REVIEW – I like scented candles and waxes, especially around the holidays, but with an active cat, I have always been concerned about the risk of fire. SwitchBot recently surprised me with their Candle warmer, promising luxurious fragrances with a warm glow and safety features an open flame could never provide.
︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $39.99 | $34.99 with instant coupon on Amazon
Where to buy: SwitchBot, Amazon
What is it?
The SwitchBot Candle Warmer is a Wi-Fi-connected device that uses a halogen lamp to melt candle wax.
What’s included?
- Candle Warmer
- Two halogen bulbs
- User manual
- Warranty cards
- In the package I received, they included a plush toy and some fun stickers.
Tech specs
- Max candle diameter: 9.5cm (3.7 in.)
- Table to shade height: 14cm (5.5 in.)
- Weight: 520g (18.3 oz.)
- Power: 100 to 125V, 50/60Hz
- Halogen bulb type GU10, 50W
- Operating temperature: 0 to 40°C (32 to 104°F)
- Operating humidity: 0 to 90% relative
- Connectivity: 2.4GHz Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2
- Available in white and black
Design and features
Historically, most of the non-food scents wafting around my house tend to come from scented candles, but, like most, I’ve forgotten and left them burning when I went to bed or ran out for an errand. Likewise, my 18-year-old cat still loves to explore, and I’ve been afraid she would knock them over. As a result, I don’t light candles as often as I’d like. SwitchBot has addressed some of my concerns and added a few cool features with their Candle Warmer.
It arrived in a SwitchBot promotional Christmas box. Neat!
A few fun stickers and a cute stuffed toy were in there, too! Thanks, SwitchBot!
The Candle Warmer uses a halogen bulb to warm the wax, and it thoughtfully includes a spare. Please don’t touch the glass bulb during installation, as oils can cause it to fail prematurely. Of course, please don’t touch the bulb when it’s on because it’s hot.
The bulb socket is ceramic.
The Candle Warmer’s cord has an in-line controller that enables connection to the SwitchBot app, with power, brightness, and timers for 2-, 4-, and 6-hour durations.
Adding the Candle Warmer to the app is straightforward.
The device screens have buttons for power, brightness, delay, and schedules.
Use the timer to turn the warmer on or off after a delay of up to 24 hours.
Scheduling activates and deactivates the timer at specific times.
There are some interesting settings. I’ll make sure that the Power Loss Recovery turns the warmer off and keeps it off after a power loss. I would like to see an addition that turns the warmer off if Wi-Fi is interrupted to ensure it doesn’t miss scheduled or timer functions and stays off when there’s a doubt. Still, if it does, I’m thinking it would be less dangerous than leaving a lit candle burning.
Third-party services enable control of the warmer via various cloud services. It’s great to be able to say, “Alexa, turn on the candle warmer,” or “set the candle warmer to 50%.”
NFC and Matter are supported.
I started with some pumpkin spice-scented wax in a warmer I’ve had for decades. The soot from just a few tea candles inside is one reason it isn’t used much.
The warmer melted the wax in about 10 minutes, filling the house with a lovely fragrance. After melting, I lowered the brightness to 50% and 25%, and both settings kept the wax liquid.
The light is hot, but not enough to burn fingers unless they dilly-dally around under it.
The Candle Warmer is limited in height, and larger jar candles don’t fit.
Smaller candles are no problem, but might take longer to melt because they are further from the bulb.
Final thoughts
Somewhere, I remember reading that our sense of smell is most closely related to our memory. The scent of pine always prompts recollections of Christmases past, the pumpkin spice of Thanksgiving, and the vanilla of making cookies with my mom. Glorious stuff. SwitchBot’s Candle Warmer provides the scents of the seasons without the soot or flame of a candle. The app integration adds an element of safety that a candle can never match (pun intended). Thank you and good job, SwitchBot!
What I like about the SwitchBot Candle Warmer
- Simple setup
- Wi-Fi-connected timers and rules help prevent leaving hot wax unattended
- Variable brightness
- No flame = no soot and much less fire risk
What needs to be improved?
- Add a function to turn the warmer off if Wi-Fi is interrupted.
- Support for larger jar candles would be advantageous.
Price: $39.99 | $34.99 with instant coupon on Amazon
Where to buy: SwitchBot, Amazon
Source: SwitchBot provided a free sample for this review, but did not provide input, guidance, or editing before publication.
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