Overall score

• Performance (70%) - calculated on: the heater’s ability to warm a room from 8°C to 13°C and from 8°C to 18°C; the evenness of the room heating; and the thermostat’s performance.
• Ease of use (30%) - assessed equally on: using the controls, the labelling of controls, the heater’s mobility, cord storage, and ease of cleaning.

Safety
Tilt test - while all heaters passed the standard’s requirement that they don’t topple over when inclined to 15° in any direction, any portable heater can be knocked over accidentally. So we put each heater on its side with the power on to see how long it took to turn off.

Drape test - we turned the heaters up to full temperature on full power and then draped a towel over each heater for 30 minutes. This test should trip the heater’s over-temperature safety switch.

Find out more about how we test electric heaters.