Customer Reviews

Honeywell HZ519 Digital Low Profile Silent Comfort Heater

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

We needed a supplemental electric space heater for an unheated bedroom in our home that is occasionally used by guests. I selected this model over the Honeywell HZ515 because it has a screen to display the temperature instead of just a selector dial. We own one other electric heater that has a thermostat without a display, and it is much harder on that Delonghi unit for someone to set the temperature without consulting the manual. This heater is quite straightforward to operate in comparison.

If you simply push the power button, the unit will come on at full power and keep heating at full power until you turn it off again.

If you push the power button and then use the up- and down-arrow buttons, you can select a temperature (in Fahrenheit or Celsius) that the unit will attempt to maintain (up to its 1500 W capacity) until you turn it off.

If you push power, then use the arrows to select a temperature, and then push the timer button (and use the arrows to increase/decrease the amount of time), the heater will run as much as needed to keep the heat to the pre-selected temperature for the amount of time you've selected. I believe the maximum is 10 hours--enough for overnight use.

For me, this offers some extra peace of mind. I can set this heater for a guest (or tell them how to do it) and not feel the need to check up on them in the morning to be sure the heater has been turned off.

Two other features on this heater are superior to those on my Delonghi Mica Panel heater:
* the Honeywell HZ519 has a 5 year warranty (vs. Delonghi's 1 year)
* the Honeywell HZ519 has a three prong power cord (vs. Delonghi's 2 prong plug)

This heater really heats up a room in a hurry. To provide some context, my kitchen is in the vicinity of 120 square feet, and it only takes 5 minutes or so to heat up after turning this heater on. As advertised, it is indeed silent. And even when first turning it on, it didn't emit that nasty new-heater smell. This heater is a great value and I'm glad I bought it.

I own five of these, and heat my home with them (and five upright oil-filled types).

Pros: usually safe to touch, non-electronic glowing badge-type overheat indicator, timer, quiet, five-year warrantee, great flexible 16-gage 3-wire cord (stays cool), appears to be of highest quality, inexpensive.

Cons: Although there is a bright bulb indicating the unit is on, the LCD panel is unlit by it, so you can't check the indicator easily when it is dark. This is important, because the heaters sometimes reset themselves to maximum, so you need to look at the panel repeatedly during the night.

The timer only works for shut-off, not for timed turn-on, so you can't use it for programmed heating, such as warming up for the morning, or warming up for return in the afternoon.

Timer and temp settings are lost when powered off (no back-up battery or constant power to the panel from the plug).

Temp settings unpredictably reset to maximum, so you can't leave these heaters on unattended (for instance, to keep the house above freezing when going out for the day or a weekend). You may come back to a house at 80 degrees, at great electric expense.

To repeat, on all five of my units, if I have them set at some lower temperature, say, sixty-five degrees, I may come back some time later to find it at eighty degrees. So I must constantly go around checking them.

On one of the five units the tilt switch burned out. Not from being tilted, just from being on for a few months.

Many of the high-raters of this heater mention these same problems, but don't consider them as bad as I do. That is probably because they don't use the heaters as much as I do.

Many of the low-raters of this heater don't understand that all 1500 watt heaters put out the same amount of heat, and don't understand that a thermometer near the heating element is bound to read higher than one across the room, and don't understand that a convection heater is bound to be slower than, but ultimately equal or superior to, a fan-forced or radiant heater of the same wattage. Oil convection heaters are even slower, since the oil has to heat up first. Radiant heaters lose heat out the window if pointed at an unshaded window. There is a theory that radiant heat is equivalently comfortable at lower power use. Fan-forced heaters' fans will eventually fail, sometimes causing a fire.

Some reviewers mention the poor instructions, and how important they are. Much better instructions are available online. The controls are not obvious; you are sure to misuse them if you don't have the online instructions. Basically: to set the temperature, turn the unit off, turn it on, press the Temp button, use the up/down buttons to set the temperature, and then don't touch it again. If you subsequently touch any button it will reset to maximum. At first the indicator will show what temperature you have set it to try to get up to. After a while, the indicator will show the actual temperature at the unit - you can no longer check the temperature it is attempting to attain. Ignore the fan icon: there is no fan. If the clock icon appears (unintentionally), you have double-clicked, and must start over. The thermometer icon shows you have set the temperature. When the temperature blinks, it has attained the goal you set.

I've had one of these heaters for a couple years and it has worked well for occasional use & I've been quite happy with it. So, last week when I saw them for sale at Home Depot I picked another one up. I used it for a couple days, turning it on during the day and off at night. Then one morning I went to turn it on and was surprised to find the unit was hot. Even though it was powered off and the display was off the unit was still heating. I unplugged it and tried again later with the same result. I don't know if this a common problem, but you may want to make sure yours is working OK.

