I'm a heating blanket snob. I like them large enough to fit our king sized bed, plus I want it to have dual controls for both sides along the preheat option (you can turn it on for 30-60 minutes ahead of time, and it will heat on high for that Time period, then go back to the setting you originally set it for). The preheat time on this blanket is 60 minutes, and this was one of the only heating blankets that had the preheat option that I could find. Both sides of this blanket are nice. One side is a soft micro plush type of fabric; the other sort of like a really soft Berber fabric. Heats up nicely with no issues and we've been using it since November, 2016. My husband and I have been so thankful (and said so!) many times since we bought this blanket about how nice it is to get into bed with this warm blanket already on. It heats up so nicely that we can't use our normal micro fleece sheets we usually use in the winter (it gets too hot). Plus this blanket has 20 heat settings on it. We normally use ours on 1 or 2 and turn down the furnace at night, and it's still plenty warm--I can't imagine turning it up higher than that. Highly recomended--it's a bit more money than I normally pay for a blanket, but it's oh so worth it. Now I'm hoping it will wash nicely, as that's the issue that will usually make or break a heating blanket. I'll try to remember to update this in when I wash it soon.