Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Consumer Reports, February 10, 2010: Heating Claims Don't Add Up Manufacturers of electric space heaters want you to believe that using one of their devices will lower your heating bill. Lowering your home's thermostat(s) and using your main heating system less in tandem with a space heater--called zone heating--will cut your utility bill. (Every degree you lower the thermostat(s) can save you about 2 percent on your heating bill.) But keep in mind that based on current national average prices and adjusting for the energy losses due to burning a fuel, heating with electricity is about two and a half times more expensive than heating with gas, the most common heating fuel in this country. EdenPure suggests that "you can turn the heat down in your house as low as 50°F, yet the room you are in will be warm and comfortable. When you move to another room, the EdenPure goes with you. Its wheels make relocation a snap." That scenario assumes that you have to heat only a single room to heat at a time or that you own multiple EdenPure space heaters; that once you're in a room you stay put and don't move around the house; and that you're willing to keep the rest of your home at a chilly 50°F. Lowering the thermostat(s) by 3°F would likely result in minimal discomfort for you and your family, but are you willing to keep your home at 50°F? The 1,483-watt EdenPure Gen 3 Model 1000 uses quartz infrared elements as the heat source. Its design essentially negates the radiant-heating effect, so it operates more like a typical fan-forced convection heater. While a fan can help mix the room air, there is typically some temperature variation, with cooler air near the floor and warmer air near the ceiling. Humidity Information Seems All Wet EdenPure says its heaters "protects the humidity level and air quality important to breathing comfort and personal health," and also notes that "Heat from the copper tubing rides the humidity in the room and provides moist, soft heat--ceiling-to-floor, wall-to-wall--without reducing oxygen or humidity." Simply put, when you heat a room with any space heater and don't also have an additional source of humidity, say a humidifier, the total moisture in the air in that space will stays the same but the relative humidity will go down, not up. That's true for every space heater we've tested, including the EdenPure Gen 3 Model 1000. ... In the end, remember that electric space heaters in and of themselves can't save you energy and lower your utility bills over the winter. To do that, you need to weatherize your home and lower your thermostat(s) so your heating system has to work less. But if you're going to buy a space heater, you don't have to shell out $400 or more for the EdenPure Gen 3 Model 1000.