Thankfully I was able to return the defective heater to the store I bought it. But my experience with this heater and a previous experience with defective Honeywell humidifiers makes me wonder if Honeywell's quality no longer lives up to their reputation. And their support company, Kaz, leaves very much to be desired in regard to customer service.

If I had no concerns about the safety and reliability of this heater, I would give it 5 stars, but unfortunately that is not the case.

I bought this heater because of it's excellent safety rating on Consumer Reports as well as it's low noise. I have mixed feelings about it but it does heat well. Here are a list of my likes and dislikes.

Pros:
Quiet - No fan so no noise.
Safe Power Cord - Many heater fires are cause by undersized power cables. Heaters use tons of power and tons of power through small power cords create heat which can create fires. Safety labels warn about never putting power cords underneath things and this is why. The cord on this unit is fairly heavy gauge with a ground so it seems that this risk is minimized.
Reasonably well built - The unit seems solid and well built.

Cons:
Large Size - It takes up quite a bit of room. 3 feet wide !
Hot Surface - While the cord may be safe, the grill gets very hot. I bought this for our baby's room but once she can walk, I'll have to replace it as the surface of this heater is extremely hot. In fact, I'd worry that anything getting near it could catch fire. It has a warning badge to tell you that the surface is hot but why not use something other then metal for the grill which wouldn't burn ?
Timer Limited to 10 hours - Why the limit ??
Thermostat has no memory - You have to reset it each time you power on.

Moved into a new place that didn't have central heating, got rather cold at night and in the morning so I searched for an electric heater. Never bought one before, but I came across this one and purchased it. Very happy with the purchase, it is dead silent, heats a rather large bedroom well and keeps it warm through the night so I am not freezing in the morning. Has great options, you can leave it on and just constantly running or set it at a certain temperature and it will turn it self off when it reaches that temp. I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a reliable, silent heater for a decent sized room.

The reviews for this item have been very good. So I am going to piggy back on those reviews and rate the item as 5*. However the price on amazon is very expensive. Homedepot has this item on sale for $33.98 and with a 10% off coupon you can get it for around $30.
Go to your local home depot and hopefully you will save a bunch as well :)

This item did not work out for me. I can see where it would be useful for heating a small room, but I needed something to heat the general area where I sit (in a large room with tall ceilings). The heater is large, takes up a lot of space, and gets very hot. I was afraid to have my cats around it. Even though it seems like it put out a good amount of heat, the opening in the heater let the heat go straight up towards the ceiling. I could not feel the warm air unless standing directly above the unit. Sitting at a desk next to it did not do anything. I have since purchased a smaller unit with a fan that wil push the heat forward where I sit. If you want to warm up a small room over a period of time, this could be for you. If you want a boost of heat in a small area of a large room, go for something else.

This is an excellent heater. It is well balanced, will not tip over, is over three feet long but not very wide, is attractive, fits well against a wall and has an excellent, heavy duty, long white cord with stainless steel prongs on the plug that will never oxidize like brass does which can create electrical problems. It has no fan so it will never overheat when the fan bearings start to fail and the fan stops turning. It would be nice if it had one of those newer protective plugs like air conditioners and hair dryers use that cut the power if there is an electrical problem. It would also be a bonus if the LCD panel was lighted but it's not a big deal. The heater is a little over 3' long but is light and easy to carry. It's perfect for a small room, or any area, that could use a little supplemental heat from a very quiet source. The LCD readout indicates the room temperature and when you press a button, it indicates the temperature you have set for the room. Once the controls are set, whcih takes about 30 seconds, you simply turn the heater on, or off, by pressing one small button and the "On" light illuminates. The heater has a timer that can be preset by the operator. It appears to have a 10 hour limit and will then turn off so it can't be accidentally left on when you go away for the weekend. On the other hand, that means it can't be used for emergency backup heat to prevent water pipe freezing, unless of course we have not determined how to bypass the preset time limit. It will not give you the instant heat that a fan forced heater will but it does provide a very nice steady heat flow that will warm an area or small room. It's also easy to clean. You need to be careful not to let anything like a drapery or anything else cover, or lay on, the top of the heater, which is true of any small heater, and also not to dent the charcoal colored screen along the top, which is pretty sturday and will not dent easily. The heater will perform perfectly well if the screen is damaged. It's there to prevent contact with the rod that is the heating element but the appearance of a dented top is not attractive. I like this heater a lot, we have used it every weekend and evening since early October with no problems and intend to purchase a second one and maybe a third one. If the length is not a problem, and you don't need a fan, it's the best small heater I have used in 25 years of using small, portable, 1500 watt electric heaters for occasional spot heating.

This is about the 6th different kind of space heater I have purchased in the last two years, and is by far the best. It takes the chill off our kid's (large - 15X20) bedroom that has no primary heat source. After about 3 weeks of constant use, it has proven to be reliable, safe, quiet, and odor free. I would definitely recommend it!