VORNADO MVH
WHOLE ROOM
VORTEX HEATER
Price: $60 Ty p e : Elec-
trical resistance Watts:
1,500 Highest grill tem-
perature: 163°F Highest
recorded amps: 11.4
Weight: 4 lb
Pound for pound, the
MVH is hard to beat. It’s
a simple heater with a
circular resistance coil
and a three-blade fan
that blows through a
spiral-scroll grill. The
result is surprisingly
quiet and evenly distrib-
uted warm air. Its heat
output can be adjusted
to low (750 watts),
medium (1,125), or high
(1,500). The grill tem-
perature we recorded
may seem high, but it’s
certainly not objection-
able. The case stays
cool to the touch, and
Vornado molded a con-
venient handhold into
the back. Sitting at floor
level, the MVH is bound
to pull in lint and dust.
Ideally, the guts would
be protected with an air
filter, to avoid a fire haz-
ard. But since the MVH
doesn’t have one, be
careful to vacuum the
appliance regularly.
HONEYWELL
HCE840 HEAT
GENIUSPrice: $74 Ty p e : Elec-
trical ceramic Watts:
1,500 Highest grill tem-
perature: 252°F Highest
recorded amps: 12.5
Weight: 4.8 lbThe aptly named Heat
Genius is about as sophis-
ticated as space heaters
get. It employs two verti-
cal heating elements, two
fans, and a thermostat.
You can set the fan speed
and temperature to heat
a room, or you can set it
to heat just at floor level,mid-height, or up high.
It’s also equipped with a
phased timer that adjusts
the heat down over two
hours in a series of inter-
vals, with each level lasting
for half an hour. After two
hours, the heater turns off
and remains off. Another
feature that we like is the
appliance’s Quiet Mode.
It shuts off the lower fan,
running just the upper fan
on low speed for almost
noiseless heat. Like with
the Heat Storm, we do
wish Honeywell had
equipped this with a cord
wrap for better storage.
But to be fair, it’s a design
deficiency shared by most
small heaters.DELONGHI
TRSLS0715ELPrice: $80 Ty p e : Electric,
oil-filled radiator Watts:
1,500 Highest surface
temperature: 162°F
Highest recorded amps:
11.9 Weight: 21.8 lbThis DeLonghi was the
test’s potbellied stove,
you might say, just safer
and more sophisticated.
It has a thermostatic con-
trol, three heat settings,
and a timer. But there’s
no denying that it has a
simple old-school look
and feel. Nearly the entire
surface gets piping hot—
the thermographic view
through the Flir showed
a bright yellow box-
shaped hunk of heat. Like
a stove, it will set up a
convection current, with
hot air rising from it to
the ceiling, sinking back
down along the walls,
toward the heater, and
up again. Keep in mind
that oil heaters have nar-
row applications, and
they’re most effective
positioned in the center
of a space with still air. If
that’s not what you need,
or you don’t want to give
a heater prime real estate
in the middle of your liv-
ing room, look elsewhere.December 2019 83