Ember Stainless Steel Temperature Control Travel Mug 2, 12 Oz, App-Controlled Heated Coffee Mug with 3-Hour Battery Life and Improved Design, Black

I wanted to like this mug, I really wanted this to be a great product... unfortunately my experiences with it have been lack luster and ultimately I'd recommend you spend less on something else. The Ember Travel Mug2 is sold at a premium price, however, it is NOT a premium product. I bought my Travel Mug2 on February 12th 2021 (less than 2 months owning it at the time of this review). in that time I've discovered that the marketing on this product and the experience of actually owing it are in start contrast. First let's talk about the battery life, their claim is that it will keep your hot beverage hot for 3 hours. I found this to be far from the truth. Battery life claim: 3 hours Actual: ~1.5 hours @ 140degrees Ember's support confirms this experience is as expected, "With a set temp of 140 degrees, your Ember may have a slightly shorter battery life" The next issue I had was finding that the mug would randomly turn off. The mug has an liquid sensing feature that detects if the mug is empty. The way it detects the liquid is through temperature differentials. If there isn't a significant enough delta between your coffee/tea and the desired temp set on your coffee then the mug will automatically turn off. so if you pour your coffee/tea into the mug and run out of the house there is a possibility that your mug may turn off and your coffee will be cold. It boggles my mind why they have not included an override for this so that an owner can turn the mug on and off manually so that they are in control and can be assured that the mug is indeed keeping their liquid at the desired temperature. The last thing that I'll say is that after about a 2 months of owning this, the lid stopped functioning. The Travel Mug2 has a lid with a mechanical "plunger" that you push down to open and close. Press once it clicks open, press it again and the lid clicks shut. Unfortunately mine stopped opening, which is the straw that broke the camels back and is what prompted this review. I'm sure support will send me a new one, but that's beside the point. The fact that the lid broke after 2 months, the mug is very finicky and the battery life is roughly half of what they claim leads me to a point where I can say that this is a product that needs a lot more work. I personally would not buy it again nor can I recommend it to anyone. there are a lot of other cheaper heated travel mugs out there that you could buy 2-3 of knowing they will break before you get to spending $180. If $180 is a drop in the bucket for your budget, then go for it. But for me, I viewed $180 as a luxury item I was buying myself. Keep in mind $180 is ~1/5th of what a new iPhone costs, 1/5th of the price of an item that has almost unlimited uses and brings immense value to my life. This mug has one job and it does it poorly.

I was always one who just made coffee and would drink it over about 2 hours. I could never instantly drink it straight from the Keurig or coffee pot, and always let it sit for 15 minutes or so before even touching it. With the Ember I still let it sit, but I know that it will be the perfect temperature when I’m ready to drink it! I got this right after Christmas as a gift, and I haven’t had a cold sip of coffee since. I have two, very small complaints - one with the mug design, and one with the app. The mug itself is very easy to use. There is a power button on the bottom, and it also has a touch area to active the temp buttons, or to view the battery level. You just turn it on, and pour your hot drink in, and it will stay at your desired temperature for as long as you have battery. The “default” temperature is 135F. So anything hotter than that will use the battery more, and obviously anything less will help the battery last longer. I keep mine around 130F and I can easily get over 2 hours with it. I usually finish mine around the 2ish hours mark, and I have battery to spare - guessing about another 30 minutes easily. My only complain for the mug design is the charging coils on the bottom of the mug. It states in the description that the mug is fully submersible - which is great. The charging dock that you charge the mug on, can NOT have any water on it. After my first time cleaning it, I noticed there were droplets of water stuck in where the coils are. I took some canned air and blew inside of them, and sure enough a decent amount of water came out. I may be over thinking this design, but I’m still concerned that the water stuck inside there would damage my charging dock. If Ember wanted to comment back so I know not to freak out, that would be great. ;) Then my only other minor complaint is the app lay out. Unlike some users, I have had zero problems with the app! I was able to update my mug just fine. My request is that they display the battery level on the “Home” screen so you can see everything in one area. Or better yet, make an iPhone widget. Anyway! That’s my review! I’ll update as needed if there are any issues later down the line.

