Redwood Outdoors Review: The Best in Hot and Cold Recovery?

I remember escaping into the purple mountains of Colorado and discovering a collection of natural hot springs bubbling up from the earth. 

Soaking in the thermal waters and hearing the natural sounds of the forest made me wish I could do that every night back home.

Turns out, the founders of Redwood Outdoors shared my same desire and began building a lineup of nature-inspired hot tubs, saunas, and cold plunges to make it a reality.

I picked up their Yukon Cold Plunge Kit and read up on their popular Thermowood Panorama Sauna to dive into the brand and see what they’re all about. Here’s what I experienced.

What Is Redwood Outdoors?

Redwood Outdoors is a small business made up of outdoor enthusiasts located in Tukwila, Washington, just outside of Seattle.

One of the founders was on an off-grid hiker’s retreat in British Columbia when he stumbled upon the joy of cedar hot tubs and wanted to share them with the world.

The brand has since evolved into a thoughtful designer of hot tubs, saunas, and cold plunges made from simple materials inspired by the natural world.

Because Redwood Outdoors ships their products from the warehouse directly to customers, they’re able to cut out the costs of middleman and offer high-quality products they call an “affordable luxury”.

Things to Consider Before Buying Cold Plunges or Saunas from Redwood Outdoors

If you’re in the market for a hot or cold recovery tool like a hot tub, sauna, or cold plunge, consider how many people in your household will be regularly using it and what types of features are important to you.

Unlike the clunky plastic beasts that come to mind when most people think of hot tubs, Redwood Outdoors uses cedar wood panels in their tub designs for a more natural look and feel. They also offer electric and wood-fired heaters.

Most of the models in their outdoor DIY sauna collection come in either cedar or thermowood that you build into a barrel shape.

Redwood Outdoors offers two types of cold plunges: a plastic blow-up tub and a spruce thermowood design.

If you want an uncomplicated recovery tool without all the gadgets and gizmos, this brand is worth looking into. 

Redwood Outdoors Review

Yukon Cold Plunge

Cold therapy is on the rise and for good reason. It’s been shown to deliver a laundry list of health benefits for your mind and body like faster recovery, boosted immune function, improved mental health, and even stress relief.

During my senior year of college, I was battling through one of the toughest periods of my life. One of the many activities I did to change my mood and clear my mind was taking an ice-cold shower after my daily workout.  

Cold therapy is one of those things you cringe just thinking about, until you’re on the other side feeling grateful that you made yourself do it. 

The Yukon Cold Plunge Kit is the most affordable cold-plunge setup from Redwood Outdoors that includes both a tub and an electric chiller.

The Setup + Equipment

When two heavy boxes arrived at my door with a thud, I was wondering how much time it would take to set this thing up. Turns out, it was very little.

The cold plunge tub arrives folded up in a huge carrying bag with straps that let you carry it like a backpack. Unlike most cold plunges, the Yukon Cold Plunge is truly portable.

You could easily pack this up and lug it to a turf field to do cold plunges after an outdoor workout. You’d need bags of ice since the electric chiller needs a power source, but it’s a benefit you wouldn’t get from other plunges.

One small quarrel I have is with the carrying case. While it does its job, it’s made from thin material that doesn’t match up with the ultra durable material used for the tub itself. I’d like to see Redwood Outdoors make a firmer rubber carrying case for this tub.

Once you get it unpacked, it’s astonishing just how quickly you can inflate it with the pump that comes included. It took under three minutes for me to get it plunge-ready.

Next, you’ll fill the plunge up with water and set up the chiller. Attaching the hoses to the plunge was tricky at first, but Redwood Outdoors has a tutorial video that helps walk you through it.

Finally, you’ll power on the chiller and let it cool the water down. The very first time you do this, it takes a little while, but so long as you keep the tub covered between uses, it cools down in just a few minutes after that. 42° is the bone-chilling sweet spot I found out my cold-plunge limits to the test.

When you’re waiting for the tub to cool down and while you’re using it, you’ll notice the water gently filters out through the bottom of the tub into the chiller. From there, the water is filtered and chilled, then shot back out through the top of the tub. It’s a short, ongoing cycle that keeps the water cold and clean.

Taking the Plunge

This tub is remarkably easy to use. Once it has reached your desired temperature, just sit back and embrace the cold.

