Clearlight Sauna Review: 8 Months of 40-Minute Sessions (Temps, Cost, Home vs Studio)
This is my Clearlight sauna review after about eight months in the same booth, at least twice a week, 40 minutes at a time. I don’t own a Clearlight. I use one at a tanning and wellness studio on a $69.99 monthly membership, and I’ve sat in it on quiet mornings, busy evenings, through the hottest part of summer and now into fall.
So why write it now? My husband and I both love the sauna, and we’ve started seriously talking about putting a Clearlight in our new house. Before we spend somewhere between $5,800 and $9,900 on one, I wanted to write down everything the studio booth has taught me: what’s actually inside it, how hot it really gets minute by minute, what I like, what’s good to know, and our math on two memberships versus one home sauna.
Every number here is something I photographed or paid myself. The temperatures come straight off the booth’s panel, not a brochure. I’m not a doctor, so think of this as one regular person’s notes, not health advice.
| Model I use | Clearlight Sanctuary Professional, the commercial version of Clearlight’s Sanctuary line |
| Where I use it | A private booth at a tanning and wellness studio, on a membership |
| How long | About 8 months |
| How often | At least twice a week, 40 minutes each time |
| My setting | 137°F (the panel goes up to 175°F) |
| What the panel read | 115°F at the start, 134°F at 10 minutes, 133°F at 17 minutes (late October), 137°F with 10 minutes left (September) |
| Red light | A red LED panel on the ceiling plus a red light tower at the door |
| What I pay | $69.99 a month, tax included, unlimited, one service a day (my full membership math) |
| Home Clearlight price | Sanctuary 2 Basswood: $7,299 on sale, $7,899 regular. Red light add-on: $1,399 on sale, $1,999 regular |
| Best for / Good to know | Best for anyone who wants a quiet, private infrared session with red light built in. Good to know: the booth takes about 10 minutes to climb into the 130s, and the panel can read a few degrees under your setting. |
Prices checked October 2026 on Clearlight’s official price list.
My Clearlight Sauna Review After 8 Months
I started going to this booth in late winter, after trying just about every kind of sauna I could find: gym saunas, hotel spas, Korean bathhouses and the one in an apartment building. I picked an infrared booth for two simple reasons. It’s a private room, and it has red light built in.
My week usually looks like this: two sauna sessions and two face red light sessions, on different days, because my membership allows one service a day. Most of the time I go in the morning, and the sauna is always the very last thing I do. I ride 30 minutes on the stationary bike, then drive straight over. I’ve tried it before a workout too, and I felt a little flat afterward, so now it always comes last.
After eight months, here’s the short version. It’s the one appointment in my week I never want to cancel. I walk out sleepy and relaxed but also clear-headed and refreshed, like I pressed a reset button. That’s a feeling, not a medical claim, but it’s the reason I keep paying for it and the reason we’re thinking about a home one.
What the Clearlight Sanctuary Professional Booth Looks Like Inside
Clearlight sells the Sanctuary Professional as its commercial line, the version built for studios and spas. Clearlight’s warranty page lists 5 years for commercial saunas and a limited lifetime warranty for home ones. So keep in mind this is a review of the studio version. A home Sanctuary should feel similar, but it isn’t the exact same machine.
Inside, it’s simple. There’s one long wooden bench with a slatted backrest, slatted side walls, soft warm LED strips along the walls, two round ceiling lights and two small speakers. The studio lays a big towel over the bench before every session and leaves a robe and a pair of small black goggles for the red light. The glass window has the Clearlight logo etched into it, and the control panel sits on the side wall where you can reach it from the bench.
The panel says Sanctuary Professional by Clearlight across the top. You get temperature up and down, time up and down, power, inside and outside lights, a reserve button, a full spectrum button, AUX and a °F/°C switch. The screen shows the current temperature and the minutes left, with a small 100% under that for the heater power.
Up close, the wood is light and plain with no stain, and the edges of the bench and backrest are rounded. Since you’re sitting on just a towel, these are the details worth looking at before you buy any sauna.
The Red Light Part: Ceiling Panel and Tower
This is the main reason I chose this booth. There’s a red LED panel in the ceiling right over the bench, and a tall red light tower stands right at the door, with rows of round LEDs and a Hold to Reset button at the top. When the red light is on, the whole booth glows red. That’s why some of my panel photos look completely red. It isn’t a filter, it’s the light.
