Featured in this article
Best Space Heater Overall
Dreo Whole Room Heater 714
Amazon
Best Quiet Space Heater
Vornado TAVH10 Space Heater
Amazon
Best Smart Bathroom Heater and Wall Heater
Dreo Smart Wall-Mounted Heater with ALCI plug
Amazon
Best Personal Heater
Vornado VC-01 Velocity Ceramic Heater
Amazon
The Best space heaters are winter’s rear guard, the last line of defense against goose bumps and cold feet. Though not a great way to heat a whole home, space heaters can be indispensable for a late-evening movie night, a workbench in a chilly garage, or the home’s odd corners that refuse to heat. And if you live in an apartment building where you don’t control the heat, it may be your only way to feel OK in January.
But safety and reliability are prime concerns, and so is a lot of dodgy and opaque marketing about “Hyperamics,” “Velocity Tuned Heat,” and whatever-wave technology. Whatever the marketing, large heaters usually aren’t more powerful or more effective than small ones. So I turned down my thermostat and tested dozens of space heaters to find the ones that’ll warm you up as quickly and quietly and safely as possible.
Alongside our blessedly balanced and quiet top pick, the Dreo Whole Room Heater 714 ($100), we also sorted out which heaters might best suit specific needs, from the best bathroom heater to a space heater that doubles as an air purifier.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Looking for more ways to tailor your air? Check out our guide to all things that improve your indoor air quality, as well as our specialized guides to the Best Air Purifiers, Best Humidifiers, Best Fans, and Best Dehumidifiers.
Update February 2026: I tested and added two new ceramic heaters from Vornado, the VC-01 and the VC-02, and added the VC-01 as our new top-pick personal heater, displacing the Lasko Ellipse. I also tested and added the Shark TurboBlade Hot + Cool to our honorable mentions, and tested a far-infrared heater called Kelvin from startup company Boldr. We have updated prices, product descriptions, and retailers throughout.
Table of Contents
- Why Large Heaters Aren’t More Powerful Than Small Heaters
- Resistive Heaters vs. Radiant and Radiator Heaters
- Are Space Heaters Safe?
- How We Tested Space Heaters
- Honorable Mentions
- Heaters We Don’t Recommend
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Best Space Heater Overall
Chevron Chevron Dreo
Whole Room Heater 714
Amazon
This Dreo is the best answer to what I’ve been looking for in a space heater ever since I started testing them. I want simple things. I want a heater to be safe, with reliable tip-over and overheat protections. I want it to be quiet. And I want it to use the full capacity of an American outlet, 1,500 watts, to heat quickly and evenly around the room. I a remote control, but I don’t want to be crippled if I lose it. And I precise digital temperature control, with a thermostat that actually works. And I don’t want to hate how the thing looks: It’ll be here with me all winter.
This is a rare collection of qualities, it turns out. The Dreo Whole-Room Heater 714 checks the boxes better than any other heater among the two to three dozen I tested this year—with thoughtful design touches that make it possible to actually kind of the thing. It’s a nice modern update on the classic fan design, able to oscillate not just side-to-side but also up and down. The counter-spiral grill, familiar from competitor Vornado’s models, leads to good heat distribution around the room. And while it’s not as quiet as our near-silent previous top-pick Vornado MVH, it’s still quieter than my refrigerator on high fan speeds.
But especially, the thermostat works—largely, I suspect, because the bipartite design of this compact heater allows the temperature sensor to be isolated from the heating elements. Huzzah! This is a rare quality among space haters. Other nice touches include buttons whose beeps can be muted and digital screens that dim themselves. The housing is cool to the touch. The heater remembers its settings from previous use, so you don’t have to reprogram it each time you turn it back on. Oscillation is silent, with no squeaks, and the brushless fan is whistle-free.
