Reviews of Bionaire BHH7522M-BM Instant Comfort Infrared Heater

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This unit arrived on a cold damp grey drizzly 50 degree day that saw me spending three hours in a chilly detached garage working on a project. ( one of those days where a hot cup of tea or soup goes a long way) Assembly is quick, a simple twist of the base to install, run the cord through the provided slots and plug it in. Almost instantly the unit heated up and began driving off the chill. On low it produces a cozy orange glow, on high it's bright, and a bit glaring to be honest. It will very quickly heat up not just you, but the room. I tested the thermostat and setting it and having it cycle on and off was flawless. ( read the instructions on how to do this). I also knocked it over and tested the tip over protection, it worked instantly.

Later that evening after dinner I was listening to some soft music with a cup of tea and a book. ( just some soft background piano) My toes were cold so I turned on the heater and quickly found that listening to low music or background TV while operating the heater just wasn't going to happen. Even placed a bit farther away at the edge of the Infrareds effective range the noise still intruded. Under normal TV volume it's not that bad, but relaxing with a book and some music isn't going to work.

The flaw is that it has a constant speed fan. On high the unit pulls 1500 watts and on low it pulls 900. If the fan speed lowered 40% like the power output when switched on low it's the perfect heater, but it doesn't. (this couldn't cost more than 0.50 cents to do) I do understand the need for the fan for optimal heat output and keeping the unit cool, but you're stuck with it on high regardless of heat setting. In a bustling noisy household, commercials blaring on TV, kids running and shouting you'd hardly notice it I imagine.

But on a crisp clear evening after a long day, quietly unwinding to some soothing music, you won't want this in the room.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I expected this heater to be smaller than it is. From the photographs, I thought it would be about a foot tall. It's actually just over two feet tall and a foot wide, with a base a little over 17 inches wide.

And it does what it says -it heats a room, and you, fast! It only takes a second or two for it to come up to full heat. And that's a wonderful thing when you're trying to chase away a winter chill.

There's something about infrared heat in the way it penetrates to warm you all the way through. That's what makes a fireplace so warming. And this heater does that, plus you don't have to wait while you build a fire. You just plug it in, switch it on, and in seconds you are feeling the warmth.

There are two settings -on low the heating element has a bright, but still cozy orange glow. High has a very bright glow. A fairly quiet fan runs on both settings. There's also a thermostat. Of course the front screen gets hot, but the rest of the heater stays relatively cool to the touch.

There are lots of important safety instructions for using a room heater like this. For example, don't use an extension cord with this heater or plug it into a power strip; always plug it directly into a wall outlet. And keep the unit away from fabrics (you'll be surprised at how fast it heats up your clothes), and make sure it is set back from furniture. A brochure is included with the heater that covers this and and several other safety procedures.

The power cord on the unit measures six feet long, enough to get the heater near the center of an average 12' X 12' room and away from furniture.

Assembly is pretty much a one-step process. You just twist on the locking base and snap the power cord into its slot.

It has a carrying handle in the back, and molded-in cleats on which to wind the cord. And it is fairly light, so it is a very portable unit.

This thing's a winner.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I am updating my previous review because of some major issues with the heater. After owning it for a month, it would not stay on. The thermostat is supposed to regulate the heater so it turns off and on depending on the temperature in the room. It reached a point where immediately after it came on, it would shut off again after a few seconds. Then, it would not come on at all. Amazon kindly replaced the unit but now the same thing is happening to the new one. There seems to be a problem with the thermostat and it will not work properly.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We don't often need heavy-duty heating in Arizona, but it can still get mighty chilly in the winter (or, as we had last week, during an unexpected cold snap). Ordinarily we depend on the heat pump part of the air conditioning unit for heat, except that the heat doesn't work well on the A/C at the office/bedroom side of the house. Mostly that isn't a problem since our computers and servers (let's not talk about how many many...) generate plenty to keep the offices warm. But our bedroom suite is cold, so for the past few years we have relied on space heaters. I don't want to take a shower in a room that's brrrrr 62 degrees.