I’ve used smaller, more compact plunges before that only allow you to submerge your legs and waist. The Yukon Cold Plunge is much more deep and spacious. At 59” inches wide and almost 24” deep, you could easily fit two adults in here.

What I enjoyed most about the size of this tub is that it gives you the ability to dunk your head and get the full cold-plunge experience. However, due to its large size and depth, it also takes up more space on your patio or backyard than more compact cold-plunge setups.

At first, my toes were so frigid I nearly hopped out. But once I rested my arms over the edges and drew in a few deep breaths, I got past the initial shock and settled into a refreshing and almost meditative cold plunge.

When you’re done, just hop out, pull the cover on, switch off the chiller, and you’re good to go. 

Thermowood Panorama Sauna

On the opposite end of the recovery spectrum lies the humble sauna — the hot and relaxing counterpart to the skin-tingling cold plunge.

Hailed as one of the most natural and powerful ways to relax and recover the body, saunas have been revered for millennia by cultures across the globe. Today, it seems their popularity is only rising.

Sauna use has been associated with increased heart and skin health, muscle recovery, better sleep, and even less stress. They also deliver one of the simplest methods to relax, reflect, and reset the body before or after a long day.

Hot tubs and saunas are where Redwood Outdoors built a majority of their success. The Thermowood Panorama Sauna is a prime example of one of their offerings that weaves natural elements into a powerful recovery tool you can assemble yourself.

The Setup + Equipment

This six-person wood-paneled barrel sauna is simple and elegant, mimicking a classic Scandinavian design.

The sauna is composed of thermowood planks with tongue-and-groove patterns that slide into place and are tightly fastened by stainless steel bands. This uncomplicated system allows the planks to naturally expand and contract to maintain a tight seal.

The design offers a beautiful, natural aesthetic that is also energy efficient and allows heat to disperse evenly throughout the structure.

A handy guy can build this sauna in approximately four hours. If you’re less skilled using tools like a screwdriver, wrench, hammer, and mallet, it might take a few extra hours to properly assemble it.

Like the rest of Redwood Outdoors’ offerings, the Thermowood Panorama Sauna comes with a detailed assembly tutorial video.

This sauna comes with all the necessary wood and metal pieces needed to construct the barrel, a world-class Harvia electric heater from Finland, glass windows, a water bucket and ladle, sauna rocks, and backrests. Once fully assembled, the sauna is 76” tall, 76” wide, and 71” long.  

The thermowood used in this sauna has a handful of benefits. Because it’s been exposed to heat during production, it won’t react to changes in humidity nearly as much as untreated wood. It won’t secrete sap or resin, either. And since it comes from well-managed, PEFC-certified forests, it lacks chemicals and foreign substances.

This is by far the most elegant at-home sauna design I’ve seen, especially when compared to traditional boxy-shaped saunas.

Heating Up

Once hot, this thing gets up to a steamy 195° F, which is much toastier than the sauna at my local health club. 

If you’re starting with the heater off, it takes less than an hour to fully heat up. That’s a nice time-saving feature if you’re planning to use this first thing in the morning or at night before bed.

Most saunas don’t offer a view, but the Thermowood Panorama Sauna does. The big full-glass back wall brings in tons of natural light. If your backyard has any kind of view, make sure you line it up with the back window so you can look out while you’re relaxing. Having a window also creates the perception that you’re in a bigger space than you really are.

Overall, this is a well-designed sauna with an elegant, natural-looking aesthetic and a powerful heater that provides you with high-heat recovery sessions whenever you need them. This sauna is quite large, though, so make sure you have the backyard or patio space to accommodate it.

This would be a terrific backyard addition for a family who wants to level up their recovery game or even a couple who wants to sprawl out in their sauna and have extra space for guests.

What Do Other Reviewers Say About Redwood Outdoors?

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While Redwood Outdoors is a smaller and newer brand, their products have attracted a passionate following. People who have used their products praise them for their simplicity, nature-centric design, and effectiveness.

Unlike other recovery brands with tons of gizmos, features, and add-ons, Redwood Outdoors has found success through minimalism and the use of natural elements like cedar and thermowood.

Many reviewers mentioned how simple the assembly was for a tool as big and complex as a hot tub, sauna, or cold plunge, and how easy it was to use once it was constructed.

My Overall Thoughts on Redwood Outdoors

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