It’s not perfect, of course. I’d the ability to set a shutoff timer, and the on-device controls are a bit hard to see and close to the floor. There’s also one hot spot on the exhaust grill, the exact center where the DREO logo sits. Vanity is a vice! Still, this is a great little heater.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating/cooling modes Three heat settings: 900, 1,300 and 1,500 watts. Three fan settings. Thermostat-governed eco mode. Thermostat Yes, digital. (Separate thermostat for overheat shutoff) Remote/app Remote Timer No Safety features 45-degree tip-over sensor, overheat shutoff Operating noise 40–50 decibels WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Fast, even, quiet heat with dual-axis oscillation
- Housing is cool to the touch
- Thermostat is accurate
TIRED
- Device controls a bit low to the ground
- No timed shutoff
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Best Quiet Space Heater
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
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Courtesy of Amazon
Chevron Chevron Vornado
TAVH10 Space Heater
Amazon
Walmart
The Home Depot
Kansas-based fan and heater company Vornado offers a dizzying array of heaters with alphanumeric names and much the same shape: an oblong plastic box with a circular whorl on its face. This can make shopping a bit difficult, but there are good reasons that Vornado is wedded to this design. It’s wonderfully effective and quiet, with some of the most even heat distribution I’ve seen among any devices on the market. Indeed, the quietest and best fans on the market at any given time are often also named Vornado.
Among these similar space heater models I’d previously favored Vornado’s all-analog, no-frills MVH heater, which was updated for 2025 and is a little less quiet than it used to be. These days, the Goldilocks Vornado is digital. The 2025 edition of the Vornado TAVH10 has a remote, two heat settings, a fan-only setting, and a timer so you can set your heater to shut off after you sleep or turn on when you wake up.
But especially on low heat, this thing is beautifully silent, less than 40 decibels—much quieter than any previous digital devices I’d tested from Vornado. It is also gentle in its heating, pushing out air almost imperceptibly to the opposite corner of the room. This is the result of Vornado’s whole-room “vortex” technology, essentially a spiral grate that’s counter-rotated to the movement of the fan. This creates a column of spiraling air that pushes to the far corner, then scatters around the room. The downside is that how you place the heater is very important. Face it so it has an unbroken line to the opposite wall or corner. But anyway, if you don’t want to notice your heater at all but still feel warm, this is the heater you want.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating/cooling modes Two heat settings: 1500W, 900W. Fan setting for cooling Thermostat Yes Remote Yes Timer Yes Safety features Mechanical tip-over switch, overheat throttle and shutoff Operating noise 36–48 decibels WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Very quiet operation
- Very even heat across room
- Remote and timer included
TIRED
- No oscillation means placement is important
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Best Smart Bathroom Heater and Wall Heater
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Dreo
Smart Wall-Mounted Heater with ALCI plug
Amazon
Dreo
A cold bathroom in the morning feels cruel and unnecessary. But a space heater on the floor can feel reckless in a room with a bathtub. A fixed wall unit, mounted away from the shower, is a more credible solution to early-morning shivers. This slim-profiled Dreo offers IP24 certification against splashes, plus the same ALCI plug you’ll find on your hairdryer to prevent shocks. The heater’s app-enabled smart function means you can turn the heater on from the warmth of your bed, and bask in the glow of a warm bathroom by the time you arrive. (Only fixed space heaters are allowed app-controlled temp control, so it’s a real boon.)
It’s also great for your home’s other cool spots that lack convenient floor space. The wall-mounted Dreo heats a mid-sized room within 15 minutes, though even heat distribution depends strongly on central wall placement. Other helpful phone-app features include usage tracking over time, Alexa voice compatibility, and button-push calibration of the thermostat. You’ll need that calibration: The thermostat on this unit fares better than earlier-generation devices from Dreo, but can still be confused by light breezes or the device’s own heat source.
Installation is pretty straightforward, provided you’ve hung a framed picture before. But make sure to mount the Dreo high enough to be out of reach for curious youngsters. While the housing stays cool, the heat exhaust vent can get hot to the touch.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating modes Three heating modes: 1,500W with high or low fan, 900W; cooling fan mode Thermostat Yes, digital Remote/app Remote and phone app offer full control Timer Full on/scheduling capability Safety features Overheat throttle and shutoff Operating noise 44–48 decibels WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Wall-mounted: Takes up no floor space
- Can be turned on, timed, and controlled by phone app
- ALCI plug and IP24 splash certification for safe use near water
TIRED
- Bottom vent gets very hot to the touch
- Must be installed on wall
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Best Personal Heater
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado
VC-01 Velocity Ceramic Heater
Amazon
Ceramic heaters this new one from Vornado aren’t my usual pick for whole-room heaters. But when it comes to personal heaters, I tend to prefer ceramic elements for their wildly fast heat-up times, which can bring me from bone-chilled to toasty within minutes or even seconds of turning them on. A ceramic heater is basically a small, heated ceramic plate with a fan behind it. They heat up quite fast, and can focus heat intensely and rapidly on the short path right in front of the vent. This is great for fast foot-warming but less great for distributing heat evenly and efficiently around a room.
