bit-tech Shopping: Honeywell HZ519 Digital Silent Comfort Heater

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Noiseless, Variable Settings, Nice Safety Features, Consumer Reports Best Buy

Weaknesses: Doesn't Warm Room Quickly Enough, 3-4 Ft Long, Display Not Backlit

Summary: Good buy. Can set it for continuous run, run for specific time limit, or run by thermostat. Noiseless because radiant heat, no fan. Although, takes a while to warm the room because no fan. Safety features include overheat protection and tip-over switch. CR rated as best buy for quiet, whole room heating. Would have liked to have lighting for the display.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Nice heat, excellant features

Weaknesses: It's 3-4 feet long

Summary: I just bought this heater at the beginning of Nov-2007 for 60 dollars with free shipping from Amazon. I have had it for two weeks and it is costing me 12 cents an hour to run it. I was just going to order two more, one for a gift and one for me and I went back to Amazon and saw that the price jumped to 150 dollars plus shipping. I can't find it anywhere online for less than 140 dollars which sucks. I would suggest purchasing the HZ515 model instead for 35 dollars from Amazon, much cheaper and the only difference is it doesn't have a backlit panel. The box was labeled with a Home Depot sticker, so maybe it can be found there for less than 150 dollars.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 10

Strengths: temperature control, auto shut off

Weaknesses: no timer for setting it to turn on before I wake up, just an auto shut off timer

Summary: I am very happy with this heater, good price, good functionality, thermostat isn't accurate but you get used to it. now if only i didnt have to pay my power bill

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Month

Strengths: Large heating coil, sturdy base, built-in thermostat

Weaknesses: Mildy unattractive, so large it's not applicable in smaller spaces, no fan to direct heat

Summary: We bought this heater because it was highest rated whole-room heater in Consumer Reports. It does provide a lot of heat, and warms a room within 20-30 minutes. The heater also provides the safety feature of the tip switch that kills the power. My two main criticisms would be the size and the control panel. It's terribly large and long, and if my wife wanted to move it from room to room it would be rather cumbersome. It also would not fit well in a room like a bathroom because you would have no room to maneuver, versus a heater that was smaller. Of course a smaller heater sacrifices power and heat. Finally, the control panel isn't backlit, which would be a very nice feature. It's digital and is hard to read in the dark. We have this heater in our newborn's room and I don't want to turn on the light to wake the baby so I have to cup my hand around the power light to see the settings. All in all I would recommend the heater for someone that wanted to heat a large room and/or multiple people in one room. It has great safety features, heats quickly, and has a nice digital display showing the room's current temperature and the heater's current temperature setting.