I can’t tell you what red light does inside your body, and I won’t pretend to. What I can tell you is how my sessions feel. Compared with a regular dry sauna, I sweat at about the same speed, but I walk out of the red light booth feeling noticeably more refreshed, and my skin just feels nicer to me afterward. The longer version is in my red light sauna routine.
Temperature: Why I Set It to 137°F When It Goes Up to 175°F
The panel goes all the way up to 175°F. I’ve tried higher settings, and anything above about 137°F makes me dizzy and short of breath, so 137 is my number. My husband is the opposite. He loves serious heat and handles it easily. If your partner likes it hotter than you do, that’s normal, so find your own number instead of copying someone else’s. I compared these readings with a dry sauna thermometer in how hot a sauna actually gets.
Something I didn’t expect: the season changes how the booth behaves. In the middle of summer, fewer people were using the booths, so mine often started cold, and even with a higher setting it stayed somewhere under 140°F for most of the session. Once fall came and the booths were in use more, they started warm and climbed fast. Now I just set 137°F from the start and leave it.
One more thing about the setting: think of it as a ceiling, not a promise. On the session I photographed for this post, the booth hovered at 133 to 134°F on a 137°F setting.
My 40-Minute Clearlight Session, Minute by Minute
Before the timer starts, I set up. I bring two of my own towels because my skin is sensitive and I like towels washed in my own detergent, plus a couple of hair clips to keep my hair off my neck. I take a stainless tumbler of iced chamomile tea into the booth, and a clear tumbler with electrolytes waits in the car for after. In a private booth I don’t wear anything, just the towel. The full packing list is in what to bring to an infrared sauna session, and the clothing question is in what to wear in an infrared sauna.
For this post I photographed the panel as I went, on a Thursday evening session in late October that started at 7:20 p.m. The 30-minute row comes from a September session where I photographed the panel too. Here’s what the panel actually showed, plus how each stretch usually feels for me.
| Time in | Panel showed | How that part usually feels |
|---|---|---|
| Start | 115°F, 40 minutes left | Warm and pleasant, no sweat yet |
| About 3 minutes | 119 to 121°F, 37 minutes left | Still easy, I settle in |
| 10 minutes | 134°F, 30 minutes left | First real sweat, usually chest and back |
| 17 minutes | 133°F, 23 minutes left | Sweat building steadily |
| 30 minutes (a September session) | 137°F, 10 minutes left | Fully sweating, sipping my iced tea, starting to watch the clock |
| 40 minutes | Timer ends | Towel first, then water |
The pattern is almost the same every time. The first 10 minutes are the booth catching up, and after that it holds steady while my body does the work. If 40 minutes sounds like a lot, I explained how I worked up to it in how long to stay in an infrared sauna.
The moment the timer hits zero, I wipe off with my towel and start drinking. My studio doesn’t have showers, so I wash my hands, sit in the car until I cool down, finish the electrolyte tumbler within about 30 minutes and shower when I get home. I wrote down exactly how much I drink in how much water to drink after a sauna.
Why a Private Clearlight Booth Works Better for Me Than a Public Sauna
Public saunas are great for a lot of people, and I’ve enjoyed plenty of them. For me, three things made the private booth the better fit.
The first is temperature. Public saunas are usually set very hot because that’s what most people in the room want, and for me, 20 minutes in one felt like a real accomplishment. In my own booth I pick the number, so I can stay the full 40 minutes and actually enjoy it.
The second is my skin. It’s sensitive, and after a crowded public sauna I once broke out on my face. With my own booth and my own towels, I just feel more relaxed about it.
The third is the red light. A regular dry sauna doesn’t have it, and it’s the part of the session I’d miss most.
What I Like and Good to Know
What I like
- It’s private, so the temperature, the lights and the towels are all mine.
- Red light is built in, with both the ceiling panel and the tower.
- The panel always shows the real temperature and the minutes left, so I know exactly where I am.
- At 137°F, 40 minutes is a session I can finish comfortably every time.
Good to know
- The booth needs about 10 minutes to climb into the 130s, and longer when it starts cold.
- The panel can read a few degrees under your setting. On my late October session it held at 133 to 134°F on a 137°F setting.