That’s what makes this Vornado VC-01 such a welcome surprise: It’s a personal ceramic heater that can also be useful (but not as good as our top pick) for heating a full room. Set the little VC-01 on “personal” mode, and it’s a beautifully quiet heater that delivers heat near-immediately at close range, whether for foot-warming or on your desktop. Minutes after turning it on, the landscape directly in front of the heater is warmer by as much as 10 degrees, even on the low setting. Vornado’s excellent safety features, including near-instant tip-over shutoff, mean that if you knock it off a desk or couch-side table, it’ll already be turned off by the time it hits the floor.
This was also true of my previous pick as the best space heater for foot-warming, the Lasko Ellipse ($70). What’s different with the Vornado is that the “whole room” setting is able to disperse heat rapidly around the room as well, largely through the operation of a powerful fan. This is hardly the quietest heater when the fan’s blasting on high—but this feature adds some nice versatility if you mostly need a personal heater but sometimes have company on the couch.
But note that all ceramic heaters, this one gets painfully hot at its vent, so I’d never recommend it (or any ceramic I’ve tested) around kids or dogs unless you’re right nearby and paying attention. Also note it’s quite effective even at the lower, 750-watt “personal” setting. Keep it 3 feet away or you may swelter.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating/cooling modes Two power settings: 1,500W, 750 W; fan setting Thermostat No Remote No Timer Timed shut-off at 2 hours, 4 hours, or 8 hours Safety features Tip-over sensor, overheat throttle and shutoff Operating noise 46–50 decibels (personal), 55–60 decibels (whole room) WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Heats up rapidly
- Very quiet on personal and low settings
- Versatile for whole-room heating
TIRED
- No remote
- A bit loud on whole-room setting
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Best Air Purifier and Heater
Chevron Chevron Dyson
Hot + Cool HP1
Amazon
Dyson
Dyson heaters are tall. And Dysons look cool, or a bit discomfiting—a droid without a face. But especially, they do lots of things. The Hot + Cool HP1 is an app-enabled air quality sensor, a HEPA and carbon air filter, a hydrometer, a mostly accurate thermometer (see below), a cooling fan … and, yes, a classic resistance heater.
It’s nifty. Though priced accordingly, the HP1—the prior HP07— is the most sophisticated home atmospheric management tool I know. It heats the room evenly and quickly, has no exposed elements or blades, cleans easily, looks kinda fun, has an accurate thermostat, continually filters small particles from the air, and remains cool to the touch. Plus, Dyson actually lowered its prices from the previous-generation device without lowering functionality.
So far, so good! Just note that, as with all Dysons, there are quirks. If you turn the fan setting up to 10, it sounds something got turned up to 10—though it’s quiet at more reasonable wind speeds. There are no paper instructions included. And while temp readings are mostly accurate, the thermostat reads at the device—and so tends to read a few degrees high unless the room temperature equalizes. The most troubling quirk is that there are no temperature control buttons on the device or the app (at least if you live in the United States.) Which means if you lose your remote, you will not be able to adjust the temperature until you get another remote or connect your device to a smart-home system Alexa. Luckily the remote is magnetic and can stay affixed to the device, but woe betide ADHD folks me who’ll wander off with the dang thing anyway. Buttons, please!
