it, and do it carefully.