Some of the more expensive models may feature some of the following too:. A timer is useful for setting a heater to turn on just before you get home or wake up, so there's no waiting around for the heater to warm up. Some fan heaters can help cool you down too. They're not nearly as effective as a dedicated air conditioner, but a light breeze of cold air is better than nothing.
Climate control is a useful feature to have - your portable heater will heat the room, and when the desired temperature is reached, the heater will try to maintain the room at that temperature. Every heater we review has a star rating for how well it keeps the room temperature stable, so that you can buy a model that doesn't have you manually turning the heater on and off every five minutes.
Some heaters can be controlled remotely through a tablet or smartphone along with the rest of your smart home devices. When we find a smart heater, we put it through our rigorous digital security test to make sure that it has no vulnerabilities and that it's responsible and legally compliant when it deals with your data. Portable heater use is best limited to keep costs under control. A 2kW heater operating at maximum power for one hour might cost you around 37p to run, though this will vary.
A heater with an effective thermostatic control will save you money. This is because it will turn on and off only as required, so won't waste electricity but will keep your room at your chosen temperature. The quickest Best Buy heaters we've tested were able to raise the temperature of our test room in less than 10 minutes - the worst took more than 30 minutes.
You can use our tests results to see whether it would actually end up costing you less to buy a heater with more power. Portable heaters allow you to heat just the space you need to be warm, and not your entire home.
This means they can actually work out cheaper than putting the central heating on - especially if your heating system doesn't have individual room control. But you need to be careful because electric heaters will cost you a lot in electricity after a while. They are much more expensive per hour than gas heating and less efficient than alternatives such as a storage heater that draws electricity during off-peak hours. And if your home isn't well insulated, you'll be getting less value as the heat you're paying for escapes.
Depending on the size of your home, it may be more economical to set the main central heating thermostat to low and use a portable heater in the living room, for example. This means that your living room is nice and warm as you snuggle up in front of the television, while hallways and bedrooms are maintained at a comfortable temperature.
Our experts test electric heaters to find out exactly how long each one will take to heat your room, how well they maintain that temperature and to see what they're likely to add to your electricity bills. Only electric heaters that heat quickly, consistently and cheaply are given our Best Buy status.
Another important consideration is the power of the heater. Measured in kilowatts kW , higher power means the heater will be better for heating big rooms.
If you want to heat a small room, a good, low-power portable heater less than 2kW, say will be fine — and cheaper to run. Want to heat a small room? A good model that's less than 2kW will do the job, and be cheap to run. Our lab testing has found that some fan heaters don't match the power claimed on the box. This means that you could end up with a model that leaves you shivering in a cold room for longer than you had expected.
We test each heater to see whether it achieved the full claimed power. The only way to find out if you'll get the wattage that you pay for is to see our electric heater reviews. As long as you use them according to their instructions, they are safe appliances. Nearly all have some kind of carry handle for moving them about, and many have a safety cut out feature - this will switch off the heater if it gets dangerously hot.
Never place anything on, or cover up, a portable heater as it massively increases the risk of a fire. It's worth considering this feature if you have a large, enthusiastic dog. Portable heaters are lightweight so can easily be moved from room to room. Heavier models often have a carry or tow handle and wheels that allow you to easily move them about. All the portable heaters we've tested and reviewed are mains operated. Most have a cord that is over 1. The smaller, lighter ones are ideal if you have a caravan or mobile home.
Some heaters can be wall-mounted. This is a space-saving boon because it frees up floor space, but does mean you won't be able to move it about freely. If portability is more important than space saving, then a freestanding heater will make your life easier.
We weigh every heater we test so you can ensure you choose one that you can manage. Find out the weight of each one on the tech specs page of each of our electric heater reviews. When buying an electric heater, make sure you're handing your money over to a reputable seller. We found similar, if not better, levels of satisfaction at the Walmart , Home Depot , and Best Buy sites. But a quick dive into the negative owner reviews reveals a number of incidents where the heater overheated even when plugged directly into a wall outlet.
Several Wirecutter staff members have owned the Lasko for a few winters now and have next to no complaints about its long-term operation. Although oil-filled radiators look classic, they are not as effective as ceramic and open-element heaters at distributing heat throughout a room. But they are better at holding heat than ceramic models, their heat can feel more comfortable than heat directed out by a fan, and some people prefer their all-metal construction to plastic, since they are small machines reaching high temperatures.
We also love its simple, manual controls. It takes about half an hour to heat up at all, and even after running on high for an hour, the TRDT raised the temperature of our test room by only 2 degrees Fahrenheit from 3 feet away and 3 degrees from 6 feet away—significantly less than the Lasko and Vornado models.
But unlike ceramic heaters, which cool off immediately after powering down, oil-filled radiators like the TRDT are designed to retain enough thermal mass that they keep emitting heat even after you turn them off. In our tests the TRDT did this well—starting at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, then building up to 89 degrees over two and a half hours, without dropping back down to 80 for almost four hours after that.
