Over the last 7 years, far-infrared heaters have gone from stainless steel rods, to ceramic coated steel rods, to sand filled ceramic tubes, to solid ceramic rods to today's low watt ceramic flat heaters. With each change, we got more far-infrared from the emitter, all the way up to 96% far-infrared rays which are emitted by today's most advanced pure ceramic flat heaters. The carbon heaters that you have seen hit the market last year are already not standing up to time, give off lower levels of far-infrared, and in my opinion, should not even be considered when talking about good far-infrared heaters. Ceramic elements are still the way to go, and the flat ceramic trough heaters are at the top where quality is concerned. So you ask, "Why would the flat ceramic trough heater give off more far-infrared than the ceramic rod heater? They are both ceramic, right?" Yes, this is right, but the difference lies in the wattage of the element! All ceramic emitters give off both far-infrared waves and heat waves. To be a great far-infrared ceramic emitter, you want it to give off more far-infrared than heat. Simply put, the lower watt plates give off more far-infrared and less heat. Below are photos of the ceramic rod heater (left) compared to the the flat ceramic trough heaters (right).

Notice the two elements in the heater on the right? They are each 163 watts compared to the 350 watts of the heater on the left. This concept is similar to that of light bulbs. From experience we know that a higher watt light bulb gives off more heat than a lower watt light bulb but what you really want it to give off is light, not heat. In the instance of far-infrared heaters, you want them to give off far-infrared, not heat. Even though they are called "heaters", far-infrared emitters create "cell resonance" when far-infrared rays are absorbed which generates heat, eliminating the need for heat rays. Heated air is dry, harsh on our skin, hard to breath and tough on our lungs, where far-infrared rays create warmth that is safe, gentle, comfortable and not damaging to our skin or lungs. This is why far-infrared heaters are used in incubators for tiny babies.

If you are looking at far-infrared saunas or even far-infrared room heaters, you now know that you will want to look for pure ceramic, low watt trough heaters like those used in the SaunaGen Brand Royals Series v.2 far-infrared saunas to get the most far-infrared from your emitters.