- My studio has no showers, so I plan to shower at home.
- My membership is one service a day, so a sauna day and a face red light day are separate days.
- The studio booth is Clearlight’s commercial model. Home Sanctuary saunas are built and warrantied differently.
- If you’re pregnant or have a heart condition, check with your doctor before using any sauna.
Clearlight Home Models We’re Comparing
Before doing any math, I put the four home models we’ve looked at side by side. The specs come from Clearlight’s own model pages and the prices from their official price list, all checked in late October 2026. The booth I use is the commercial Sanctuary Professional, so the two Sanctuary rows are the closest to what I already know.
| Model | Heaters | Seats | Outside size (W x D x H) | Power | Sale / regular |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier 1 Basswood | Far infrared | 1 | 40 x 44 x 76 in | 120V, 1,370W, 11.42 amps, standard household outlet | $4,999 / $5,999 |
| Premier 2 Basswood | Far infrared | 2 | 50 x 44 x 76 in | 120V, 1,750W, 14.5 amps | $5,799 / $6,399 |
| Sanctuary 1 Basswood | Full spectrum on the front wall, far infrared on the rest | 1 | 43 x 48 x 77 in | 120V, 1,750W, 14.6 amps, standard 15-amp outlet (NEMA 5-15P) | $6,899 / $7,499 |
| Sanctuary 2 Basswood | Near, mid and far infrared (full spectrum) | 2 | 52 x 48 x 77 in | 120V, 2,250W, 18.75 amps, 20-amp outlet (NEMA 5-20P) | $7,299 / $7,899 |
| Red light therapy add-on | Red LED light | Add-on | Add-on | Add-on | $1,399 / $1,999 |
Two things stood out to us. The Premier line is far infrared only, while the Sanctuary line is full spectrum, which is closer to the booth I’m used to. And the only one on this list that needs a 20-amp outlet is the Sanctuary 2, the two-person model we actually want. The one-person Premier 1 and Sanctuary 1 plug into a standard household outlet.
Specs from Clearlight’s model pages and prices from Clearlight’s official price list, checked October 2026. Wood options and prices can change, so check both before you order.
Should We Buy a Clearlight for Home? Our Math
Here’s where we are. My husband has the same membership at the same studio for the same $69.99, so between the two of us we pay $139.98 a month, or $1,679.76 a year.
Since we’d sit in it together, only the two-person models really count for us. Here’s how many years of our two memberships each one equals at the sale price:
| Option | Sale price / regular | Equals this many years of our two memberships |
|---|---|---|
| Premier 2 Basswood (far infrared, no red light) | $5,799 / $6,399 | About 3.5 years |
| Sanctuary 2 Basswood (full spectrum) | $7,299 / $7,899 | About 4.3 years |
| Sanctuary 2 Basswood + red light add-on | $8,698 / $9,898 | About 5.2 years |
| Two studio memberships | $1,679.76 a year | Ongoing |
Prices checked October 2026 on Clearlight’s official price list. Their page says the current Black Friday pricing applies to orders placed by November 30, so check it again before you buy. Shipping, sales tax and any electrical work aren’t included in these numbers.
A few things we still need to check before we decide. At 52 by 48 inches, the Sanctuary 2 needs a real spot in the house. Its plug needs a 20-amp outlet, and most standard bedroom outlets are 15 amps, so we’d likely have an electrician look first. At 2,250 watts, a 40-minute session at the 2026 national average of 18.2 cents per kWh comes to roughly 27 cents, so electricity isn’t what’s holding us back.
What would make a home Clearlight worth it for us: we could sit in it together, there’s no drive, and we could go any time of day. What keeps us thinking: it’s a big number up front, and on the Sanctuary, red light is an add-on rather than standard. We haven’t bought one yet.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you’re thinking about a Clearlight, my biggest tip is to sit in one regularly before you buy. A studio membership gave me months of real numbers, and it taught me two things a brochure never would: watch the panel’s actual temperature, not just your setting, and pick the heat you can finish comfortably instead of going as hot as possible.
If a Clearlight does come home with us, the first-month review will go up right here, starting with where it fits and what the outlet needed. If you already own one, tell me in the comments what you wish you’d known before buying. And if you’re still comparing membership prices with buying, my infrared sauna cost breakdown has all the numbers.
