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I’m quite happy in having an online account with Consumer Reports and always review the same before buying any appliance for domestic use. Consumer Reports guided all the purchase of my dryer, space heater, washer and lawn mover and I have no regrets, whatsoever. Yet, at times while sticking to the objective measures, they tend to go wrong when problems arise outside the objective measures. Personally, I feel that somewhere their judgment of the Honeywell HZ-519 electric convection space heater was not so prudent when they compared it with the DeLonghi HHP 1500, which did not earn a very high rating.
Problem 1: Physical Dimensions
You’ll observe that the HZ-519 is a long and thin device. Such objects are delicate; requiring odd shaped shipping boxes. Just like me, another Amazon reviewer too realized that such items get bent in the middle while in transit and you are delivered a piece that has ugly bends in the metal. In my case the Amazon merchant compensated me to the tune of $24, rather than taking it back. Further, its cord is mounted on the right side, and if your plug-in happens to be on the left side, you may find the cord length just short of the point? On the other hand the solid HHP 1500 is square-shaped and comes in a standard sized box with a cord long enough to be fitted into a left or a right-sided plug-in point.
Problem 2: Temperature Control
Consumer reports award high marks to HZ-519 due provision of a digital temperature control and a timer. These are nice functions for a single use: set the desired temperature to be maintained and the time for heating, all thru pressing of a couple of buttons. But, the HHP 1500 has no arrangements or adjustment of temperature. You just turn it on and it takes its time to heat the room and tries to maintain it at the same temperature, but you can’t know the temperature. You may have to try a couple of settings over the first few nights to discover the most comfortable temperature for you. And, once you have realized that temperature, you are thru with it for long. While using the DeLonghi, you flick the top knob on; with the Honeywell you need to press the power button, press the “Temp/Timer” and select a temperature, hit a few more arrow keys for automatic turning off the unit, meaning more button presses for every operation. It doesn’t record the last setting; there is no memory unit. Well, there is a timer. It’s nice to have it as long as you don’t intend setting the temperature in a dark room in the middle of the night. (There are revised versions of this heater that come with a display backlight and a remote control that facilitates the operation)
Problem 3: Being Nice to Your Fuses
The HHP 1500 comes with two power settings, one drawing about 7 Amps, while the other consumes about 13 Amps, which may go up to 15Amps when there are spikes during voltage fluctuations and that causes a warning beep on Kill-a-Watt. The HZ-519 has only one mode that draws about 11 Amps. Normally a household circuit is rated for 15 Amps. So, two rooms drawing power from the same circuit may have one each of HHP 1500 and be operated at 7Amps rating. It will take slightly longer for the rooms to get heated, being operated at 7Amps. But, imagine having two HZ-519s in the same two rooms, and pop goes the circuit breaker!
Problem 4: Noise
As a consequence of the shipping episode, my HZ-519 arrived with twisted metal but it remains rather noisy during its operation, whereas the HHP 1500 is with zero noise.
Problem 5: Flexibility of Placement
The HZ-519 can only be fixed on the wall, whereas HHP-1500 can be fixed on the wall or dragged to the middle of a room
Energy Usage
That’s not a big issue in this case. The per night expense of running the HZ-519 in one bedroom comes to about one dollar, its consumption being about 6Kwh. But, that keeps the room temperature at comfortable level, compared to the rest of the house that remains chilly, though the HHP 1500 too consumes the same amount of power. Personally I would be pleased with nice warm blankets but it is good to have it for keeping kids warm, as they would kick out the covers.
Safety
Of course, the HZ-519 has additional safety features including an automatic switch off in case it gets knocked over, but you have to decide your priorities.
In Conclusion
Incase you are considering to have new electric convection space heater for the coming season, go ahead with DeLonghi. I insist on “coming season” so that you buy it during summer at discounted price before cold weather sets in when the prices are revised upwards. Late November, I paid just $80 for a DeLonghi and now in mid-January they are asking for $160 for the same heater.