Most people love the benefits of sauna bathing, but I’ve heard from many infrared sauna users that they dislike the typical 45-minute preheat time, the large footprint, and the potential for hidden EMFs. The FireLight SuperSauna eliminates all of those barriers while giving you something even more powerful: true full-spectrum healing light.
Sauna bathing and red light therapy have been integral parts of my wellness routine for several years, and I’ve used, tested and reviewed countless traditional and infrared saunas during that time.
The SaunaSpace FireLight SuperSauna is the most recent addition to our home spa, and it’s different from any other sauna I’ve experienced so far. In this article, I’ll explain why this unique full-spectrum infrared and red light sauna could be the perfect addition to your home – especially if you want to get the most out of a sauna but have limited floor space.
FireLight SuperSauna Key Facts
- Unlike most infrared saunas, SaunaSpace utilizes full-spectrum incandescent light that emits the full spectrum of natural sunlight, excluding any potentially harmful frequencies (e.g., UV).
- The sauna is made entirely of non-toxic materials, including organic cotton and bamboo.
- All electronic components, including the light bulbs, are shielded to prevent the emission of potentially harmful EMFs.
- The sauna heats up instantly (no preheating required) and reaches such a high temperature that each session takes less than 20 minutes.
- The sauna enclosure is aesthetically pleasing if you’re considering a permanent setup, but it’s also easy to take down and reposition.
- The optional silver fabric shields you from outside EMFs, thus creating a 100% EMF-free environment while you’re inside the sauna enclosure.
What I like most about this sauna is that it’s hot as soon as you turn on the lightbulbs, and the intense heat those bulbs emit. I also love that each session exposes me to the full spectrum of light, including near-infrared, mid-infrared, far-infrared and red light, producing the combined benefits of those frequencies.
To learn more about how light impacts your body, I recommend reading my articles on the health benefits of infrared saunas and the health benefits of red light therapy.
Unboxing and Setup
Setting up the FireLight SuperSauna isn’t rocket science. Still, it took me a little longer than I had anticipated because I had to operate within a relatively small space and couldn’t lay out all the components in a manner that would facilitate following the manual.
In other words, I found myself constantly searching for the next piece of the puzzle. Despite those limitations, I was able to set everything up in just an hour. Now that I know where each piece goes, I could set up another FireLight sauna in a fraction of that time.
The good news is that SaunaSpace has no special requirements regarding flooring or electrical connections. We placed our FireLight sauna on hardwood floors, but carpet or concrete would be perfectly fine.
As far as electrical requirements are concerned, all you need is one standard 120V/15A outlet per heating panel. For reference, the regular FireLight sauna comes with a single heating panel, but the SuperSauna we got has two. As a result, we used two standard outlets.
Depending on the type of flooring you have, I’d recommend putting a towel on the floor (over the included bamboo ground mat) or investing in the PureLayer Mat Cover, which SaunaSpace sells separately. To protect the bamboo mat and the included stool, we got the PureLayer Essentials Bundle, which consists of the mat and stool cover.
Heaters and Performance
One of the most important aspects of any sauna is its temperature. That’s because many of the benefits you can get from sauna bathing are directly connected to the sauna’s ability to raise your core temperature and cause heat “stress.”
The truth is that the ambient temperature inside the sauna is only a part of the equation. Technically, what matters the most is how much energy the heaters can transfer into your tissue – either by heating the air around you (as in the case of traditional saunas) or by leveraging deeply penetrating infrared rays (as in the case of infrared saunas).
As it so happens, infrared rays can transfer more energy into your body than hot air, which is why infrared saunas can operate at lower temperatures than traditional saunas while delivering the same benefits.
The critical factors with infrared saunas are light quality and emissivity, as these two variables determine how much of the energy produced by the heating elements actually reaches your body.
Now that you understand the basics of the relationship between temperature and sauna benefits, let’s talk about how those principles apply to the FireLight sauna.
In a nutshell, the FireLight sauna feels different from any other sauna I’ve ever spent time in. It’s a “weird” combination of full-spectrum IR and traditional.
It’s different from a traditional sauna because the air inside doesn’t get much hotter than 130°F, making it easier to breathe and relax. On the other hand, the area close to the bulbs heats up to over 370°F, which is blisteringly hot in comparison.
Practically, that means the side of your body facing the heaters gets incredibly hot (depending on how far back you choose to sit) while the other sides remain relatively comfortable.
As a result, your core temperature rises and you get the full benefits of light therapy, including infrared and red light. The FireLight sauna accomplishes that by relying on incandescent bulbs instead of flickering LEDs.
Incandescent bulbs produce approximately 90% heat and only about 10% light. As a result, each of the seven 250W bulbs in our SuperSauna produces a massive amount of heat in the form of invisible infrared rays, but also red light that’s safe for the eyes (meaning there’s no need to use goggles).
What sets these FireLight bulbs apart from regular incandescent bulbs is that they emit a lot of the same healing wavelengths as the sun (without the harmful ones). They also heat up instantaneously, so you don’t have to wait for 30-45 minutes before entering the sauna (as you have to with most infrared sauna cabins).
