Ember Travel Mug 2+, 12 oz, Temperature Control Smart Travel Mug, Black (with Apple Find My)

save your money
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 hoursActual: ~1.5 hours @ 140degreesEmber’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.

LOVE the Temp Readout and Touch Controls
The best features of this Ember Travel Mug 2+ are the temperature readout and touch controls. This makes using the mug simple without the need to rely on the App to control it. I use this everyday in my office and have encountered no issues with it other than knowing you have to keep the charging base dry. If you don’t, you’ll ruin the charging pins as I mistakingly did with a previous charging base which melted the plastic and smelled like the office was burning down. This is the only negative design issue I have with ALL Ember products that I cannot believe they have not reengineered already.

Keeps your favorite drink hot
I liked the size of drink, keeping your drink hot, easy to use, l would have it better if the lid would have a hole in it for a straw, a straw makes it easy to drink without using the lid to open while driving or other task

5 out of 5 Stars (4.6)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐[TL;DR][QUALITY] (5/5)[VALUE] (4/5)[EASE OF USE] (5/5)[MET EXPECTATIONS] (4/5)[PACKAGING] (5/5)[REVIEW REMARKS]There is no doubt in my mind that this is a high-end product. However, the elephant in the room is the $249.99 price tag (at the time of ordering). Price/value is always subjective, so I am not going to dwell on this. I love coffee and the idea of maintaining a constant temperature, is appealing. I can only think of a couple of scenarios that this would be required, and most of the scenarios are not pressing. With that said, I would like to discuss what I like/love about this mug.The look and feel of this mug is modern and sleek. The matte black finish really compliments the modern technology found within. The LED interface is really cool and I like that it displays your temperature (current) and you can change the temperature, up and down using touch based controls. The menu is accessed through touching the “EMBER” logo on the side. This makes it easy to access the menu, but also really easy to change the temperature unwittingly. This is addressable in the APP under ‘Temperature Lock’, activating this feature prevents the touch display changing the temperature. I like the listed battery life and the personalized message you can set in the APP. Both displayed in legible LED dots.The mug pairs with the Ember APP found in the APP stores (IOS and ANDROID) I use Android and the download was quick and you need to create an account for the APP. The APP allows you to pair other Ember devices, should you have them. I like this. The APP also allows you to set the temperature, change between ℃ and ℉ as the unit of measurement, personalize the mug (I LOVE THIS), and access pre-sets for different temperatures for various drinks. The APP is slow at the beginning, it does not register touches after buttons are pressed. I can only assume it is processing the request with the mug?? At any rate, be patient.The charging plate is handy, it makes the mug easy to recharge. It does not make this overly portable. I feel that the battery life will address this issue. If the battery is long lasting, then we are not going to have an issue. The mug has been using the initial charge and I have not used the charging plate since using it the first charge. The battery life is impressive, especially when you turn off the mug when not required.The only design issue I have with the mug is the lid. It is plastic and it has a spring loaded plunger as the lock. If it were not plastic, and it was something a little more durable, it would add to the value of the mug, from my perspective. I am hoping that these lids are provided by the company, if it fails or stops performing.All in all, this is a very technology rich mug and it makes my inner geek smile ear-to-ear. I love the concept of this mug and I like that it works really well. The size is perfect for Americano coffees and it keeps the coffee at optimal drinking temperature. I would like to see how this performs in the colder weather. The outer shell is slick, exercise caution while holding it. I do not think it would like being dropped. I LOVE the personalization. My concern is if this mug is locked to my account, can it be paired to another phone? If the mug is lost and someone finds it, can they used it? If it locks to the account, that is a feature that protects the users from theft.Recommended to the coffee enthusiasts who demand only the most optimal temperature to drink their coffee. This recommendation omits price point and value (both subjective) and basis this recommendation on quality, modern design, tech rich application, use cases, ability to keep hot coffee hot (not intended to warm beverages – outside the scope of the mug), ease of use and aftercare is not difficult. Excellent product, with only minor improvements required in the APP.In the event that experiences change or evolve, updates may be made to this review to address such developments.