Another benefit of oil-filled radiators is that they make absolutely no noise, unlike ceramic, open-element, or micathermic heaters. It occupies 16 by 6. However, its flat, articulated exoskeleton helps ensure that the exterior is much cooler to the touch than the exposed fins inside. The TRDT has manual controls that are intuitive to use, as well as a hour programmable timer, which comes in handy. The electric heater has three different heat options and a thermostat dial that ranges from 1 to 6.
This model is also easy to move, since you can roll it around on four retractable wheels. The wheels on the TRDT can also be moved underneath the unit to prevent it from rolling. Some Amazon customers have complained about the radiator giving off an unpleasant smell upon initial use, and the company acknowledges this, too. We recommend running it outside to let it off-gas before taking it inside keep it dry and away from dirt or grass while you do this.
Most other oil-filled radiators initially emit this noxious stench because some of the oil remains on the surface of the heater after manufacturing. Once the oil has evaporated, the smell disappears.
A few space heater reviews have complained that the timer makes an audible ticking noise, but we did not encounter this issue in our testing. If you encounter this issue, we recommend that you contact the manufacturer. If you want a heater with the power of a Vornado that also oscillates to spread the heat evenly around the room, get the Vornado OSCTH1.
It also has a nice digital touch screen, with simple controls and an easy-to-read temperature display. The OSCTH1 is a sleek tower fan about a foot and a half tall that looks kind of like a miniature and much less ominous version of the Monoliths from A Space Odyssey , with a clear plastic touchscreen display on the top.
In our tests, it was surprisingly good at maintaining this temperature, too. Within 20 minutes, the room had jumped from the 70s up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit about 8 degrees measured from 6 feet away, or 5 degrees from 3 feet and slowly crept up toward 90 from there over the rest of the hour.
Wirecutter editor Joshua Lyons, who has been long-term testing this model in a room with no other heat source, finds the effect frustrating at times. I usually find myself constantly fiddling with the temperature dial to adjust the heat up or down. If you let the dust build up, it can interfere with the touchscreen mechanism—and you need to turn the heater off in order to clean it, or else risk messing with the touchscreen even more. And if anything does go wrong, the OSCTH1 is backed by an impressive five-year warranty like all the other Vornado models we recommend.
Overall, the OSCTH11 is a great choice if you want to share the warmth with other people in the same room, or just want a steady, balanced control of heat across a space. Also, it just looks great as it subtly oscillates back and forth in the corner of the room like an extraterrestrial portent. However, we have noticed that it occasionally makes a loud grinding sound while oscillating—something that a few other Amazon reviews have noted , as well. And despite its height, the FH actually has only about a byinch footprint, which makes it a great space-saver.
From our measurements at both 3 feet and 6 feet, it took the FH about 45 minutes to raise the 8 degrees needed to reach our target temperature.
Though this was a slower temperature increase than with some of our other picks including the VH and AVH10 , we were impressed by how evenly the temperature rose across the room. What was even more remarkable was that as soon as the room reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the FH kept the temperature there for the rest of the hour.
As the tower heater oscillated, it emitted a low, gentle wooshing sound that was too quiet to measure beneath the hum of the urban streets outside. Unlike most other models we tested, the FH has three built-in heating settings, so it offers more heating flexibility for maximum comfort.
It also has four fan modes including fan-only. The FH room heater comes with a large remote control that can be stored in an attached pocket on the back of the tower. The buttons are clearly marked, matching the controls on the tower itself, including the digital temperature display, the timer, and the Auto Eco setting. The FH was the only electric space heater model we tested that required some minor assembly for the base.
We do have a couple of reservations in recommending the FH, in spite of its strong test performance. And it has a tower design, which on tower fans can be so difficult to clean that they can become inoperable after a season or two. All that being said, the Lasko has continued to perform well in both heating and cooling capacities after a year of continued use. The Vornado VHEAT Vintage Heater is an all-around decent heater, but what really sets it apart is its delightful aesthetic, inspired by the original Vornado design from The VHEAT was able to raise the temperature in the room by 11 degrees in just 15 minutes when measured from 3 feet in front of the fan.
By the end of the hour, there was a degree difference between our measurements at 3 feet in front of the fan and at 6 feet on an angle. Despite its metal exterior, the VHEAT also remained surprisingly cool to the touch—only about degrees Fahrenheit on the sides, and on the grille, and it cooled down even further within minutes of shutting off.
If you think it sounds silly to sacrifice some heating prowess for a pleasing retro aesthetic, then the VHEAT may not be the choice for you. But we found ourselves so utterly charmed by the plastic guitar-amp knobs and solid metal construction that we think this could be a fair trade-off for some people. The CD has a similar design to our longstanding Lasko budget pick, but this model has a thicker, more-cube-like shape, rather than being a tall, thin rectangle.
The button cycles the heater through three settings: a one-hour timer mode, an always-on high mode 1, watts , and an always-on low mode watts. Even if you forget to turn the heater off again, the default one-hour heating mode will having the unit shutting itself off soon enough. In our tests, the Lasko CD managed to raise the temperature in the bathroom by an impressive 12 degrees over the course of just one hour. Although it did leave the whole bathroom feeling warmer, we also measured about a degree difference on average between our sensor at 3 feet in front of the heater and the one we placed 6 feet away on a diagonal.
