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I did a ton of research and bought a few heaters before this one but I'm most happy with the Vornado. The first two I bought were digital ceramic heaters. I have to recommend against getting a digital heater. Each time you turn it on, you have to push several controls to get back to where you like it, with this heater, you just turn it on. The only thing that kept me from buying it first was cost and the fact that it had no ceramic element which theoretically was a safer element than an electric coil. We use it in a few bedrooms that are not freezing cold but uncomfortably cold. The other great feature is it'll run on lower power and only use as much wattage as is needed to heat the room. My other heaters would run full blast till it hit the desired temperature, then turn off, repeat over and over. The trouble is, heaters will use about as much power as must rooms have available so if you have anything else plugged in, you'll throw the circuit breaker, which happened over and over for me. A 1200w heater (which is common) will use over 10Amps. That's a TON of power. The Vornado will run and heat just fine on a low power setting using about 5A max and less if less is needed.
Here's a summary of what I like:
Pros:
Plastic grill never gets hot to the touch why do others use metal ?
Only uses the power it needs to gives your electric panel a rest
Much easier to use than digital heaters don't buy digital !
Compact and stable on the floor
Well built many heaters are absolute junk
Cons:
Expensive for a space heater
No ceramic element which MAY mean it could spark easier
When running on high, I noticed a buzzing noise in the fan but not during normal use
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This heater is exactly what I needed. I've had it for a few days now, and it works perfectly.I primarily wanted a heater that would work with an external / plug-in / wall timer. You know, the thing with the dial. So many heaters have a "timer" which is actually just one-time automatic shut-off, so you still need to turn it on, and set the timer, each night. I wanted something that would turn on and off at specific times of day, and there aren't many if any.
This heater has three rocker switches for power, heat level, and fan speed; it has a dial for temperature. There are no toggles or digital settings or anything. That means you can cut power to it, then restore power, and it's right back to where you left it -same temp setting, everything. I have it plugged into a heavy duty timer rated for 1875 watts.
Beyond meeting that specific requirement of mine, this is a great heater. It delivers on its promise of even heating. It circulates the air very well, and automatically adjusts both fan speed and heat output. Much better than heaters that simply cycle. It's also very quiet -I didn't believe its "whisper-quiet" claims, but it's true.
One step down (VH2) and you lose the automatic fan and heat level ("A" is for automatic). One step up (DVH) and you get digital, which probably won't work on a timer.
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I can't believe all the bad reviews for Vornado heaters. My wife bought one almost 10 years ago at a garage sale and we've used it every night during the winters for years. I took it hunting and hooked it up in the back of a pickup truck in the winter at 10 degrees outside, we slept on top of the sleeping bags in our underwear. We bought the VH2 a few years back and use it during the winter in another room in the house. We keep the house at around 64 degrees at night and have one heater for the entire upstairs 4 bedrooms. It raises the temp a couple of degrees and you can tell the difference the moment you go downstairs. The other in our family room, over a crawl space, keeps the room very comfortable even on the coldest nights AND it's an open room about 14 feet wide and 35 feet long. Just angle it in the general direction and you'll feel the difference. THIS IS NOT A WHOLE HOUSE HEATER! It is a space heater which means heating a relatively small space. It cranks out hot air quickly but it's going to take a while to make a difference in a big room. In the back of a pickup truck in the middle of winter it was like a sauna so we had to keep turning it down. In a house with 8 foot ceilings and large rooms don't expect it to do more than heat up the general area. Defects aside these things are in my experience safe for kids and pets (no RED element, COOL to the touch) and reliable. I still like the old one but after all these years it is starting to make an occassional noise. I'm buying another one and putting that old reliable in my basement.Bottom line is despite the bad reviews on Vornado it's the only brand I've had good experience with. Holmes isn't very good. I've got one in a 7 x 5 bathroom that really barely heats up that room, putting a Vornado in there would likely peel the paint off the wall. We keep our costs down by running one in the family room where we spend our time, then one for our upstairs at night. Since hot air rises you don't lose any down the steps and you can close doors if you only need to HELP a couple of rooms.
Honest reviews on Vornado AVH2 Whole Room Vortex Heater, Automatic Climate Control
Pros: Solid construction, safe around my cats (not likely to be knocked over, and little paws are safe), heating element not visible in a dark room, high/low setting, can be used as fan, heats up my room better than my cheaper (but reliable) holms heater.Cons: It doesn't feel anything like my car heater on max setting.
Noise. On the high setting it reminds me of a locast swarm a mile awayon the low setting it's even louder. Durability: unknown.
I would give it five stars if half the price, but I don't think it's a great value for the money.
*edit* after one year the unit started having problems. It will overheat within seconds of turning the unit on and shut itself off. The work around is to run the fan first before turning up the heater control. I believe that this is a problem with the power supply that is built into the unit not providing enough wattage to simultaneously start the fan and run the heater; if you start the fan first the problem is avoided (a fan draws more electricity when starting than once it's running).
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