More Space Heaters I Recommend
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 liked 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 save $30 and get this.
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.
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 like 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 like 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 like 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-like “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 shares 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.
Dreo Bathroom Heater for $60: Like 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
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.
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.
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
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 like 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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