Philips Home Solariums
When Argos Sold Full-Size Sunbeds
Forgotten Trends · 1998
Archived on
Associated With
Philips; sold by Argos - associated person or organisation
Defining Feature
Full-body ultraviolet-tanning appliances designed for domestic use
Status
Discontinued - No longer a mainstream Argos retail line
Overview
Argos’s Autumn/Winter 1998/99 catalogue offered two remarkably substantial Philips home-tanning machines: the £329 Original Home Solarium and the £899 Top to Toe Solarium.
The Original Home Solarium placed ten ultraviolet tubes inside a 1.8-metre curved canopy. The considerably more expensive Top to Toe used four high-pressure lamps and folded into what Argos described as the size of a suitcase, complete with wheels and hand grips for moving it around the house.
Why It Mattered
These were not small facial lamps tucked away in a bathroom cupboard. They were full-size tanning appliances sold through an ordinary high-street catalogue alongside other personal-care products.
The £899 Top to Toe even came with free home delivery and six months’ interest-free credit. Their appearance in Argos captures a period when achieving a year-round tan at home was presented as an aspirational—if extremely expensive—household convenience.
Argos Catalogue Listings
- Philips Original Home Solarium: catalogue number 445/1363, £329.
- Philips Top to Toe Solarium: catalogue number 445/1394, £899.
- The Top to Toe listing included delivery and six months’ interest-free credit.
Original Home Solarium Specification
- 1.8 m ten-tube full-body unit with a curved canopy and protective lamp screen.
- Gas-sprung height adjustment from 67 to 97 cm, cooling fan and 60-minute automatic timer.
- Supplied with two pairs of goggles, instructions and castors.
Top to Toe Folding Design
- Four high-pressure HPA lamps with a soft-tanning filter, remote control and digital shut-off timer.
- Adjustable height, built-in distance meter, lock, wheels and hand grips.
- Argos described the folded unit as suitcase-like; related Philips manuals document comparable transportable designs without proving an exact factory-model match.
Sources & Records
- Argos Autumn/Winter 1998–1999 — solarium listings, searchable text — Records both Philips products, their prices, catalogue numbers, features and the folding model’s credit offer.
- Argos Autumn/Winter 1998/99 catalogue — Lists the ten-tube Original Home Solarium and folding four-lamp Top to Toe model, with catalogue numbers, prices and finance terms.
- Argos Spring/Summer 1999 catalogue — Shows the Original Home and Top To Toe solariums still offered in the following catalogue, with their features and catalogue numbers.
- Philips HB871/HB875 — solarium instructions — Documents related folding solarium designs and controls; it does not establish the exact models sold by Argos.
Gallery
Credit
Argos Spring/Summer 1999 catalogue, via Retromash
Licence
Historical Ephemera
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