Bionaire Silent Micathermic Console Heater, Gray

One of the reasons I like shopping at Amazon is that you get to research the product you're interested in by getting some real feedback on the product from actual owners. I find that part extremely valuable. Anyway back to my thoughts on the Bionaire BH3950-U Silent Micathermic Heater with Adjustable Thermostat. Keep in mind I only had this heater for a few days. First thing is that shipping was incredibly fast. I selected Super Saver shipping which knocked out the shipping charge and I was expecting it to arrive a bit slower than regular shipping but to my surprise I received the heater in 2 days. I was not expecting that at all. There is a bit of assembly required with this heater but trust me, it is minimal. You'll just have to attach a set of wheels, a set of foot pegs and then the handle. All of it was done without tools. Yes that's right. Without tools. The screws that were supplied were the wing-nut or thumbscrew type so you honestly don't need a screwdriver and the assembly was accomplished in 10 minutes.The heater is very neat looking. The design is very similar to the Duh-long-high type oil-filled heaters. (Yes I was being cruel to Delonghi) The frame of the heater is made of hard plastic and the sides are what appear to be of a chicken-wire type enclosure. This allows you to fully see the internal panels or heating elements. You will notice 3 heating elements. Now strangely the design is not ugly. It's kind of cool to see what's going on inside the heater. Now those oil filled heaters work OK but they take soooo long to get hot and if you're not careful you can burn yourself with them. No worry about burning yourself with the Bionaire and it gets hot very quickly. Even on the Low wattage setting the unit begins to give off heat after just 30 seconds of turning it on. I have not needed to use the High wattage setting by the way. The controls are similar to the oil-filled heaters. Could it use a digital thermostat?? Maybe but really the turn-dial thermostat works just fine. The heater is near silent. Just the occasional expansion sounds as the unit heats up or cools off as well as the clicking sound coming from the thermostat. These little noises didn't bother me at all. They actually reminded me that the unit was running. What about the weight?? Anybody who owns an oil-filled heater knows that you have to be somewhat healthy enough to lift that thing. The Bionaire is incredibly light. The product specs claim 15 or 20 pounds but that cant be right because it feels like only 5 pounds or less. It is truly and remarkably light weight. I find that sometimes the wheels are a bit unnecessary because if I need to place it in another room, it's faster if I just pick it up and bring it to the other room instead of rolling it around. I plan to purchase a second unit soon because it is working so well but I want to give this unit a chance to properly prove itself to me before I purchase a second.To be honest I was pleasantly surprised at how well this heater works. I wasn't expecting it to work too well but I was happily proven wrong. Strong and quick heat in a handsome design. Now I've seen some folks mention that they bought theirs from Costco but since I don't have a membership to that place it didn't pay for me to go and get membership and then pay for the unit. For current Costco members yes you absolutely got a great deal on a fantastic heater.I am very, very pleased with this heater. I have it on in my den right now as I'm typing this review and it is so toasty warm in here. Give it a try for yourself. Good luck and stay warm.P.S.- When you turn the heater on for the first time there will be somewhat of a strong odor coming from the unit. "New smell" as I like to call it. Completely normal. In fact the papers that come with the unit mentions this. Let it run for about 30 to 45 minutes in a room with a window slightly open and it will be fine. I placed mine in the bathroom for 30 minutes with the exhaust fan running and after that the strong odor was gone.UPDATE 3/2/2014:I ended up ordering 2 more units shortly after my review so I have a total of 3. They're still working very well. The northeast has been hit nearly every week with frigid temps and snow but these heaters never quit on me. I should point out that if you have very high ceilings, you might have some heating issues. I can't tell you for sure so what you can do is buy one unit, try it and see if you have any issues.

UPDATE MARCH 2013: This is directed to the manufacturer of the product. Just noticed that the handle is annoyingly narrow. My fingers are crunched together when using it. The handle should be wider at its tip...........much wider. The handle seems to have been designed with sleekness in mind more than functionality. Wrong strategy.UPDATE: FOLLOWING LATE FEB 2013: I like this heater enough that I just bought a second one. That says it.FIRST REVIEW FOLLOWING JAN 3013 PURCHASE: I am a single man who lives in Maine and I bought this in January 2013. My house is a well-insulated, large cape cod.NO MATTER WHAT ANYBODY CLAIMS HERE, THIS HEATER WILL NOT HEAT ANY MORE THAN A SINGLE ROOM......AT LEAST NOT MY BIONAIRE BH 3950-U.....IN MY HOUSE.That said, it really DOES heat a single room (in this latitude) and even in very cold weather (near zero fahrenheit).Here is what I like about it:1. It is absolutely silent, except for that very occasional, low decibel, barely audible, "pop" or better yet "click", when the thermostat clicks on or off. This unit is not virtually silent or very quiet.....it is ABSOLUTELY SILENT......NOISELESS !2. Everything about it appears to be of a high-quality build.....EVERYTHING. This is no piece of junk.Here is what I use it for:Unless I am really cold I keep my house furnace thermostat set all the way down to 50 degrees. Now that is chilly. But then, I retire to either my study or my bedroom at night.When I am in my study, writing, I close the door and this heater will make the 15 X 15 room toasty, regardless of how cold it is outside, that is, with that aforementioned furnace thermostat set at about 50.When I go to bed I have a low setting (four dimples on the dial above off) I put this Bioniare on and it keeps my bedroom just right, and not too warm. Yes, I keep the door shut. This thing of high enough quality that I am certain there is no safety issue here.Here is the single thing I do not like:If you forget and have this heater running and say......a hair dryer running, on the same circuit, it will trip the circuit breaker. That is, I think a 15 amp breaker. In other words, only have one high-resistance appliance "on" at a time.......on any single circuit. But that is not a fault of this heater. That is common to any high-resistance appliance, i.e. run it and only it on any 15 amp to 20 amp circuit.That is it. My recommendation to you if you expect to heat just one room is.......buy it. It will GRADUALLY make that room toasty warm; and it will do it silently.But if you expect to heat a section of a "normal" size house you are in for disappointment. No way......not anywhere near this latitude anyway.

Lo compre después de una extensa investigación de un calentador que fuese capaz de calentar de manera rápida un espacio grande (7m x 3m) y que después fuese capaz de mantener una temperatura agradable y hasta el momento a funcionado perfectamente. De acuerdo con las reseñas en otros sitios, es además uno de los calentadores con mejor ahorro de energía, aunque eso todavía no puedo corroborarlo.

Quiet and fast and hot. Don't expect to heat more than 1 medium/ small room thiugh