Sun Home Solaris Small Review: Is It Worth $36,399?

By MindReset Editorial Desk · Research-based buyer guidance

Sun Home Solaris Small review

This Sun Home Solaris Small review starts with an uncomfortable truth: you do not need to spend $36,399 to own an excellent traditional sauna.

Not even close.

So if your only goal is to get hot, sit on a wooden bench, pour water over sauna stones, and build a regular heat routine, there are dramatically cheaper ways to do it.

The Solaris Small becomes interesting for a completely different reason.

It is less like buying a sauna appliance and more like adding a finished outdoor wellness structure to your property: panoramic glass, Thermory wood, traditional high heat, a Wi-Fi-enabled HUUM heater, factory construction, double-level seating, and enough visual presence to become part of the backyard rather than something you try to hide behind the garage.

And compared with the larger Solaris Medium, the Small may actually be the smarter luxury purchase.

Quick Verdict: Should You Buy the Solaris Small?

If you specifically want a Solaris for a private home, the Small is probably the model we would choose.

It keeps most of what makes the Solaris line desirable: the premium outdoor architecture, traditional HUUM stone heat, panoramic glazing, Thermory construction, Wi-Fi control, high-temperature capability, factory assembly, and double-level seating.

What it gives up is mostly space.

The Solaris Small is rated for 2–4 people and currently costs $36,399. The Medium is rated for 4–6 people and currently costs about $45,399.

That is roughly a $9,000 premium for the larger model.

If two people are going to use the sauna most evenings, paying another $9,000 for extra empty bench space is difficult to defend.

Best for: couples, serious traditional-sauna users, luxury homes, landscaped backyard wellness areas, and buyers building a permanent sauna + cold plunge setup.

Skip it if: you mainly care about sauna performance per dollar, need portability, rent your home, expect easy returns, or would need to stretch financially to afford it.

Solaris Small Buyer Decision Table

What Does $36,399 Actually Buy?

This is the question that matters more than any wellness claim.

The Solaris Small does not produce magical heat that a $10,000 sauna cannot produce.

Your body does not know the purchase price.

The money goes into the structure surrounding the sauna experience.

• Hand-built European construction
• More than 100 hours of factory assembly according to Sun Home
• Thermory pine exterior
• Thermory aspen interior
• Marine-grade stainless steel reinforcement
• High-density insulation inside the frame
• Large panoramic glass frontage
• Traditional HUUM stone heater
• Wi-Fi heater control
• Double-level seating
• A finished outdoor structure rather than a flat-pack sauna kit

That changes how the price should be judged.

If you want the cheapest route to an excellent traditional sauna session, Solaris loses.

If you are designing a premium backyard and want the sauna itself to look like it belongs in an architectural rendering, Solaris becomes much easier to understand.

Sun Home Solaris Small Specifications

How Much Room Do You Really Get?

The Small is not actually tiny.

At roughly 7.5 feet wide and 5.7 feet deep, it still occupies a meaningful section of a patio, pool deck, or backyard wellness area.

Inside, Sun Home uses double-level seating and rates the cabin for two to four people.

But capacity labels deserve some common sense.

Four people fitting inside and four people having the spacious luxury experience shown in marketing photos are not necessarily the same thing.

For one person, it is generous.

For a couple, it makes a lot of sense.

For four adults every weekend, we would start looking at the Medium.

Solaris Small vs Medium: The $9,000 Question

The Medium adds roughly 21 inches of depth and substantially more interior volume.

That is useful space when it gets used.

When it does not, it is simply very expensive empty space that still has to be heated.

For most private homes where one person or a couple will dominate usage, the Small strikes us as the better balance.

If you genuinely need the extra capacity, read our Sun Home Solaris Medium review.

What Is the Sauna Experience Like on Paper?

Solaris is a traditional sauna, not one of Sun Home’s infrared cabins.

The HUUM electric heater warms a large mass of sauna stones and the air inside the cabin, with Sun Home advertising temperatures above 220°F.

That puts the Solaris in a completely different category from lower-temperature infrared products.