Anyway, this Dyson is on sale a lot. Buy it on sale.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating and cooling modes 1500W max heater, power regulated by thermostat and fan strength; fan for cooling Thermostat Yes, digital Remote/app Full control via remote; app offers monitoring but can’t turn on heat Timed shut-off Yes Safety features Tip-over sensor at 45 degrees, overheat shutoff Operating noise 45 decibels at low settings, above 60 at highest fan speed WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- All-in-one air management device with filter
- Accurate thermostat, and useful monitoring app
- Cool, safe housing (and looks cool)
TIRED
- Very loud when fan is on high
- Temperature controlled only by remote
- No paper instructions
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Best Tower Heater
-SOURCE-Dreo.jpg)
Courtesy of Dreo
Dreo
Solaris 718
Amazon
Dreo
I have mixed feelings about tower heaters. In theory, towers are great because they’re tall and people are tall, and so the heat they release is closer to our heads. But in practice, heat rises all by itself, and compact heaters with the same power work just as well. Meanwhile, towers topple easily, their tall silhouette makes them conspicuous in a room, and they can be more difficult to clean.
But this low-key conical Dreo Solaris 718 has won me over a bit, despite its nonzero resemblance to a Dalek from Doctor Who. It’s among the most wondrously silent heaters I tested—nearly inaudible at its lowest setting and still restrained at full steam. So far, it’s also free from cheaper oscillating heaters’ tendency to groan or squeak while rotating from side to side.
The Solaris heats quickly and distributes its warmth nonchalantly about the room; its housing stays approachably cool. Alas, the built-in thermostat is just as wonky as most other space heaters on the market, so you’re better off using the remote to choose among the Solaris’ five steady heat settings.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating/cooling modes Five power settings from 750W to 1500W. Three fan settings. Eco/thermostat mode Thermostat Yes, digital Remote/app Remote Timer 1 to 12-hour timed shutoff Safety features 45-degree tip-over sensor, overheat throttle and shutoff Operating noise 38–42 decibels WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Heats quickly and distributes warmth evenly about the room
- Housing stays safely cool to the touch
- So blessedly quiet
TIRED
- Thermostat not very accurate
- all towers, it’s easy to knock over
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Best Affordable Heater for a Garage
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Honeywell
Uberheat 5 Ceramic Space Heater
Target
Amazon
Best Buy
North Carolina-based Honeywell offers good value at the no-nonsense end of the heater spectrum, without sacrificing any safety features. I’m partial to the straightforward honesty of the Uberheat 5, which pushes heat, quickly, from a small and simple package. It also looks a tiny guitar amp, if that’s a selling point.
You’ll find these little no-frills Honeywells in countless greenhouses and garages and utility rooms. There are just two settings, 900 watts and 1,500 watts. The thermostat is a truly analog mechanical switch, which can offer fine-tuning and a lot of flexibility across a broad temperature range.
Just note that while the housing and handle stay cool, the heater’s broad exhaust grate gets pretty hot and it’s a bit louder than other top choices—which is why we it best as a budget utility heater. For whatever reason, the white and black colors are rarely on sale at the same price. Which one is cheaper depends on the month, and maybe your horoscope.
Specs Heater type Forced air, electric resistance Heating/cooling modes Two power settings: 1,500W, 900W Thermostat Yes, mechanical Remote No Timer No Safety features Mechanical tip-over switch, overheat throttle and shutoff Operating noise 50 decibels WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Low-cost and compact
- Small 1,500-watt element heats up quickly
- Analog controls offer ability to fine tune
TIRED
- A bit loud
- Hot at exhaust grate
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Best Silent Oil-Filled Radiator
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
De’Longhi
Dragon Oil-Filled Radiator
Home Depot
Oil-filled radiators this Dragon from De’Longhi are a different beast from the resistive heaters on this list. The Dragon contains a reservoir of temperature-stable, diathermic oil that circulates within the radiator. The oil takes a little while to heat up, but when it does, the large thermal mass means that the heat radiated by the Dragon is stable and even. The Dragon is also a large device, 2 feet tall and more than a foot deep, and its entire surface gets quite hot to the touch.
So why would you ever prefer it to a resistance heater the others on this list? Silence, and evenness of heat. Aside from a somewhat irritating beepiness on the control panel, the Dragon is utterly silent while in operation. The temperature regulation on its thermostat ends up being quite accurate, though it may take more than an hour to stabilize its gentle heat all over the room. But when it’s stable, it’s stable. Anecdotally, oil-filled radiators also seem to dry out the air less than a fan-blowing ceramic. But especially, the Dragon’s great for bedtime. The hot oil inside the radiator keeps emitting heat even after you’ve turned it off, which means you can turn it on an hour before bedtime to warm up the room, then shut it off before you sleep and still remain toasty. (The Dragon also has a timed shutoff function.) The Dragon’s antifreeze feature also makes it a great tool for greenhouses and basements, turning on whenever the ambient temperature reaches 41 degrees or lower.
