Polar Active Ice 3.0 Cold Therapy Ice Machine System with Programmable Timer, Large Foot Therapy Compression Pad, Lightweight 9 Quart Cooler, Quiet Pump, Strong Cryotherapy Pain Relief Treatment

The well-designed unit works flawlessly and with several ways to customize the level of cooling as well as the on/off time periods. It is literally set and forget. Ice bottles last 5-6 hours before a 1 minute change out process. So easy to use it allows for the patient to concentrate on healing. Highly recommend for anyone who has had knee, hip, or shoulder replacement surgery. I’d give it ten stars if I could.

Updated 4/20/2020: I wanted to add to my original review. I've used a similar unit in the past. However, the deciding factor in purchasing this particular unit was the auto on/off cycle timer, which no other company offer's. You can set it for how long you want it run and how long you want it to shut off before it runs again.Recently I have been dealing with a lot of knee pain and stiffness while trying to sleep, it's been 3-1/2 months since my surgery. To the point I am back having to use crutch's when I first get out of bed, until I do an ice therapy session. So I decided to experiment and use the machine throughout the whole night while in bed.First couple of nights I tried different cycle times, 20 mins on/20 off. Then 30/20. Finally settled on 40 mins on/10 mins off. Now when I get up in the mornings I feel so much better. I'm not in nearly as much pain nor do I have as much stiffness! Also, I no long need the crutch's when I first wake up. Having the on/off cycle timer is such an added benefit!Due to being a multi sport athlete and years of injury and competition I just had my fourth knee surgery, I borrowed a similar unit on my last surgery that wasn't available to me this time. I thought I would just use ice this time. After two days of intense pain and swelling almost the same, I ordered this unit. I love it!The bladders have the wrap attached to it which makes it very convenient and easy to put on & off. This unit also has auto on/off timer that I love. You can set it to run from 10 minutes to 16-1/2 hours. You can also set it for how long you want it off before it kicks back on again. Which is nice because you can have it on a lot longer than ice and you can sleep with it on. Within 24 hours my swelling was reduced by more than half of what it was and so was the pain. Ice, if left on to long can be counter productive and can be messy.I did have a small issue when I first received it, not a real big deal. However, I called the manufacture, Polar Products and they were really nice and took care of it immediately. While talking to them, found out they were actually local to me (Stow, Ohio) and they invited me out. They are a small family owned company with great people and a great product and worth the extra money I paid. Don't be afraid to spend the extra money for this product, Don't be penny wise and dollar foolish.While I was at their facility I was asked if I would be interested in testing reusable Ice packs they are developing to reduce having to keep continuing emptying water and adding ice. I feel they are working very well, maintaining good temperature for 6-8 hours. Take them out, wipe them off and put them back in freezer and grab another set.This unit is something I would suggest having and wearing the moment you get home from surgery. This will help cut days even weeks off of dealing with pain and swelling. Also; I wear mine 30 minutes on/10 minutes off/30 minutes on, then i get up and walk as much as I can with or without crutches, then repeat. After four knee surgery's I have learned how important it is to get it moving as soon and as much as possible. However, getting the swelling down as soon as possible is a huge factor and this unit helps do that.As I am now in therapy, they will typically ice you at the end. I elect not to have them do this and I come home and put my knee bladder on. My opinion it much more effective and more comfortable. I don't understand why therapy does not use them. I know this was long but I hope my experience will help someone or many with a faster recovery, being on crutches and laid up is no fun!

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".