My wife loves drinking tea, so I bought this for her for Christmas. Six days later, we're returning it. Why? 1. It's not an actual thermos. If you put hot water in a regular glass cup, you'll get the same level of thermal insulation. To test this, she put some tea in a regular thermos and some in the smart mug. An hour later, the smart mug's tea was cold and the thermos still kept it hot. This was with the power off. None of this should be a problem if the mug keeps the liquid at the temperature you set it at when you turn it on, right? Correct, BUT IT WASN'T DOING THAT! Even while on and set at a specific temperature, it was dropping below. And since the insulation in the mug is terrible, it puts tremendous strain on the battery. Which leads me to point #2 2. The claimed three hour battery life. The battery was dying after an hour. Probably because since the insulation in the cup is so poor, the heater has to fight like the dickens right from the beginning to keep the liquid inside hot. 3. The amount of liquid it can hold. While it can hold a small mug's worth of liquid at 12 ounces, the reality is that since it's a travel mug and (supposedly) has a three hour battery life, it should hold enough liquid to make all of this worth-while. At an absolutely minimum, it should hold 16 oz, but I'd prefer 24 ounces. 24 ounces is enough space to last you a few hours. 12 ounces is what you can drink in one sitting. But let's be honest: it wasn't able to keep 12 ounces hot. 24 ounces would probably be impossible with the technology they're using. At the end of the day, the idea is great but the execution in many ways is poor. Save your money and just buy a good thermos!

Don't get me wrong, I love these containers and own a few of them but... Only 3 negatives IMO: (1) it takes a fir bit of time to warm liquids that happen to be below temperature when poured into the cup (a rise of 5 degrees took an average of nearly 10 minutes). (2) Cost, yes, this seams to be one of the best but the cost makes this a bit of a novelty. As a travel mug, there are many others at 10% of the cost that you plug into the lighter. (3) Charge time, as for battery and charge technology this device is way behind the times, why isn't it wireless (I mean having a charging saucer that cannot get wet) and why does it take near 2 hours to charge?

It's lighter and smaller than expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it also doesn't quite feel like a $200 mug when you hold it. It seems to be working well though and can even reheat coffee that has gotten cold when I forgot to turn it on. It really works best though if you have it on from the start, because it takes a lot of energy to heat up water. Ann even better method I've found is that while I'm making coffee, I'll boil some water in my electric kettle and preheat the mug with that and it makes a noticable difference in battery. That's a little extra though, and you don't really need to do all that. The only real thing is I really wish it came with two chargers, you know, since it's a travel mug most of us use it to go to work. It would be really nice if I could have another charger there, especially for $200 you think they could do that. All in all, if you have the money to blow it's nice, but it's definitely a luxury item.

First off, ember mugs are absolutely amazing. I have a normal mug and a travel mug and I love this product so much. Is it completely necessary? Absolutely not. But if you are a coffee lover (or tea) and want your coffee to stay enjoyably warm, I HIGHLY recommend this product. I had an issue with the charging coaster pins a few times. The first time was my fault (I wasn't letting the mug dry off completely before placing it on the coaster so the moisture was messing with the metal pogo pins), but the second time the pins just broke. It didn't matter either way. Ember support was VERY quick to respond and they not only answered all my questions, but quickly resolved my issues without question. My only gripe is with the travel mug. It definitely doesn't get anywhere close to 3 hours. i keep it on 125 degrees and it lasts maybe just over an hour. I don't have any issues with the normal mug. I wish the 14oz was available when I got it!!! I have recommended these products to many friends and everyone loves their ember mugs. Great products and a great company.

