Dr Infrared Heater 1500W Electric Infrared Quartz + PTC Infrared Heater with Remote $89 FS Buydig.com

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Use buydig coupon code VMESAVES20 during checkout. buydig has this Dr Infrared Heater 1,500-watt Electric Quartz and PTC Heater for an in-cart price of $109.

good price.

This is like a nice-looking furniture-type heater for the living room.

I purchased 4 heaters this year. 1 radiant, 2 ceramic & 1 IR.
In general radiant heaters has lower power because it sheds light directly to the object. In my case, it is low-400W and high-800W, which is quite efficient in the kitchen when pointing towards the "working" area.
Other types of heaters are most likely rated @1500W with available lower setting @700-900W.
Among the 4 heaters, I like the "Sunpentown SH-1507 Mini Tower Heater" the most. It is quiet, fast yet with maximum power of "only" 1200W.
The more expensive IR heater (1500W) is indeed more comfortable (less dry and baking feeling), but it's somehow slower than the 1200 mini tower.
I also picked up a $20 flat panel ceramic heater from WalMart. It is quite fast but terribly dry and makes you felt to be toasted when getting close to it.

So, I'd get an nice looking IR heater for the living room (close to the seating area), mini towers for small rooms, and radiant heater for kitchen.

jasonatq1520radiocom said:   Almost every heater advertises the 1500W spec like it's something special or there are other units to compare it to. Almost everything I see out there is 1500W including the cheapie Wal-Mart $20 heaters. Am I not right? Seems like they all have a low 750W setting and a 1500W setting. Is there another number to be looking for to know if one heater is better than another? Like specifically, hotter? One year I bought a $50 heater instead of a $20 heater thinking it might heat a larger space better or something. In all actuality, it seemed to perform worse and I was never as happy with it. Will this $89 heater be better? I have a large livingroom area that doesn't get cool enough with the $20 heaters.

elray said:   
It doesn't matter if you pay $20 or $200, a portable electric heater produces the same amount of heat.

Right, heat is the same. Looks, noise, quality, safety features are other things to think about.

well, well. I saw enough reviews arguing this point. But physics is not that simple.

Indeed, energy conversion of heaters is nearly 100% efficient, which seems to validate these arguments (energy output rate is the same for all 1500W heaters). HOWEVER, the energy absorption of human body and other objects (air, floor, furniture ...) are FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT (pick up a physics book and read). One quick example is when you use conventional radiant heater in a room, even if you turn it on for hours, the room won't be heated up, one of the reasons is that air is not absorbing at the omitting wavelength of the "light".

And more importantly, if air-flow (convection) and radiation are both taken into account, the spatial temperature distribution in a room highly depends on where the heat source (heater) is and how the heat is dissipated (I hope you agree that temperature is the key factor for consumers, instead of the heat). Have you thought about why traditional heaters (pipes) are nearly always close to the window? One of the major reasons is that window is the dominating absorption boundary (sink) of heat, so if the source and sink are close or overlapped, the temperature distribution as function of distance to the window would (theoretically) be a constant, which is what you want. If you ask if that's the most energy efficient way to put heaters, that's another story.

Cut the science part. Yes, energy output is nearly identical. And No, the room temperature is somewhat not-trivially the same.

elray said:   jasonatq1520radiocom said:   Almost every heater advertises the 1500W spec like it's something special or there are other units to compare it to. Almost everything I see out there is 1500W including the cheapie Wal-Mart $20 heaters. Am I not right? Seems like they all have a low 750W setting and a 1500W setting. Is there another number to be looking for to know if one heater is better than another? Like specifically, hotter? One year I bought a $50 heater instead of a $20 heater thinking it might heat a larger space better or something. In all actuality, it seemed to perform worse and I was never as happy with it. Will this $89 heater be better? I have a large livingroom area that doesn't get cool enough with the $20 heaters.

No.

It doesn't matter if you pay $20 or $200, a portable electric heater produces the same amount of heat.
1500 Watts is effectively the maximum you can safely run on a standard 120volt circuit; that's why all such heaters max out at 1500 Watts.

If the room has more than one discrete electrical circuit, you could conceivably run two space heaters. But you'd need to verify that the outlets are on separate circuit breakers, and that there are no other loads present.

