Any heater rated at 400 watts or less, is a personal heater. It is not intended to heat a large area, or even an entire group sitting on the sofa. It is intended to take the chill off one person, part of a person, or small area without jacking up your electric bill much, overloading your electrical circuits, or getting dangerously hot. For the purpose it was intended for, it did very well.
My previous personal heaters are 9-inch dish-shaped 300 watt infrared radiant heaters. They glow orange, & warm whatever you point them at like a spotlight of infrared heat. They heat objects & people they're pointed at, but not much of the air, although some heat actually does also rise off of them too.
This Honeywell ceramic heater does not glow. It has a fan that gently blows warm air on you, but not with a force that will cause a draft. The fan is very quiet. Although my cats love space heaters, & I have fans, air filters, & AC with fans that they also like, when I turn this heater on, my female cat immediately ran away from it as soon as she heard it. I suspect it gives off a sound beyond our range of hearing that she doesn't like. Her brother loved the thing.
The fan stays the same speed on high (250 watts) & on low (170 watts). It does not blow air hard & hot air rises. So on high, just a couple feet away from the heater, it's much warmer a bit above the heater than directly in front of it. To compound this problem, the heater is slightly angled upward. That's an odd design considering most would put this on their desk or table near them.
Sitting on a desk or table with its upward angle, & the hot air naturally rising, you only feel the heat on your face rather than your arms & torso where you'd want it the most. I find setting it on the low 170 watt setting, it blows a bit more air forward. It actually warms my torso & arms more because the air is less hot, so rises less quickly.
I found the best situation was to place it on a chair beside me at my workspace so it will warm my torso & arms well at either setting. Placing it on the floor or under the desk warmed my legs, but would not warm up my arms or torso from there.
A few cold mornings at my workspace, I just placed it between my legs on the chair, which worked out very well. It did not overheat my pants or belly. Because it's angled slightly upward, & the hot air naturally rises, it made my chest & arms warm fast.
Bedside on a nightstand was totally useless because all the warm air blew above me. Sitting up reading in bed or watching TV I could only feel it on my face. Likewise on an end table by the sofa, it would only warm my head as the heat rises. On the coffee table it was only helpful if I sat close, directly in front of it leaned forward at it.
It did work well placed on a CD/DVD case on the bed beside me while reading. I wouldn't sleep or leave any heater unattended near bedding, but for reading & watching TV right there awake it was OK. It does not get very hot, but hot enough to be a risk near blankets if they accidentally got pushed into the front of it.
It also did excellent placed on the floor near the toilet. It took the chill off while going to the bathroom on a cold morning.
Ideally you want this for your workspace where you'd be sitting in a specific area a while, perhaps in your dressing area, or beside the toilet.
It has an auto-cutoff sensor if it's tipped over. That's a good thing. It has a flat base, but because of it's very rounded corners & being top-heavy, it is easily tipped over, especially on carpets. It seems solidly built. It does not appear that it could be easily broken. Been using it regularly all day (and some nights) at my workspace for a couple weeks now, & it's still running good.
