Feeling the chill? These are the best portable heaters to keep you toasty

Choosing a portable heater isn’t necessarily just about finding the “best” model but also matching the technology to your lifestyle. What areas need heat, how quickly do you need it, where is the unit going to sit, and so on.

I’ve broken portable panel heaters into four categories (no fan models, I’ll tackle them in a separate article) and tested one of each to give you an idea of how they work. Each one has at least some Wi-Fi or app capability, and can be placed anywhere in the home.

Some convector panels have fans to assist the airflow but not this one. And it doesn’t really need it because hot air starts moving out immediately. It isn’t the prettiest, and the white casing is roughly put together, but it’s lightweight and has carry handles. It’s quiet, aside from the gentle hum of the element and the clonk when the thermostat turns it off and on, and it’s comforting to stand near or warm your hands over.

The simplicity does have some downsides. The outer casing of the heater gets very hot and it will only actually heat your room if the hot air isn’t being sucked somewhere else. It did a good job in my enclosed office, with its digital thermostat dutifully turning the heater off and on to stay within two degrees of my target.

But in my lounge room (which is larger, has no doors between the kitchen and corridors, and has higher ceilings) you only felt warm quite close to the unit, and the temperature fell quickly when it was off. Heating up an already cold room took a long time. These heaters don’t really modulate power, so if you have open spaces or draughts you could end up pumping a full 2000W constantly. It does have an eco-mode that limits it to 1250W but that means slower heating.

It connects to an app that is also pretty basic but there’s enough there to let you automate the heater. You can set your preferred temperature by day of the week in a calendar, run a schedule to get heat at certain times, or set the device to turn on according to outside weather data. You can also connect it to Google or Alexa. A touch panel on the side also works for quick adjustments.

Given the large diversity of panel heaters, I’ve split them into two sections. More expensive models tend to have more accurate digital thermostats, additional power steps for efficient control, and smarter features. Plus they usually look a lot nicer. At their core, though, they use the same technology: electricity heats an internal coil to suck cold air in and push warm air out the top.

A lot easier on the eyes than the Kogan, the Breville has a thin design and comes with a buil