u/Mysterious_Dot2090

Hi all, just thought I’d share my thoughts on heated throw blankets.

I only discovered them recently through this sub, hence me posting here. I bought a 130 x 160cm blanket for $45 and tried it for the first time yesterday.

Now, this may not be everyone’s experience, but I realised something that made me regret buying it. Sure it heats, but does it even need to? I reckon a standard fleece throw would do the job and costs way less. I wish this had occurred to me before and it’s crazy that it didn’t. I used to have some of those throw blankets but haven‘t seen them for ages and I think I had just forgotten how effective they are.

Last night when I tried out the heated one I bought, I ended up using it (happily) unpowered. I doubt I would ever want it to be hotter tbh. A regular one would be way better though, because it doesn’t have the uncomfortable wiring through it, nor the plug connector and cord.

Anyway, just thought I’d share as others may have seen the heated blanket mentioned and thought they’d buy one too. I actually would have assumed that a standard throw wouldn’t be that much cheaper either, but am very wrong apparently. I had no idea you can get them for around just $10!

The only use case I can see for a heated blanket is if your house was ice cold or you used it outside during winter.

Save your money and buy standard fleece. Just my 2c.

Just wanted to shout out BL for their recent update of the Handy app.

I know there’s a post from a few days ago (that I also commented in) but I have found more great features since then and posting in a 3 day old thread is almost pointless.

As I commented in that thread, I like that the light is automatically turned on now, when you play the live feed on a printer, but I have since realised that it also turns it off! I love this convenience as I mainly use the light for monitoring prints (hence only need it on for a few seconds) and am often conscious of the light being left on for hours previously. I have no idea of its lifespan or if it’s replaceable, but it’s just natural to not want to leave lights on when they aren’t required. Really love this new feature.

I also love the filament management system. Added a few non BL rolls today. Wow they allow this when they’re going to stop supporting non BL filaments?! /s 🥴

Filament management has always been a bit of a nightmare for me, as someone who is naturally averse to organising. Previously, I kept a photo album of what I had. This was mainly to plan (and visualise) which colours I would use, but it was no good for actually keeping track of what I had in stock. I could have manually removed those pics but never did, and having not only the knowledge of what is available, but how much on a spool, is amazing. I don’t know if it will track generic brands but assume so, hence the requirement to input the weight when you add one. I assume it subtracts this from the amount used in prints from then on. Although only if you leave it in place maybe?

Besides the overall better design, one other minor change which is probably an improvement, that the live feed is snappier and doesn’t show the last image from before momentarily before updating. The only downside to this is that I kinda liked seeing the before and after of print progress lol.

I know that some people dislike that they got rid of the layer number, but personally this doesn’t matter to me much, other than say, when I am worried filament is going to run out but I am only guessing still, if there is enough to finish the job.

Eta: Current layer is showing again so they must have fixed it. Thought it might be only some printer models but I am currently printing on my A and P series and they both display it under the start of the progress bar 😊

All in all a very good update imo.