Vital Health Sauna Review
The best thing about a sauna bath experience is that you can just laze around for an hour and yet open your pores, build up a good sweat and feel refreshed, clean and detoxed at the end of the experience.
Not surprisingly, mankind has been in love with the idea of sauna baths since ancient times. Common reasons for the modern man (or woman) to take a sauna bath include relaxation and stress reduction, socializing, pain relief and relief from musculoskeletal pain.
The conventional sauna heats the air to make you sweat. The infrared (IR) sauna, on the other hand, uses IR heaters to directly heat your body and make you sweat. Also, these saunas are easier to set up, use and maintain.
If you too are planning to buy and install an IR sauna in your home, then you need to consider and compare different brands, the features of their machines and their pros and cons before taking a final decision.
Read ahead for a detailed overview of Vital Health’s IR saunas, including a look at its various products, common features in all its saunas and other information to help you take an informed decision to buy the best-quality sauna for your home.
About Vital Health
Vital Health was set up in 2008 and specializes in manufacturing quality infrared sauna machines.
Like other reputed brands in the market, the founder of the company, Greg Baumgartner, chose to venture into this field after personally experiencing the benefits of sauna therapy.
What enabled Greg to position his brand above other manufacturers is his qualifications, which include degrees in engineering, electronics, health and wellness and community services.
This unique combination, along with his personal efforts to identify and repair the flaws in the market have helped him build and sell better IR machines to customers.
Vital Health’s Range of Products
Vital Health has a fairly limited range of products, although this may not be clearly evident due to the company’s rather complicated way of naming its products.
Vital Health makes two types of sauna baths—full spectrum IR saunas and far infrared (FIR) saunas.
Each machine is available in different capacities based on your personal requirements. So, you have a choice of one-person, two-person, three-person, four-person and five-person saunas.
You must keep in mind that the FIR option is not available for the five-person machine. If you want a five-person sauna, then you must necessarily choose the full spectrum option.
Also, the four-person sauna comes in two variants—triangle-shaped corner machines designed to be fitted into the corner of the room or the standard rectangular machines.
Spectrum type and capacity apart, you also have the option of choosing between two different materials—red cedar and hemlock. That’s it. Finalize the type of IR sauna machine you want and its capacity and material and you are done.
Unfortunately, Vital Health describes all red cedar machines as Elite and all hemlock machines as Premier, which only complicates the process of identifying and comparing different options.
So, you have a 1 Person Elite Full Spectrum sauna and a 1 Person Premium Full Spectrum sauna that’s absolutely the same except that the former is made out of red cedar and the latter is hemlock.
This may seem minor but the naming protocol is unnecessarily complicated, especially since choice of material is a purely aesthetic decision.
As per the company, the material you choose will have absolutely zero impact on your sauna experience, which is designed to be a great one irrespective of the machine you choose.
Features of Vital Health IR Saunas
A look at the features of various Vital Health sauna machines gives us a hint why the company chose to complicate its naming process. There’s very little difference in terms of features between four-person saunas and a one-person sauna.
The small-capacity sauna is compact while the one designed for more persons has bigger dimensions. Smaller saunas have fewer heaters and panels as compared to bigger options. Apart from these obvious differences, all machines have the same features.
Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing because you, the customer, is assured of quality services irrespective of whether you choose a bath for just two persons or a five-person sauna bath.
However, this also features, like the USB port or halogen reading lamp, don’t seem all that useful across all variants. Reading a book may be a great way to enjoy some personal time in a one-person sauna.
However, that’s just likely to come across as rude when enjoying a sauna experience with four other friends or family members in a five-person IR sauna.
Also, there’s the issue of having to pay for features you don’t want or even don’t believe in. The benefits of IR saunas are well documented. However, the same cannot be said for chromotherapy or aromatherapy.
These negatives apart, the common features of all Vital Health Saunas are a good value-for-money proposition for those interested in setting up an IR sauna in their homes.