These gizmos don't seem to last long, though. At least, I had to replace one a few years ago (I got a Lasko 755320 Ceramic Tower Heater in 2010, which is still cranking along). So I was particularly attracted to the Amazon Vine offer for the Bionaire BHH7522M-BM Instant Comfort Infrared Heater, which promised, "The Xpress Comfort Infrared Heater heats you and your room up quickly. This heater was designed to provide users with Instant Comfort. Within 3 seconds of turning the unit on, the heater starts to warm up users, allowing them to restore their comfort level quickly." And that, I'm pleased to report, is actually what I got.

And, since both of these are working fine, you get the advantage of a comparative review. Though really, the bottom line is that both do a very good job.

* The Lasko unit I got has the advantage of movement; the oscillation means that the heat is directed around the room, not just at ONE person's toes. (That's okay. I steal the quilt from him anyway.) But I haven't found that this makes as much of a difference with heat as it does with a cooling fan; once the heater gets the room to temperature, it's the ambient warmth you care about rather than the "huddled around the campfire" moment after you turn the thing on.

* The Bionaire is larger, which might be meaningful if you have to fit your space heater into a small space. It's on the ugly side, but I don't think that we buy these for beauty and nobody's putting the Lasko unit up for a Best Dressed award either.

* The Bionare heating element is very bright. That is, it glows enough that it serves as more than a night-light. Right now the unit is in a hallway, but it might be bright enough to be bothersome in the bedroom.

* The Bionaire controls are a bit more straightforward: no remote control (that's just another thingie for me to lose; maybe you care), just knobs. But it has only a 1-5 scale, which means you might need to fiddle with it a bit more to get the temperature just right. The Lasko lets us set it to, say, 72 degrees and it turns on and off to match that temperature. I have no idea how warm the room is with the Bionaire going.

* The Bionaire _does_ put out heat faster. With the Lasko, I find that I have to remember to turn it on 20 minutes before I want to go into the bedroom to shower. I haven't done a full side-by-side comparison (sorry, friends, but I'm not that dedicated), but the Bionaire does feel as though the room gets warmer a little faster. That sounds like a meaningful advantage, except that once I have a space heater going, it just generally stays on. The length of time from "Brrrrr" to "nice and toasty" isn't that big of a deal.

* Noise-wise, I think they're about equal. They aren't precisely quiet, but it's a "fan" noise that just becomes background white noise.

What I can't tell, without more research, is whether there's a meaningful difference in power consumption between the two units. Does that "instant comfort" mean a higher electric bill? I'm not motivated to play with the numbers since, honestly, a relatively high heating bill in Arizona is nothing in comparison to my air conditioning costs. (Don't ask. Really.) That isn't where I pinch my pennies. But you might think about it.

Both are good. Both do what they promise. If I were to buy only one, though, my vote would tip slightly towards the Lasko unit. First, it's a little cheaper; second, I appreciate the ability to set the temperature and let it adjust on its own. That's just a mild preference, though. You won't go wrong with either choice.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a nice big infrared heater with a fan and uses ~900 Watts on low setting, so you'd expect the heat output to be significant. But it's not, I can sit 2 feet from it in a 60 degree room and am barely warm, not hot. The fan is somewhat noisy but doesn't blow the warm air very far.

It has two controls, one thermostat knob (not marked with any particular temperatures), and one off/low/high knob. The thermostat controls at what temperature the heater will come on, so turn the knob if you're cold and you want more heat. But the thermostat needs work, the heater will turn on for only 5 or 10 seconds sometimes, the air gets warmer and then it turns back off. There needs to be a minimum time it will run once triggered, maybe 2 to 3 minutes at least.

The construction is plastic but seems solid enough. It's fairly understated and won't really stand out in a room. The heater element and front grate is of course metal. The top where the controls are is concave, which is an odd choice and seems like it would accumulate dust.

The heater will turn off if tipped, even a little bit. That's a safety feature, not a big deal.

Overall the heater works well but the fan is fairly noisy and doesn't seem to project the heat very far. It might heat a room but only a small one and at the 1,500 watt setting.