It also allows the familiar traditional-sauna ritual of heat, stones, and a much hotter cabin environment.

The Wi-Fi-enabled heater is not just a gadget here.

Outdoor saunas need time to warm up, particularly in colder weather. Being able to prepare the sauna before walking outside is exactly the sort of small convenience that becomes valuable after the novelty wears off.

Sun Home does not publish one guaranteed heat-up time because ambient temperature affects performance.

The Panoramic Glass Is Probably Why You Want It

Let’s be realistic.

Most buyers are not falling in love with Solaris because they studied its insulation specification.

They saw the glass wall.

And if the sauna faces a mountain, lake, forest, pool, landscaped garden, or dramatic evening view, that design can completely change the experience.

Instead of sitting inside a closed wooden cabin, the outside environment becomes part of the session.

There is, however, something we would verify before ordering.

The current Solaris product page describes triple-layer heat-resistant toughened glass, while Sun Home’s June 2026 Solaris support guide lists double-pane clear tempered glass as a standard feature.

That may reflect a specification update or different terminology, but at this price we would not guess.

Ask Sun Home to confirm the exact glazing supplied with your configuration in writing.

Thermory Wood: Useful Upgrade or Luxury Decoration?

Here the premium material choice makes practical sense.

Solaris uses thermally modified Thermory pine outside and Thermory aspen inside.

An outdoor sauna repeatedly deals with rain, humidity, sun, cold weather, high internal temperatures, and constant heating and cooling cycles.

Thermally modified wood is selected for improved dimensional stability and resistance to moisture-related movement.

That does not mean you can ignore the exterior for the next twenty years.

Weathering, cosmetic changes, seals, drainage around the base, and general outdoor maintenance still matter.

“Pre-Assembled” Does Not Mean “Drop It on the Lawn”

Sun Home’s factory assembly is one of the genuine advantages of Solaris.

The company says more than 100 hours of assembly take place before shipment, and the sauna arrives structurally complete.

That saves you from receiving a premium version of IKEA with several thousand pounds of panels sitting in the driveway.

But there are still three jobs that remain yours:

• Prepare a suitable permanent base.
• Get a roughly 1,700-pound sauna from the delivery point into its final position.
• Have a licensed electrician hardwire the heater.

Those jobs can range from trivial on the right property to surprisingly expensive on the wrong one.

Electrical Requirements: There Is No Plug

This point deserves its own section because the phrase “plug-and-play” still appears in some Solaris marketing copy.

The current Sun Home support documentation is much clearer.

Solaris Small requires a dedicated 240V / 25A circuit and must be hardwired by a licensed electrician.

There is no household plug.

The cost of that work depends heavily on the property.

A sauna sitting five feet from a suitable electrical panel is one project.

A sauna 100 feet across the yard requiring trenching, outdoor conduit, panel work, and permits is another.

Get an electrician involved before the sauna arrives—not while a 1,700-pound crate is already waiting outside.

The Real Hidden Cost: Moving 1,697 Pounds

This is the part luxury product photos conveniently leave outside the frame.

The Solaris Small weighs approximately 1,697.56 pounds.

Sun Home currently includes free shipping on the product page, but the company’s general freight policy describes sauna delivery as curbside.

Free shipping does not necessarily mean free final placement.

Depending on the property, you could need:

• A forklift
• A telehandler
• A crane
• Professional riggers or movers
• Temporary fence removal
• Driveway or lawn protection
• Special access planning

Before ordering, send Sun Home photographs or plans of the access route and ask exactly where their delivery responsibility ends.

For a $36,000 purchase, that is a much more useful question than asking whether a sauna bucket is included.

What Are the Real Hidden Costs?

Foundation or base

A level, stable and load-bearing base may already exist—or you may need a concrete pad, engineered deck, pavers, drainage work, or other site preparation.

Electrical work

The dedicated 240V / 25A circuit and licensed installation should be included in the real project budget.

Final placement

Moving a factory-built 1,700-pound structure from the curb to the backyard may require equipment and professional labor.

