Date: 31 October 2017. Handy Heater Review.

© janice142
 

Aboard Seaweed I do not watch television. Therefore the "As Seen on TV" items flogged in late night commercials are beyond the scope of my knowledge. When I came across a Handy Heater in the local Walmart I was intrigued. On sale last April for $20, I decided to take a chance and bought the thing. Here is what you need to know.

Of course everything works in theory...
As President Reagan said "Trust, but verify"
 

The Handy Heater stands 6" tall and is 3 1/2" wide. It is small.
From front to back, the unit protrudes about 5" from the wall.
 

The Handy Heater is designed to plug into a wall outlet. You are not supposed to plug it into an extension cord and sit it on the floor or a shelf. That is because of the vents on the bottom of the unit.
 

The vents on the bottom cannot be blocked. The Handy Heater must hang on a wall.

What fooled me was the wording on the box. It says the plug can rotate. It turns 180 degrees which is wonderful. What is not so great is that it won't click at 90 degrees. Aboard Seaweed my outlets are horizontal. The Handy Heater is designed for vertical outlets.

The Red button on the side turns the unit on and off.

Although the box claimed the Handy Heater used 350 watts I was skeptical. I got out my Kill A Watt meter and did some testing.
 

Side Note: A Kill A Watt meter is a good device to have in your tool arsenal. When I want to know the amount of AC power something is using, this device tells me. Although not a necessity I am surprised how often this tool is utilized.
 

And for the record, I would not pay more than $20-$25 for one. I do not need the sort of detailed information some of the fancy units provide. For me, this one is Good Enough.
 

There are two fan settings on the Handy Heater. With the heater on and a Low fan setting: 320 watts	With the heater on and a High fan setting: 405 watts

Additionally, there is a timer. If you want the unit to shut off automatically you can turn on the timer feature. The timer can be set between one and twelve minutes. Otherwise, the Handy Heater runs continuously.
 

A nice feature is that the unit will put itself on stand-by when the pre-set temperature is reached. As the room cools it will come back on.

The heat is adequate IF you're right next to it. When I get up out of my toasty bunk I turn on this little gem. Having a heater that will keep me warm in my cabin while I get dressed is rather decadent. As for heating a room, no. The Handy Heater will not do that.
 

A secondary issue is that every time you turn it on (Red Button on the side) it starts out at 90 degrees. That is not a huge problem as I want the heat while getting dressed.

One thing I do appreciate is that when you set the temperature, it will automatically shut off when that number is reached. Often I will turn it on when I get up, changing the temperature down to 68 degrees or so. When the area gets that warm the Handy Heater automatically shuts off. The internal red lights remain lit however the fan shuts down and no heat emits.

I like that!
 

Would I buy a Handy Heater again? Perhaps. It's not perfect. I like that I can run it for a few minutes while getting dressed. I would be more enthusiastic if the heater had cost me $10 rather than the $20 I spent. Such is life.

Cooler days are here. I've written a few articles on staying warm aboard Seaweed. A couple you might find useful include As Winter Approaches along with Warm Fuzzies (winter bedding).
 

Now that autumn has arrived, having a Handy Heater aboard is rather nice. I used it this morning.

I'd love to hear what you do to stay warm in the winter.
And, do you have a Handy Heater?
 

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