Review of Solaira Cosy SCOSYAW15120W 1500W/120V Outdoor

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $398.00
Sale Price: $334.89
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We have a large roofed deck where we like to eat and entertain. In Pasadena, you can get away with that year-round...almost. After years of talking about it, we decided to buy two of these and try to heat up our dining area enough to pull off Thanksgiving for 21 guests outside.

Well, the short answer is that we did pull it off. Cloudy & 60 degrees outside, we were all quite comfortable under these. As night fell, the heavier sweaters or jackets came out, but there was a distinct comfort zone under these lamps. They do cover about a 10' x 10' square.

The reddish glow mentioned elsewhere didn't strike anyone as a problem. It's the kind of warm glow that makes people look better, frankly. Not quite as yellow as firelight, but flattering and comfortable in much the same way.

The Cons:

-12.5 amps per 120 volt unit. Definitely separate circuits unless you have a 30 amp circuit to spare.

-At 1500 watts, that's 15 100-watt lightbulbs sucking juice at the same time. Or in my case, 30. Can't wait for that electric bill to come...

-misleading diagrams on company website (I tracked over there for info before purchasing here). Illustrations on the site suggest it can be sort of "corner mounted" at a wall and ceiling intersection. Not so. These must be mounted about 5 feet from any walls, 6 feet from curtain & such, and about 1 foot from a ceiling.

-the included brackets leave you on your own to reach a ceiling. If you bolted the two included pieces together, you'd be about 3 inches from a ceiling. So how to bridge the gap? You could hang these from a chain, but one of the attractions (again from the company website) is that you can adjust the angle of the units with some precision, which won't work with a chain. With only hours to install these before our Thanksgiving, I found a couple of simple stainless steel straps at the hardware store pre-drilled with the appropriately-sized bolt-holes...but now I have perforated steel straps to look at. Call me crazy, but for the price they could include a minimum-length steel extender powder-coated to match the unit (as the brackets are). Pretty simple for them to supply -very difficult for a consumer to source.

-similarly, I ordered white units to disappear against the white ceiling on our roofed deck. But the white units have big black transformers on top, and the cords (which are, thoughtfully, very long) are also black. Can't they put white ones with the white units?

So -all in all, I give it 4 stars. They work. In a workspace, I'm sure they mount & function easily enough. But in a "finish" application like mine, be prepared to live with some esthetic sacrifices -or to put in a lot of work to compensate for what the manufacturer thinks is "good enough."

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My wife, sitting under the Solaira Cosy, is as comfortable as I am not sitting under it, which is exactly what I wanted from it. It emits a gentle but clearly perceptible warmth for up to three people sitting on our outdoor couch. I have it mounted in the trellis above, about 8 feet off the ground. The great thing about infrared is that it still works in a gentle breeze. The Cosy does not turn cold to warm, but it does take the chill off.

The quality of manufacture of the Solaira Cosy is quite good. The mounting is versatile and strong, albeit a bit less refined than the housing itself. The cord is long, which is perfect for my needs. I removed the warning stickers and cleaned off the adhesive, and it ended up looking elegant and unobtrusive.

I'm very happy with this purchase.

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I was not expecting the brightness of this heater! It lights up our screened porch! The heat is good if you are in it's radius (just as advertised). It is energy efficient and safe to use. I would recommend giving it a dedicated breaker. We tried to run a couple of other things with it and it tripped the fuse. All-in-all we are pleased.

Honest reviews on Solaira Cosy SCOSYAW15120W 1500W/120V Outdoor

Having tested many outdoor heaters, this heater is powerful, small and efficient. I saw it at a restaurant in California and thought it was fantastic

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I thought this was going to work for the area directly above out hot tub, boy was I wrong. I mounted this 8 foot above the front side of the hot tub and angled it so it would heat the area above everyone's head. While mounting it I was extremely happy from looking at the construction, solid metal, great mounting brackets, along with a long cord.

First off from reading other reviews I kept reading 10 x 10 area, in my test we were hoping for 9 x 7 foot section. I was hoping this would take the edge off from the winds that blow thru in the winter months. The plus would be to provide us with a area directly under the heat light to dry off in the warmth.

That night the temperature dropped to 55 degrees and very little wind. So we were ready to try it out. And i felt this would be a EASY test for this to pass.

Outdoor test minimal wind, covered deck.

After plugging the unit in, I wondered around the hot tub to feel the heat, it was almost nothing more then 6 foot directly in-front of the light. I didn't let that ruin the night so we got in the hot tub, I also started realizing my private area in my own back yard was really under the spot light now. This 1500 watt light produces a lot of visible light.

In comparison, I grabbed a yellow bug light and put it in a shop light. The 100 watt bug light was less to at the most about the same brightness of this heat light. The heat produced was good enough to heat the first 3 feet as if I was a hamburger at a fast food restaurant and nearly non existent 6 foot out. But in comparison, you would be better off buying two satco s4998 heat lights that produce about the same heat and far less visible light for over a $250 savings. Along with saving 1000 watts of electricity.

Garage shop area test.

Final test was to try this out in my garage I mounted this on the ceiling about 9 foot above my shop area, I left this on for 10 mins and came back to find it did an fair-OK job warming a closed area, insulated area. After the 10 min test I was satisfied to say this unit works ok indoors, but is far from the manufactures statements comparing this is a outdoor commercial unit.

In conclusion this unit could work if your goal is to heat and light a small enclosed area. If your goal is to heat the outdoors this is not for you unless you are only looking for a small area outside so one person can smoke in the dead of winter without freezing to death

Recommended product instead, each light can easly take the chill off a 4x4 area, or inside 8x12 x 2 lights

http://www.amazon.com/Satco-Products-S4998-250BR40-Medium/dp/B0037060ZY/ref=pd_cp_hi_1