Permits

Local electrical permits, zoning rules, HOA requirements, setbacks, or accessory-structure rules may apply.

Electricity

Real operating cost depends on outdoor temperature, chosen cabin temperature, session frequency, warm-up time, local electricity pricing, and how effectively the cabin retains heat.

The view

This sounds like a joke until the sauna arrives.

If you are paying for a floor-to-ceiling panoramic front, landscaping may suddenly become part of the project because staring at a fence, bins, or an air-conditioning condenser is not quite the brochure experience.

Can You Return the Solaris Small?

For practical purposes, treat this purchase as final.

Sun Home identifies Solaris as handcrafted and made-to-order with an estimated three-to-four-month lead time.

Its current return policy explicitly states that made-to-order traditional saunas are non-refundable.

The same policy also applies a 3% fee to cancellations in general.

That means this is not the product to order because the photos looked good and then measure the patio later.

Before paying, confirm:

• Final dimensions
• Exterior and interior finish
• Glazing specification
• Heater configuration
• Electrical requirements
• Foundation dimensions
• Delivery access
• Final placement method
• Local permits
• Cancellation terms

How Good Is the Warranty?

Sun Home currently provides a three-year residential limited warranty on Solaris cabinetry, including interior and exterior wood components.

The Solaris product page separately advertises the HUUM heater with a five-year warranty.

There is an ownership detail worth noticing: Sun Home’s broader warranty terms state that labor and shipping on covered parts are included only for the first 90 days, after which customers may be responsible for those costs.

With a normal countertop appliance, shipping a replacement part is annoying.

With a permanently installed $36,399 outdoor structure, access and labor can become meaningful expenses.

We would ask how Solaris service works in your region before ordering.

Would We Pair the Small With a Cold Plunge?

Yes—and this is another reason we prefer the Small for many private homes.

The $9,000 saved over the Medium can fund a substantial part of a serious cold-plunge setup.

That gives you two genuinely different experiences rather than simply a larger version of the same hot room.

A well-designed hot-and-cold zone also fits naturally with the Solaris concept because both products become part of the same permanent outdoor wellness space.

If that is the direction you are building toward, compare our Sun Home Cold Plunge Pro review.

What Is Real Value and What Is Wellness Marketing?

There are several completely legitimate reasons to want the Solaris Small:

• Traditional high-temperature sauna experience
• Premium outdoor construction
• Panoramic design
• Factory assembly
• Thermory materials
• Wi-Fi heater control
• Double-level seating
• Permanent integration into a home wellness area

Those are product features you can actually evaluate.

What we would not use to justify $36,399 are promises that the sauna will detox the body, cure a medical condition, fix hormones, heal the nervous system, or deliver some special biological result because it happens to be expensive.

A premium sauna may make regular use more enjoyable and convenient.

That is already a perfectly reasonable benefit without inventing medical miracles.

Sauna Safety

Traditional sauna bathing involves substantial heat exposure and sweating.

Stay hydrated, leave the sauna if you feel dizzy or unwell, and avoid combining high heat with alcohol.

Harvard Health advises people with uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease to speak with their doctor before sauna use and recommends sensible limits, gradual cooling, and hydration.

Read Harvard Health’s sauna safety guidance.

People with cardiovascular conditions, fainting history, pregnancy, heat intolerance, or medications that affect heat regulation or hydration should discuss sauna use with a qualified healthcare professional.

What We Could Verify

• Current listed price of $36,399
• 2–4-person published capacity
• 90.1 × 68.9 × 94.5-inch exterior dimensions
• Approximately 1,697.56-pound weight
• 79-inch cabin height
• 224-cubic-foot published cabin volume
• 240V / 25A hardwired electrical requirement
• Licensed electrician required
• HUUM Wi-Fi-enabled traditional heater
• 220°F+ published heat capability
• Thermory pine exterior
• Thermory aspen interior
• Marine-grade stainless steel reinforcement
• Double-level seating
• Factory pre-assembled construction
• Made-to-order production
• Approximately 3–4-month stated lead time
• Current free-shipping offer
• Three-year residential Solaris cabinetry warranty
• Five-year HUUM heater warranty advertised on the product page
• Made-to-order traditional saunas are non-refundable under the current return policy

