Polar Active Ice 3.0 | 9 QT Cold Therapy Ice Machine | Programmable Timer | Full Circumference Knee Pad | Cryotherapy Pain Relief System | Ace Bandage Style Compression

Updated 01/26/2025: rating changed from 2-star to 5-starAfter discovering the timer did not work, contacted Polar Products directly using their online form on Mon evening. Did not get any response Tue morning, so called company. Rep found the amazon order and set up a replacement timer to be shipped overnight. Replacement timer was received in time for initial use and it worked correctly. Kudos to Polar Products Customer support!Main review:The machine is EXCELLENT at cooling the knee area during recovery of (out-patient) total knee replacement surgery. The therapy pad was incorporated into the dressing put on the leg by the surgery personnel so it was ready to use during recovery. Once home, all that had to be done was prepare the "ice chest" with 6 frozen plastic water bottles and cold water, connect the two tubes from the chest to the pad, and start the flow using the timer.The timer makes the system sooo much easier! it eliminates the need to set a manual alarm or something as a reminder to stop/start the flow. Initially, it was programmed for 120 min on and 120 min off. When it was required to stand up and move around, the timer would be unplugged from the chest, shutting off the flow (if the pump was on), then the tube assembly was disconnected from the pad, and the machine could be left in place while moving around.Very little water came out of the tubes when disconnecting from the pad, and a small towel was used to catch what did come out.Once the machine was connected again, the timer would still be counting down and the flow would resume. If the timer was shut off completely and the power transformer was left plugged in, the timer remembered the settings that had been programmed before and was ready to go without any changes.18 total water bottles were used. Magic marker was used to mark the bottles as a 6-bottle set (#1, #2, #3), so the bottles would stay together and freeze all the same. 18 bottles might have been overkill, maybe 12 could have been used. The bottle group was changed out after the 2 hours of flow completed. The partially thawed bottles were removed, and the next set of frozen bottles were put in the water, ready to go for the next use.Things that were noted:1- Changing the water bottles with water in the chest caused the bottles to float, and made it a little difficult to get them all laid down sideways so that the lid of the chest could be closed. It took a little getting used to, but worked fine. The water in the chest was reviewed occasionally when bottles were removed, to see if there was any debris or anything that might plug the tubes. The water was never drained out of the chest during the entirety of use.2- As instructed, the wrapper labels on all bottles were removed prior to placing them in the chest.3- Plugging the tube coupling from the chest into the pad seemed to be finicky, leading to some concern that the O-rings on the male couplings of the pad coupling might get sliced. The instructions state to be sure to push down the metal tabs all the way down on the female coupling, before connecting the two assemblies. It was really difficult to hold BOTH tabs down at the same time using one hand for each, and then try to push the female coupling over the O-rings onto the male coupling. It was not clear if pushing down ONE tab also pushed down the OTHER tab, or if both were independent of each other. A spare set of O-rings came with the machine.4- When laying on the bed (about 32in above the floor) with the chest left on the floor, there would be pulsing felt in the pad and in the tubes while the pump was on. Evidently, it had a harder time pumping water up that high. Once the chest was raised about 12in off the floor, the pulsating stopped and the flow was smooth.Again, the unit performed excellently, and it is felt that it did a MUCH MUCH better job at chilling the knee and leg than if other methods had been used. The cooling was very uniform over the entire pad area. It is felt it was much more effective than using hard ice packs or something equivalent. The only caveat was the bad timer, but customer service resolved that completely.01/15/2025 initial review:Brand new Polar Products Active Ice 3.0 9 quart system included a programmable timer & temperature control that can be plugged inbetween the power supply and the cooling reservoir case. After testing the unit right out of the box, the timer failed to turn on or provide power to the pump in the cooling reservoir. We WERE able to get the pump to work by disconnecting the timer cables from the power supply cable and the reservoir receptacle, and plugging in the power supply directly into the reservoir receptacle.Hopefully, we will get a replacement timer assembly through a warranty request, but we are disappointed that we (probably) won't have the timer functionality after knee replacement is performed in two days.The instruction booklet that came with the unit has a section for troubleshooting the pump not running, and one paragraph makes it seem like this is a "common" problem:"Remove the Programmable Timer and plug the power supply cord directly into the plate on the cooling reservoir. The system may be operated this way while a replacement programmable timer is ordered".

TLDR: After one week of use: The best customer service of any vendor I have encoutered. An essentially perfect product for post-shhoulder replacement surgery.When the equipment arrived it included the smaller shoulder pad. Having used a similar device from another vendor I knew that I needed the larger version (5'11", 175#). I called Polar, and the phone was immediately answered by a real person; no menu, no waiting, no hearing how my call was VERY important to them. Randi, the support rep, asked me if I had used the one they sent me and I told her it was still in the bag, unopened. She said, "That's OK, keep it anyway. You might need it for something else later." That was on Friday, five days before Xmas. Monday the new shoulder pad arrived, Fex Ex Second Day.When I told my orthopedic surgeon I was going to use an ice machine he was enthusiastically supportive. He told me to bring it with me to the hospital and he would put it on me before I woke up. He apologized for not being allow the write a prescription for one.On to the product itself. It is so quiet I can't hear it even in a silent bedroom at night, 3-4 feet from my head. The pain relief is better than the oxycodone that was prescribed following this reverse total shoulder replacement so after the first day I have only taken one a day rather than the once every four hours prescribed.In the week since my surgery I have found that the large pad is best for daytime use and the small one is adequate and more comfortable for sleeping. When I want to get up and walk around, the hose attached to the large pad is long enough that I can simply disconnect it after turning the device off (only a few drops come out) and reconnect on my own. The hose on the smaller pad is too short for me to disconnect/reconnect it myself, so I unplug the power cord at the device and carry it into the bathroom with my good arm.At first I was operating it at the top setting (4) all the time. I found that if I run it at 2 it feels almost as cold and at least some of the six water bottles stay frozen for 8-12 hours. Running at 4, I could feel the shoulder pad temperature rising after 4-6 hours. I get the same pain relief at either setting.The hoses are long enough that I can have the device on either side of my chair and on the side opposite my surgical shoulder in bed. I won't say that sleeping with these cold stiff hoses wrapped around my chest is as comfortable as not having them there, but the constant pain relief more than makes up for it.I have on a couple occasions awakened with pain and found the shoulder pad warm. In both cases I had turned into a position that kinked the hoses. Just shifting in a random direction opened up the flow again. One night I woke up to find that I had somehow pressed against the disconnect button on one of the hoses. It leaked maybe two teaspoons of water before I woke up and unplugged the power cord from the machine.Putting on the smaller pad is pretty easy by yourself. The larger pad is more difficult. While I can do it, I usually enlist my wife's help to get the big strap wrapped around my chest. (When I want to walk around I just turn off the machine and disconnect the hoses.) Since I cannot connect the hose on the smaller pad by myslef once I have it on, I connect it, then slip on the pad.Having 12 water bottles is adequate for me now that I run the machine at the "2" setting. I put on the large pad and put six bottles in the machine after breakfast. I wear it until dinner time. I put the small pad on at bed time, with a fresh set of frozen bottles.The only change I would make to this product is to make the hose on the smaller pad long enough that I can disconect/connect it while wearing it.