Note that as of February 2026 our best-tested model is a bit hard to find (except refurbished), after intense winter storms in parts of the country that rarely see extreme cold. Another popular De’Longhi radiator model we haven’t yet tested, Comfort Temp Full Room radiator ($150), is still available as of publication.
Specs Heater type Oil-filled radiator Heating/cooling modes Three power settings, from 750W to 1500W Thermostat Yes, digital Remote No Timer Timed turn-on or shut-off, half-hour to 24 hours Safety features 45-degree tip-over trigger, overheat shutoff Operating noise Inaudible WIRED/TIRED
LargeChevron WIRED
- Utterly silent
- Radiates even heat throughout room
- Keeps radiating heat long after turned off
TIRED
- Heats room less quickly
- Surface gets hot
- Takes up more space than other top picks
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Large Heaters More Powerful Than Small Ones?
Nope! It may seem counterintuitive, but large heaters don’t necessarily heat any better than small ones.
Whatever their physical size, most space heaters in the US and Canada deliver about the same amount of heat. Space heaters top out at 1,500 watts, which is the highest safe operating load for a 15-amp household circuit. And aside from some low-power personal heaters here and there, most space heaters you’ll find on the market are 1,500-watt heaters.
What’s more, electric space heaters are all pretty much 100 percent efficient in converting that electricity to heat. Whether directly or indirectly, nearly all of that energy will eventually become heat.
So if space heaters are the same power and the same efficiency, why are some 1,500-watt heaters advertised for small rooms and some for large rooms? This ly has as much to do with marketing as science. Pretty much every ceramic, electric-coil, or PTC heater has about the same amount of juice and thus the same ability to heat a room … at least eventually.
What differs among heaters is how and where the heat gets distributed and how fast. All other things being equal, the efficacy of a heater is mostly about whether it puts the heat where you want it to go.
What Are the Different Types of Space Heaters?
Basically all electric space heaters do the same thing: They take electricity off the grid, usually 1,500 watts of it if you’re in the United States, and turn that power into heat.
The vast majority of space heaters, including ceramic heaters and PTC heaters, are electric resistance heaters. This means they run an electrical current through something that creates resistance: maybe an electric coil or maybe a specially designed ceramic. This quickly turns electricity into heat.
Most space heaters use a fan to disperse this heat out into the world, where we all live. These forced-air convection heaters tend to be the fastest at quickly raising the temperature of the surrounding air. The air then heats you. And so while this variety heats quickly, it can take quite a bit of electricity to heat up a whole room.
Oil-filled radiators, in contrast, heat up oil that circulates inside the device, which then emits heat to the surrounding room. These tend to heat up slower but offer even and lasting heat and are very quiet. These radiators operate on the same principle as steam radiators in buildings with a boiler room. And just steam radiators, they can get really, really hot to the touch.
Radiant heaters, such as infrared heaters, operate much the sun or a campfire: Rather than heat the air, they heat objects or people directly by radiating energy toward them. Infrared devices heat the air only indirectly, via the objects it heats—much the same way the sun’s heat radiates off baking city streets. The glow is immediately palpable as warmth, but you’ll need to be in the path of the radiation to feel it, and the thermometer might not immediately register the warmth you perceive. Infrared heaters tend to be best at making an individual in front of the heater feel a little warmer without using a lot of energy, making them a more common decision in large and lofty spaces or outside on a patio.
Though they deliver heat differently, both infrared and oil-filled heaters are subject to the same wattage limitations, and have about the same efficiency, as electrical resistance heaters.
The same cannot be said for heat pumps, a newer technology that’s expected to provide the next generation of household heat. Heat pumps don’t use energy to create heat. Instead, they move heat energy from one place to another. Accordingly, they require far less energy than other forms of heater. But household systems cost thousands to install. And while more affordable window and portable heat pumps are ramping up, they’re not yet broadly available.
Are Space Heaters Safe?
Yes, but also definitely no.