It’s also worth noting that each of the bulbs is encased in a metal cage that acts like a Faraday cage to prevent electromagnetic fields from penetrating your body and potentially causing health concerns.
Downsides and Limitations
The FireLight sauna is one of the best and most effective light-based saunas I’ve ever tried, and I absolutely love it.
However, it comes with a couple of limitations, including the most obvious one: it’s a one-person sauna, which takes away from the communal aspect that sauna bathing has traditionally been all about.
However, the one-person aspect enables my wife, the kids and I to fit sauna sessions into our respective schedules without isolating ourselves (considering I set up the sauna right in our family room).
The other disadvantage of the FireLight sauna is that it can only be used indoors, which may limit its application in the context of contrast therapy (unless you also have a cold plunge available indoors). For those with a dedicated indoor spa area, this limitation is likely a non-issue.
Additionally, the FireLight sauna may not be the perfect fit for someone who prefers a traditional sauna experience with abundant steam, essential oils, and the pouring of water over hot sauna rocks.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that you’ll eventually need to replace the bulbs. More specifically, each bulb has an approximate lifespan of 5,000 hours. That’s over 16,000 20-minute sauna sessions. While that means many years of use, if a bulb stops working early and you’re out of warranty, you need to budget $240 for a replacement bulb.
That said, the bulbs come with a five-year warranty.
Pricing
Speaking of pricing, the FireLight sauna isn’t inexpensive. Depending on the options you choose (e.g., number of heaters and EMF-blocking fabric), you can pay between $4,995 and $8,945.
The good news is that if you want to invest in this premium sauna, you can use promo code MKUMMER to get a 10% discount on the regular price.
My Experience With The FireLight
I love my FireLight sauna even though it’s different from what I expected. The truth is, I thought of the SaunaSpace as yet another infrared sauna manufacturer delivering the same full-spectrum infrared sauna experience I’ve gotten used to over the years.
Little did I know how different the FireLight sauna would be. The heat emitted from the seven incandescent bulbs in our SuperSauna is more intense than anything I’ve ever experienced. If I sit close enough to the heaters, the skin on my body parts facing the bulbs starts tingling from the intense heat, while the rest of my body is hot but relaxed.
I noticed that I would start sweating almost immediately, even though we set up the sauna in our climate-controlled family room. Another remarkable aspect of this sauna is that each session lasts approximately 20 minutes, divided into four five-minute segments. For the first five minutes, I sit on the stool facing the heaters to allow the light to penetrate deeply and reach my organs, including my heart. After five minutes, I rotate to my side and keep doing that until I’ve covered all four sides of my body.
At that point, I look like someone dumped a bucket of water over my head, and I’m ready to step outside, take a cold shower, jump into the cold plunge or just let my body gradually cool down.
Being able to step into the sauna at any time without worrying about preheating it is an absolute game-changer for me, considering my busy lifestyle. Even better, with each session I also get a complete red light therapy treatment, which helps tremendously with energy production, skin health and making my skin more resilient to UV radiation from natural sunlight (one of the reasons I leverage red light therapy during the colder months of the year and before the UV index begins to climb in spring).
While I don’t have a fixed sauna schedule, I often use the FireLight sauna in the late afternoon or evening – especially when I go to the gym later in the day. What I’ve noticed are improvements in recovery, including less delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and a nearly immediate rebound in energy levels.
The latter I’ve noticed particularly when I use the sauna after an intense CrossFit session, which would wipe me out for the rest of the day.
The combination of red and infrared light manages to recharge my batteries, which has noticeably improved my post-exercise productivity.
FireLight Compared to Other Sauna Enclosures I’ve Tried
The FireLight sauna is different from any other infrared sauna enclosure I’ve tried in the past for several reasons, including the use of incandescent bulbs instead of LEDs, the intensity of the heat it produces, the use of 100% non-toxic materials such as organic cotton and bamboo, and the lack of EMFs it emits.
From a pure health perspective, the light emitted by incandescent bulbs is flicker-free or more natural than the light emitted by LEDs. Incandescent bulbs also emit significantly more heat than IR LEDs, allowing the SaunaSpace heaters to dump more energy into your tissue.
While I don’t discount the benefits you can get from “conventional” infrared sauna enclosures, SaunaSpace is arguably the best offer on the market if you have the budget for it.
Summary and Final Verdict
If you’re in the market for a one-person sauna that’s small enough to fit into most spaces and you want to get the most benefits from each sauna session, the SaunaSpace Firelight sauna might be your best bet.
Not only does the FireLight sauna deliver all the benefits of a full-spectrum infrared sauna, but you also get red light therapy without needing a separate panel. Combined with being made in the USA using only non-toxic materials, and the optional EMF shielding fabric, you can turn your living room into a serene wellness oasis. Best of all, it takes only 20 minutes out of your day.
Potential budgetary constraints aside, what’s not to like about this sauna?
What do you think about the FireLight sauna? Worth its price tag? Let me know in the comments!
Michael Kummer is a healthy living enthusiast and CrossFit athlete whose goal is to help people achieve optimal health by bridging the gap between ancestral living and the demands of modern society.