Beyond that, a heat pump would be your next option - they can provide more heat for the same electrical input than a space heater.
They're not inexpensive, but probably much cheaper than other options, depending on your cost for electricity and natural gas, and how long you plan to stay in your location.

Is there a reason the room doesn't have heat?

The best space heaters are the ones that blow air across a heating element before sending that air into the room. They are more expensive but tend to heat the whole room better. One such as this one: Here I use one similar to this that I have mounted on a movable stand, which makes it more portable.

What about those Amish heaters? They have apparently discovered some kind of "Miracle" and incorporated it into each heater.

Nice example of computers. But, how about get five 200 watts gamma-ray generators? You still think the room would be the same? And what's your opinion about IR? If frequency doesn't matter, why many places (including medical devices) use IR for heating?

Amount of heat that a room could retain is the heat that it could keep, which also relates to the dissipated portion through windows etc.

Plus, the same amount of heat doesn't mean the temperature would be identical. Again, putting your heat by the window is not the same as keeping it inside.

ZenNUTS said:    HOWEVER, the energy absorption of human body and other objects (air, floor, furniture ...) are FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT. (pick up a physics book and read)one quick example is when you use conventional radiant heater in a room, even if you turn it on for hours, the room won't be heated up, one of the reasons is that air is not absorbing at the omitting wavelength of the "light".What are you talking about? frequency dependent?!

If you leave on 5 computer server using 200 watts of power each, the room temperature would be about the same as one 1000 watt heater or 10 100 watts light bulbs. Ever notice how much HVAC is needed in a server room?

1st law of thermodynamic.

GeorgeT said:   What about those Amish heaters? They have apparently discovered some kind of "Miracle" and incorporated it into each heater.

We have one of those I picked up on CL for $50! It's really gorgeous, solid oak, nice craftsmanship, etc. But honestly, it feels no different than any other heater I've ever owned. The fake flames sure look perdy though!

papajoker said:   One quick example is when you use conventional radiant heater in a room, even if you turn it on for hours, the room won't be heated up, one of the reasons is that air is not absorbing at the omitting wavelength of the "light".
Of course it will be heated up, unless you live in empty space. Just because very little of the radiant heat is directly absorbed by air doesn't mean the air isn't heated. That energy isn't wasted, it travels until it hits something (walls, furniture, whatever), and that object gets heated, which in turn heats the air. It doesn't matter what form of heat you have, if you put X amount of energy into the space, what doesn't leak out ends up heating up the space. A radiant heater can have an advantage in that it allows you to concentrate more of it's output onto a specific object, so a person directly heated by a radiant heater can get a greater portion of the heat, while less of it is wasted on items that have an easier path to leak outside (air, exterior walls, etc.). You feel warmer at lower surrounding temps. But that advantage is lost if you don't stay in the path of the radiant heat source. Then your just back to heating the room. Radiant heaters are a good choice if you're going to sit there in front of them. Otherwise, it's fairly moot.

Regardless of the method of heat transfer, $89 (plus shipping, I presume?) doesn't seem like a great deal to me for an electric space heater. Besides, this thing has a fan, so it's not strictly a radiant heater. The whole radiant vs. convection argument isn't even relevant.

Does the wood cabinet get hot to touch? I need a space heater for a kids room but I need it to be safe for you know...kids.

papajoker said:   Nice example of computers. But, how about get five 200 watts gamma-ray generators? You still think the room would be the same? And what's your opinion about IR? If frequency doesn't matter, why many places (including medical devices) use IR for heating?Well, you will be dead. but seriously?

We are NOT talking about any kind of energy can can pass through walls HERE. IR would be the same. Unless you are living in a glass house most resistive heating devices would all give you about the same heat, thus, the room temp would be about the same.

Cut the science part. Yes, energy output is nearly identical. And No, the room temperature is somewhat not-trivially the same.Again, no, no no. This is very basic science.

As for Radiative heaters, that "shine" its heat on you, yes, if you stay within the heater's path, you would receive more heat and feel warmer than the surrounding temperature, thus, probably end up using less electricity. Again, this only works if you stay put within the heater's path.

ETA: dscline already covered some of my points above.