Pros:- Cheap- Easy adhesive-backed universal installation- Lightweight- Effective for my 8qt oil capacityCons:- Cord length may be a bit short to reach your transmission- Does not come with RTV or siliconeDetailed Review:I own 3 sets of these Kat's oil pan heaters. I am very particular about proper maintenance on my vehicles and care for them diligently. These oil pan heaters are overkill in my application, but provide me with cheap insurance and also piece of mind. I live in New York and drive 1 mile early each morning to the train station. Although the cars are all garaged, cold starts are still very hard on the cars. They also never get a chance to warm up especially when morning temperatures are below 20 degrees. Although I switch all my oils to 0w30 in the winter (the "0w" denotes the low temperature viscosity, the 30 is the operating temperature viscosity), one of my older cars still has a lot of piston slap (engine knocking noise). By pre-heating the oil with this pad, I've noticed faster cranking (when it is VERY cold) and I've eliminated the piston slap in cold temperatures with the side benefit of the heat coming on much sooner. I've recommended these to many of my friends already. They've also noticed the faster cranking and availability of heat, especially when their cars are parked outside.I currently have all 3 vehicles connected to timers that turn on 2 hours before before I need to leave the house. The timers are connected to the cars via light-up extension cords. I find the lights in the extension cords helpful in reminding myself and my wife to disconnect the cars before driving off.Regarding the minor cons (not significant enough to take away a star), I had recently considered using the same pad to warm the transmission, but found that the cord length was a bit too short to reach the front bumper. The solution would be to consolidate both the engine and transmission heater into a single extension cord, so this is not a big deal. The second note on the RTV/Silicone relates to the instructions to seal the edges of the pad with silicone to prolong the life of the adhesive. I would not imagine many people to have RTV or silicone readily handy. Including the small amount that the pad requires would have been nice. Although it can be a bit messy or annoying, I would definitely recommend sealing the edges to prevent water, oil and dirt from weakening the adhesive.Overall, this is a great buy, cheap, effective and easy to install!

put this on the oil pan of my 3 series bmw. i live in the warm south but keep this plugged in 2 hours before startup each morning. engine starts much healthier sound and 5 speed stick shift tranny shifts smoother in cold weather @ startup b/c the tranny case gets conductive heat thru the oil pan.if you live in warm climate I would not reccomed keeping this plugged in overnight....it'd be a waste of energy and these get darn hot. I'll zap the exterior temps of my oil pan and tranny case and report back with the case temps from my infrared temp gun.overall product works great. i did install with a bead of high temp silicon around the edge (after first cleaning the oil pan of grime with some type of solvent..acetone maybe).Put it on a timer and let it run an hour or two before startup. its bound to reduce wear on engine. well worth the money b/c it costs mere cents in electricity.UPDATE AS OF 12/2/2012 with the temps from a laser temp gun:OK Here are the temps I zapped:w/ no power to the stick-on heaterAmbient in garage = approx 68Laser gun temp on oil pan = 68Laser gun temp on tranny case = 68Laser gun temp on lower block = 68Laser gun temp on vanity cover = 68OBDII temp from coolant temp sensor in head = 66.3After turning on pad for 1 hour:Ambient in garage = approx 68Laser gun temp on oil pan = 94-86 depending on where I zap itLaser gun temp on tranny case = 72Laser gun temp on lower block = 78Laser gun temp on vanity cover = 69OBDII temp from coolant temp sensor in head = 68.0After turning on pad for 2 hours:Ambient in garage = approx 68Laser gun temp on oil pan = 92.6-99.5 depending on where I zap itLaser gun temp on tranny case = 75Laser gun temp on lower block = 83.6Laser gun temp on vanity cover = 70.7OBDII temp from coolant temp sensor in head = 71.6After turning on pad for 2.5 hours:Ambient in garage = approx 68Laser gun temp on oil pan = 93.5-102.2 depending on where I zap itLaser gun temp on tranny case = 75.5Laser gun temp on lower block = 83.9Laser gun temp on vanity cover = 71.6OBDII temp from coolant temp sensor in head = 71.6I'm using this heater in Texas to warm up oil before short trips. So what do these numbers indicate to me? They indicate that the oil temp is at best climbing 30 degrees over abient temp. Thats not as favorable as I was hoping. I'm going to put another 150 wattt on the oil pan and see if I can get more heat to the oil before startup b/c short trips w/ cold oil is not good for the engine.If you live somewhere up north where its cold and get snow then I would highly recommend the 250 watt pad if your oil pan holds enough oil. From what I hear a 250 watt will warm the oil and possibly provide enough heat to thaw snow and ice from hood and windshield. From kats I believe the specs on side of heater for a given oil capacity are as follows:100 watt for 2-5 qts engine oil150 watt for 5-8 qts engine oil250 will for 8-20 qts engine oilp.s. the silicon sealant I used was from auto parts store and it was black in color. the sealants have a heat rating on back and the black stuff was rated to 400 deg F.

Used this as a heat source for my outside dog,he has a bed in an old plastic bread crate in an open air shed where i park my truck,my first try at it melted a hole thur the crate, i wised up and found a quarter inch thick about one foot square piece of plate steel, attached this to the bottom, laid on a piece of wood on the ground, crate on top of all that, the steel has enough mass to absorb the heat and spred it out , since there is no thermostate i bought one of those plug ins that does not come on until its 35 degree of less and shuts off if above that. seemed to work well and i saw the dog in it plenty of cold mornings, made me feel better knowing he had a place if he needed it, sometimes they just lay in the cold like dogs do. plugged it in the other day for this winter, checked it and no heat, at some point it had burned the wired off where they go into the pad, it may has just gotten to hot with no air circulating under the bed, am pondering trying it agian, in any case, the dang thing gets plenty hot enough to heat your dog, your engine, your transmission, a tub of water, with a cast iron skillet you might could fry some taters, for the money its well worth it.

Surprisingly, after cleaning the pan, of course, this Engine oil pan heater has stuck on over the several years it's been on (bought it a few years back, just reviewing now...Amazon should be as easy as eBay to leave reviews!) Anyhow, I can feel the pan in sub 10 degree weather and although it's not hot, it's definitely not cold. I'd estimate its around the 40-50 degree temp. That's roughly ~35 degrees warmer. The jeep starts up much easier with this thing connected in those temperatures as well.