But there are many factors to consider when you’re picking out a space heater. The majority of house fires start because of portable space heaters, so it’s important to choose one with built-in safety features. Look for heaters with auto shut-off and tip protection, especially if you have small children or pets in the house. You should also place your heater away from flammable objects, like drapes and bedding. The Vornado AVH10 is a lot like the VH200, with a few added features such as a digital display, a convenient cord-wrapping post for easy storage, and, for extra safety, a countdown clock when you turn it off.
It has six buttons on top, with the first row controlling the power—an “M” button that switches between heating modes, along with a plus and minus to change the temperature—and the second row controlling the power, timer, and oscillation settings. Like most heaters we’ve tested, the Solaris Slim H3 has standard high and low settings that run at 1,500 watts and 900 watts, respectively. But it also has an “eco” mode that lets you dial in a specific temperature; ideally, once the room hits that target, the heater uses less energy to maintain the temperature than it would by just pumping out heat ad infinitum. The digital thermometer goes only up to 95 degrees, but—as with the Lasko FH500 tower heater and others we’ve tested that have two-digit cutoffs on their LCD screen—we don’t think you’ll need any more heat than that. If you want to feel a directional heat blast waft across the room, the oscillating Dreo Solaris Slim H3 (DR-HSH003) is a great choice.
Of all the space heaters we’ve tested, the Vornado VH200 offers the best overall combination of heating speed and distribution, safety features, easy operation, and affordability. The VH200 was quieter than every other fan-based heater we tested, emitting a soft whir that was barely noticeable—even on high—and generating a comfortably focused blast of heat that evenly dissipated into a room-filling, ambient warmth. It’s simply the best space heater we’ve tested, which is why it’s been our top pick since 2018.
Plus, it weighs under 8 pounds, making it easy to move from room to room if needed. You can place it next to your bed, underneath your desk, or just in your living room to generate extra heat. The heater has three heat levels that include a low (800w) setting and high setting (1500w), plus an adjustable thermostat setting where you can choose from an array of temperatures to change the heater to. It’s also remote controlled, so you can adjust the temperature from across the room. Featuring an ultra-quiet design, it won’t disrupt you while you sleep or work.
The CD08200 and DR-HSH004A bathroom heaters performed comparably in our tests, as well, with the CD08200 raising the temperature by about 12 degrees over an hour, and the DR-HSH004A adding about 10 degrees of warmth in that same time. Both heaters struggled to get the room warmer than 80 degrees—though, to be fair, you probably don’t need it to be much hotter than that anyway. Although the CD08200 doesn’t oscillate like the DR-HSH004A does, either one will warm you up regardless of your bathroom layout. For an extra $13, Lasko’s 5586 Digital Ceramic Tower Heater comes with an extended eight-hour timer and two quiet settings for maximum comfort and minimum annoyance. It omits a powerful 1,500 watts of warmth that can be programmed on its digital display and controlled via the accompanying remote. Plus, it can heat an entire basement and comes with a three-year warranty!
A typical natural gas or coal generating station operates at about 30-40% efficiency, and the theoretical peak isn’t much higher than that, so at least 60% of the heat involved in burning the gas or coal goes up the stack as waste heat. That compares poorly to efficiencies of 80% to lasko heater 96% for natural gas furnaces. That’s why, from a cost perspective, heating with electricity is generally much more expensive than heating with natural gas or oil. A. Although modern heaters are extremely safe, it still isn’t a good idea to leave them on all night, just in case.
Our former upgrade pick, the Dyson Hot+Cool Jet Focus AM09, was one of the most quickest and most consistent space heaters we tested and also doubled as a cooling fan, so it was a great option for year-round climate control. The FH500 was the only electric space heater model we tested that necessitated some minor assembly of the base. Fortunately, the process doesn’t require any tools—although the size of the tower can make it a bit difficult to balance while you attach the two pieces, which are held on by thumb screws.