This looks good.I really liked the LEDs and the personalisationBut the battery doesn’t last longPlus drinking from the lid wasn’t a good as from the mug .Plus the mug is 250, this was 650And I found an AED 60 lid did the job of making the mug transportable.I just couldn’t justify the x 2.5 times price…Returned…

This is my first item from Ember. I used it for several weeks every day at work to get a feel for it and here is my experience:Prior to receiving this I felt like it was a really expensive investment for keeping your magical black bean juice hot while mobile.On the other hand keeping my Java hot while mobile was a challenge. I had resorted to having multiple coffee warmers in different rooms at home and my office at work just to keep it hot because I have yet to find an insulated mug that keeps it truly hot for any length of time.Once I received it I unpackaged it and I have to say the matte black finish and simple minimalist design is really really sleek and I love it way more than I ever expected.The shape of the tumbler is graduated which makes it much easier for petite hands like mine to keep a solid grasp on it so kudos to Ember for that.Once I read the manual I washed it and put it on for its first charge. That’s when the battery display lit up and I had my first glimpse of the pixelated front display.I don’t know why (maybe because I grew up in the 80s lol) but the pixel display is just awesome and I’ll be honest, I spent more than a few minutes tapping the Ember logo to scroll thru the options because I just loved seeing it.Add in the tactile audio when adjusting the temperature and I almost wonder if this was made for people like me who have SPD (sensory processing disorder) because I love it from texture to sound.Despite loving the look and feel of this mug I was a bit biased and prepared to not be overly impressed because it is a cordless mug to keep your drink hot. Sounds so simple.However once I started using it I quickly changed my stance. I really like being able to see the current temperature of the drink when I pour it in because then I know what temperature to set it to relative to that.If it’s straight out of my espresso machine then it’s piping hot and I set it to maintain the temperature.If it’s a take-put coffee I ordered and I am transferring it to my mug then I usually set the mug for a higher temp and it heats it up for me fairly quickly (note: the coffee is hot but usually has cooled a bit by the time I reach the office and transfer it so it’s going from almost hot to piping hot.)I like that the mug lets you know when it needs charging via the display.I find it lasts around the 4 hr mark with a full charge but it also depends on what temperature I have it set to.Now that I have been using this daily fro several weeks I find myself really enjoying it and relishing that I can have hot coffee at my work bench in the shop as well as my office and in our HQ when I need to got there.I have seen other reviews stating that it doesn’t last much longer than a year or two and I am really hoping with tender loving care that this mug lasts longer than that because I have grown to love it.If it does stop working after a few years (or sooner) I would be in a pickle because I don’t know that I could buy another one but I am pretty spoiled by it now and will really mourn the loss of my hot coffee tumbler.My hope is that once this has been out on the market longer that the price will come down a bit in case it does stop working sooner than laterOne disappointment is that the car charger isn’t included despite the product page showing photos of it and implying it is. I travel extensively around the region by vehicle and most of the places I go are in the remote area of Northern Ontario and so do not have any coffee shops or drive thru. Being able to make coffee at home and keep it hot for hours while I travel would be glorious.The next disappointment is that I went to the Ember home page on Amazon to see if I could order it and what the price was..but it isn’t there. There is a half listing of some sort for it (technical glitch?) but if you click on it nothing happens and a search of Amazon proved fruitless. I felt like they dangled the carrot and then took it away.For the $312 price point I feel that the travel accessory should be included so I deducted one star for that. Ember if you are reading this PLEASE bring back the travel charger or consider adding it to the mug.Overall this cup won me over and I sincerely hope it lasts a long time. If you are a serious Java or tea aficionado with cash to spare then I would recommend this. 👍🏻👍🏻