Low-EMF Far Infrared Heaters
When buying a Vital Health sauna, you will have to choose between a machine with full spectrum heaters covering far, mid and near infrared wavelengths and one with just far infrared heaters.
This means all Vital Health saunas come equipped with FIR heaters, which means the quality of these heaters will have a huge impact on your overall sauna experience. A single-person sauna has five Vital Rays GEN IV Low EMF FIR heaters with the number going up to eleven heaters in a five-person sauna.
These heaters are positioned on the floor, walls and in the panels of the seating benches and provide even distribution and heating coverage throughout the sauna. These advanced carbon heaters have extremely low EMF levels, which is a very important factor since high EMF levels are harmful for the human body.
The combination of quality, proper positioning and low EMF make Vital Health saunas a safe and reliable product. However, there is no information about results of any independent tests that the company may have done for determining EMF levels.
Since readings can vary depending on where handheld EMF gauges are held and how they are configured, there’s no guarantee, apart from the manufacturer’s assurance, that high EMF radiation is not an issue.
Vital Rays VR1 300W Full Spectrum Glass Heater
The FIR sauna is converted into a full-spectrum sauna bath by the addition of a full spectrum glass heater to the machine. A single-person sauna has one heater while there are two heaters on all two-person sauna machines and beyond.
Strangely, the five-person full spectrum sauna has just one full-spectrum heater while two, three and four-person saunas have two such heaters. While the general reviews of Vital Health saunas have been good, those opting for the biggest saunas may not enjoy full advantage of near and mid IR due to this factor.
Again, while the company claims that all full-spectrum heaters have low EMF levels, there’s not much you get in terms of independent testing and analysis to take an informed decision.
Magnetic Flux Therapy System
As an added feature, all Vital Health saunas boast of the Magnetic Flux Therapy System. Your sauna’s bench, floorboard and backrest will have embedded high-power bipolar magnets that, as per the company, will enhance the healing power of the saunas.
Now, this may seem like a very useful feature for somebody who believes in the healing power of magnets. However, there is very little authentic and scientifically-backed proof about the effectiveness of such healing systems.
The fact that one doesn’t have the option of buying Vital Health saunas without this feature may discourage some from paying for a feature they don’t want installed in their sauna bath.
Processed and Treated Wooden Exteriors
Vital Health has a rigorous five-step process to ensure only top-quality wood is used in the external body of the sauna bath. Irrespective of whether you choose red cedar or hemlock, the wood is sun-dried, heated, pressurized and free of fat and water.
Since IR saunas don’t rely on steam to heat the air, wooden exteriors can be used without any safety or performance risks. Of course, the rich finish of the wooden exteriors will only improve the ambience and aesthetics of your home’s sauna room where you choose to install the sauna machine.
Soft-Touch Digital Controllers
All sauna variants come with soft-touch digital controllers installed inside and outside the sauna. This means you can change temperature and other settings before entering the sauna or even in the middle of your sauna bath.
While the digital controller is convenient, lack of touchscreen controls and smart Android connectivity to smartphones mean Vital Health lags behind other brands in this aspect.
Comfort and Convenience Features
One aspect where Vital Health stands apart from other reputed brands in the market is that numerous features designed to make your sauna experience more comfortable are included in the price.
These include a power station fitted inside the sauna, along with a USB port, so that you can charge your laptop or smartphone or use any other electric device when enjoying your sauna experience.
The halogen reading light may be useful for those wanting to catch up on their reading habit by combining a sauna bath with an exciting thriller or more serious non-fiction books.
Those who love listening to music will enjoy the advanced multimedia system that’s located right on the front wall of the sauna.
The entertainment system includes Bluetooth, a USB port for flash drives, port for SD cards and an in-built radio and is so accessible that you can choose tracks or play your favorite station without even moving from your seat.
One really cool feature is the ergonomic backrest that allows you to enjoy a really comfortable sauna experience for long durations. While other sauna manufacturers focus on creating comfortable benches, Vital Health goes the extra mile and takes good care of your back as well.