I'm one of those people that cannot STAND drinking even "kinda hot" coffee or tea. I'm also not a fast drinker. So, it's a constant microwave-drink-microwave-drink situation. As a teacher, I found that my drinks would get cold long before they were even a fourth of the way gone. And TEACHER NEEDS HER COFFEE/TEA. :D I'd used various mug warmers with special mugs to transmit heat, and they're not great. There's always a thick skin that forms on top, some of them make your drink so hot it burns, or it's still not hot enough. And you've also then got this hot burner plate on your desk. And, you have to have the plate everywhere you go (so, car/classroom/various house places are obviously not an option). Travel mugs, even the expensive Yetis and etc are OK. But they really still don't keep it hot enough, long enough. And I can't microwave them. THEN, there is the fact that I like a decent amount of half-and-half or table cream in my drinks... which at times cools my drinks down so much I have to heat them back up right away. Or, I've tried heating up the half and half/cream first. So freaking fussy and annoying. I discovered heated mugs, and I was very excited for my first purchase. I did a lot of review reading and analyzing what was most important to me before I purchased. In the end, I went with this Ember travel mug (purchased September 2021). The base has worked just fine. It heats it exactly to the temp that I want. However, the battery life is SO POOR that even when I have it on the charger (wall or car) it only keeps my drink hot for a max of about 3 hours. That's ON the charger. PS: I like my drinks at around 139-141 depending on the drink. Anyway. Really poor battery life, but, again, I've just been so incredibly happy to have a hot drink until I'm done drinking. Enter the LID for this mug. You cannot take it apart, you cannot clean out the interior. AT ALL. A little bit ago I noticed that it seemed like there was some "stuff" inside the tiny hole underneath (tiny meaning probably 1/4 of an inch, tops). When you push the top of the lid up and down to open and close, there's some little plastic parts inside underneath you can see flip back and forth. And inside there, there's all this room for.... MOLDY stuff. I'm not one of those people constantly leaving my old coffee in there for days. I can't say I've never done it, but this mug is so expensive that I've been ridiculously good about it. I clean it every day and put it up on the charger to charge until the next morning. Regardless, there it was --- pale brown stuff inside there. There was no way to clean it. I started wondering if it was really moldy old cream, and I was drinking all my drinks through that moldy crap.... and it was really grossing me out... So. I really got looking and knew that I was right about the gunk in there. First, I soaked it in a solution of very hot water with a little dish soap and a drop of bleach. Soaked overnight, then tried tapping the lid on the side of the sink. A few gross pieces came out - enough to corroborate my theory, totally gross me out, and show me that there was even MORE inside there that I couldn't get out. I tried using a pipe cleaner to gently swipe inside, nothing would come out - and this tiny tiny little plastic door thing then broke and the mug wouldn't push open and close. UGH. So, I realized that with the lid already broken, AND full of 6 months of rotten molding drinks, I decided I'd just break the interior of the lid out. That way at least I could put the ring back on and be able to still use the mug. (the rim of the mug without the lid at all is not really functional as a drinking cup). So, I got out my clippers and started the lid demolition. It took a fair bit of strength, time, clipping, and cursing for the stuff in side to come out. Then I got a few photos for you all to see what I'm talking about. GROSS. (*Side note, readers, my cup is NOT DEFECTIVE -- this is the way it is designed! If you use creamy drinks in your mug, it will happen to you!) So, now I have a very expensive mug without a lid. And, I am a big girl, I don't NEED a sippy cup. But it definitely reduces it's use outside of the home. Sad face. A few other issues: The travel charger is really inconvenient. No chargers are compatible with USB. You can only use their charger, even the car one (cigarette lighter end). The travel charger is challenging to have fit in most cup holders. The mug wants to kind of fall out and roll around while driving around corners, etc. Lastly, it's just plain really expensive for what you get. I've been incredibly happy having a hot drink for an hour, but seriously? It costs enough money that I'm always scared I'm going to drop it. Bang it. Crack it. It's like this "precious thing" ------- and I have a hard time managing my stuff as it is. I don't like the anxiety that comes with this. A $100 mug? I could likely deal. Even the travel charger is so much money, and such a PITA. The fit sucks, like I said, but you certainly can't use any other cups/etc in that cup holder while using the charger. So, I'm storing the travel charger in my car when it's not in use. And it was pricey enough, too, that I'm like, "Oh, jeez, crap, is that the cord hanging out?!" and etc. It's just another thing for me to stress about a kid stepping on, etc. I wouldn't purchase this mug again.

I bought this for my partner who loves coffee almost as much as life itself. She had invested in some good thermos mugs over the years, some of which were good - some not so good, but inevitably she was compromising in some way on the enjoyment of her cup o' joe. About a year ago I saw a coworker of mine drinking out of an original Ember mug. They raved about it, so I started doing my research. While it seemed too good to be true, I held off on buying one until the improved travel mug was released. My patience was rewarded. The mug is fantastic - it just works. The design is wondrous: beautiful to look at and hold, easy and intuitive to use, easy to clean and maintain, and most importantly - she loves it. My advice to anyone reading this is to stop compromising on your coffee, go get this and have a perfect sip all day, every day.