An honest letter from someone who researched this for 3 years

I Wrote the Book on Saunas. Here's the One I Put in My New York Apartment.

After 3 years of research, this is the one I chose. It needs just 8 square feet, plugs into a normal wall outlet, and my team delivers and sets it up in your apartment for free.

By Justin Glaser · Author of Sweat · NYC & Miami distributor, Sun Stream Saunas

The Sun Stream Evolve Mini in my living room. About the footprint of an armchair.

I knew sauna worked. That was never the problem.

I had read the studies. I read so many of them, I ended up writing a book about it, called Sweat. Regular sauna use is linked to better sleep, a calmer mind, more energy, a stronger heart, healthier skin, and a longer life. Peter Attia talks about it. Rhonda Patrick built a career on it. The science is real.

My problem was simpler than that.

I could not be consistent.

The sauna at my gym was often busy. Or broken. Or it just felt gross. The sauna studio near me cost $60 a session, I still had to book a slot, and the commute back and forth ate up time I didn't have. Some weeks I went four times. Most weeks I went once. Or never.

And here's the thing the research is clear about: the benefits come from regular use. The famous Finnish study showed the biggest results in people who went 4 to 7 times a week. Not once in a while. Almost every day.

So I was the sauna guy who couldn't use a sauna.

A sauna in a NYC apartment? It seemed impossible.

Too big. Too unsafe. Too expensive. Too much of an eyesore. That's what I thought, and it's what most New Yorkers think.

So I asked myself one question:

"Is there a safe, high-quality sauna that can actually fit in my NYC apartment — and look good?"

I worried about everything. Would it fit through my front door? Would it fit in the elevator? Would my landlord lose his mind? Would I need an electrician? One guy online said a 320-pound crate got dumped in his driveway in the rain. I don't have a driveway. I have a hallway.

Then there was the trust problem. Sauna prices ranged from $500 to $15,000, and the websites all say the same things. Some brands have real EMF concerns. That's the electric field the heaters give off, and the serious sauna community vets this hard. Some are built with plywood that can release formaldehyde when it heats up. You can't tell any of this from the photos.

I spent three years on this. I read the lab reports. I went down the 2 a.m. Reddit rabbit holes. I'm guessing you've been trying to navigate this as well.

The one I chose

The brand I kept coming back to was Sun Stream. They're a Canadian company that has been building infrared saunas in the same facility since 1999. The deeper I dug, the more they stood out: they prioritize safety, testing, and quality, unlike most of the brands I'd found in this unregulated industry.

Sun Stream's factory. Same facility, same standard, since 1999.

Here's what won me over:

Mine, up close. Solid Canadian hemlock. No plywood anywhere.

Then I fixed the biggest problem: delivery and setup

I loved the sauna so much that I flew to Canada, met with the founder, and became the exclusive Sun Stream distributor for New York and Miami.

Why? Because delivery in a dense city is the part nobody had solved. So I built it. By shipping in batches to my New York and Florida warehouses, I keep costs down. And instead of curbside delivery, where a crate gets left outside your building, my team handles everything, setup included. We bring it up. We carry it in. We set it up in your apartment. We've done this in buildings just like yours — walk-ups, doorman buildings, tight elevators, all of it.

It goes together in about an hour. With white-glove delivery, our team does it for you.

People ask me the same questions every week. Will it fit? Will it heat up my apartment? Will it look good? What happens when I move? Is this a huge hassle? So before anything else, we do a free fit check. You tell me about your building and your space, and I answer every one of those questions for your exact apartment. Fifteen minutes. If it won't work, I'll tell you that too.

Book a Free 15-Minute Fit Check →

The math most people haven't done yet

The Sun Stream Mini is currently priced at $4,200, with white-glove delivery and setup included. If you have a sauna studio membership, you already believe in this. You're just renting what you could own.

A home sauna pays for itself in about two years. And with a 10-year warranty, this is a decade-plus investment in your health. Imagine regular sauna use for years, and what that does for your sleep, your energy, your skin, and your long-term health.

Don't just take my word for it

Trustpilot reviews are for Sun Stream Saunas globally. The same brand, manufacturer, and product we deliver in NYC and Miami.

Book a Free 15-Minute Fit Check →

Rather browse first? See pricing and photos →

Where it fits in your day

This is the part that's hard to put a number on.

Imagine hopping in for 20 minutes before work, while your apartment is still quiet. Or taking a midday reset if you work from home. Or getting in when you walk through the door at night, to let the day go. Or 30 minutes before bed, to set up a deep night of sleep.

There's no right answer, and that's the point. No booking app. No commute. No schedule but yours.

Just heat, whenever you want it. That consistency, the thing I could never get from a gym or a studio, changed everything for me.

And it adds up. Better sleep that week. More energy that month. A calmer head, clearer skin, a stronger heart over the years. But the real change is bigger than any one benefit: every time you walk past it, it reminds you that you take your health into your own hands. That feeling is worth more than the sauna.

Morning, midday, or night. It's yours whenever you want it.

Common questions, fast answers

One note on timing: we ship to our NYC warehouse in batches, so delivery windows depend on when the next batch lands. Booking a fit check now gets you in line for the next window.