Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I live in a house that gets very cold in the winter, so I decided to purchase some electric heaters to combat the cold. The first thing I did was research the different types of electric heaters available, which includes fan forced electric heaters, quartz tube heaters, and the oil filled radiant style heaters. To sum up what I found online it goes like this, the fan forced heaters use an electric coil that heats up and a fan that blows air over that coil, it's kind of like a toaster with a built in fan, these are the least effeicient style heaters which will cost the most to run. Then you have the quartz tube heaters which literally send out heat in the form of infrared light, the benefit of this style heater is that it warms objects the same way sun rays do, so if you are in front of them they are supposed to be nice and warm, but that also gives them a limitation, they heat objects rather than the air, that could be good for certain applications but for me I just want to heat the entire area to a comfortable level and these are not the best for that. Then you have the oil filled radiant style like the TaoTronics heater this review is about. This type of heater works by heating oil inside the unit which then radiates heat through the metal fins warming the air and objects around it. Oil filled radiator heaters are considered to be the most energy effecient, all of this information can be found on the official Energy Star website. I have used forced fan heaters in the past and honsetly I don't like them, they are noisy, they blow air around the room which may not be desirable, and they dry out the air which is already dry in the winter, that's a big drawback, not to mention they use the most electricity, so those are out of the question. I have never used a quartz tube heater so I can't speak to that from personal use but it seems like they would only be good for certian situations. For my needs the oil filled radiator is the best choice, I leave it on almost all the time and I like the fact that it doesn't creat much noise, dry out the air or blow air around like a fan heater. Now comes the review and comparison.. I needed atleast a couple heaters for my house so I decided to purchase two different brands and whichever works best I was going to purchase another one or two. After comparing many different brands I decided to purchase the TaoTronics Oil Filled Radiator from Amazon and a Pelonis from Lowes. Both were about the same price and both are about the same size so I think this is the perfect comparison. However, the features and operation are quite different. The TaoTronics has the ability to set the temperature to the exact degree while the Pelonis goes in 5 degree incriments, that is an easy win for the TaoTronics. And as far as the accuracy of the temperature goes I find that the Pelonis runs a lot more ofter and actually heats the area too much, in other words it runs more than I want it to even tho I have it on the lowest setting. The TaoTronics does a much better job of holding a steady temp and has a greater range also, that's a big win for TaoTronics. Both units make little click noises when they go from heating to resting, but it's not that noticable. The power cords are the same length and both have an area to wrap them around on the front of the heater but the Taotronics includes a clip to hold the cord to the desired length, the Pelonis just hangs kind of loosely, that clip is a nice touch on the TaoTronics. The TaoTronics comes with a remote control while the Pelonis does not. They look visually similar as you can see from my pictures but the Taotronics has a more modern clean look which I personally like a lot. The only thing that is better on the Pelonis are the wheels on the bottem, they slide more smoothly than the TaoTronics, which is why I deducted one star in the safety category. Overall, the TaoTronics heater beats the Pelonis by a long shot and I will be purhasing another to keep my house from feeling like an ice box. I really think the team at TaoTronics put a lot of thought and effort into designing a quality heater and as a very picky person I appreciate that. TaoTronics for the win!