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List Price: $69.99
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This is a very decent heater. It's small, nearly silent, and appears to be quite safe. So far, I've been using mine in a standard-sized bedroom, which is efficiently fills with warm air. I haven't tried it in a larger space, but since it so easily heats the air in my bedroom, I'm assuming it's capable of something larger as well.
The number one concern with a space heater is safety. After running this unit on high for a few hours, the plastic body was still cool to the touch. Of course the metal face plate where the heat is discharged gets quite hot, but it changes to a glowing red color, so you don't accidentally touch it.
Use an extension cord at your own risk. Holmes doesn't recommend it, but since the supplied cord is only a few feet, you basically have no choice unless you want it really close to the wall (also not a good idea). It draws about 1500 watts, so you'll want a very heavy duty extension cord rating 1875 watts or better, 14 gauge or less. I picked one up specifically to use with this heater and it DOES get warm after a while. The extension cord wasn't dangerously hot or anything, but its temperature did begin to rise slightly.
Basically, you just need to be sensible: don't leave the heater running unattended, don't run the cord under carpet, unplug the unit from the wall when it's not in use, don't try to use a conventional household extension cord, don't plug anything else into the outlet that you use for this, etc. etc. standard stuff. This applies for any space heater, of course.
It has an auto-shutdown feature if its tipped over or becomes too hot. Again, you just need to be sensible and not use it by flammable materials or around children. I chose this unit specifically for its excellent safety features, so based on my research on what's currently available at Target/WalMart/Etc. in the $30-100 range, I'm confident that, if used correctly, this is a good bet for safe, effective heating.
There is a thermostat built in with a variety of settings. It has five levels between 60 and 80 degrees, with each available in both "high" and "low". It also has a general "always on" mode where you can set it on high or on low. I'm a bit skeptical as to the efficacy of the thermostat. For a $30-40 unit, I wouldn't expect anything super-precise or anything. It's very general from what I can tell.
I can definitely recommend this to anyone wanted to efficiently heat anything around 10x14 or so. Again, it probably works in a bigger area, but I haven't tried it. Be safe and enjoy.
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Unlike the other customers, I have had great success with this product. The small heater keeps my large bedroom warm through out the night. The heater has two settings, high and low, and it also has a setting where it will keep the room at a constant temperatrue setting up to 89 degrees. It can also be set to come on automatically. I have not had any problems with a bad smell . Great product give it a try if you are wanting to heat only one room in your house to save money. I like it so much, I bought two.
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Only buy this if you can find it cheaper. I bought this from my wholesale club for 40 dollars. Otherwise it's not worth the money. When I originally bought this heater, I grabbed it from the top and moved it to another location in my room. After doing that, it made a really bad cranking noise every time it oscillated. I exchanged it after a week. The new heater doesn't have that problem. But I did notice this new heater blows cold air out the bottom. The manual says it will blow cold air once it reaches desired temperature to prevent overheating. But mine blows cold air on bottom as soon as you turn it on, before the temperature even gets adjusted. I'm just going to keep this one b/c its a hassle to drive and return it. The cold air blowing on bottom prevents my floor and nearby rug from getting heated so I guess that's a plus. And after leaving the heater on for a few minutes, the cold air seems to go away.
If you decide to buy this, just make sure you don't move the heater around alot. Its made of cheap plastic and the inside structure does not seem that stable. So leaving it in the center of the room should suffice. If you do decide to move it, hold it gently by the bottom base, don't grab it from the top. They didn't put handles on this thing so I guess it's not meant to be moved around a lot.
In terms of heating, it does a good job. I have a 12 x 9 ft bedroom and this heater can warm up the room in about 15 min. It has a programmable thermostat which will automatically shut off when desired room temp is reached. There is also a remote which I can program from my bed which I like.
In terms of the smell, it does have a heated plastic smell when you first turn it on, but the smell goes away after a while.
I am not sure how much electricity it uses since I haven't gotten my bill yet but since my family doesn't want to turn on heat yet for the whole entire house, this works just fine to heat up a small room.
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We've had this heater for two months now, and it is a complete piece of junk. It only ever seems to put out cold air. It says it will only blow cold air to keep an accurate temperature reading, or to not overheat, but it doesn't blow hot air enough to get even warm to the touch! Every now and then it will put out a little heat, but only for a minute or two, then it goes back to cold air. I thought I bought a heater, not a fan. It is going back to the store this weekend. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS HEATER!
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I purchased this heater a couple of years ago and have used it off and on since then. It will do a decent job at heating a small area, but there are a few issues I have with it.
First the positives; as I said, the unit does a good job of heating a small or medium room, provided it is mostly enclosed. For example, a bedroom or office will get nice and warm, but if you're trying to heat a larger room or a room that has no doors and is open to other areas, you will not get a significant increase in room temperature.
The remote was nice -I have since lost mine -and allows you to control the unit from, say, the comfort of your bed. You will need to get up and walk over to the heater itself in order to use some functions, but it's a nice thing to have.
This heater has a timer function that allows you to essentially start a count-down 'til when you want the heater to turn on. This is pretty useful for having it heat your bedroom an hour or so before you get up, instead of having the unit running all night or having the room be freezing.
Now the negatives; first and foremost, I'll mention my issue with the heater's built-in thermostat/thermometer. On the heater's display, you can view what the unit believes is the room's current temperature. This is most useful when putting the heater in "Auto" mode, where you can set a certain temperature for the room and the heater will turn off and on based on your particular comfort level. However, the problem with the design of the heater's thermostat is that, I believe, it is located too close to the unit's heating elements and is also probably too enclosed within the casing. I say this because when you first plug the heater in, it will give you an accurate room temperature reading. I have verified this using an indoor/outdoor weather thermometer, as well as my apartment's existing room thermostats. As the heater is operating and warms up, however, the difference between the room's actual temperature and the heater's measure of the room's temp increases. This is an issue because the heater will often turn off prematurely; for e.g. it may think the room's temperature is 70 degrees when it is actually as low as 65. This can make setting the heater's auto temperature shut-off a bit of hit-or-miss guesswork, a skill I have yet to acquire even after two winters with the device.
The timer option I mentioned earlier is a nice feature, but it only allows you to set full, whole hours. It would be nice if you could set it to be more specific, like .5 hrs. increments, since the whole point of the timer is to essentially save money. Also, the timer only works to count-down to then the unit will turn on. It will not "count-up" to when you'd like it to shut off. So if you forget to turn it off and leave the house, it'll run the entire time.
Another issue that may just be my personal perception is that the oscillating option is a bit useless. Unless you have a bunch of people crowded around the heater, the unit's fans aren't strong enough where turning on oscillation would increase the unit's efficiency.
One more point that is really just a nit-picking thing; the display on the heater is a very bright green which may be an issue for you if you have the timer set at night and are trying to sleep. Again, I realize that's a bit of a trivial issue, but I know it was a bit annoying for me and may be for others.
Overall, this unit was, as I said, decent. I wouldn't spend more than 45 $ or so for this and if you check Consumer Reports, they always have a list of the year's most efficient stand-alone heaters. I know for a fact this Holmes Tower isn't on there.