Space heaters are much safer than they used to be. Modern space heaters are heavily regulated, especially regarding exposed heating elements and automatic shut-off switches to prevent overheating. But all heating devices require caution, and so do all devices that pull a lot of energy over long periods.
The vast majority of residential heating fires start with actual fire—specifically in fireplaces and fuel burners. But space heaters accounted for more than a thousand fires in the US each year from 2017 to 2019, according to the US Fire Administration. Though this accounted for just 3 percent of heating fires overall, these led to more than 40 percent of fatalities, in part because portable heaters tend to be placed precisely where people are and because the resulting fires are far more ly to be unconfined.
So treat your space heater with the caution and wild skepticism that it deserves. See WIRED’s Guide to Space Heater Safety for a full rundown about how not to start fires or cause othr hazards. Our guide s recommendations from federal experts at the the USFA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), as well as the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM).
But for the short version:
Don’t leave a space heater unattended. “Unattended” includes sleeping, y’all! Might we suggest a wonderful down comforter instead? When possible, safety experts also recommend you don’t leave a portable heater running unattended in a room with a baby, nor a person with mobility issues. The risk isn’t just fire but hyperthermia.
Plug your heater directly into the outlet. Don’t use extension cords or power strips with space heaters, lest you build up too much electrical load and risk a fire.
Don’t plug another appliance into the same outlet or circuit as the space heater.
Place a space heater only on the floor, on a level surface. Heat rises. You don’t need to prop up a heater on an unstable chair or table.
Keep your heater at least 3 feet from flammable objects. This includes bedding, drapes, furniture, clothes, papers, books. All of that.
Keep space heaters away from water and dampness, whether in bathrooms or in moist basements prone to dripping or flooding.
Read the manual. Manufacturers have good advice.
How We Tested and What We Tested
When it comes to testing space heaters, there are a few main questions: How safe is it? How loud is it? How quickly and evenly can it heat a room?
During intensive testing of dozens of space heaters, I lived for weeks in a home with the thermostat set to a chilly 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
I tested how well and quickly each device heated a medium-size room (14 by 14 feet), and also how well it heated a small seating area in a larger, open-format space. To test each heater’s thermostat and also measure the evenness of heating, I placed thermometers at three or more locations in each room, including behind the heater.
I tested the loudness of each device with a decibel meter at 3 feet away and verified power usage with a wattmeter. To see whether the heater’s exhaust put out painful levels of heat, I used an infrared thermometer to gauge precise surface temperatures. When in doubt, I put my own fingers on the line.
Finally, I tested safety features and basic durability. I looked at independent safety certifications, of course. But I also rudely knocked over each device to verify how the device’s tip-over protections functioned, if at all, and verified that the device started working again when set back on its feet.
To test overheat protection, I smothered each device with an old sheet to see whether the device shut itself off or whether it adjusted its power output to keep internal temperature low. After the device shut itseld off, I then checked how soon it could turn back on, if it ever did. (Some heaters gave up, in permanent complaint!)
If any device fails the tip-over or overheat tests, we don’t recommend it. If it’s significantly louder than 50 decibels at 3 feet, we don’t recommend it. If the heater breaks during routine operation, we don’t recommend it. Maddening rattles and squeaks are also disqualifying.
We keep on testing our favorites through the cold season and beyond, to see how they hold up over time. And, of course, we continually subject more heaters to our testing regimen to see if other devices can oust our current faves.