The Lasko CD will definitely warm you up regardless of your bathroom layout. As an added bonus, the Lasko also helped to noticeably reduce the humidity in the room, burning off most of the condensation that otherwise tends to form while you shower. Whereas most of the other heaters we tested caused the humidity to drop by only a few points, the Lasko CD essentially traded one percentage point of humidity for every one point of heat.
This might not be a boon in every situation, but it was a pleasant surprise in the windowless bathroom where we performed our tests which otherwise has to rely on a single overhead fan for venting and dehumidification.
This is what specifically sets the Lasko apart for low-risk bathroom usage. The Lasko also has its own built-in overheat protection. The Lasko is not very tall or likely to tip over, and if anything does go wrong, the ALCI plug should catch the problem before it turns into something worse. In , we finally decided to make an exception for the desktop-size Vornado Velocity 1 —which was fine , but mostly just justified our prior assumptions about personal-size space heaters. The Velocity 1 had tremendous warming power at 3 feet, raising the temperature by a whopping 16 degrees in just 20 minutes; but from 6 feet away, it only increased the temperature by 2 degrees.
Sadly, it has been discontinued by the manufacturer. We also tested the AmazonBasics Portable Ceramic Tower Space Heater , shortly before the news broke that various AmazonBasics electronics products had been exploding with concerning frequency ; by the time we were finished testing, it had already been discontinued.
But we were disappointed with it in other ways, including its maddeningly confusing controls and the degree temperature difference between our measurements at 3 and 6 feet. Disappointing performance and safety concerns make this a quick dismissal. The Vornado MVH , our previous runner-up pick, is mechanically almost identical to our top pick for the best space heater, the VH In previous years, we found it was slower to warm the room in our tests, and that the case was hotter to the touch after an hour.
In , our test model overheated when it was only 82 degrees in the room. We tested the Vornado VH10 , which is a glossier, newer generation of the VH, but nothing set it apart from our less expensive top pick. It recorded similarly quiet decibel levels and performed just as well in heating our room.
The VH10 offers a few other perks, such as a ledge to coil the cord around on the bottom of the heater, but we actually found this more annoying than helpful, because our cord kept falling under the heating unit and activating its tip-over switch.
We still think it looks nice, and it usually works pretty well for a loud, cheap fireball, but there are better options out there without the same drawbacks—the most troubling of which have been reports of failures within the first few months, on top of the usual complaints of units arriving damaged or inoperable from the start.
Like Prince Robot IV, the Glide took a while to warm up, and it was just kind of fine overall, with decent but uneven heat and very basic functionality. Instead of a standard tip-over switch, the Glide relies on a level indicator inside the unit. It worked well enough in our tests, steadily building up 10 degrees of heat across the room over the course of an hour. Heaters have an output measured in watts W or kilowatts kW and, generally, you get out in terms of heat what you put in in terms of energy.
In a smaller room, or one requiring fill-in heat on top of central heating, you may be happy with something as low as W, but larger or colder rooms may need a 1. The bigger issue is running costs. If you're looking for a heater that won't use much power and helps cut costs on energy bills, your best bet is a halogen heater, a convection heater or an oil-filled radiator, particularly if they have effective thermostat controls. Your ideal is to find a heater that maintains a constant temperature without running at full-tilt at all times.
Fan heaters are more expensive to run but can heat up a room faster. Frost protection can be a useful feature for conservatories or utility rooms, as it means you can use the heater there and it will run at a minimal level, dishing out just enough heat to keep the temperature north of zero.
Some heaters come with a timer to switch them on just for the evening, say, while others have a temperature display or a remote control. A few heaters are even introducing Wi-Fi connectivity and smart controls, so you can activate and control your heater using an app — or even Alexa voice commands. With a cold-air setting, the heater can act like a fan in hot weather, although the usefulness of such a feature varies. Key specs — Heat output: 2kW; Controls: Heat setting and thermostat dials; Extra features: Overheat safety cut-out, cool air mode; Dimensions: x x mm; Weight: 1.
Buy now from Argos. The handle at the top makes it easy to move around the house, while the foot folds away for storage. Despite a low-ish 1. Key specs — Heat output: 1. True, it looks like a prop from a s spy movie, but this is a great little heater even if you ignore the vintage style.
The chrome-effect plastic dial switches between off, fan mode and the two power settings, while the black ring behind it handles the thermostat. Do you have a room you need to warm up fast while keeping it free of clutter?
However, it still crams in some useful features, including a timer and an eco mode, weighs less than 1. Unobtrusive and effective, this is one of the best compact heaters around. Key specs — Heat output: 2kW; Controls: hour timer, temperature up and down, eco mode selector, mode selector, oscillation toggle, power; Extra features: Anti-frost, fan mode, safety cut-out, remote control; Dimensions: x x 61mm, Weight: 1.
In fact, with its simple design and slimline body, it seems built to stay out of your way. The HSX heats up fast and does a great job of warming up even medium-sized and larger rooms, silently pushing warmer air from its top-mounted vents.
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