Chromotherapy and Aromatherapy
Vital Health offers a seven-color chromotherapy system for color-healing enthusiasts and an ionizer with aromatherapy that performs the dual function of neutralizing odors, killing microbes and creating a pleasant ambience through nice scents and aromas.
To make it easier to use the latter, you get an aromatherapy diffuser, a custom holder and five essential oils free with the sauna purchase.
Chromotherapy is normally offered as an add-on feature so that those who really want to experience the cooling and healing effects of different colors can choose the same.
The feature is included in the price here, although you certainly have the option of not using it if you prefer an environment with standard lights when enjoying your sauna bath.
Is Vital Health Saunas the Right Choice for You?
You are unlikely to get a black-and-white answer to the question whether Vital Health is the right choice of sauna manufacturer for you.
It certainly is not a fly-by-night operator who simply buys poor-quality sauna baths manufactured abroad and remarkets it in the US and other developed countries. It is a reputed and credible firm with a catalog of good quality sauna baths.
Yet, that doesn’t mean you can automatically conclude that Vital Health is the right choice for you.
Far IR or Full Spectrum—Pretty Much the Same
A full spectrum sauna can be converted into a FIR sauna bath by simply powering down the full spectrum IR heater. This feature makes one question whether there’s really any difference between the two variants.
Near and Mid IR radiation impacts the body differently with a different set of advantages and benefits as compared to Far IR. The benefits of a long session in a full spectrum sauna cannot be compared to a similar session in a FIR sauna.
This feature seems to oversimplify the difference between different sauna technologies and may result in buyers making the wrong choice simply because they did not understand the complexities involved in the comparison.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Unlike other manufacturers, the price of every sauna bath manufactured by Vital Health is available on its official website.
This should have been a plus because this simply makes it easier for an interested buyer to make an informed decision. No need to wait for the seller’s reply just to find out whether the sauna fits your budget or not.
Yet, what lets Vital Health down is the lack of an X-factor feature in their saunas. There is no single feature or group of features that make you go ‘wow, that’s awesome!’.
So, when you compare the benefits you will enjoy against the premium pricing of the saunas, you end up feeling underwhelmed by the idea of buying the product.
Tall Claims, Little Proof
This is a criticism that applies to virtually all sauna manufacturers, but what makes it worse in the case of Vital Health is that claims about IR sauna helping in cancer therapy has been backed by virtually no proof.
Saunas are as old as modern civilization and over exaggeration of the benefits only serve to put off those undecided about the pros and cons of choosing an IR sauna.
Further, there is little effort by the manufacturer to educate buyers of the implications of the various certifications received by Vital Health. How exactly does an American buyer benefit from compliance with an EU certification requirement?
Does it make the product better and safer? Are there similar American norms and rules? Are the EU rules the toughest and most stringent set of regulations applicable to IR saunas across the world?
A more customer-friendly approach would have set Vital Health a notch above other brands offering similar sauna bath products.
Little Real Choice for Buyers
The only real choice you get to make when buying a Vital Health sauna is about its size/capacity and exterior material. Beyond this, you just have to accept whatever the manufacturer offers.
This means you don’t have the option of skipping chromotherapy or the magnetic healing system. Similarly, you cannot ask for the digital control panel to be replaced by a touchscreen smart controls system.
What this means is that you don’t really know how much extra you are paying for features and functions that you don’t need and that you won’t probably ever use.
This strategy adopted by the brand leads to a situation where Vital Health’s offerings either work or well for you or compel you to necessarily check out other sauna baths even if you don’t want to buy any other brand.
Conclusion
As the price of Vital Health’s saunas clearly show, this is an important and costly decision that must be taken after careful consideration of all relevant factors.
Remember, there’s no such thing as a universally-perfect IR sauna bath. From quality of the product to power of the heaters, from level of EMF radiation to additional features and facilities, what’s relevant and what’s not depends on your expectations and preferences.
With detailed info about Vital Health’s various sauna products and their features, you should find it easier to compare the pros and cons of this brand with other brands and take a sensible and logical decision.