More Space Heaters I Recommend
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado AVH10 for $100: Vornado has an unholy variety of models that look quite similar but have different levels of loudness and different feature sets. Some are built in America, some in China. In general, the models I’ve d best are the ones that advertise “vortex action,” a fancy name for spinning a fan into a spiral grate oriented opposite to the action of the fan. This leads to a mostly quiet and nigh-undetectable column of warm air, directed out to the back of the room, where it scatters. The TAVH10, which is basically this model but with a timer and remote, is my current favorite, though if you need neither, you can $30 and get this.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado MVH+ for $75 and Vornado VH240+ for $70: These two devices are very nearly the same device. And the previous year’s non-digital MVH was my favorite model before getting displaced by a couple newer models of Dreo and Vornado. It remains among the most silent, the most even in its heat, and among the most reasonably priced. This said, the TAVH10 got a little quieter and the MVH got a little louder, and the addition of a remote and a timer makes it more attractive. This said, there are reasons to favor an analog device. Because they’re analog, the MVH and VH240 can also be regulated by a temperature-controlled power outlet in order to get the most accurate version of a thermostat.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado VC-02 Ceramic Heater for $120: Vornado put out two new ceramic heaters at the tail end of 2025. The less expensive, smaller, horizontally oriented VC-01 ($80) is WIRED’s top personal heater pick. The VC-02 is a bit the 01 turned on its end and made into a tower heater. The VC-02 is in most ways a premium model, with more options in terms of power and fan settings. It’s even quieter than its sister model—in fact, it’s one of the quietest heaters I’ve tested, period. It has a thermostat that’s reasonably accurate. It’s also got a remote and the ability to swivel from side to side for full room coverage. (It does not pivot up and down, the way the VC-01 does.) But while I all these features, its tower-heater shape makes it less optimized than the VC-01 for up-close heating, which is what ceramic heaters do best. For whole-room heating, I’d still favor other Vornado models such as the excellent TAVH10.
Lasko Ellipse Ceramic Tabletop Heater for $70: This little ceramic number from Lasko was the space heater I kept reaching for while testing dozens of other space heaters last year. It’s not the most obvious choice: It doesn’t heat a room evenly, its grill surface gets wackily hot, and the thermostat is an inside joke. I’m not sure I’d run it near babies or small dogs. And yet I still kept voting for it with my cold, cold feet. Why? Because this little thing can radically change my whole experience of life within about 15 seconds of being turned on. It brings the heat, as they say, though mostly within an 8-foot radius. Within that manifold, it’s living inside a hair dryer, which is more pleasant than it sounds. You’re warm and lovely from your heart-cockles to your cankles. This is our previous pick for best foot warmer, and it’s still a good pick. It’s just not as versatile as our new top pick personal heater from Vornado.
Shark TurboBlade Cool + Heat for $400: WIRED reviewer Kat Merck enjoyed the customizable airflow of Shark’s original Turboblade cooling fan (7/10, WIRED Recommends), which can be angled every which way for optimized airflow and is the perfect height for blasting air onto a bed. On cooling fan settings, these virtues remain true of the new Cool + Heat version. True to its name, the Cool + Heat model also adds a 1,400-watt heater to the equation, with emphasis on “little.” The TurboBlade does not push air through its blade-“wings” for heating, the way it does for cooling. Rather, it blows hot air only out of the small vent at the center of the device, whose aperture is only somewhat larger than some hair dryers. The versatility of heating and cooling is nice. So is the ability to direct air upward or downward. And especially, I love that this Shark device’s thermostat is actually accurate to within a single degree, and that the Shark automatically modulates its energy output to maintain temperature in a room. This avoids the wild on-off swings of some less sophisticated heaters. But for such a small heater, the TurboBlade is quite big and loud. Even on low settings, the high-pitched jet engine whir never stops. Standing in front of it on high settings, my phone registers 70 decibels. So I’d recommend this for someone who predominantly wants to use the device as a fan. The heater is more of a secondary function.
De’Longhi Slim-Style Portable Panel Heater for $210: This electric panel heater is an interesting hybrid, with dual heat exhausts on each side but also a broad radiant heat panel. This makes for a middle ground between radiators and resistive fan heaters—heating a room much faster than a classic radiator would but still maintaining warm radiant heat over time. This said, it s a radiator’s main fault, which is that it’s painfully hot to the touch across a large surface—but still issues the same amount of fan noise as a fan heater. Still: It may be your choice if you need to heat up a space quickly and evenly and maintain that heat over time.
Dreo MC706 for $170: Dreo’s innovative 2-in-1 fan/heater won top marks in our fan guide for its auto-shift positive temperature coefficient (PTC) technology, which moves the heater’s ceramic element aside to allow full fan airflow. Its 1,700 ft/m wind speed is a rarity among tower fans, let alone tower fan/heater combos. It’s not the strongest space heater, but it is sufficient, with five settings, 120-degree oscillation, and tip-over protection. Note that though there is a remote, there are no smart features, and it does not work with Dreo’s app.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Dreo Bathroom Heater for $60: Dreo’s smart wall-mounted model I far prefer, this ceramic heater comes with an ALCI plug for safe use near water. I prefer to keep bathroom heaters away from the floor, but not all bathrooms have mountable wall space. This remains a possible, though not ideal alternative, with a somewhat janky thermostat.