What We Could Not Verify

• Real-world warm-up time across different climates
• Average electricity cost per session
• Long-term exterior finish performance in coastal, desert, and snowy climates
• Average post-warranty service cost
• Average repair-response time
• Independent multi-year reliability data for the current Solaris generation
• Typical final-placement cost for a pre-built 1,697-pound cabin
• Whether every current Solaris Small uses the product page’s triple-layer glazing or the support page’s double-pane specification

Final Verdict: Is the Solaris Small the One to Buy?

If we were choosing a Solaris for a private home, we would start with the Small.

It is still an extremely expensive sauna.

But it preserves the reasons someone would choose Solaris in the first place: the architecture, panoramic glass, Thermory construction, traditional HUUM stone heat, high-temperature performance, outdoor durability focus, factory assembly, and premium presentation.

The Medium mainly makes the same idea bigger.

For a family, resort, rental property, or buyer who genuinely expects four to six people to use it regularly, that extra size can be worth paying for.

For one person or a couple, we would rather keep the $9,000.

Or spend part of it on the cold side of the backyard.

Buy it if: you already love traditional sauna bathing, have a permanent outdoor location, care strongly about architecture and materials, and want the sauna to become part of the property.

Skip it if: you simply want heat, need strong value for money, may move homes, or are unsure whether sauna will become a regular part of your life.

The Solaris Small is not the sauna you buy because you need a sauna.

It is the sauna you buy because you walked into the backyard, looked at the empty space, and decided: yes, I want that thing sitting there.

For the complete manufacturer lineup, see our Sun Home Saunas review.

Health disclaimer: Sauna bathing creates significant heat stress and is not suitable for everyone. This article is educational and is not medical advice. Speak with a qualified healthcare professional if you have cardiovascular conditions, blood-pressure concerns, pregnancy, fainting history, heat intolerance, or another relevant health issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Sun Home Solaris Small cost?

The Solaris Small was listed at $36,399 when checked on August 9, 2026, reduced from $37,199. Pricing and promotions may change.

How many people fit in the Solaris Small?

Sun Home rates the Solaris Small for approximately two to four people. We think it is particularly well suited to one or two regular users who occasionally have guests.

How hot does the Solaris Small get?

Sun Home advertises its HUUM traditional heater as capable of temperatures above 220°F. Real heat-up time and achievable temperature depend on ambient conditions and installation.

Is Solaris infrared or traditional?

The Solaris is a traditional high-temperature sauna using an electric HUUM stone heater. It is not an infrared sauna.

Does Solaris Small come assembled?

Yes. Sun Home says Solaris is factory pre-assembled and structurally complete before delivery. Final placement and electrical connection are still the buyer’s responsibility.

Can I plug the Solaris Small into a normal outlet?

No. Current Sun Home support documentation specifies a dedicated 240V / 25A circuit and professional hardwired installation by a licensed electrician.

How much does the Solaris Small weigh?

The current published weight is approximately 1,697.56 pounds, so final placement should be planned before delivery.

How long does a Solaris order take?

Solaris is made-to-order and Sun Home currently states an estimated three-to-four-month lead time from purchase to delivery.

Can I return the Solaris Small?

The current Sun Home return policy lists made-to-order traditional saunas as non-refundable. Treat the purchase as effectively final and confirm configuration, access, site preparation, and electrical requirements before ordering.

Should I buy Solaris Small or Medium?

For one or two regular users, we prefer the Small. The Medium makes more sense when four or more people will genuinely use the sauna regularly and the additional $9,000 is justified by the extra space.

Sources Reviewed

• Sun Home Solaris Small — current product information and offer
• Sun Home Solaris technical and electrical guidance
• Sun Home electrical requirements overview
• Sun Home warranty information
• Sun Home cancellation and return policy
• Sun Home shipping policy
• Harvard Health — sauna safety guidance