Not Recommended
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Boldr Kelvin (Gen 2) for $399: The Kelvin is a much different heater than the others on this list: It is a silent white or black panel that slowly heats up over the course of an hour, emitting what the company attests is far-infrared radiation, similar to those mail-order saunas you can find on Wayfair. The standard model tops out at just 450 watts, so the sell isn’t really that it emits a lot of heat: Rather, far-infrared feels warmer if you stand in front of it. It operates on the same principle as heat from the sun, warming surfaces (including people) directly rather than heating up the air. In the ideal case, this means you can feel more warmth while using less energy than a traditional heater. Its makers recommend it for those stubborn cold spots in a house. But I struggled with this heater. A wall-anchored heater offers less flexibility, and in the shorter term, a radiant heater provides warmth only directly in the path of the panel, meaning it must be positioned with quite a bit of care to be useful. The Kelvin also uses up quite a bit of wall space, and must be located near an outlet. By design, its front gets quite hot to the touch—near boiling, in fact—and the device projects quite a bit of heat backward into the wall even after a second-generation upgrade to its insulation. It’s an interesting concept, with a smart app to track energy use, but the caveats add up.
Pelonis 16-Inch Space Heater for $65 and Pelonis 23-Inch Space Heater for $70: Both of these towers heated up quite quickly. Both were also enormously hot at the surface of their vents, with relatively little shielding from the visible heating elements. The 23-inch was significantly quieter than the 16-inch, however.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado VMHi600 for $200: This large cube was about as quiet as the AVH10, staying below 60 decibels, but its vent got quite hot—about 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Other Vornado models perform far better at a far lower price.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado Velocity Cube 5S for $100: This cube’s outer housing stayed quite cool, and the fan functionality is welcome. But its surface vent got a little hot, and the fan was a bit on the noisy side compared to other Vornados.
Vornado Velocity 5R Whole Room Heater for $125 and Vornado VHEAT for $150: The MVH and TAVH line from Vornado are among the quietest space heaters I’ve tested. These were two of the loudest. The 5R topped 70 decibels. The vintage-looking VHEAT is quite lovely, but it’s also a bit of a noisemaker.
Lasko MyHeat Mini for $40: This little thing looked cute, and I thought it would be a nice desktop or under-table personal heater. But even with its low output at 400 watts, the vent got way too hot to want it anywhere near your laptop or papers.
Lasko 22-inch Oscillating Tower With Remote for $60: This one failed our tip-over test when we knocked it over, blasting heat endlessly into the rug until it overheated and sent a burnt-plastic smell into the air. It did restart hours later, meaning this shutoff was a safety feature. But this tower’s a bit too tall and tippable to risk repeating these events often. It’s out of stock on most sites as of February 2026.
Honeywell 2-Position Heater for $45: This compact, simple, analog heater was a nice enough idea, able to rest vertically or on its side. Lord, it’s loud when its fan is in operation, though. As of February 2026, this device is out of stock, but we’ll monitor restocks.
Honeywell Compact Ceramic Tower for $47: This Honeywell performed well in terms of fast heat and safe surface temperature. Its fan wasn’t too loud either. But the one we received had a maddening squeak each time the tower oscillated fully counterclockwise.
Gone but Not Forgotten
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Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Vornado Sensa Cribside Heater: I loved the idea behind this Vornado Sensa Cribside Heater when I tested it: A space heater with an external temperature sensor, with therefore accurate temperature management (hard to find among space heaters!) But it’s disappeared from Vornado’s website, and has dwindled on retail sites. It’s no longer available on Amazon, but if you see it on sale at another site, I still it.
Also tested but discontinued: Morento 26-cm Heater, Morento 40-cm Heater, Dyson HP07, many models of Vornado before the brand’s late-2025 refresh.
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Matthew Korfhage is a staff writer and reviewer on WIRED’s Gear team, where he focuses on home and kitchen devices that range from air fryers and coffee machines to space heaters, water filters, and beard trimmers. Before joining WIRED in 2024, he covered food, drink, business, culture, and technology for … Read More
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